u.s. intelligence. then, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks are here to analyze michael cohen's testimony, and what the failed nuclear summit meanfor the u.s. and north korea. plus, actors ethan hawke and paul dano on their roles in the broaay revival of sam shepard's play, "true west." >> sam shepard is unbeevably funny, and he's a deeply spiritual man. and he's got a profound sensibility about america, and it's not knee-jerk macho. ha's many, many things.

u.s. intelligence community you know fish is blaming russian president vladimir putin's who would ring again i think and his russian tried everything possible to get to the november election i pod intelligence and there are. only three days after the intelligence reports a new classified document makes the headlines i want to be very powerful precise here multiple u.s. officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell c.n.n. that classified documents included allegations that russian operatives claimed to have compromising personal and financial information about mr trump this is a confidential report written by an ex british spy christopher steele on secret links between trump his businesses and the russians. it claims moscow has been helping trump all along with the regular flow of intelligence and that the russians have compromising material on. the main point of the steel dossier that there was an ongoing attempt by the russians to get close to the trump campaign is undisputed at this point he doesn't like the fact that the press said it but it is out there now mr president like go a

u.s. intelligence computed that russia did interfered.first question to you, sir, who do you believe? >> people came to me and they said they think it is russia. i have president putin, he just said it is not russia. i will say this, i don't see any reason why it would be. >> we have the president of the united states literally defending the president of russia. telling the world that his own intelligence apparatus is not right. that's astounding. >> despite stating that he misspoke the next day. >> i said the word "would," instead of "wouldn' t." people are speaking out in ways i have not heard before, not only american diplomats but foreign diplomats who were saying we can't rely on the president. >> to me that's something he would have to look into. the president had gone to great lengths to conceal the details of the private helsinki meeting as he has for each of the four private meetings he had with vladimir putin, leading many to ask, is this a bromance or something else? >> i don't like the term bromance because that implies there

u.s. intelligence committee, you heard chris stewart saying when it comes to russian interference in the electionccepts the conclusions of the intelligence community as opposed to the president who raised a lot of questions whether he accepts that conclusion. he wants to see every sentence, every paragraph, because it will help them better appreciate what the russians were up to in trying to interfere in the election with the aim of helping donald trump win the election. >> and he is absolutely right. no matter what the mueller report says, it remains the case that the intelligence community found without a shadow of a doubt that russia sought to interfere in our election. what we still don't know, we don't know the full nature of not only what russia did but also what, if anything, anyone in the united states did to facilitate their interference in the election. what the mueller report has done, even if he hasn't found anything that rises to the level of a crime, there's still lots of information that might help inform what others did in the trump campaign and what the russians did. so congress

u.s. and imposing sanctions against russian intelligence services. >> vladimir putin responded surprisingly by not responding. >> he announced he would not retaliate against the u.s. for posing new sanctions to interfere with the election. >> what the public did not know was on the day president obama announced those sanctions, michael flynn, had conversations with sergei kislyak. the russian ambassador. >> one of the things he said was basically don't react to this. hold tight, there is a new administration coming in and it won't be a problem. >> general flynn should have known the fbi monitors all calls with foreign diplomats to u.s. citizens. >> the duties of the office on which i am about to enter. >> soon after flynn was sworn in as national security adviser, he was questioned pi by the fbi. >> he was asked about his contacts with the russians during the presidential transition. >> he denied that he discussed the sanctions when really they had evidence that he had in fact brought it up. >> u.s. intelligence officials believe flynn made the same denial to vice president-elect pence. ove

u.s. intelligence always knew.hat russia attempted to influence the election. >> they've certainly sown discord. the russians have caused more than they could have hoped for in terms of domestic, political, upheaval in the united states. >> reporter: the attorney general's brief summary of the mueller report released sunday says the special counsel documents crimes committed by persons associated with the russian government in connection with efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. a campaign the russians deny. mueller reportedly says the russians used two tactics to sow chaos. hacking e-mails from democrats and from hillary clinton's campaign, which were then released, and running a disinformation campaign on social media. mueller previously said that campaign not only tried to further divide americans with angry clickbait posts on race and guns but even organized protests like this one against hillary clinton in florida and these two for and against muslims in houston. mueller has charged russian officials wit

