president. he never mentioned his political ambitions. it sounds like utter nonsense. >> let's discuss now with cnn national security analyst steve hall, retired chief of cia russian operation. global affairs analyst, max booth, the author of "the road not taken." and a coauthor of russian roulette, the inside story of putin's war on america and the election of donald trump. i'm glad all of you are here, but also, michael, i'll get to you in a moment but michael has some interesting reporting that's in the book that sort of contradicts what happened today, what was said today. steven, you just heard from putin, but you say there's got to be something because nothing like this has ever happened. >> first of all, just as a matter of how the russians work, yes they absolutely must have kompromat on a guy like trump. they will follow any guy of any