Going to answer the question. Im trying to make a point of i know you are. The Energy Behind this hearing are what they are. Its not about you and not about mattis and not what were doing on the ground. Senator, you know, you went through a long litany of statements but let me give you first of all, i will tell you, i talked to the same allies you do. I speak to their Foreign Ministers directly. It is the case that they are behaving directly today. Theres no doubt about that. They are now scrambling to make sure that they are fully part of nato. Some of that is a result of the statements that you referred to, senator. Some of that is identifying i actually agree with that. I agree with that. Well, there you go ill let the record reflect ill say some of the actions. Some of the statements achieve important policy outcomes for the United States of america. Some of them do. Yep. And some of them are very damaging. Senator merkley. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Secretary. So in response to senators question of new start, i wanted to follow up a little bit. Both United States and russia came into compliance in february 2018. Met the deadline on deployed Nuclear Warheads and but my impression from your dialogue was that u. S. Does not yet have a position on whether to work to extend the new start agreement past 2021. Thats correct. Were very hopeful to achieve we view them they are individual agreements as a legal matter and they can be worked on independently but the deterrence model, the underpinnings, the frame work of these Nuclear Agreements are connected whether they be things covered by new start, things covered by the inf treaty, other provisions and trying to do in it a holistic way. Thank you. I can anticipate its something you and your team working on in the year aheadseting the groundwork for understanding the options there. Thank you. So russia oil tankers reportedly supplied fuel to north korea via sea transfer for several times in 2017. President trump made a reference in which he talked about saying that what chinas helping us with russia is denting. And then he said specifically also russia is not helping us at all with north korea. Did this issue of russia bypassing the u. N. Sanctions come up in the conversation between president putin and President Trump . I believe President Trump has talked about this. In fact, russias commitment to help us achieve denuclear sooigs of north korea did come up. They did discuss it. And the centrality of continuing to enforce the u. N. Security council resolutions, resolutions that the russians voted for raised between the two of them. I heard in a subsequent meeting at which i was present Vladimir Putin reiterate his commitment to doing each of those two things. And to follow up on your conversation with tim kaine about the communique from the singapore summit and the details this need to be worked out in regard to having a survey to just the starting point, if you will, of a detailed nuclear agreement, when you have an Agreement Regarding the details of how such a survey of north korean missiles, Nuclear Materials and so forth, will you brief this committee on what . Senator, im sure well be able to share some elements of that with you. Im harkening back to the iran agreement, the jcpoa and had a declaration they knew was false. That is the administration knew did not reflect accurately the history of the iranian weapons program. I promise you i wont do that. I promise you i wont lie about the contents of the declaration. Well acknowledge that if theyre wrong. But ill have to think through precisely how to share that information. I have a commitment not to allow a false declaration to form a pillar of a nuclear agreement. Well, certainly the way it did. We are privy not just to a briefing but the documents and details. And so, we had that standard. In fact, those were made public, as well. Would you expect to meet those two standards essentially of when the agreement is complete, yes. I thought you were saying during the process. I think they were made public at the time that the legislation was being considered and when the agreement was final. We hope to bring this agreement to congress and it is, of course, the case that you would need to see the underpinnings of that agreement and part of that would be the probably a series of declarations associated with that. It did bother me some that because those details not worked out yet that the president consider conceded to setting aside the joint xexercises with south korea. What are the leaders briefed in advance of that announcement . Senator, i leave that to the department of defense to answer. That would have been between military channels. President trump blamed poor relations with russia on u. S. Foolishness and im surprised he blamed u. S. Foolishness rather than russian annexation of crimea, of their occupation of Eastern Ukraine, of their attacks on individuals in britain, their support of the Syrian Government using barrel bombs and gas on its own people and given that russias significant cyber attack on our elections. Do you believe that the poor relations with russia is a result of u. S. Foolishness . Senator, i think there are countless reasons you identified you identified several. I could go on about the reason that we find ourselves in this place with Vladimir Putin and his regime today. Not a good place to be sure. A place the president is working to develop a relationship to try to and reconfigure at least at the level of making sure they understand each other and know how each other are thinking about the problem set. I think thats important and appropriate. And okay. Hopeful hes successful in this. Its a nice essay. Didnt answer my question but ill go on. The president said theres no longer a Nuclear Threat of north korea and we can all sleep well. Given that we dont yet have an agreement on even surveying the stockpile of what north korea has, or an agreement on eliminating their weapons or mismi missiles or an agreement on verification strategies, shouldnt we more accurately approach this from the viewpoint that there is still a Nuclear Threat from north korea . The