infamous helsinki summit publicly we saw the president at least initially stand up for putin and take his side, his explanation for russia's interference in the 2016 election. so you now have the new democratic chair of the house foreign affairs committee. he says his committee is going to hold hearings into the mystery swirling around president trump's relationship with vladimir putin. morgan? >> the white house doubling down on its defense today. geoff bennett live at the white house. geoff, thanks so much. let's bring in your panel, betsy woodruff, nancy cook, and jill covin. betsy, let's start with you. the optics of this they really just aren't good. you have the president in the midst of this historic shutdown and washington post report saying the president had these hidden conversations with a foreign adversary. so given the damaging nature of this report and what we just heard from geoff, what do you think is going on behind the