the u.s. depends on certain things from russia too. but on the whole, it doesn't matter in the same way like u.s.-china economic relations. host: barbara in south carolina. good morning. you're on our independents line. talking u.s.-russia relations with samuel charap. caller: hi. why don't congress get together and pass a law for donald trump to be evaluated to see if -- what his mental status is? because he's a compulsive liar. and everything he said has only been lies and lies and lies. you know, he's a disgrace to this nation. that's all i have to say. he's a disgrace to the nation. host: all right. we are talking about u.s.-russia relations. we will let that comment stand and move on to westfield, indiana, republican line. caller: good morning. i'm 77. i lived in america 41 years. i am a business consultant. and i do consultation to america and lots of friends. what is my main interest to know is why our news media is failing to educate americans. the majority of americans are having great time the last quite a few years and they d

>> reporter: the russia investigation continues to widen. federal investigators explore the potential financial ties of president trump and associates to russia. sources tell cnn financial links could offer a more concrete path to any potential prosecution. investigators are delving into possible financial crimes including some unconnected to the election. for the president, that's going too far. he's warned that delving into his businesses is a "violation." trump has maintained there's no collusion, and he has no financial ties to russia. >> i can tell you speaking for myself, i own nothing in russia. i have no loans in russia. i don't have any deals in russia. >> reporter: now, one year into this complex probe, the fbi has reviewed financial records related to the trump organization. president himself as well as his family members and campaign associates. cnn has told been told investigators have combed through trump companies. they have scrutinized the roster of guests at trump tower in manhattan reaching back several years. officials fami

do you think that the russia story is fake news or not? answer from the american people, no, america does not think the russia story is fake news. question 21, do you think that members of donald trump's campaign team worked in association with russia to help trump win the election for presidentor not? answer from the american public, yes, we think members of donald trump's campaign team worked in association with russia to help trump win the election for president. and here's the crucial follow-up credit, question 22, if evidence comes out that proofs conclusively that mubs of donald trump's campaign team worked in association with russia to help trump win the election for president, do you think trump should continue to serve as president or do you think he should resign? answer from the american people, by a 20 point margin, yeah, in that case trump should resign. so says a clear majority of american public. this is new national polling from public policy polling, they gave us a advance look at some of these numbers tonight. in terms of

. >>> the russia story is a total fabricati fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. that's all it is. >> president trump fighting back after reports emerged that grand jury subpoenas have been issued in the russia investigation. >>> and cnn has learned that special council robert mueller is following the money, investigating possible financial crimes as part of the ongoing probe into the trump campaign. >>> good morning, and welcome back to "early start," i'm alison kosik. >> i'm dave briggs. the president fired up in west virginia last night. we'll play you some more of what he had to say. it is friday, happy friday, august 4th, 4:00 a.m. in the east. it was a major advance in the special counsel robert mueller's investigation of russian meddling in the 2016 election. a source familiar with the matter telling cnn a grand jury has issued subpoenas relating to donald trump jr.'s meeting with the russian lawyer at trump tower. cnn has learned the subpoenas seek both documents and testimony fr

two very distant which russia experts. the history of russia would those on its borders which have long histories with russia, i don't believe that it has a lot of appeal. if you look at how eastern toope is reacting, trying get nato to be more involved. we have hungary, authoritarian rollbacks worried arguably. >> ok, but not pushing towards moscow. if you look at the caucuses, if you look at central asia, central asia with their own concerns about russia. getting back to the triangle, if we talk about russia's security relations, central asia is going to pose a great challenge for the russia china relationship. because none of the central asian republics particularly persuaded by the models of either by sharing -- beijing or moscow responding to chinese investment going into central asia in a big way. so if you compare russia's trade , with central asia to china's, you compare the levels of investment of russia and china, moscow is being eclipsed. that has been a sphere of influence. at one time it was part of the soviet uni

the same is true for russia. at times, especially as we are having difficulties in this moment in our history, that we can take stock of our fears and not recognize how strong that soft power is. if the united states still wants to show the leadership to continue to manage the remarkable set of diplomatic and economic institutions it put in place at the end of world war ii -- i had a trip to singapore a few years ago. i met with a good diplomat. i was talking to tommy about the united states in asia and worrying about competing with china. i asked his advice. i thought he would say we need to get three more aircraft carriers out here. instead, he said you need to get the new york philharmonic orchestra here. [laughter] that was his point entirely. deploy the new york philharmonic orchestra. that, representing what is very good about the u.s. in terms of we are as a people and these institutions which we've established. kathryn: tom, do you want to comment? thomas: i do. i would like to address the question. i thin