president s teams working to eliminate it but its a Nuclear Threat as of today . Yes. I think the president would agree that the primary systems that threaten america exist. I think his comment was that the tension has been greatly reduced. Were at a point where ill take that a miscalculation. I have 20 seconds. On a completely different topic, fortify rights, Human Rights Group that traveled to burma documented atrocities and seen from elsewhere and we have the report that senator brownback our ambassador on religious freedom is making. Is it time for the senate to act on the sanctions against the Burmese Military we passed out . Ill leave to senators to decide if its time for the senate to act. The underpinnings you describe, the atrocities you describe are very real. I would say this is the type of thing where executive leadership makes a difference in giving direction to this body and so thats why i was seeking your and the president s opinion whether its time to send a strong message against such ethnic cleansing and genocide. Can we expect such a leadership from the president or yourself . I remember what secretary tillerson did before me on this issue. You can be sure that well be serious and lead on this important issue. Thank you. Thank you. Senator young. Mr. Secretary, thank you. I appreciate your stamina. You have been here for quite a while. I want to let you know how much i appreciate i have to say since you have taken this position, the interaction of our office with the staff and you individually markedly improved and im appreciative of that. One of the axioms of diplomatic or military strategy is it you want do unite your allies and divide your enemies. And as i see it this is one of the thing that is Vladimir Putin has been succeeding in doing. He seeks to divide and weaken nato, for example. He wants to divide the american people. And the more we make russias meddling in our own elections a partisan issue i think the more we play into putins hands. The Intelligence Community has been clear and consistent. Russia did indeed meddle in our elections. So i think we need to stand together as americans, not as republicans or democrats, with respect to this issue. What are your thoughts on this matter, mr. Secretary . Senator, i think it is the case that the soviet union and now russias efforts to undermine western democracy are long and continuous. I think they occurred in 2016. I am confident that the russians are endeavoring to divide, to separate us from our allies, to create space to find partners for themselves around the world and the same way will go out and work diligently with allies. I always think that having a united United States, folks who come at these problems with seriousness and thoughtfulness towards a shared goal increase it is likelihood of america prevailing against these challenges. I happen to agree with you and i just hope that my colleagues and i will adopt a tone and approach to this very serious issue which impacts all americans in recognition of everything you just said. So mr. Secretary, just about an hour ago President Trump convened a joint press conference with the president of the european commission, Jeanclaude Juncker and the president and both the president s announced to launch a bilateral u. S. eu set of negotiations to reduce tariffs, increasing Economic Cooperation between the eu and the United States and working together to counter the predatory economic practices that we have seen from countries like china. I cant tell you how encouraged i am by this. I think with our collective leverage brought to bear, maybe ultimately pulling in other g7 countries like the japanese. We have a real possibility of reducing the intellectual property theft, reducing the incidents of joint technology, force Technology Transfer of stateowned enterprises, dumping things in our economy, precisely the objectives i know the administration has. So do you agree that the United States moving forward has to prioritize a trade dialogue with the eu in order to eliminate current retaliatory tariffs on farmers and manufacturers in places like indiana as well as to effectively combat chinas nefarious activities . Yes, dont forget kansas farmers, too. So i didnt i didnt have the benefit of seeing the press conference. I was sitting here. I didnt see the announcement or what they said. I know this is something President Trump was trying to accomplish in the conversations with mr. Juncker. Look. The president has been clear with respect to trade policy. Europeans wont accept our agriculture products. He is trying to drive to zero, zero, zero. Thats the place hes trying to get the whole world and confident where when we get there, americans will outcompete the rest of the world, whether its manufacturers or innovators or farmers or all of the above theyll ultimately be very successful and Wealth Creation not only in the states but elsewhere, as well. Well, ill just add that i find this effort of working cooperatively with the eu and other Major Economies as coherent and workable if were trying to really address the greatest challenges which is those seen by the state capitalist countries, china being the worst offender. I dont have as much clarity with respect to the trade strategy as i would like to. Thats one of the reasons i keep emphasizing i think we need a written one as we have a National Security strategy and very appreciative of President Trumps announcement today. Lastly, mr. Secretary, id like to call to your attention that my home state of indiana is home to 23,000 burmese americans and as i traveled the state and listen to so many of my constituents that are burmese americans, they reiterate to me three things. They express grave concern regarding the Burmese Militarys atrocities and want to see the perpetrators brought to justice. They reiterate a desire to expand people to people ties. Between burma and the United States. And thirdly, they express concern regarding the treatment of Chin Christians in burma. Now, i note that youre hosting this week the ministerial to advance religious Freedom Focused on combatting religious persecution and discrimination. As we appropriately address within that forum the rohingya crisis, i ask the department to also make clear to the burmese government that all religious minorities including christians should be respected. So, mr. Secretary lrks the department of state work with my office to continue the efforts of rohingya and encourage the government to end any policies whatsoever that treat christians as second class citizens . Yes, senator, we will. Thank you. Senator murphy. