you aware that in february of 2017 vladimir putin himself promoted this theory of ukrainian interference in the 2016 election? >> you know, maybe i knew that once and have forgotten, but i'm not familiar with it now. >> this an excerpt from a february 2nd, 2017, news conference with president putin and prime minister orban of hungary where putin says, second, as we all know during the presidential campaign in the united states the ukrainian government adopted a unilateral position in favor of one candidate. more than that, certain oligarchs certainly with the approval of the political leadership funded this candidate or female candidate to be more precise. mr. holmes, you spent three years as well in the u.s. embassy in russia. why would it be to vladimir putin's advantage to promote this theory of ukraine interference? >> first of all to deflect from