u.s. intelligence. >> we need to deal with the domestic terrorism threat as a national priority. so far it's not. we don't have, for example, congressional hearings about these kind of things. it's not part of any national strategy. >> reporter: security experts say this form of terrorism is anti-islamic, anti-semitic, anti-immigrant. they say the common theme for violent white extremists is hate for people who are different. lester? >> all right, pete williams, thank you. >>> this attack is just the latest act of violence to be livestreamed on social media. it's raising new questions about how tech giants manage disturbing content that could inspire copycats. let's get more on that angle from nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: this still frame before the massacre is all we'll show you of the 17 horrifying minutes streamed on facebook live. police quickly tweeted they were aware of the extremely distressing footage and strongly urged that the link not be shared. but hours later the video was still visible online, raising questions about tech companies' ability to control violent

u.s. intelligence. putin himself was asked in their famous helsinki press conference and by all accounts this was an russian effect to help trump. there were two post-election rallies in which russia tried to sow discord. but during the rallies, during the campaign this was to help get him elected. >> given what's actually happening on the border with all these kids showing up and cbp saying their overwhelmed. >> we're going to have many miles under construction or soon to be under construction. we're building massive, many miles of walls right now. >> are we? >> we are not. this is the 115th time, chris, that trump has falsely claimed the wall is under construction. i don't make fact check claims about what's happening soon, but about what trump has done in recent months is try to redefine wall construction to include building replacement fencing. so if you want to define replacement fencing as a wall, yes that's construction, but i don't think it's a definition. >> do you think people understand yet t

u.s. intelligence. this of course happening against the broader back drop of a standoff between china and the united states over the technologies of the future and 5g is one of those technologies. huawei is a leader when it comes to 5g equipment and 5g for those of you who maybe have been living under a rock for the last few years, 5g is the ultra fast wireless network that is rolling out around the world and it will connect everything, sensitive data like smart cars an smart speakers and drones probably. so this is a really sensitive time and tech for the u.s. administration. and u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo even last week saying look, countries who consider using huawei need to consider the risks carefully, not naming the countries directly, but certainly a broader warning to u.s. allies like germany and canada and the uk all of whom are considering using huawei in the buildout of their 5g networks. >> more to come on that. >> greater context on just how crucial 5g is. >>> ahead, players and fan

every u.s. intelligence agency has concluded that russia did. who do you believe?n. my people came to me, dan coats came to me, and some others. they said, "they think it's russia." uh, 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. - really? you don't see any reason not to trust vladimir putin? the man was a top kgb spy. he'll steal the shirt off your back. hell, he stole the shirt off his own back. you can't trust this man. - the president chose russia in front of everyone. - you cannot cut deals with the devil, and you can never trust russia. - now, look, president trump is no stranger to criticism. right? but it's not often that even his closest allies slam his actions. even newt gingrich, former speaker of the house and swollen mike pence, tweeted that this was "the most serious mistake" of trump's presidency and that he must clarify what he meant. so, just like after trump praised the charlottesville nazis, today the president was forced to come out and pretend to believe something different than

u.s. intelligence community you know fish which is blaming russian president vladimir putin who would ring again i think and his russian tried everything possible to get to the november election i pod intelligence and there are multiple sources. only three days after the intelligence report a new classified document makes the headlines i want to be very perfect precise here multiple u.s. officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell c.n.n. that classified documents included allegations that russian operatives claimed to have compromising personal and financial information about mr trump this is a confidential report written by an ex british spy christopher steele on secretly links between trump his businesses and the russians. it claims moscow has been helping trump all along with the regular flow of intelligence and that the russians have compromising material on. the main point of the steel dossier that there was an ongoing attempt by the russians to get close to the trump campaign is undisputed at this point he doesn't like the fact that the press said it but it is out there is

u.s. intelligence agencies and that is what i believe george papadopoulos was caught lying about under oath and that's why he was convicted of perjury these are not unrelated strands these are all related to the underlying issue and by the way i do agree with you that lots of people are now saying that our intelligence agencies agree there was russian meddling in the campaign that seems to be a given fact why is it then that the only person who seemed to be disputing that was donald trump himself who publicly stated that he didn't believe it was so who publicly said that seventeen u.s. intelligence agencies must be wrong because he donald trump was right who insisted on a private no press no advisors meeting with vladimir putin around the same time look you can say that the special counsel didn't find collusion and that certainly is true but i. i think the issue is transparency here when you have a president who is clearly trying to not be forthcoming in the facts this is what you get that's why i think the best and the best antidote to this whole situation is full disclosure get the report