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Secretary, for being here. I associate myself with many of the comments by the chairman. I think that the administration, the president making up Foreign Policy on a daytoday basis. If you have a tiger by the tail, you have a difficult and enviable job and i appreciate you spending so much time with us here this morning. We focus on words from the president because our allies and adversaries listen and calibrate their actions based on the words and while youre right that the president about 20 to 30 hours did correct himself to say he did indeed agree with u. S. Intelligence services and not with putin, five days later he went back on twitter and said this. So president obama knew about russia before the election. Why didnt he do something about it . Why didnt he tell our campaign . Because it is all a big hoax. Thats why. Thats the most recent statement from the president saying that russias interference in the election is all a big hoax. So i guess my question is, why shouldnt we accept this most recent statement from the president as u. S. Policy rather than the statement that you referenced on july 17th . Well, senator, i i cant go through the litany of statements you gave. I have a list from january 17, june 17, july 17, again, july, november 17, march. Im happy to go through them, each of which the president confirmed he understood that russia meddled in the election and i could give you all the although i couldnt recount you but numbers of times i was personally with him where he told me directly he understood that. Indeed, provided guidance to at this time it was the Intelligence Community but i think he gave similar guidance to push back and catalog of activities the administrations undertaken to do just that. What do you make of the senator, ill leave you. You can speculate. You can draw whatever inferences you want for the purposes you so choose. Heres what i can theres no inference a. Statement of the president he says that the russian interference in the election is a hoax. Theres no inference to draw. Thats the president s statement. Senator, you are certainly trying to draw inferences of the american policy an im laying out for you american policy. And im happy lets talk about election interference if i might. I i understand let me just you draw a distinction of the president s comments and u. S. Policy. When im trying to suggest to you is that what the president says is u. S. Policy because our allies and our adversaries make decisions based upon the comments and lets try to drill down on a specific issue that senator corker raised and thats the comments the president made regarding our potential defense or nondefense of montenegro. Tucker carlson asked him a question. Suggesting that montenegro is too small to be defended and the president responded by saying i understand what youre saying. I have asked the same question. Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. I know youre going to tell me today that the official policy of the United States is to defend montenegro and the allies but can you understand why we would be concerned that the president would draw a question as to whether we would defend montenegro . In the end thats a communication to Vladimir Putin whether the president comes to natos defense. An attack on nato isnt a Russian Military. Disguised attack. Theres a question of whether the United States should respond or not. Can you understand why we are concerned about the president raising questions about the utility of the United States defending mon defending montenegro . I think the president s been clear and i can read you his policies and if if you refer to his policies or separate statements . Senator, you explain it to us. Senator what did he mean . Senator, the policies are themselves statements, as well. Indeed, the most important statements that the administration makes. Well, policies are statements and statements are policies. No, thats not true. Absolutely not true. People make i make lots of statements. Theyre not u. S. Policy. The president says things that the president makes comments in certain places. We have a National Security council. We meet, lay out strategies, develop policies. How do i know the difference of a president ial statement not a policy and senator, heres what you should look at. Compare compare the following. Barack obama speaking tough on russia and doing nothing. Thats not true. I understand you want to rewrite the obama policy on russia thats not true. You organized lets go task for task. Putting a comprehensive unprecedented set of sanctions on russia. So the man said he would have more flexibility after my question isnt about i know you want to turn no. I just want to look of facts of policy. Trying to get to u. S. Policy. It whees i do. Im americas chief diplomat on policy. I think you have been dealt a tough hand and do a credible job with it. Let me turn i just let me ask a less adversarial question to end with. I think one of the you said two very important things on north korea. You said that they have agreed to denuclearize and that they understand our definition of denuclearization. Thats correct. Whats most important is that the two statements link, that they have agreed to denuclearize according to our definition s. That your testimony today . The definition was set forward and denuclearization was agreed to. I dont know what else to i dont know how else to im trying to understand. Im trying to articulate whats been agreed to. We made clear what we viewed as the scope of denuclearization. Its not different than the korean and the north koreans said we agreed to denuclearize. Your understanding is their definition upon our definition . It is, senator, yeah. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Before senator isaacson, so in essence, the communique coming out of the singapore meeting, that is the sum total of the agreement we have with them . Yes. Weve also had conversations after that. It is also the case that they Agreement Incorporated the pen min jon declaration and incorporated previous interkorean agreements, as well. Singapore summit stacked on a series of agreements each of which is encompassed within the agreement of President Trump and chairman kim. You can look to the agreements of the things they have committed to. Yeah. And look. I dont think any of us would expect there would be a meeting in singapore and all the issues would be worked out. We understand it takes a long, long time. To get this all worked out. Senator isaacson. I spent all week trying to come up with intuitive, brilliant, incisive questions to ask you, recognizing how intelligent and articulate you are and i ran out of everything. Ran down for the first question and then by golly the president of the European Union had an answer. I want to repeat it r. You seeing consequences of the trade proposals of the president s particularly the 232 and tariffs being applied to having any impact on the United States of america . Yes. I do, too. And the reason i brought it up is this. Actions have consequences. And i hope the administration will look to the state department for insight and advice on the affects of the tariffs of tn diplomacy of the United States of america visavis the rest of the world. Ag is number one thing were levied of tariffs. We feed the world. We were the worlds bread basket. Pass the feed the world legislation. Well be in trouble without a policy to recognize both the possibility and the worlds need and foods importance in peace and security and not to lecture you because i wouldnt do that in a million youve forgotten more than i know but the proposals and tariffs are Serious Business and needs to consider the consequence tons diplomacy of the United States and hunger in the world so ill let you respond to that. Senator, i think the president appreciates that. I think he understands that the tariffs that have been imposed have a diplomatic impact. Part of my broader effort to be sure. Some of those things create difficulties and real opportunities. We have seen each from the sanctions that have been levied to date. And i know President Trump sounds like he made some progress today with the eu. Ive watched secretary mnuchin and the team try to use the affect of those tariffs so that farmers have access to markets so that we get energy sold to countries that refuse to take our energy, each of those things are important parts of the president s agenda to try to create wealth for ordinary americans. I commend the administrations commitment to zero, zero, zero being the goal with the trade policy but getting to that goal is going to require a good communication between all facets of our government including yourself and the state department. Yes, sir. On the impacts. That was the point i was trying to make. Yes, sir. Im sorry senator paul left because i was going to begin by saying i agreed with him on something and i dont always do that. You need to tell him i prefaced the remark. He is right about not being afraid of meeting with Vladimir Putin and the russians. Meetings with these people in my judgments are not as people profess them. I think more open to deal with one way or another the more it forces them to be open. So its really what the president has done when he went to north korea is all of a sudden kim jongun sit tong side of the table said im sitting across from the president of the United States and looking to me for answers and then the pomp and circumstance is all over, north koreas got to be accountable or have pressure to be accountable and i think the president s engaging the leaders makes an awful lot of sense in terms of bringing them out to surface and the dealings that we have with them. And i just wanted to throw that in there. I think its an important thing. Lastly, on bipartisanship, senator coons is here. Who, by the way, had a fant role in getting your confirmed as you know. We have talked about that. Im proud of my find chris coon and you and youre a great choice for secretary of state. We have worked together on state Department Issues and trade issues and tariff issues. On behalf of poultry in the United States of america and particularly with the South Africans. Who we cracked down the door here two years ago and now 19 Million Metric Tons of chickens from delaware and georgia sold to the south americans who love them and are eating them and it pointed out to me to reinforce the first statement of ag. We have such a powerful force with our agriculture productivity and the level to which we have taken our technology in agriculture. We need to use that as a tool for our relationships around the world and i know you want to do that and be a part of that and you can help us in doing that because every time we make a trade deal that sells georgia chickens or delaware chickens to the South Africans is good for georgia and delaware and america, too. Amen. I agree. Thank you for your service to the country. Thank you. Thank you. Im not sure if senator coons wanted you to advertise that again. Im sure social media account have a lot of incoming and explaining. With that, senator coons. Im thankful for the role you played. Thank you. I was grateful for an opportunity to just show a little courtesy to a dear friend, senator isakson in the previous incident youre referring. Ill at the risk of not being as gracious as i should be share when the senator and i met with the South African minister that meeting was to hear their concerns about the impact of the steel tariffs on a very Important Alliance that chairman corker and i recently were in sweden and had a chance to hear about them and their concerns of the tariffs. I am encouraged of the meeting of eu leadership and remain concerned that the closest allies around the world are getting the wrong message in a dinner last night with the canadian ambassador a large