vladimir putin has navigated hard times well. ted an austerity program, allowed the ruble to fall and the bank kept inflation in check. putin is a fiscal conservative. >> the outward seeming ethic of wealth looks closer to dubai it's an amazing transformation. >> add to the economics, putin's secret sauce, nationalism. and it surged in 2014 after an invasion that shocked the world. >> bigger nations must not be able to bully the small. >> vladimir putin grabbed a piece of ukraine for russia. the west was horrified. >> that's the kind of thing adolf hitler did in the 1930s. we thought those days were gone. >> it all looked different through russian eyes. >> i have never met a russian that accepted the notion of ukraine as a totally separate state. >> many ukrainians deeply resented the invasion. ♪ but not russians. they see it as a revival of a deep sense of power and national destiny. >> putin has given them their pride back. russia is once again a great power. ♪ >> putinism is an ideology of social conservatism of anti-westernism

the fear of popular uprising. >> vladimir putin quells that fear with absolute control. is is what control looks like. in one of the world's busiest cities, the streets are empty for putin's motorcade. 12 million people simply disappear on putin's inauguration day. [ speaking russian ] >> in may, putin assumed the presidency of russia for the fourth time. he won the way he always does, overwhelmingly. putin's chief opponent was otherwise occupied. opposition leader alexei navaldi was arrested while leading protests against the russian president. most of this was not seen on national television. >> for 94% of russians, the main sorgs of ne source of news is television. if it didn't happen on television, it didn't happen. >> putin controls television. >> there is absolutely no critical words about have lavla p putin on the airwaves. f >> i don't see any checks on his power. [ speaking russian ] >> he is able to make singular rapid decisions, the absolutism there is unlike anything i've seen in russia. all that power has been propped up by an astonishing approval rating. at

in fact, vladimir putin described in detail how he felt betrayed by the bush administration when we firstith him in july 2009. we spent about three hours at breakfast. the first hour of that breakfast was putin explaining to the new president, president obama, all the mistakes that the bush administration had made. at the top of his list was iraq and they had him exchange about that. he said, look, you americans, you don't understand the middle east. you use your covert and overt ways to overthrow what you don't like. obama pushed back. he said, you're right. by the way, that really surprised putin. he said, you're right, you're the americans, what do you mean i'm right? he said i was against that war from the very beginning. i'm not going to do that. we're not going to be in the business of regime change. at the end of that conversation, i heard putin, as we were walking out to the car, he said maybe this guy is different. maybe obama is different, we've entered a new era. fast forward to 2011 and how to respond to what we thought was the verge of genocide inside libya. what's interestin

even standing next to vladimir putin in helsinki, the president took vladimir putin's word. let me remind everybody by playing this moment. >> my people came to me, and some others, they said they think it is russia. i have president putin, who just said it is not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. >> he believes vladimir putin over dan coates. that's where we are today. >> he clarified that to say i don't understand why it weren weren't -- weren't be. but he said it was a very forceful denial. so in the con dex, it is very hard to imagine that he just missed a contraction there but i am glad you pointed that out, what do the intell chiefs, can they work around the president? >> look, we can see them collecting information about russian involvement. that is why they're out there so clearly speaking about it. it is about a bipartisan sanctions. you heard them mention yesterday by someone at the podium about operations against russia. if we under take our own u.s. government's cyber operations, he ought to be involved in those operations. has he o

. >> so if russia is actually unhappy that trump won, then somebody forgot to tell vladimir putin. >> president putin did you want president trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that? >> translator: yes, i did. yes, i did, because he talked about bringing the u.s./russia relationship back to normal. >> there you have it from putin himself. it's not fake news. you can't say his own words. he wanted trump to win the election. and that may shed light on the big question tonight. why won't president trump call out putin for election interference? that's what a strong leader would do. right? instead this white house put on a display today in the briefing room. a display intended to send a message to the american people. that message is to convince you that this administration actually takes russia's attacks on our democracy seriously. so they trot it out one top official after another. every one of them pointing the finger at russia, which is all well and good, but obviously there is one person missing. want to guess who it is? president donald

