Disastrous. But it wasnt the cias fault we started that war. The chief briefer for the agency told me on air that no one in the ccia ever told an Administration Official that iraq had Nuclear Weapons. He has in fact reconstituted Nuclear Weapons. Is that true or not . We were saying can you answer that question . Is that true . No, thats not true. Youre saying you made that case when you didnt. So theyre using your credibility for making the case as dishonesty, as you just admitted. Im telling you you just admitted it. They gave you false presentation on what you said to them. In some aspects. It wasnt them that took us into iraq, it was the Vice President s office that pushed for the hard war since day one, and it was john bolton from the state office pushing it all the way. When we learned there were no Nuclear Weapons, they wanted to blame it on the cia. I watched dana priest and dan millbank cover that for weeks, and yes, i watched claims of undercover identity in order to throw off their claim for ruthless war. Which dared conclude that russia messed with the campaign. Trumps response to the news has been to impune the Intelligence Agency. In a statement he said, these are the same people who said d Saddam Hussein had weapons of destruction. No, it was dick cheney. Mike morales said they never told cheney, that he ran with that himself. They dismissed the idea that russia was involved in the hacking, something the entire Intelligence Agency concludes. In fact, heres donald trump. I think its ridiculous. I think its just another excuse. I dont believe it. I dont know why, and i think they talked about all sorts of things. Every week its another excuse. You look at the story and you take a look at what they said, there is great confusion. Nobody really knows. And hacking is very interesting. Once they hack, if you dont catch them in the act, youre not going to catch them. They have no idea if its russia or china or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed someplace. They have no idea of this. Why would the cia put out the story that the russians wanted you to iraq . Personally it could be russia. I dont think it is. But who knows. They dont know and i dont know. The Top Republican in the senate, Mitch Mcconnell, was asked to do an investigation of russias hacking. Here he is. Obviouslily any foreign breach of our Sovereign Security measures is disturbing and i strongly condemn any such efforts. I agree with senator schumer, chairman mccain, burr and others. This simply cant be a partisan issue. I have the highest respect for the intelligence agencies. From the washington post, greg miller who broke the story friday and an Intelligence Officer himself. Hes the author of the plot to hack america. Senator kuntz, what do you make of trumps claim that the cia is not to be trusted . Hes just going on his own wits in terms of anything, no briefing, nothing. Its very disturbing as someone who is the president elect has very limited experience in Intelligence Matters or International Affairs says we should just disregard that russia is not our friend and all of the intelligence community, not just the cia, more than a dozen different intelligence agencies across the entire u. S. Government has delivered a message to congress that with the highest confidence, they believe in the most senior levels of the russian government there was interference in our democracy. Im very pleased that Mitch Mcconnell has joined with senators mccain, rubio and others in a partisan call to make sure we get to the bottom of this and that we respond appropriately. I think this is a very big deal, chris. What do you think as an american of the fact of the evidence now that the Russian Foreign minister over there got involved in the campaign and in this case trump won. What do you make of that as an american, not a politician . Chris, first, i led a bipartisan delegation to Eastern Europe back in august when we first got news this was likely happening. And its striking to me how many countries across central, eastern and western europe have already been victims of overt and covert russian interference in their elections. This is something the russians are doing all across europe. As an american, i think this goes right to the heart of our country. We are defined as a democracy. If we allow this to go unchallenged, if we allow this to go uninvestigated, and if we allow this to go without a robust response, i think were letting down america. Why are they picking trump . Why do they want him . Well, i think thats something we should be investigating more thoroughly. But his nominee, his potential nominee for secretary of state, just to give one example, rex tillerson, is someone who is such a close friend of Vladimir Putin and the kremlin that hes received a medal of friendship from Vladimir Putin. Im concerned that anyone who is a close friend of Vladimir Putin may not really have the best interests of the United States at heart. Let me go to greg. Congratulations, greg, on this incredible reporting. What do you know drove them . Do we know what drove the russians to intervene in our election on behalf of trump . The sense we have is that they were sort of trying lots of Different Things and then exploring lots of vulnerabilities from various parties and various candidates who were sort of equal opportunity hacking, and when it became clear that donald trump would become the republican nominee and he had a chance at winning, more was looked into that possibility. Initially it just looked like they were out to undermine confidence in Democratic Institutions or just a simple president ial vote in the United States. And then over time, it became more of a concerted effort to try to get trump into office. When did they decide not to release the hacked information from the Republican National committee as they had done with the democratic National Committee . Weve spent a fair amount of time reporting on that exact question, chris, and we have a story that well run tomorrow that will hopefully clear that up a bit. Its a little murky, but one of the Big Questions is whether they actually obtained a trove of republican material. They certainly tried. They certainly made attempts