let's begin with the latest on the russia investigation. our senior correspondent jim acosta has details. jim, the president is leaving town amid some major new developments in the russia probe. >> reporter: that's right, president trump is on his way to his country club in new jersey for a two-week vacation, but the white house is not getting a break when it comes to a russia investigation, a probe the president still considers a hoax. it's a message he is taking straight to his political base. president trump escaped washington for his golf club in new jersey without taking questions on the russia investigation, a probe that's ramping up just as he's taking time off. but at a political rally in west virginia, hours after it was learned special counsel robert mueller issued grand jury subpoenas related to the probe, the president turned to his base to have his back. >> the russia story is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics, that's all it is. >> reporter: the president's latest

they have had an enormous influence in the world. russia tries to exploit soft power in terms of religion, in terms of art, so on. it does not stretch nearly as far as u.s. popular culture does. on the other hand, i am somewhat surprised -- maybe i shouldn't be -- i the number of political rulers when meyer -- who admire putin. he is a strong demand and strong leader. he seems to be in control of things. there are lots of states where that is an issue. what kind of control does the government have? barriers to the emergence of dictators? here we have an example of ruler. -- a successful he has pulled russia out of the chaos of the 1990's to introduce stability, reassert russia's place in the world, and so on. there are ideological differences. catherine mentioned the russian critique of europe as totally decadent, permitting gay marriage and things like that. there is an element in russian culture that it is not offering the kind of alternative it did in the cold war, were central planning was going to be the answer to economic growth and e

. >> now china scholars discuss china, ation between russia and the u.s. and if relevant in today's world. administration on china, russia, this is just over 90 minutes. >> tonight' >> tonight's topic is about triangular relations between the .s., china and russia, the world's great powers. we thought it would be ppropriate to hear president nixon's voice and views on this matter 45 years ago. voice on this matter. the clip you are about years from the nixon white house tapes. this is president nixon talking to dr. henry kissinger in january of 1972 just one month before the historic trip to china that february. xon:ident ni [inaudible] >> it wanted to introduce a special guest in our audience today, president nixon's younger brother, ed nixon. [applause] , the stage isat yours. , thankk you very much you for having us here. we had a wonderful tour this afternoon at the library and we all enjoyed it very much. i'm going to start our on theion by picking up tape that jonathan played for us nixon's idea of former leading relations to counterbalance soviet pow

mueller. >> on the subject of russia, the president wrote about russia, he was talking about the sanctionsmposed by congress, a bill signed by the president. you were very active in pushing these sanctions through the senate and also through the house as well. this is what the president wrote about this. he said our relationship with russia is at an all-time and very dangerous low. you can thank congress, the same people that can't even give us health care. he blamed congress for the bad relationship with russia. bill krystal with the weekly standard noted, he's blaming america, it seems, for what russia has done. >> that's exactly right. russia is responsible for the deterioration of the relationship between the united states and russia. russia attacked us and our election system. russia has invaded other countries in europe. russia is interfering in a peaceful way to end the conflict in syria. it's russia's activities that have caused this relationship. what congress did is give the president a stronger hand in dealing with mr. putin. now it's up to the president to use the cards that we

the u.s. do agree with. well russia would say it was either one of their own to her titties but i think the international which i mean the developing world the emerging nations of the old with or. whether it be in the. united states ramping it up when it comes to foreign pressure and. remember the number of times that says all options are on the table over a variety of different problems. diplomatic albeit. criticism. as a foreign policy in the middle east. on. a. missed. i don't think is the best. thing here is definitely a ramping up of. tention. the wrapping up of. as far as we can and will have to wait until. next. gen it is going to end. within. a minister is expected to announce the liberation of the city of tal afar off from islamic state to be the last stronghold of the terror group in the north of the country just how close to peace is the war weary nation. spoke to people on the ground. and it has adapted following invasion and occupation of iraq. now. and. just how many soldiers are protecting. the. specter o