if donald trump did raise those issues with vladimir putin, obviously, vladimir putin is not taking him seriously at all. what vladimir putin is listening to is donald trump yesterday in pennsylvania where he says this is all a russian hoax. if you are the president of russia and the president of the united states says it's a hoax, hey, we will keep doing it. >> let's talk about what congress could do or is trying to do. you have -- you talked about the deter act. there's a new bipartisan effort announced yesterday to slap new sanctions on russia. you have your own version of punishment on russia. this is getting more attention post helsinki. honestly, senator, are any of these efforts going anywhere? we're 90 plus days out from the election. >> that's the test about whether the republicans in congress, whether the republican leadership in congress is really interested and willing to protect our democracy going into 2018. they made some nice sounding statements. >> they don't seem to be opposed to what you put out. the deter act you put out with rubio. >> that's exactly right. we have s

saturday and look everyone is happy about it he is paid to all of a has the details president vladimir putin will be the guest of honor at the wedding of austrian foreign minister. and businessman milingo at the luxury venue that they'll be getting married up just to the south in austria president putin's expected to arrive by plane early morning on saturday he'll be then traveling by helicopter to the place where the wedding is taking place there is talk of a carriage ride also. going on but i think that might be more for the happy couple and not something that mr putin will be taking part in from the austrian side they've confirmed that the usual security protocol will be in place for the arrival of guest store a visitor of the stature of the russian president but it his arrival in his saying is acceptance of the invitation has provoked a controversial reaction lot of the press across austrian across europe saying what does this mean of putin's extended an invitation to the wedding of a cabinet member of an e.u. nation well what we've seen for in reaction terms is from the head chef of the

president vladimir putin will be the guest of honor at the wedding of austrian foreign minister. and businessman. and the luxury that they'll be getting married out just to the south of garth's in austria president putin is expected to arrive by plane early morning on saturday he'll be then traveling by helicopter to the place where the wedding is taking place there is talk of a carriage ride also going on but i think that might be more for the happy couple and not something that mr putin will be taking part in from the austrian side they've confirmed that the usual security protocol will be in place for the arrival of the guest or a visitor of the stature of the russian president but it his arrival and his saying is acceptance of the invitation has provoked a controversial reaction a lot of the press across austria and across europe saying what does this mean of putin's extended an invitation to the wedding of a cabinet member of an e.u. nation well what we've seen for in reaction terms is from the head chef of the place where the events taking place well he says he wants a selfi

is also on the invite list almost certainly he will meet with vladimir putin at some point during the wedding it's unknown of course what they will be discussing there but when it comes to relate the relationship between austria and russia it's certainly been far warmer than most other western european nations in fact a real look at the script file poisoning case just recently vienna was one of the few russian capitals not to expel any russian diplomats over that but while it's certainly a private affair while vladimir putin is in austria at this wedding it's very much a business affair later in the day for him it's unlikely we're going to see any pictures from that wedding of lot of me appeared on the dance floor beginning into the night because around six pm he's due to be here in berlin where he'll be meeting with german chancellor angela merkel and. it's all over there now it has been a month since the final whistle was blown on the world cup here in russia but the memories are still vivid for one football fan he did manage to attend the games and stay in the country for free he's

putting on vladimir putin. announced a new round of sanctions in response to the nerve agent attack in the u k earlier this year. the measures have been called categorically unacceptable. we are already seeing some market reaction to the ruble falling. paris is thew from brookings fellow. thank you for joining us today. how might russia respond. on details.hort have you expect russia to retaliate? i think the russians are going to calibrate a response based on what happens in a few weeks from now when we know what the sanctions will be. untilnctions will come august 22 the state department signaled that they may be will be at first and it a 90 day. after which they may become much more harsh. the reality is that there's not much the russian government can do to retaliate against the united think. there is -- they could potentially block for example the use of russian airspace for american airline companies because the u.s. is considering not allowing airflow of the united states -- russian funded company to lan