u.s. intelligence?> john: i don't think that's what he's saying and if you take the case of jamaal khashoggi, he and others in the administration have said repeatedly we want from saudi arabia a complete top to bottom explanation of what happened. >> chris: it's been months and you haven't gotten it and the senate has been calling for stricter sanctions and you guys are opposing it. it certainly would happen in the case of putin. he specifically said u.s. intelligence said this but putin says no. >> john: fundamentally in the case of all three of interestsy thel this is nothing new in international relations. >> chris: but forgive me, and you go back to the reagan years, as do i. ronald reagan, when he was dealing with gorbachev over the most sensitive issues continue to call him out on human rights and the abuses in the soviet gulags. he didn't shy away from confronting gorbachev with the tough issues >> john: and i don't think president tomei president trump has either. even in the tapes he played on

u.s. intelligence sort of apparatus and agencies believe that the saudi crown prince you know was responsible for that murder so this is more coverup of the murder by the trump administration in support of the saudi crown prince. has made we'll leave it there we thank you for joining us thanks now at least three people are believed to have died from an outbreak off pneumonia plague on the border between uganda and the democratic republic of congo that's according to the world health organization which says it's also investigating other deaths in congo suspected of being from the plague it's added pressure on health workers in this part of the r.c. already struggling to contain a major outbreak of ebola felix all traumas and at the mall is just that the world health organization in uganda he says everything is being done to contain the suspected outbreak on the ugandan side of the border. it's great consigning here in uganda because. they are already an outbreak. in the and these additional outbreak of suspected leg. good pharma complicate an already difficult situation from the uganda will wo

u.s. intelligence agencies say russia did interfere in the election more than two dozen russian citizens and three russian companies have been indicted they were accused of using online campaigns to sway voters and tucking into democratic party e-mails . so what about trump and his team some members of his inner circle were swept up in the investigation. former national security adviser michael flynn and former campaign adviser. george papadopoulos both pleaded guilty to lying to the f.b.i. about their contacts to russian officials. former campaign chairman paul monna ford was convicted of tax and bank fraud he was also found to have lied to investigators he's now facing a lengthy jail sentence. oh roger stone former presidential campaign advisor and a long time trump clear just like its president he's accused of making false statements to congress and witness tampering. and drums former lawyer michael cohen jailed for three years on separate campaign violation charges he since admitted to lying about a trump business deal with moscow in damning testimony before congress cohn claimed it was

u.s. history. so what do we know so far. russian meddling. in our twenty six to election our intelligence community has it right it was the russians we know that they know that it was directed from the highest levels. of the like. u.s. intelligence agencies say russia did interfere in the election more than two dozen russian citizens and three russian companies have been indicted so if you fall seven derek used to using online campaigns to sway voters talking into democratic party. emails. so what about trump and his team one by one members of his inner circle have been swept up in the investigation. former national security adviser michael flynn and former campaign adviser. george papadopoulos who have both pleaded guilty to lying to the f.b.i. about their contacts to russian officials. former campaign chairman paul manifolds convicted of tax and bank fraud he was also found to have lied to investigators he now faces a lengthy jail sentence. roger stone a former presidential campaign advisor and a long time ally i will not just by going to the road he's accused of making false statements

u.s. intelligence has come up with no strategy to counter chinese influence. and can only warn now that china could disrupt, divert or spy on data crossing through all of these lines. joining me now in the national security risk posed by china and fight over control the internet grid as well as u.s. navy now under siege by chinese cyber attacks, congressman matt gates. member of the house judiciary and armed services committees, congressman great to have you with us. this is an extra nearly disturbing report. >> it is. in five years the country has done absolutely nothing, effectively to counter the attacks, cyber attacks by the chinese and particular. >> president trump is the first president in the modern era to understand the fusion between china's military and strategic interest and the economic gain that they have played with united states for decades. china is not a friend and they're becoming a more dangerous enemy. but many reviewers would not know that today, don is actually connecting rural america to telecommunication systems. here's how they do it.