the big russia inquiry that the fbi started last summer into the russian attack, and the trump campaign's possible collusion with that attack. well, that inquiry, that russia part, right, the nut of the investigation, that was reportedly being run by peter strzok. head of the counterespionage section of the fbi. abc news reports today that peter strzok only is not running the russia part of the investigation anymore, abc is reporting that he is no longer part of the mueller inquiry at all. and according to abc, while mr. strzok might have previously run the counterespionage section at the fbi, now they report he's working in human resources. and nothing against human resources, but what happened there? i mean, that was like you were the principal, and now all of a sudden you're working in the cafeteria. what happened there? i mean, this is a single report from abc news. other news outlets today have echoed this reporting. but nobody's independently confirmed it. we contacted the special counsel's office today to see if they would either confirm or deny this reporting from abc or give us a

the soviet union in 1991. we have had a. o period of weak russia in the 1990's as it was struggling after 70 years of communism and the sudden collapse of communism. we have 15 successive states as a result come including russia. forging global relationships and partnerships. began a rather dramatic recovery economically. came into office and has proclaimed that russia is once again a great power, a power to be reckoned with. russia seized -- from their perspective, took back crimea. it had been sanctioned as a , thet by the united states european union but not by china. in the intervening period, 2014 and 2016, china and russia signed agreement on russian oils to china. counterbalance to american power. states beganunited europe too asia from counter chinese power in the china sea. the south china sea. 2016, we elected a new president of the united states which hascommunism. further thrown into question this trilateral relationship that mr. nixon was obviously concerned about and very pressing about. my first question to get this conversation roll

the new u.s. sanctions russia. we have a couple of highly experienced speakers who will give us some perspective on that and we are quite grateful to them for taking the time out of their day to be with us. to my right we have dan russell, the president and ceo of the u.s.-russia business council. diplomatformer career who was deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for russia, ukraine, moldova, belarus, and other matters. during the previous administration, the obama administration, he was also the deputy chief at the u.s. embassy embassyw and the u.s. in cause extent in addition to a number of other important posts. george, who is senior director for -- director for intelligence programs at the center for the national interest. george was a career u.s. intelligence professional who led the russia analysis unit at the central intelligence agency. he was an advisor on russia to vice president dick cheney during the bush administration. he was also the president of a data analytics firm called behavior matrix

ambassador to russia under the obama administration. ambassador, richard was just making a nuanced point that it is legal to do business in russia generally and that does involve the russian government oftentimes. yet what is so stark in these newly revealed e-mails, again, which are only coming out because of investigations is, there's no nice way to say it, they undercut what the trump organization and what donald trump has said. they undercut the quotes i just played for him where he said no dealings and no efforts at dealings. put this in the russia context for us, ambassador. >> well, first of all, as you just said, to do business in russia, especially a major business deal like this one that was being proposed, you're almost inevitably going to have to deal with the russian government. that seems clear. if you're contacting the president's chief spokesperson, that means that you need to deal with the kremlin. what's also important that you were just discussing, remember that robert mueller is investigating criminal problems. possib

>> reporter: tonight, the russia investigation continues to widen. as federal investigators explore the potential financial ties of president trump and associates to russia. sources tell cnn, financial links could offer a more concrete path to any potential prosecution. investigators are devilling in to possible financial crimes including some. unconnected to the election. for the president, that's going too far. he's warned that devilling into his businesses is a quote violation. trump has maintained there's no collusion and he has no financial ties to russia. >> and i could tell you, speaking for myself, i own nothing in russia, i have no loans in russia, i don't have any deals in russia. >> reporter: now, one year into this complex probe, the fbi has reviewed financial records related to the trump organization. the president himself as well as his family members and campaign associates. cnn has told investigators have combed through the list of shell companies and buyers of trump-branded real estate properties. they've scrutinized in manhattan reac

the u.s. and russiaseveral cease-fire deals in syria, but critics say the so-called deescalation zones enforced by the russians make the u.s. dependent on russia for its policy in syria. how's that working on the ground? cnn was the first international network to visit the most recent and controversial zones. in an exclusive report here, cnn senior international correspondent fred pleitgen found residents and the syrian army saying they are happy with the deal and thanking russia for it. >> reporter: it was one of the most violent baffleds in syria -- battlefields in sear. video shows the fighting on quneitra, right on israel's doorstep. now a cease-fire. tanks are parked, soldiers relaxed. the fighting has significantly decreased since the fever, this officer tells me, you totally notice that. we don't hear shelling anymore, but sometimes the nusra front breaks the troops. nusra is not part of the agreement. if they start shooting, we have to retaliate. this is the frontline right in the heart of town.