in light of what's happening between turkey and the us and the war of words, vladimir putin says herehowcasing a seizure of any opportunity to divide the west. he's taking advantage of the situation in turkey, it accuses him of, but the ruble has its own issues thanks to sanctions on russia. they were imposed on the us and europe as well as other areas of the world on moscow and russia in general. the russian economy really struggles. you would expect the likes of the russian economy to be enormous when you look at the size of the country and the power it has got, but in terms of financial power, the russian economy is similar size to the likes of italy. when you look at what vladimir putin is doing, he's almost cosying up to the turkish politicians and saying, well, look, you're having similar issues with the us as we are, we can help you. but the stark reality is, there's no way russia can have the financial power to help turkey as much as the us can but both have these sanctions and the sanctions are causing issues in russia. what the story is saying, and it's really hitting vladim

and to vladimir putin himself.ou saw from the panama papers and paradise papers how much they use foreign shell corporations and the anonymity allowed in rule of law world to shelter their ill-gotten gains so this is an important priority for them. >> does this show to you that the russians in the intelligence services there are on the attack for the 2018 midterms? >> i don't think there's any doubt about that. they'll try to keep some faint level of plausible deniability but i think anybody who's got any brains sees that plausible deniability as a joke and their real hook is that they have a a president of the united states who's highly reluctant for whatever reason to take them on in any serious or sincere way. >> at least rhetorically in the last 24 hours -- again in an interview with reuters he was talking about the mueller investigation and he almost subconsciously slipped in a phrase which seemed to equivocate on whether or not the russias are to blame for the attack on the 2016 election. he says mueller's pr

public pressure forces vladimir putin to think again. air canada suffers a massive data breach. thousands of customers‘ personal details are thought compromised. the president, the prayer meeting, and the plea for support. are american evangelical christians the key to november's mid—term elections? and reasons to be cheerful. why goats prefer people with happy faces. hello to you. argentina's government, facing a growing economic crisis, has asked for the early release of a $50 billion international bailout. in a televised address, the president said quicker access to funds from the international monetary fund would restore market confidence. the head of the imf has said its economists will act swiftly but it's a tough call for argentinians, many have bad memories of past imf interventions in earlier crises. lebo diseko reports. this is an announcement that argentina's president probably didn't want to make, explaining that he was asking for the early release of a $50 billion imf loan. translation: want to announce that we have agreed w

been reviewed yet, wolf. >> there was no meeting between senator paul and the russian leader vladimir putinalso told that senator paul asked the white house for that letter from the president hoping it would generate a meeting that he would have with putin. clearly that didn't necessarily work and those various ideas in the letter, those were ideas the white house says was put forward by rand paul, not necessarily from the president. so there's a little bit of confusion in these areas. we'll stay on top of the story. fred, thank you very much. >>> coming up, president trump's lawyers counter the latest interview offer of the special counsel robert mueller. will mueller accept or finally issue a subpoena to the president? >>> republicans endorsed by president trump jolted by very close election results. what does that mean for the upcoming midterms? stay with us. you're in "the situation room." your brain changes as you get older. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. p

not to expel any russian diplomats over that but while it's certainly a private affair while vladimir putin is in austria at this wedding it's very much a business affair later in the day for him it's unlikely we're going to see any pictures from that wedding of lot of media putin on the dance floor beginning into the night because around six pm he's due to be here in berlin where he'll be meeting with german chancellor angela merkel and. a fresh case of police brutality has made headlines this time involving an eighty seven year old woman she was tasered by officers in the u.s. state of georgia whilst cutting flowers she died she got shot like we have never really told her about stun guns or tazers and so she doesn't know what that is when she you realize what happened here is touching her heart. syrian born martha alba shar was cutting down the lines near and after school club across the street from her home the facilities employees called the police reporting the woman was carrying a knife three officers were sent to the scene and tried to persuade alba shara to drop the knife when she f