u.s. intelligence is not commenting on what happened in spain or on this shadowy group.hind the raid and if they did steal computers, what they took could be valuable to u.s. intelligence. >> the north korean embassy in madrid has been identified by experts as a hub of elicit activity. also procuring luxury goods aimed to keep kim jong-un's elite content and happy. >> reporter: another reason why western intelligence might benefit from the computers, a top official was posted to that embassy. the group has posted a statement on its website. neither confirming nor denying any involvement in that raid on the north korean embassy in madrid. the group asked people to keep the identities of the members secret. if anyone learns those names, there's no doubt kim jong-un's regime has its operatives tracking the group all over the world, trying to kill them. >> brian, there's been other cloak and dagger intrigue recently at another north korean embassy. >> reporter: that's right. in rome, a man vanished into thin air along with his wife in november. he has not resurfaced. if he h

u.s. intelligence community and the top policy or consumers of intelligence at the time. it's attempting to assess and understand the korean kid abilities in the war the time it includes a discussion in which the u.s. assesses that the combat performance of the communist forces is significantly higher than we would expect unless soviet personnel are doing the flying. that includes the real kicker. there are indications that particpation inthe air figh breaksts down into a proxy war between the u.s. and the ussr. combatas sustained between the u.s. and soviet personnel at the beginning of the war. the vietnam war is another chapter i -- is another conflict i spent a chapter talking about. my time talking about the 1965-68 time of the war. secrecy plays a different role before and after that time. it plays a role in the initial justification for the entry into the war, the gulf of taunton incident -- tonkin incident. secrecy underneath and was famously a way for nixon to handle antiwar sentiment. , the real problem was johnson feeling pressure from his right. that he was loo

u.s. intelligence. and of course all of this happening against the broader backdrop of a standoff between china and the united states over who controls the technologies of the future and guess what 5g is one of those technologies. and cow way cow w huawei is a leader when it comes to 5g equipment. so the trump administration has been pressuring allies to ban or limit or restrict the use of huawei in their 5g networks. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo saying just last weekend that countries need to consider carefully using huawei because huawei poses a national security risk. and if countries choose to use huawei, they need to consider the risks carefully. so again, not naming names there, but definitely a broader warning to allies like germany and the uk and canada, all of whom are considering using huawei in the building of their 5g networks. >> further impacting an already strained relationship. >>> and north korea appealing to the united nations security council to review all sanctions and resolut

u.s. intelligence organizations had advanced intelligence about what was about to happen to him so this is a story that the debt plays out both in europe now and at the u.n. and here in the united states and i think that the president trump amid all the chaos that his administration is is facing continue will have to continue to to navigate through this very difficult environment hundreds of faisel fighters defending their last pocket of territory of surrender to us by forces in eastern syria more than six thousand people have left the village of those in the past twenty four hours mainly kurdish syrian democratic forces are trying to push myself out it's feared hundreds of civilians could still be in the area near the iraqi border. protests are growing in algeria but its army chief vows he won't let the country go back to what he calls years of pain students have led the latest demonstrations urging eighteen year old president think out to stand out from next month's elections and a hayward reports. they've know no other leader than the one the country for twenty years. but there appears

u.s. intelligence. plus the democratic 2020 field grows with a new entry into the race and a laser focus on one key issue. and why joe biden is getting an ear full from the left for something he said about vice president mike pence. but first we're going to start this hour with breaking news. this has just come into us regarding otto warmbier. that's the american college student imprisoned by north korea back in 2017. later released and returned to the u.s., but he did die shortly after his return. president trump just thursday said kim jong-un gave him assurances he knew nothing about warmbier. the president took him at his word. now the warmbier family has released a statement after the comments from the president. let's go to hans nickels at the white house. hans, a lot of people on capitol hill including members of the president's own party critical of the president's statement. what does otto warmbier's family have to say about it. >> his family is breaking their silence and breaking with president

u.s. intelligence. >> i don't think that is what he is saying.you take the case of khashoggi, he and others have said we want from saudi arabia a complete top to bottom explanation of what happened. >> it's been months and you haven't gotten it and the senate has been calling for stricter sanctions and you guys are opposing it. specifically he said u.s. intelligence says this but putin says no. >> fundamentally in the case of all three of those countries, we have to pursue american national interests. >> meantime the president now blaming house democrats for his failure to strike a deal at the summit with kim jung-un. he says the scheduling of testimony from his former lawyer michael cohen opposite the summit may have contributed to the walk. today the u.s. and south korea will begin scaled back military drills. paula hancocks is live in seoul. i think this is important. the united states walked away from those talks, no agreement on the nuclear front, but the u.s. is downsizing dramatically the drills that it will do in the korean peninsula. and