to do russia's bidding. the other part, it alleges overt knowing conclusion between trump and russia and russia's effort to hurt hillary clinton in the election. that's what the dossier says. if it is about to be publicly defended and explained and backed up, that's conceivably the whole ball game. when is the judiciary committee going to take that vote. i love you, basement guest bathroom. your privacy makes you my number 1 place to go number 2. i love you, but sometimes you stink. febreze air effects doesn't just mask, it cleans away odors. because the things you love the most can stink. and try febreze small spaces to clean away odors for up to 30 days. breathe happy with febreze. >>> in the public domain is this question of the steele dossier, a document that has been around now for over a year. i'm not sure when the fbi first took possession of it, but the media had it before you had it and we had it. at the time of your departure from the fbi, was the fbi able to confirm any criminal allegations contained

. >>> new phase, multiple grand juries working on the russia probe. what the mood is right now inside the white house. >>> repair job, the reason why the president is spending his working vacation in new jersey. >>> new this morning, we have a live news from the white house. this amid calls from right wing critics to fire h.r. mcmaster. late last night, the white house release hadded a statement from president trump which says general mcmaster and i have working very well together. he is a good man and very pro israel. i am grateful for the work he continues to do for our country. >>> meanwhile, robert mueller's team asked the white house to turn over documents related to ousted mike flynn. the request was not a formal subpoena ask marks the first known instance of such a request. here is what democratic congresswoman maxine waters told my colleague, chris hayes, last night about the russia investigation. >>. >> mueller is going to win, drip by drip. people are finding out that there's more to this than maybe some poout people thought. and, of course,

donald trump was on the trail and talking russia once more. this time blasting the entire investigation. >> the russia story is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. that's all it is. >> mr. trump's stance comes as the "wall street journal" releases a report claiming the russia investigation is ramping up with grand jury convening on the probe. and it's causing consternation in the trump white house as the president himself says the special counsel should investigate others like his former presidential rival. >> what the prosecutor should be looking at are hillary clinton's 33,000 deleted e-mails. most people know there were no russians in our campaign. there never were. we didn't win because of russia. we won because of you. that i can tell you. >> the convening of a grand jury is yet another revelation on a story that has dogged the white house for months and could lead to even more questions. nbc correspondent hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: the special counsel investigating

listen to this. >> the russia story is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. that's all it is. [cheering and applauding] it just makes them feel better when they have nothing else to talk about. what the prosecutor should be looking at are hillary clinton's 33,000 deleted e-mails. [cheering and applauding] >> and then the crowd started chanting, lock her up, lock her up, a familiar sound that we used to hear during the campaign. now, you seem to be smiling a bit. >> well, first of all, the fbi did investigate hillary clinton's e-mails. as we know, they investigated them extensively, and ultimately concluded that no reasonable prosecutor would bring any case. and donald trump knows that full well. this is an attempt by him to obfuscate and miss direct. and everything else he said in that statement, about it being a fabrication and a hoax, has been proven wrong time and time again. as to whether or not it makes me feel better having worked on the hillary campaign knowing this about rus

how does this relate back to the trump/russia inquiry and whether the trump campaign colluded with russia. there are other questions about what meetings mike flynn participated in and what did he know and whether the special counsel is going to seek his cooperation and his testimony, alex? >> all right. so, ken, with regard to the process of an investigation like this, at what point would documents like these be requested? the beginning or a healthy way into this investigation? where do you see that? >> closer to the beginning, actually, alex. because the investigators need to documents to sketch out the picture. then they start talking to witnesses. documents usually come first. there have been document requests, as nbc news has reported, months ago, going on for some time. there was a grand jury in alexandria, virginia, where subpoenas were issued in relation to mike flynn's activities. but we still think this investigation is closer to the beginning than it is to the end, alex. >> okay, we've heard the report that the special counsel has now gones to multip s tto multiple those being i