not to expel any russian diplomats over that but while it's certainly a private affair while vladimir putin is in austria at this wedding it's very much a business affair later in the day for him it's unlikely we're going to see any pictures from that wedding of lot of media putin on the dance floor beginning into the night because around six pm he's due to be here in berlin where he'll be meeting with german chancellor angela merkel and. a simple mistake in a news report has caused uproar on twitter while covering an opposition rally in nicaragua where c.n.n. wrongly accused a photo of a pro-government demonstration and that sparked a big reaction online some users noticed a flag in the background belonged to the country's ruling party moreover the demonstrators actually holding portraits of place officers allegedly killed by the opposition some of the people in the photo even chimed then saying that it was a pro-government rally against terrorism. it's all began in april with demonstrations in several cities against cuts to the social security system the protesters demanded the president'

then vladimir putin came. restore a decent relationship. it's not doing it the way it's being done now. start, the have a decent relationship, we have to look at russia with clear eyes and understand what it is and what it isn't. vladimir putin is not russia. trump is not america. we are too large countries. policy you any magic can pull out of a textbook. processng to be a long to build trust between the countries. the western powers were not keen on the bolsheviks. additionally, they were calling for worldwide revolution against capitalist countries. people were crazy about that either. >> you mentioned the helsinki accords was one of the key factors that led to the downfall of the soviet union. can you explain that further? william: sure. no organizedn dissident movement in the soviet union or eastern europe before that time. there had been occasional dissidence who were exiled or sent to psychiatric hospitals. it gave some moral standing to people who were brave enough to get together. a seminal publication was .ublished underground in

president vladimir putin will be the guest of honor at the wedding of austrian foreign minister. and businessman. and the luxury that they'll be getting married out just to the south of garth's in austria president putin is expected to arrive by plane early morning on saturday he'll be then traveling by helicopter to the place where the wedding is taking place there is talk of a carriage ride also going on but i think that might be more for the happy couple and not something that mr putin will be taking part in from the austrian side they've confirmed that the usual security protocol will be in place for the arrival of guess store a visitor of the stature of the russian president but it his arrival in his saying is acceptance of the invitation has provoked a controversial reaction a lot of the press across austria and across europe saying what does this mean of putin's extended an invitation to the wedding of a cabinet member of an e.u. nation well what we've seen for in reaction terms is from the head chef of the place where the events taking place well he says he wants a selfie

president vladimir putin will be the guest of honor at the wedding of austrian foreign minister nice and businessman. and the luxury that they'll be getting married out just to the south of in austria president putin is expected to arrive by plane early morning on saturday he'll be then traveling by helicopter to the place where the wedding is taking place there is talk of a carriage ride also going on and i think that might be more for the happy couple and not something that mr putin will be taking part in from the austrian side they've confirmed that the usual security protocol will be in place for the arrival of a guest or a visitor of the stature of the russian president but it his arrival and his saying is acceptance of the invitation has provoked a controversial reaction lot of the press across austria and across europe saying what does this mean if putin's extended an invitation to the wedding of a cabinet member of an e.u. nation well what we've seen for in reaction terms is from the head chef of the place where the events taking place well he says he wants a selfie with the

talk about how they are doing bidding and aiding and abetting vladimir putin pie trying to kill this investigation. >> beyond any one election or elected official, what they always want to do is grade democratic constitutions -- >> when you say that, putin -- >> when you hear witch-hunt coming out of the president's mouth ythey say, you're right. they can build a bond with the president and work with the president as an ally to thwart democratic constitutions and democracy is a good system of governance. this is consistent. having congressmen run around with secret leaks. this destroys the ability of our institutions of our leaders and appointed leaders to actually do their jobs, whether it's sessions today, it will be somebody else tomorrow. you see this conflict playing out for 2018. there is no plan to deal with russian interference or any foreign interference going to into 2018. >> is it fair to say that if someone is trying to end this russian investigation that they're doing the bidding of vladimir putin? is there any question that if a member of congress is trying to stop this