u.s. intelligence to publicly report the number of civilians killed in drone strikes as the story. a new executive order from the white house is reducing the amount of transparency when it comes to u.s. drone strikes now the executive order basically roof vokes regulations made by the obama administration in twenty sixteen essentially the director of national intelligence will no longer be required to release information regarding un classified u.s. strikes and the non civilian deaths that are associated with them and that would be in areas outside of active hostility the pentagon will still have an obligation to report on civilian casualties in compliance with the national defense authorization act of twenty eighteen and twenty nineteen that was very clear in trump's executive order now this is certainly not the first time that donald trump has indicated frustration with the level of information related to military activities that has been made public with fighting wars and they're doing reports and releasing it to the public the public believes the enemy the enemy reach those repo

muller's indictment of twelve russian military intelligence officers conspiring to interfere with the two thousand and sixteen u.s. presidential election to benefit. implicated russia at the highest level. the indictment of a dozen russian g.r.u. intelligence officers in july twenty eight in was a kind of turning point the election interference is now a fact of law as far as the united states is concerned and it is not something that the president can dismiss it is in fact a state operation by a hostile foreign power that i see is good with words when you go to the new usual is the easy bit so when you showed me to give neutering you do look would let me put it says. at a question just now president putin denied having anything to do with the election your fair answer twenty sixteen every u.s. intelligence agency has concluded that russia did my first question for you sir is who do you believe my people came to me they said they think it's russia i have president putin and he just said it's not russian i will say this i don't see any reason why it would be so i have great confidence in my intelligence people but

u.s. intelligence community unanimously reported that, quote, russian president vladimir putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the u.s. presidential election, closed quote, and that, quote, putin and the russian government developed a clear preference for president-elect trump, closed quote. as a result of the important of this charge and the manner involving the president, robert mueller was appointed special counsel by the acting attorney general in order for the american to have full confidence in the outcome. this is why in the only other instance involving the appointment of a special counsel under the regulations concerning the waco tragedy, the special counsel's report was released in full by the attorney general. second, this resolution is critical because of the many questions and criticisms of the investigation raised by the president and his administration. it is important that congress stand up for the principle of full transparency. at a time when the president has publicly attacked the russian investigation more than 1,100 times and counting. among other things

u.s. intelligence and got no comment from them. state department spokesman said no state department agency had any part what so ever in this raid. >> sounds like there's a lot more information we're working on to get this rather mysterious development. thank you very much. to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the "situation room." you can always follow me on twitter and instagram at wolf blitzer. you can always tweet the show at cnn sit room. thanks very much for watching. erin burnett out front starts right now. >> out front next, trump tripping up his own party leaving the gop scrambling to come up with a new health care plan. is he hand agnew election gift to democrats. and asking for a court order to get their hands on the full mueller report, 300 plus pages. is the attorney general general, bill barr dragging his feet? >> pete buttigieg rising in the polls, telling democrats to keep the faith. let's go out front. good evening. i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, trump fumble, a republican congres

u.s. intelligence. >> we need to deal with the domestic terrorism threat as a national priority.r it's not. we don't have, for example, congressional hearings about these kinds of things. it's not part of any national strategy. >> security experts say this form of terrorism is anti-islamic, anti semitic and anti-immigrant. they say the common thread for white violent extremists is hate for people who are different. back to you. >> all right. that was pete williams. >>> joining me now is editor for the daily beast and msnbc contributor. chris, before we talk about new zealand, we see a lot of commotion behind you, even some smoke. can you tell us what's going on there? >> sure. behind me you can hear the police flash bombs going off. those clouds you see are tear gas. the yellow vests are the yellow vest movement. among those yellow vests, we should make clear there have always been a certain number of people who are white supremacists and white nationalists and who use that to exploit those symbols who are anti immigrant. it doesn't mean all those people are that way, but some of

u.s. intelligence reports, in the last year -- while they have not tested -- north korea has produced enoughar fuel for 5-7 more nuclear weapons. so i guess the question is, in effect, despite what you said, despite what the president said, aren't you accepting north korea as a nuclear a power? and haven't you, in fact, given a big concession which is that, in return for no testing, you've agreed to cancel major joint exercises with the south koreans? >> no, i don't think the president sees it that way at all. the objective of making sure that north korea denuclearizes is still the policy of the administration, and i think -- chris: but why does he say no rush? >> the fact is at the moment the leverage is on the side of the united states as the economic sanctions continue to take hold. there's no doubt over a protracted period of time that the time does work in favor of the proliferater. but i think our judgment right now is that time works in the favor of the president's position as north korea sees the effect of these sanctions taking greater effect. chris: just briefly, can you give us a