group of us there to try to reassure them. I do think that we should be corralling our allies and partners in confronting chinas aggressive, prolonged and inappropriate trade actions and avoiding some of the needless harm we have caused to close alliances. The point of the african meeting is theyre preparing tariffs that might shut down our access to their market. Im not here to talk about chickens as much as i do love to talk about chickens with my friend. I want to cite first thank you for this very long hearing. I want to confirm a number of senators have asked you pointed questions about progress with north korea, with russia, issues around syria and iran and you have said not in this setting. Will you return soon to brief us in a classified setting . Because theres a number of important and pressing things we havent been to address today. Will you come back and give us that classified briefing . Of course. Of course. Thank you. A number of senators on both sides recognized that you have got an Important Role in a difficult time. I want to upfront just say i was pleased to hear about the crimea declaration. I think its important for the administration to be forceful and clear about our position with regards to russias illegal annexation of crimea. I remember my childhood, there was a box in earn american map saying we refuse to recognize the annexation states of the balkan states. Today, the Baltic States are free, allies and we recently visited latvia and heard about their determination to remain free and take strong steps. Finland and latvia, the Baltic States, other allies of ours in that region prepared to invest more in their own defense and to strengthen their defenses against russian interference in the Upcoming Elections. Theres elections in latvia and sweden happening soon. What best practices are you seeing among our european allies . What tools do you think the state department can and should be using and how should we be doing as you put it everything we can to push back on likely election interference by russia to our vital allies as well as to our upcoming midterm elections . Its a good question. We, the United States government, ill my previous organization, intelligence world, did a great deal of work with our european partners, with the german election, french election. Trying to help identify threats and vectors, good, solid intelligence sharing. I think thats an underpinning so they understand the threats, sometimes americas better positioned to see them and observe them than some of the other countrys that are smaller with fewer resources and then i think its also important and begun to do this that countries begin to share the actions that they observe, that is not only the precursors and indications and what took place, to download so that we can begin to understand how to push back. I think it was senator paul who said earlier theres lots of variations on the theme. Right . Overt efforts. Call them covert efforts. Covert efforts. Influence operations. There are lots of methods of this adversaries, not just russia, can attempt to undermine elections and democracies. We have an obligation to the europeans and benefits america, as well, if we try to help them ensure that their democracies are protected, as well. I do think we would benefit hearing more regularly what we are doing to von vconvey whats happening to them and us. Frankly, i want diplomacy to succeed. I prefer an environment of diplomacy to one of conflict be north korea or russia. And youve been very forceful, even aggressive today advancing the administrations position. As the chairman said earlier, a lot of the tension here i think comes from the gaps between your forcefulness and clarity and what i perceive and many perceive to be the president s lack of forcefulness and clarity. If your written statement you say that President Trump has stated, quote, i accept our Intelligence Communitys conclusion that russias meddling in the 2016 election took place. And then you go on to say he has a complete and proper understanding of what happened. My concern if i could just directly is that our president has never made a clear and comprehensive speech outlining the threat posed by russia, strategy to respond to it and criticizing directly president putin for directing the attack on the election in 2016. More than a week ago Robert Mueller delivered indictments against 12 Russian MilitaryIntelligence Officers and how russia attacked our 2016 election. And one of the ways the president undermining the clarity of the that action by the department of jus stice is calling the mueller invest a rigged witch hunt or standing by president putin in helsinki saying hes uncertain whether the Intelligence Account of what happened in 2016 the more credible or the russian one. Could you please clarify for me if there are clear indicators that russia continues to interfere in our election planning up to this november, would you advise the president to rescind an invitation to Vladimir Putin to come and meet in the white house . Do you think it is unwise to extend the credibility and the prestige of a white house meeting without being clear about putins threat to our Upcoming Elections . Senator paul said and i agree with him. We should meet with adversaries but as president reagan did, be clear eyed about who they are and call them out for being adversaries before sitting down with them. Can you commit to being clear with the president in helping us to understand whether or not the president clearly understands the attack on our election . So ive tried to do that earlier today, senator. I think the president is very clear about that. It is i find it surprising that statements that are made, especially a Statement Like a statement for the record, i mean, you should all know the white house cleared that. Secret. All right . These are white house i uttered the words, these are President Trumps statements in a sense, right . These are statements from the United States government and President Trump is clearly in charge and somehow theres an effort to suggest that theyre not that. The statements that ive made today are fully consistent unless i misspoke which is possible after a few hours. This is the policies of President Trump were implementing. The core point is while your statements have been clear our president s statements have confused allies, encouraged adversaries and failed to be compare bring clear and im concerned a president of president put on the the white house without clarity, about his threats to our election, his threats to our allies, puts at risk clarity. I welcome the crimea declaration today. I think thats an important step forward but i urge you, if president putin attacks our next election, advise President Trump to withdraw any invitation to president putin. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator portman. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, thank you for coming back to testify again. You have had a long afternoon. I think you ought to do it more often. While you have been here we managed to negotiate a successful preliminary agreement with the European Union. You managed to issue a declaration supporting with regard to crimea. There was a third thing that happened. I dont know if its good or bad. The white house is decided to postpone the visit of president putin until after the first of the year. When i left my business it began to succeed, as well. So ill ill come down here. I think they wait until youre gone to make the decisions. No. I want to comment briefly on what you responded to. With senator coons on what tools to use with regard to pushing back on some of the interference and other countries elections. Id hoped that you would say the Global Engagement center. Because its a tool you have. And frankly, although senator murphy an i wrote legislation to give you authority to do it, you have more aggressively used that tool both by providing funding for it and hiring the right people than your predecessors and its precisely this sort of situation. I would give you the recent example. Very important. Which is whats going on with macedonia. You know, as they go for the referendum to be part of europe, these european integration efforts tend to be a place where the russians see an opportunity and engage in significant disinformation. Great opportunity for us to push back in the appropriate way through the Global Engagement center. Would you confirm to me you thought about that . Youll think about it . Of course. May i add one thing youll find interesting . When i was with my russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov he is aware of the Global Engagement center. Should be. He raised the issue with me. Yeah . When i met with him. I think it was when i met with him i think in person. As compared to the resources of the russians into tempts, it is minuscule as you know but it is significant and i think professionally done thanks to the work you have done and i applaud you for that. We discussed in april a need for us to focus more on Central Eastern europe specifically ukraine. Theres a hot conflict going on. There are people dying. And it is when you go there, pretty moving because you see how the ukrainians have had to defend themselves really for four years against russian aggression. And i believe as i think you do that a successful prowestern ukraine is critical to the region and the best anecdote to russian expansion in the region. I want to commend you for last week releasing the 200 million in military assistance for training, equipment, other assistance and we have not taken enough credit for what happened which is we said to make reforms and when i was from there in april i talked to the president and the speaker and then last month about this. I talked to him the day after they passed the reforms saying we need to see the reforms to Defense System and getting away from the russian system and more consistency with european democracies having a civilian control the military. They did that. You then were able to release 200 million. Thats how it should work, right . So i commend you for that. I think it makes a huge difference. Theletal weapons they have to defend themselves makes a huge difference and so the actions sometimes do speak louder than words and in thoes cases i think its important on the resolution which you issued today with regard to crimea, i was really happy to read it. I know that many in our community in ohio who follow this closely are pleased with it and puts the United States clearly in the position where we will not relieve sanctions until the issue is resolved and i would ask you today to confirm that the russians have a clear understanding that sanctions related to crimea will not be able to be reduced or certainly eliminated so long as crime 15 an issue . I think they did before this statement and im confident that the statement that the president released that will reaffirm their understanding. Do you believe the russians have an understanding sanctions related to actions in Eastern Ukraine along the border cannot be altered without the agreement and end of that aggression . I do. Theres a lot of talk about new sanctions with regard to russia and i do support us having a better bilateral relationship of russia and important. Were two Major Nuclear powers and support discussions. That are prepared. I think its very important that the statements both in private and public clear and consistent and i think that needs to happen from the president all the way down to the diplomats such as yourself and again i think you have done that. That was the issue with helsinki. In addition to whats going on in the eastern border of crimea and ukraine, theres a feeling about the severity of the short and midterm threat that russia poses. Espionage. Cyber. Information capabilities. Meddling in the 2016 elections and now in the 2018 elections, our intelligence communities seem to have a consensus around that including you in your previous role and we have sanctions in place and dont seem to be working. Yeah. I mean, that long list i just gave, they dont seem to be working. So let me ask you a question and this is not a easy one to answer but, one, why arent they working . Second, do you support new sanctions specifically related to the new information we have