thank you very much. >>> coming up, russian strongman vladimir putin is showing off, once again. time, he's, guess what? fully clothed. stand by for putin's latest vacation get away. (burke) abstract accident. seen it. covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ mom: okay we need to get all your school supplies today... school... grade... done. done. hit the snooze button and get low prices on school supplies all summer long. like this case of paper for only $29.99 at office depot officemax. . >>> tonight we have a knew and usual look at vladimir putin. they have released video of him hiking through siberia. let's go to frank plight ton joining us live from moscow. what is the russian leader up to? >> reporter: he was apparently insiberia over the weekend. this was in southern siberia, a wolf which was actually very close to mongolia. you can see him hiking there. you can see him taking a trip on the wofr. this is something, wolf, that the russian president does from time to time to show he's very much in c

it is not hard to see why vladimir putin thinks he can still interfere in our elections and get away with it. the american people and the world deserve to know how much is how putin makes his money. if you want to squeeze putin and his cronies, went to follow the money and expose the assets so the corrupt individuals have fewer ways to ignore the sanctions. i want to ask another question following up on what senator heitkamp asked. last month, just days after president trump met with president putin in finland, the russian aluminum company section by proton-m courtney, received a sanction by the president and the commerce department. treasury reportedly signed off on this exemption. i sent a letter to the commerce department asking questions about the decision and one day later, the ministration reversed a tariff exemption. i was very glad to see that but can you tell me i still have a simple question, how did treasury allow a tariff exemption for the subsidiary of a sanction russian company in the first place? given that the tariff was meant to protect american suppliers? >> senator,

public pressure forces vladimir putin to think again. outrage from australia's aboriginal leaders, after former prime minister, tony abbott, is appointed special envoy on indigenous affairs. the community questions his track—record. i'm ben bland, in london. also in the programme: decades of conflict and thousands disappeared. one women's search for truth in indian administered kashmir. and women's wrestling conquers the world. we meet the new generation of wrestlers thrilling sell—out crowds. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news — it's newsday. good morning. it's 7am in singapore, midnight in london, and 2am in moscow, where earlier, russia's president, vladimir putin, tried to boost his approval ratings by speaking straight to the people. his popularity took a rare dive when his government introduced controversial plans to raise the state pension age. steve rosenberg has this report from moscow. vladimir putin rarely does this. a half—hour television address to the nation. it was an attempt to convince

romaine: it seems clear the benefit for vladimir putin. what about angela merkel? w much risk is she taking having a meeting like this with him? >> she is a very experienced politician and used to dealing with cretins -- putin. there is famous footage of her with him walking alongside her trying to talk to her and she rolled her eyes at him. she is capable of holding her own. important for her to be taking a leadership role again in europe. she has been busy at home with domestic politics, trying to form a government, securing her own coalition, the idea that she is the leader of the eu and driving before spore europe. this is a chance -- the fourth for your. -- force for europe. slammedresident trump the deal with russia and germany, explain how the meeting would not have happened if it was not for president trump. >> he is certainly a factor. angela merkel and donald trump have their own tensions, over trade, climate change, iran. things got testy in canada recently between trump and angela merkel. she is -- he is reported to have ,hrown candy at her and said you

and the friends of vladimir putin? consider just this item from the new york times tonight. the trump administration further eased its pressure on russian's largest aluminum company. less than four months after sanctions on it and its notorious leader were imposed even as the white house seems willing to inflict pain on american farmers and consumers with its trade wars, russian aluminum workers are apparently worthy of special protection. and that is special protection from donald trump. it is controlled by vladimir putin's friend who points out has been investigated for money laundering and accused of threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official and taking part in extortion and raketeering. paul manafort was very friendly with him or at least tried to be. he offered him private briefings. if paul manafort is convicted in his current trial or in his next trial, he might then be willing to make a deal with robert mueller and tell him everything he knows about him and many other