the u.s. after earlier this month russia did decide to reduce the u.s. embassy numbers in russia by seven hundred fifty five people today as answer does come as of the u.s. to deciding to close the consulate in san francisco and the and the next in new york city and one here in washington d.c. now what we're seeing is all this is being fake based on the claims that russia interfered in the u.s. elections and at the end of this it's being used continue to be used as a springboard to attack and take action against russia and in fact at the end of the statement that came from the state department today they did promise that the u.s. is prepared to take further action if they consider it to be warranted which clearly it does not take much for them to decide to do so ok that's a correspondent in washington d.c. jacqueline virgo with the latest many things. stacked in motion this latest move by the u.s. account be traced all the way bank to the u.s. presidential elections and alleged russian meddling is ations of russian interference continue to be slung even d

bottom line is that russia is to blame for the relations with russia deteriorating. it was south carolina's other senator who asked the question, i think any fair minded person is forced to ask when it comes to president trump and miss behavior with regard to trump. that's next. e your teeth whiter than mine? your strips are slippy... ...mine are grippy. crest whitestrips stay in place. crest whitestrips professional effects... ...lock in the whitening for a whiter smile. these aren't going anywhere. these are. crest... ...healthy, beautiful smiles for life. >>> the bottom line is that our relationship with russia is defined by russia and our allies. this otherwise means you're disconnected from the threat russia presents. and president trump's problem with russia is most americans are skrafg their heads, why does he see russia so differently than the congress? putin has done something no american politician could ever hope to do, unite the congress. why does president trump have a different view of russia? that will keep people asking questions. >> joining me now, fo

and the state of relations between the united states and russia. back here in washington, the deputy attorney general weighed in on the scope of the russia investigation, rod rosenstein saying independence counsel robert mueller can pursue any evidence of a crime that he uncovers. and north korea today threatened revenge against the united states over new it sanctions. the united nations security council unanimously approved the sanctions in response to pyongyang's ballistic missile tests. north korea calling it's sanctions an attack and warning the united states, and i'm quoting the north korean state media right now -- against believing that its land is safe across the ocean. this action is against pyongyang dominated a number of discussions at the asia regional security forum ongoing in the philippines. both the russians and south korean foreign ministers spoke with their north korean counterpart, the north korean foreign minister at the meeting. for more let's go to our senior international correspondent ivan watson. he's on the scene for us j

president initially the right overtures towards russia understood the complexity of international relations and recognize that that without cooperation with russia there would not be much achieved for the united states specially on a place like syria and on the situation in afghanistan. and for. i was very hopeful and hopeful and look forward to the much needed cooperation between. russia and the united states and here it is the united states that has walked out of it for some unknown reasons they have to come back and explain the situation in afghanistan tony relist what when truong i don't want to get us on to become an area of competition and rivalry well i want afghanistan to become a place of cooperation i appreciate very much your aspirations but you know again better than i do that competition is a ruling the day in international side shouldn't be. why would the afghanistan of all the other war torn countries be an exception it should be an exception because if they don't call parades afghans will rise. against those who have the key to the students in afghanistan today it is the uni

well, that's where the russia investigation is headed. the fbi reviewing financial records related to president trump, his family and the trump organization. cnn also learning that mueller has issued grand jury subpoenas for documents and testimony from people involved in that trump junior meeting at trump tower. the president's white house attorney, ty cobb, issuing a statement saying, quote, the white house is fully committed to cooperating with mr. mueller. tonight, we're going to ask presidential counselor, kellyanne conway, but first, he weighs in on it all from his rally in west virginia. take a listen. >> the russia story is a total fabricati fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. that's all it is. [ cheers and applause ] >> interesting. are we seeing a presidential pivot making it more about the election? and the democrats not just about the media. let's get to cnn's athena jones in west virginia. athena. >> reporter: hi, chris. that's right. new details and new developments are

the overall russia matter. aken over the flynn piece and the other piece he's looking at specifically. >> good cover, by the way. i think someone was improperly speaking in your ear, sorry if that may have happened. harvard professor said mueller gets this tactical advantage. do you agree with that? i mean, can the location of a grand jury be strategic? >> you know, i don't think so. look, director mueller is a -- was a u.s. attorney in d.c., he knows d.c. grand juries, so he knows the courtroom and that may be a reason to do it. i doubt the ethic makeup is the goal here. what you're looking for is an investigative tool to move the investigation forward and that's what's going on here. >> what about the president, who's been taking two public positions on the russia investigation. lawyers say the white house is cooperating fully, then the president tweets and says the russia investigation is a witch hunt and a hoax. is that strategic on his part? >> i think the president has a reason to be upset. he's unhappy th