about 2016 and about 2018 . Interference in our democratic process. And if so, what kind of sanctions would be more effective . So, your point is well taken. There continues in spite of the work done, by this administration, there continues to be russian maligned activity. We have to use sanctions as a tool. You talked about Global Engagement center. I think there are tools we can use. In my role as a diplomat, we have a handful and we are working to do what i think it was senator rubio at the beginning of the hear is raised the cost sufficiently and convince Vladimir Putin that its not in his best interest to continue this behavior. That is difficult. I know precisely who Vladimir Putin is. I know his history. But thats the task. The task is for us. The u. S. Government. That includes you and the executive branch. To raise the costs on russia sufficiently that they cease this maligned activity that adversely affects the United States. Do you believe i do. In light of the new information . If we find the right leverage points to make a difference to russia, i think it would be constructive to head down that path. And can you tell us what you think might be more effective than the previous sanctions that have not been effective in accomplishing the means . I dont know that i have a great answer. Do you think its focusing more individuals . Oligarchs . Do you think its focusing on the economic choke points . It is it would be my judgment that each of those is necessary. The things that impact the russian economy are the things that i hear the russians most concerned about. Secretary, thank you. Glad youre there and we appreciate your testimony today. Thank you. Senator booker. Thank you very much. I guess im batting cleanup. I appreciate the endurance of our secretary. I know he had long days, hard days and grateful to question him. I want to pick up on the line of questioning that senator portman asked. It is important what president s say an you and i come from that school, i imagine, where you have Ronald Reagan clear, unwaivering commitment to standing strong against then soviet union. You say it in the next george bush. You have seen it in president s. So heres a clear statement of fact that the president tweeted out. Im concerned that russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming election, which is squint with intelligence communities, continuing to attack. He said based on the fact that no other president is tougher on russia than me. They will be pushing very hard for the democrats. They definitely dont want trump. They dont want trump. Now, that obviously was surprising to see given that we just heard from Vladimir Putin he prefers trump. But im concerned that the president doesnt understand that this ongoing threat is happening. When he came out of his secret meeting with putin that was shrouded in secrecy, he said the ripe is never worse than now because thats changed as of about four hours ago. Has anything changed in the russians attacks or ongoing threats to the 2018 elections . Senator, what i believe the president was referring to there, obviously he speaks for himself in that sense, but what i understood him to say was that hed had for the first time in his administration hed had a chance for an extensive, candid conversation with the leader of russia, lay out and articulate americas interests to him so that he understood unambiguously what those concerns were and to hear from Vladimir Putin what he mattered most to russia. When i heard him say things have changed, i think thats what he was referring to. It was the first time he had met before i have limited time. So i agree with senator rubio. Theres got to be a cost to people when they attack the United States. Not just attacking the United States. They have assassinated people on british soil. Intervening in western democracies. Annexing crimea. Hostilities in the dumbask region of ukraine. We passed legislation here, the legislation when ch you had an exchange with my colleague senator cardin about and i think you said this is the transcript you said. You said thank you for presenting the law. We really appreciate it. We think it makes it good sense. The president signed it, as well. We have passed sanctions under the law. And we have passed but we havent used all of the sanctions. Now, i was excited to see nikki haley come out and say we were about to put on new sanctions. In fact, the rnc got talking points from the white house telling their pundits to say exactly what nikki haley said before the United Nations that we were going to put on additional sanctions. But we havent used those tools in our toolbox. They said that nikki haley was confused. She said, im sorry, i wasnt confused. This was the step that the white house was going to take so i hope you understand we feel like we put tools in the toolbox but the president has shrunk from taking them and using the tools to stand strong against people ongoing attacks on the United States of america. Nikki haley said absolutely you will see that russian sanctions will be coming down. Secretary mnuchin will be announcing those. It said it will go to any sort of companys that are dealing with commitment related to so this is as far as my staff can find the only meeting with anybody in the g20 that has been a one on one meeting without staff that hasnt been details havent been disclosed. Its particularly troubling given as senator said we have a long history of this administration having ties to the russians. Whether it was maria butina who is asking a question with trump responding i dont think we need more sanctions. I dont think we need sanctions. But this goes on as senator just said. We have a president that right now sees that we have an Ongoing Investigation into the very attacks that the russians did to us that have resulted in over 80 charges, over 30 people being charged. People of the administration. People of the campaign and this is a president that is having private meetings with the russians. This is actually not the first private meeting that he had. He had a discussion and said what did you discuss. He said we discussed adoptions. Sit now, you havent asked i