we heard vladimir putin say this. do they even acknowledge that that is patently absurd that the president is asking you to disregard what you see with your eyes and what you hear with your ears, or do they try to defend it or explain it or spin it? >> well, the president, as you well know, katy, has throughout his career, and this dates back to his time as a new york developer, has tried to create his own reality. he has an unconventional relationship with the truth. when he says things that are false he sometimes tends to say them over and over and over again to point where it becomes what he seems to believe and what he has done as a politician is a lot of his followers, his supporters believe those things, too. this one is a particularly hard sell. we just heard vladimir putin in response to my colleague jeff mason from reuters a question in helsinki say, yes, i wanted donald trump to win. i thought he wanted to improve relations between our countries. therefore, i was rooting for him. and it to have trump say tha

so it leads us to wonder what came of that summit in terms of the president talking to vladimir putin about staying the hell out of american elections. dana? >> dana: john, you asked director coats, i believe, about helsinki. you were there. >> i did. >> dana: you were there for the press conference and you said you wanted to know. and what was his answer? >> i wanted to know because the president said that vladimir putin made a very convincing argument that russian government had nothing to do with election meddling in 2016. so i asked director coats, who had put out a statement after that saying that, yes, they believed that russia did meddle and director coats said that he fully supports the findings of the intelligence community assessment. and that assessment was that russia and russian government interfered in the 2016 election. so, despite what the president said about putin making convincing argument, dan coats certainly isn't convinced. dana? >> dana: do you think what they did today standing up there as principles talking to the american people and to the world because, our

and so many people here view it as a bit of a political gamble for vladimir putin. at least five people have been killed and thirty three wounded in libya and made fresh clashes between rival groups local militias and al conny tribal fighters faced off in the streets of tripoli with tanks and pickup trucks with mounted machine guns several residential areas were hit by artillery fire and selling the clashes in groups to the un backed government but on course it has more on the situation in the country. if you've been following the headlines about libya you've probably heard a lot about post-war problems migrants human traffickers the french presidents attempts to restore order there except the war never really ended. in just two days of violent clashes in libya's capital tripoli the health ministry confirmed five and thirty three injuries but that's just another bloody footnote in a country plagued by the instability of a post nato bombing regime well this time not quite two warring factions the so-called seventh brigade and another group of hostile local militias t

have you with us german chancellor angela merkel has been holding talks with russian president vladimir putin here in germany with the crises in both syria and ukraine high on the agenda but with a key energy project also with the table there are signs of prognostic thaw and what have the difficult relations. it's their second meeting in three months and there's no shortage of issues for the two leaders to chew over . i mean if he said that in view of the fact that there are so many serious issues around the world we need an opportunity to find solutions we both have responsibility in germany but in particular also russia because russia is a permanent member of the security council so we need to look for solutions. solutions on syria will be difficult as miracle said there has been a reduction in the fighting but the search goes on for an end to the conflict but putin at least is talking about post-war reconstruction. still let me remind you that one million refugees are in jordan one million in lebanon three million are in turkey but this is potentially a huge burden for europe and therefore

the russians who are working on behalf of vladimir putin wanted to have the magnitsky act repealed. ed after my lawyer, sergei magnitsy, killed in a russian prison. unpleasant sanctions against putin and his cronies. they went in there and said we want these sanctions repealed. of course, the russians don't womto a meeting empty handed. they have to offer something the other side wants so they were proposing dirt on hillary clinton. so that was the quid pro quo. that was the setup for the meeting and everybody had something they wanted. now, whether anybody walked away happy or not is another question. but it's clear what the two sides wanted. >> i've been wanting to ask you this because, you know, since the helsinki meeting, you believe that this private meeting in helsinki between president trump and president putin, you think it was actually about you and the magnitsky act. why do you think that? >> well, i think that for starting out after the magnitsky act was passed, putin declared it his priority to have it repe repealed. that was back in 2012. he's been on a mission to get it