you are looking for a data point, look at the world bank's gdp forecast for russia for last year the looked at an alternate scenario with all sanctions lifted against russia and the gdp bump up of 0.8% but only for a year because russia's real economic problems are structural reforms that need to be addressed. i think a major impact on american business and international business came from the oil prices drop and group of evaluations so sanctions in that way were more of a catalyst for the downturn. the effect was disproportionate on smaller businesses. for large corporations already present in the russian market, the task of the day, operating expenses postponed the extension plans they had. a few major players conversely into the market. it was a backdrop for a framing of what we have now. turning to new sanctions, hr 3364, and signed into law, and a piece of legislation, 90 pages of title 2, i will highlight a few of those, with existing sanctions into law, those executive orders for the obama administration era was two more on cybersecurity, the second major thing, it mandates th

well, that's where the russia investigation is headed. the fbi reviewing financial records related to president trump, his family and the trump organization. cnn also learning that mueller has issued grand jury subpoenas for documents and testimony from people involved in that trump junior meeting at trump tower. the president's white house attorney, ty cobb, issuing a statement saying, quote, the white house is fully committed to cooperating with mr. mueller. tonight, we're going to ask presidential counselor, kellyanne conway about all of this. but first, president trump weighs in on it all from his rally in west virginia. take a listen. >> the russia story is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. that's all it is. [ cheers and applause ] >> interesting. are we seeing a presidential pivot making it more about the election? and the democrats not just about the media. let's get to cnn's athena jones in west virginia. athena? >> reporter: hi, chris. that's right. new details and

but what about the view from russia itself? edvedoffez not happy with the russian sanctions saying the president showed, quote, total weakness, what does this mean for the future relations between the two world's two greatest nuclear policies. senior solsy adviser for the counter extremism project, and so joining me now, tara, just from the u.n. voting in accordance with other member nations about the sanctions against north korea, that is a positive step between the u.s. and russia but we have the cbs news organization putting out this report raising eyebrow this is week saying that congressional investigators want to look at don jr.'s phone records and we know from the e-mails that he released that the exchanges with rob goldstone, who set up the meeting with the russian lawyer at trump tower, that don jr. had a phone call with agilarof, connected with putin that wanted to hook up the russian lawyer with the trump folks to give dirt on hillary. would incidental collection have picked up don jr. having conversations with a fore

. >>> the russia story is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. that's all it is. >> president trump dismissing the russia investigation, and his latest review came hours after a special report that mueller has impanelled a grand jury in washington. new, overnight, out of dubai, a fire breaks out in one of the world's tallest buildings, and no reports of any injuries. good morning, everybody. it is friday, august 4th. we start with reaction this morning into the investigation into russia, the 2016 election and president trump. mueller impanelled a grand jury. the "washington post" now reporteding that mueller began to issue subpoenas from the washington based grand jury according to several lawyers involved in the case. nbc reporting in may of grand jury subpoenas into flynn that began before mueller was appointed. and a former senior intelligence official with knowledge of the discussions told nbc news is looking into whether he has obtained records. a lawyer for presid

that is the only point the u.s. and russia agree upon right now. lk about sanctions and relations in general. that's where tillerson will try to improve relations but it's difficult to see from the u.s. perspective what impact he could have as you point out with the rhetoric going back and forth here. president trump was furious about the russia investigation and not happy to sign the sanctions bill. the russians agree with him there, they are angry about the sanctions bill. even if most of the anger is directed toward congress and washington politicians who they call anti-russian hysteria, trump is viewed as weak and not willing to stand-up to congress. that is a big change from how they viewed him until now. the last six or seven months, they thought trump was the guy who could improve u.s./russian relations. poppy. >> thank you for that reporting. >>> i want to update you on the situation in venezuela after the violent election. one of the main opposition leaders has been released from jail. we are talking antonio, a fellow opposition leader, lop

on that is so night the president reluctantly signs a new bill sanctioning russia for alleged interference in the two thousand and sixteen election and vice president mike pence pence wraps up a tour of eastern europe to shore up nato as resistance to suppose russian aggression and special counsel robert muller in panels a grand jury as the investigation into russia connections continues to expand. reporting tonight from the our t.v. news room this is the news on r.t. america. good evening friends we start tonight with the latest on the sanctions on russia president trump has signed a bill authorizing sanctions against russia and limiting his power to ease them in the future after signing the bill the president released a formal statement of his opposition to the bill in particular he's upset with the fact that the bill say he says is hasty and criticized provisions limiting the power of the executive branch to conduct foreign policy russian prime minister dmitri met medvedev criticized the bill as a full scale trade war against moscow he also criticized president from for a cowing to esta