listened very closely. The last person to ask questions but you refuse to say if relaxing sanctions was part of the meeting that the president had. And so i find it hard to believe that we are a nation that is being under ongoing attack and you cant come forward and say you represent that we are standing strong against the person but we are not. The very president who invited some of this here and i quote russia, if youre listening, he invited the very attacks that we are talking about. What i want is we are sewing the same kind of strength that past president s have shown when enemies attack the United States of america. And you just committed that you believe more sanctions are needed. Are we to expect in the coming days that we will be applying the sanctions that the senate has provided this president in a bipartisan way to hold russia accountable and show them there will be a cost for their tax on this nation . I think this administrations record over 200 sanctions. 200 sanctions that are reflective of this administration with respect to our willingness to push back against russia. It is 200 plus. It is sanctions on one day and youre not putting them on the other day. There is debate and theres no doubt about that. The president didnt hire a zing l shrinking violet. We often disagree about things. Some times we prevail and some times we dont. The president called the ball over 200 times to sanction russian entities. Thats pretty strong. He has used we have complied and we will continue. I put this administrations work on sanctions against russia. Ill conclude. I will conclude with entering into the record the president of the United States on this. This is what he said. Disadvantages and hurts the interests of this nation. Particularly because it encroaches on the executive bra branchs authority. By limiting this it makes it harder for the United States to strike good deals. I agree with that. So well you didnt agree with it when you were talking to him. I could read this deal back. I put it in the record and i finished my comments by saying this is not a president using the tools. It is not a president that is standing up against people that are doing ongoing attacks that are continuing at this moment. Thank you. All right. We have been following the secretary of state. He has been grild over the past three hours by senators from both Political Parties as he try today explain trumps russia policy. I want to talk about what we just heard, dra plattic stuff. He is standing by. I want to go quickly to the white house where collins was banned from a Late Afternoon press event in the rose garden because the white house didnt like the questions she asked the president earlier in the day. You were the network Pool Reporter representing when you asked the president about that secret audio recording that the president s former lawyer made of them discussing hush money payment to a playboy play meate. Tell us precisely what happened. It is very very worry some. Thats right. I was blocked from attending an open press event because the white house did not like the questions i posed to President Trump earlier in the day. To walk you through what was going on i was representing the rest of the Television Networks during this spray which is what we refer to here in the oval office. We were brought there between the president. Both men delivered remarks and i and several others started asking President Trump questions. This is a normal occurrence. It is also our only chance to ask President Trump questions that day. He often responds to us. To give you a sense of the questions the white house did not like that we posed to President Trump, here they are. Thank you very much. Thank you everybody. Did Michael Cohen betray you . Thank you. Thank you everybody. Are you worried ability what Michael Cohen is going to say to prosecutors . Lets keep going. Are you worried about what is on the other tape mr. President . Thank you very much. Why is putin not accepting thank you everybody. Thank you. Lets go. Come on, guys. Thank you very much. We are done. We are done. Come on. We are done. So the questions i asked in case you couldnt hear them is if the president was upset and felt Michael Cohen had betrayed him by allowing the release of that audio recording. We also asked if he was worried what Michael Cohen would say to prosecutors. I also asked the president if he why putin had not send his invitation to the white house yet. It was before the white house announced they were going to postpone that meeting until next year. Now, after that was over the president did not answer questions. He said thank you. We left the oval office and later i was called into the office it was him and the press secretary who told me i would not be invite today an open press event here in the rose garden because they thought the questions that i posed to President Trump were inappropriate and inappropriate for that venue. I told them it is our only chance. It is questions any reporter would have asked. I was there to represent all of the networks and asked about the questions of the day along with the other reporters and my colleagues in that room. Because of that the white house blocked me from going to an open press event here at the white house that all reporters are allowed to go. They did not like the questions that i asked President Trump about the news of the day. It is truly shocking. You know, its really unheard of. I had never heard of it. It is an open event. Youre an accredited White House Correspondent. You did what youre supposed to do, representing the five Television Networks. Youre asked a question. Others did as well. Thats whapd what happens at every photo opportunity. The white house knows this. They reprimand you. They call you in for this meeting. And then he does something i have never heard of. I was a White House Correspondent for seven years. He blocks you because of what you did which was legitimate journalism. He blocks you from attending an open event in the rose garden because you asked questions they didnt like. It is truly shocking to hear that. I think all of our colleagues, anyone who ever served as a white house