government under the spotlight of its foreign minister's decision to invite russian president vladimir putin to a wedding photographs had raided been released showing caring with putin at a wedding party over the weekend but now there's a video which has emerged showing the two sharing a dance and that has sparked an outcry critics say behavior undermined the european union stand against moscow over ukraine but vienna says put an attended the wedding as a private guest and there would be no change in austria's foreign policy position. public has been following that story and he now joins me in studio is a pleasure to have you here so pablo how exactly did the timea putin find himself at a wedding party of austria's foreign minister well first and foremost he was invited to this wedding by the couple earlier this year on a visit to austria and actually current or putin have been friends for the past seventeen years they met at a so much in slovenia alongside george bush back in two thousand and one i think the summer of two thousand and one so they will see how the friendship since then now t

that is a huge show of force. >> button this up for us, your bottom line. >> what does vladimir putin have on donald trump? and what went on in that meeting? no one knows. apparently, the director of national intelligence doesn't know. the core of the issue is what is the relationship between donald trump and the russian government? not just us in the news media but apparently the director of national intelligence, too. >>> there is more news we are following including new details about the alleged russian spy arrested as she was about to leave washington. sources say some of her tactics were so alarming that people reported her to law enforcement. also, today's surprising testimony in the trial of former trump campaign chairman paul manafort. we'll have details. the day after chemo shouldn't mean going back to the doctor just for a shot. with neulasta onpro patients get their day back to be with family, or just to sleep in. strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. in a key study neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17% to 1%, a 94% decrease. neulasta onpro is des

are going to merkel was particularly interested in finding at least some sort of answers from vladimir putin. so progress some answers nina we know that when it comes to syria to angela merkel actually wants putin to finalize a lasting cease fire what role can germany play in in syria and brokering peace there well germany does have a clear interest in avoiding a further escalation of the conflict russia is selling the world of the narrative that bashar al assad's and his they've been supporting for years has essentially won the war uncle mackle said earlier that she still believes that there need to be fresh elections but at the same time germany's interested like i said in not escalating the conflict further so what germany will try and do anglo-american has set those is she's going to try and talk to flooding near putin about a potential syria meeting in turkey in september where france and turkey and russia and germany who talk about percent potential solutions all right very briefly i'd like to go over to emily share win in moscow and really the north stream to pipeline will bring russi

since vladimir putin said that was his choice. >> yeah. i think it's pretty clear no one, including the russians, thought donald trump had any chance of winning this election. >> but that was their preference. >> no, i think what the preference was to harm hillary clinton. i think everyone thought hillary clinton was going to win and by helping trump or more importantly hurting clinton, that she would come into the office crippled. >> okay. >> that was i think their objective, not really electing trump. >> i agree. back to the fact that you're flippantly talking about the trump tower meeting, it doesn't concern you, just to be on the record, that a kremlin-connected lawyer was trying to make friends with, infiltrate, have some influence on the trump campaign? >> of course it concerns me, but that doesn't in itself mean collusion. collusion means the other side had to be colluding. and i think it's pretty clear the meeting lasted just a few minutes. no followup. >> but don jr. was interested. don jr. was interested. he said i would love it

that is the inconvenient truth, vladimir putin republicans won't admit. fact or fiction?have nothing evidence of that. there is one guy who is happy to hear those comments, vladimir putin sitting in the kremlin celebrating, what some in this country are doing as a force multiplier for vladimir putin's campaign, self-inflicted wounds. >> do you think it divides people? there's constant talk about whether this is benefiting hillary or trump or republicans or democrats when most people who have studied it and seen evidence say it was all about creating chaos so now we are having these conversations, people continue to run with this. >> b and hates democrats, republicans, we are all the enemy. look at the aggregate, targeting secretary clinton integrating her electability, they were trying pro trump and anti-trump protests at the same time. >> what we saw was they disabled a number of accounts they deemed to be not legitimate accounts. a lot of those were cited as people who were supporting the resistance or anti-trump account so lawmakers say it was traced to the russians so