to get material. And if they didnt, there are questions of why they didnt try. A lot of Security Officials i talked to said the russians are certainly capable of getting into an Unclassified Network like the rnc computer systems. They dont appear necessarily to have gathered a comparable trove in this case. Its not obvious they had one and were sitting on it, it looks more likely they went after the democrats harder, got more material and put all of it or a lot of it out. How sophisticated are the russians at figuring out and basically plucking the stuff they knew would cause trouble . Well, i think the russians are regarded as highly sophisticated, one of the most sophisticated cyber adversaries for the United States, and i think, though, you see here they have a pretty decent understanding of the vulnerabilities of the american system, and in some ways how little is required to sow confusion if not dissent. Just the story lines weve seen even over the past several days, if these are true concludes from the cia, if theyre accurate, this must be deeply satisfying to putin and the kremlin. Because they pulled this stuff about donna brazil and palmeri about the catholics. I felt they really knew their stuff, unfortunately. In his interview with fox this week, donald trump also dismissed the idea of even having a daily intelligence briefing as president. Lets watch. I just want to ask you about your skepticism about the intelligence committee. You are getting a president ial daily brief only once a week. Well, i get it when i need it. First of all, these are very good people that are giving me the briefings. If something should change from this point, immediateliy call m. Im available on one minutes notice. I dont have to be told im a smart person. I dont have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years. Could be eight years, but eight years. I dont need that. But i do say if something should change, let us know. Free opportunity for you to critique what you just heard. I dont know what to make of it, because thank god we had the cia telling us in august of 2001 that they were coming to attack us in this country, al qaeda. Unfortunately, we had a president that didnt move on it, but he gave someone his pdb in august. Heres the president elect who doesnt seem to want the pdb every day. He doesnt seem to understand that the world changes on a very small scale every day. When he goes to sleep at night, if he hasnt read his p. H. Dossier or his 2059 zulu report at night, the next morning the world will wake up different, and he needs to know that. Although he says he can just come back to me when it changes, its constantly changing. There are thousands of Intelligence Watch officers right now all around the world watching this program, smacking their foreheads wondering whether the president elect of the United States is absolutely oblivious to the intelligence processes or he just doesnt care. You know, the medal of freedom dan patrick won in new york was wondering if it was a medal give ton Intelligence Officers overseas. It had to be done quietly. Weve lost a lot of spies who have gone into horrible situations, have been brilliant for risking their lives and sometimes lost their lives for this country. What do you make of this attack on the intelligence community, mr. Trumps, malcolm . I think its absolutely disgrace fu disgraceful. It would be disqualifying, but weve used that word a lot. I have six ive worked with on nsas wall of those who have lost their lives in the defense of this nation. There are tens of thousands of good people, men and women working 24 7, 365, to defend this nation and he discards them because he thinks he knows better. Right now what we need to know is why does this mans policy track with the kremlin . Why does this mans policy seem dismiss sie dismissive of 70 years of American Defense policies and strategies . Why does this man seem to have poor knowledge of intelligence operations which have occurred with the acquiescence or the direction of the kremlin . This requires investigation, and believe me, i certainly hope we get to the bottom of it. Thank you, senator chris kuntz, greg miller and alfred mann. What do they want from him . This is hardball, the place for politics. Diabetes can be a daily struggle, even if youre trying your best. Along with diet and exercise, oncedaily toujeo® may help you control your blood sugar. Get into a daily groove. Lets groove tonight. Share the spice of life. Baby, from the makers of lantus®, slice it right. Toujeo® provides blood sugarlowering activity for 24 hours and beyond, were gonna groove tonight. Proven blood sugar control all day and all night, and significant a1c reduction. Toujeo® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. It contains 3 times as much insulin in 1 milliliter as standard insulin. 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Ask your doctor about toujeo®. Share the spice of life. Hes much more than a business executive. Hes a world class player. Hes in charge of, i guess, the Largest Company in the world. Its been a company thats been unbelievably managed, and to me a great advantage is he knows many of the players. And he knows them well. He does massive deals in russia, he does massive deals for the company. Not for himself, for the company. That was president elect trump, of course, speaking about exxonmobil Ceo Rex Tillerson who nbc news reported over the weekend is expected to be named trumps secretary of state perhaps in a day or two. The reaction of tillerson could be greeted with a reaction between trump and the people on the hill. Taking shots at u. S. Intelligence officials is concerning, to put it lightly, to the republican party. The upwardly mobile report of the cia saying that russia may have helped trump win. They were given russias reward of decoration. There he is getting the reward in 2012. They fired the first shots over the weekend. Former senator marco rubio tweeted, being a friend of Vladimir Putin is not an attribute i am hoping for from the secretary of state. Senator gram said, if you received an ward from the kremlin, order of friendship, then were gonna have some talking. That would color his approach to Vladimir Putin and the russian threat. But that is a matter of concern. We will give him his chance. Thats what the confirmation process, thats what advise and consent is all about. When he gets the friendship award from a butcher, its something that needs to be examined. Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway defended the future secretary of state. Its not like theyre intimate friends, but they deal with each other through business interests, and i think most importantly, anybody who is in President Trump a cabinet, particularly the secretary of state, the fourth ranking person in government, that person will be in advance of the u. S. Everywhere. A former u. S. Ambassador to russia. Steve edwards is ambassador at large. What do you think of tillerson as secretary of state . Well, i have the same concerns of the very senators you just had clips of. Obviously, hes a very experienced ceo of a major company. Hes been there for his entire career. And with respect to russia, i know his operation and his people in moscow well. They did some fantastic deals. A 300 billion deal with ross neff, the Largest Oil Company in russia, and they did that deal because he developed a close, personal relationship with Vladimir Putin. Thats the way that system works. You dont do that kind of deal without that relationship. And until this moment, they were very proud of the fact that they had that kind of access with putin that almost no other americans have. That said, our relationship with russia is not just about energy, its not just about drilling in the arctic, its about syria, its about ukraine, its about the annexation, the illegal annexation of crimea, its about north korea, and im not convinced yet that he understands the full portfolio just in dealing with russia, let alone the rest of the world. Lets talk about this problem. I grew up where we worried most about western china and we worried about the satellite countries like north korea because they had Nuclear Weapons and they could go to nuclear war, potentially. What would tillerson do if the North Koreans dropped a bomb on seoul . These are horrible thoughts, but someone has to have them in their head. What do you do then . That said, john kerry has been trying to work with syria. There are going to be areas where our interests diverge dramatically and they will converge. If you drop a bomb on seoul, youre going to need russia and china and others aligned in an action. This notion that america moving unilaterally through the world is something to celebrate and boast about, its just not the way the world works. I gave that extreme case and i hope in our life times we dont experience anything like t but you have to wonder what a guy with gut instinct would do. But you have to have a sense ahead of time. Lets take something less drastic. He grabs one of the baltics. He just grabs one. He marches in and takes it because he got the wrong message remember April Gillespie gave the wrong message to vietnam . How do we avoid a war with tillerson, because stupidity and ignorance do bring wars, and failure to lay down the law ahead of time is usually what will do it. Your thoughts . Of course, well have to engage, well have to avoid that through diplomacy. I do want to underscore if youve run exxonmobil, you have a lot of experience with diplomacy, with people around the world. Thats important to say first and foremost. When we return let me finish with trump watch for tonight. This is hardball, the place for politics. Happy anniversary dinner, darlin can this much love be cleaned by a little bit of dawn ultra . Oh yeah one bottle has the grease cleaning power of two bottles of this bargain brand. A drop of dawn and grease is gone. Youthats why you drink ensure. Sidelined. With 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy to get back to doing. What you love. Ensure. Always be you. Trump watch monday, december 12, 2016. You could certainly argue they should have seen this coming, this stark break between what donald trump is saying and the truth which is out there and available for those who pay good attention. The stark break here is between trumps denial that the russians intervened in the president ial race and the cias assess thame that they did. One is right, the other is wrong. If trump has evidence to dispute the cias finding, he should produce it. If not, his contempt for the agency is not warranted. Why would the u. S. Commander in chief ridicule the very Intelligence Services hes about to command . I repeat what i said at the top of the show. It wasnt the cia who got us in that stupid, terrible, destructive war in iraq. It was the festering in the pentagon and the Vice President s office. It led to an uncovering of the nations identity and the convicting of its own number. I would like to think donald trump would see this, but if he got it wrong its his own fault. The cia did not tell us Saddam Hussein had Nuclear Weapons, dick cheney did. Including john bolton who cant wait to get back into positions where they can do more of this, more wars, more regime changes, more killing of people for the offense daring to be in their way. Mr. Trump, please dont let john bolton back into power. He will do more of what hes done beforeme. He will bring more like him to do it. Thats hardball. Thanks for joining us. Join us again tomorrow at 7 00 a. M. See you then. See ya next year. This season, start a new tradition. Experience the power of infiniti now, with leases starting at 319 a month. Infiniti. Empower the drive. Im not a customer, but im calling about that credit scorecard. Give it. Sure its free for everyone. Oh well thats nice and checking your score wont hurt your credit. Oh im so proud of you. Well thank you. Free at at discover. Com creditscorecard, even if youre not a customer. Why pause a spontaneous moment . Cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. 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She was a senior player, key player in that campaign, very close to the candidate herself. I should tell you that jen palmieri worked herself so hard during the campaign, she ended up in the hospital with exhaustion. It is just over one month since the election happened