this is about the russia probe. i know you are mad at the -- >> the russian probe is one great excuse. you don't have to admit you did anything wrong. >> angela, i'll give you the last word. >> what? my last word is, what? that's all i got. >> you have no substance. you have no substance. push back on me. >> i have a ton of substance. i give to you my law degree and my six years working on capitol hill and the fact i stated on the program. back to you all the lies you told and the feelings you feel today. harlan, i have tons of substance and i'll get back to you when i have more time. i'm not doing this with you on a program. >> what is going through your mind? >> first of all, i'm not sure how any of this advances the issue of the russian investigation, but as far as what donald trump feels and believes, yeah, he probably does believe it. i have come to the conclusion he has this alternate universe that lives inside his head where he has imaginary friends, he has imaginary phone calls with those friends, imaginary c

had supposed documentary evidence of, the implication being that russia could use that tape of his behavior to blackmail him, and that's the thing that resonated most loudly. at first, for obvious reasons. but if you could get past that alleged x-rated stuff, what was also made clear in that dossier was that russia didn't necessarily need to blackmail him. whether or not they had a tape. what was in the dossier was spelled out, a detailed allegation that there was a mutual operation under way here, that there was collaboration and coordination between the trump campaign and the russians. yes, during the election, as the russians tried to hurt hillary clinton and her chances in the election. but that was the product of a long-standing years-long relationship between the russians and donald trump. quoting from the dossier. quote, the russian authorities had been cultivating donald trump for at least five years. quote, trump and his inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence on the kremlin. in terms of specifics, the kremlin has been feeding trump and his team va

and now he is being cornered on the russia investigation. and that's where you are most likely to have trouble. meanwhile we've got a nuclear threat in korea. and he is the person who has the power to decide how to respond to that. and i'm -- i'm quite frankly quite scared about in situation right now. >> as we keep saying no ordinary time for very good reason. vivian has agreed to stick around i'm coming to you after the break because we are changing topic to the guest, however and in our initial panel our great thanks. michael crowley, vivian salama, richard painter. terrific conversation. coming up it was 8:28 a.m. when the president wrote on twitter, no white house chaos. more on the other breaking story today, the short but not unmemorable tenure of one anthony scaramucci when "the 11th hour" continues. hi. when you clock out, i'll clock in... sensing and automatically adjusting to your every move. there. i can also help with this. does your bed do that? i'm the new sleep number 360 smart bed. let's meet at a sleep number store. so it on

1k0e7 of the russia investigation is as out lined by rob rosenstein. any links between russian associates and the campaign of donald trump -- here is what makes it seem so booed -- any matters that arose or may arise from that investigation and then number three, any matters within the scope of this next -- that's what leads from white water, as you know, to monica lewinsky. >> a key word you left out, though, and that's the word directly. with regard to an investigation, if there's doubt, and i think the white house is appropriately pushing back to say don't travel down the road of my finances. to the extent it's directly related, they have some latitude, and there is a sort of follow-the-money aspect to this. it would seem that bob mueller would be well advised to the point of the edges of an investigation, that it's not clear within his mandate, he may have to go back to rod rosen stein to get an expansion of jurisdiction. >> if it arises as part of the investigation -- which is to say, if you're investigating russia, for instance -- again, i'm not s

the president also brushing off the russia probe telling the crowd is much ado about nothing. >> the russia story is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics, that's all it is. >> molly: so much ground to cover, chief white house correspondent john roberts' life from the white house. >> good morning to you, the president's legal team is playing down this news that robert mueller, the special counsel is now working with a grand jury and has issued at least some subpoenas under the authority of the grand jury to seek information and testimony. the president's legal team suggesting its routine, as part of the investigation. i've spoken with every member of the president's outside legal team and some from inside, and none has been able to independently confirm the fact that robert mueller is now working with a grand jury, but ty cobbs who is the newly appointed white house council member, who is looking into the russia investigation exclusively saying "grand jury matters are typically secret. the white house favors anyone that acce