would hope that president obama would have done this, he failed to do that, which is go after vladimir putin>> putin sits there, in complete control, and unfortunately we have sitting in the oval, way out of his league. >> president obama i believe was totally intimidated by putin, and putin sort of had his way with him. >> factually, president obama was very weak on russia. >> don't you think putin thinks that obama is a lightweight? >> when they're together, putin's either laughing at him or not listening or -- i mean, just the body language. >> the kid who's about to get beat up by the schoolyard bully. >> i realize that the republicans want to negotiate with obama, they should put on putin masks. then he will fold like a weak card table. >> i mean this president has been rolled by vladimir putin like a california sushi. >> jimmy: well. what a hungry, hungry hypocrite we have right there. [ laughter ] meanwhile, this is what president obama is up to. he was in johannesburg today. he gave a speech where he had some very timely thoughts on the nature of reality itself. >> we have to actuall

just imagining vladimir putin's joy when donald trump basically said i believe vladimir putin. >> well, right. and the russians have given us their answer ever since. their answer as to whether they continue to attack our democracy. remember, maria butina was wrapped up within hours of that press conference. we have facebook today coming out with this announcement about 32 pages followed by some 290,000 facebook users. we have the microsoft executive last week revealing that three midterm candidates had been targeted by the russians. we have every single principal within the trump administration saying usually unequivocally though not quite unequivocally that the russians are continuing to attack our democracy. the lone man standing is donald trump. and actually, i should amend that because there are two men standing who have an opposing view. both donald trump and vladimir putin. they're the only ones now on this island, lawrence, this island that's becoming increasingly isolated as these data points of russia's assault continue to mount. >> let's just look at it one more time. donald

said to be close to death but the french president will be discussing his fate with russia's vladimir putin today. and the biggest strike in ryanair is history leaves four hundred flights grounded during the peak of the holiday season more than seventy thousand travelers are affected. i'm brian thomas thanks so much for being with us we begin this program in spain where rescue ship with eighty seven migrants on board has docked after being turned away by italy in malta a spanish aid group picked up the migrants off the coast of libya now for those onboard the most hazardous part of their journey may be over but as our correspondent found out a migrants life in spain is often precarious. nothing is left of the d.b. is hot it caught fire during the night just living. in twenty fourteen city became to spain from ivory coast to find work he ended up in this slum near the town of. along with up to a thousand others fires occur frequently due to the flammable building materials gas canisters and forty degrees celsius heat. you know. many of you. know or good looking for. dream of a better life in

. >> trevor: he is one of the people president trump almost agreed to hand over to vladimir putin to intergate. yeah, so putin couldn't get him to talk but i will. but first, let's catch up on today's headlines. >> let's start off in europe where the french have officially declared war on leiphone. >> france has banned the use of smart devices in schools, children between the ages of three and 15 will have to sleeve their smartphones and tablets home or turn them off during school hours. students 15 and old ker use their devices. france's education minister says the law protects students from screen addiction. the ban starts in september and fulfills the president's campaign promise. >> trevor: that's right. french kids won't be allowed to have smartphones in school. but don't worry they will still be allowed to smoke cigarettes. i can just see their teachers like pierre, put down your phone an finish drinking your wine. but professor, it is a 2014 cabarnet, that was an off year. i don't care. we must get back to our lesson on how to pleasure a woman. (laughter) oh, and speaking of n

we have gone after the vladimir putin son-in-law. my own view of this is that when you see vladimir putin's popularity ratings falling since he was elected, that doesn't mean that change comes immediately, but it does underscore that the pain is starting to have an effect. this administration has been clear that we are prepared to take additional steps. there is an escalator or a letter of sanctions. we are aware of the additional steps needed to make a bigger point. if you look at our actions over the last year and a half, they have an escalator and progressive. we are willing to take the sets necessary to further penalize russian behavior. thank you both for what you are doing. >> the russian spokesperson this advisedsaid they were that there is no evidence of collusion. between russia and the united states in the election. so, they are clearly in denial. that continues to be their posture. we are hearing that their behavior continues. maybe intensifying 10 weeks an election in the united states of america. if that is the case, how