Thing. When you say you have to go rest your voice, it could leave people with the impression that you want this moment to end. But when i see you in the hallways, you always say, if i dont banter, why didnt you banter . I did not say that. Theres thousands of people on twitter telling us how awkward and horrible our banter is. How horrible i am. I didnt know you felt it was awkward. I love it. Its an awkward turtle of a handoff. You can hear it in my voice. I barely have a voice. I barely got through that last read. I will say this, all jokes aside. I did want to get in the point about the baby because he doesnt like that. I will say this, your voice tonight is a testament to how hard you work here. Thats right. Which is appreciated by your colleagues. Thats right. I appreciate you, ari melber, every night. Katy tur, this is 90 seconds no one will get back. I begin tonight were donald trump under fire for taking putins side of the story, yes, again. If you watch the news, this is a recurring theme in a week that has seen donald trump walk back his embrace of putin in helsinki. Tonights problem begins with donald trump saying this. Is russia still targeting the u. S. , mr. President . Thank you very much. Make your way out. You hear it there, no. And last time it took trump a full day to backtrack. Today it was a few hours and the white house tried to take what you just saw back. Is that what the president actually believes . Do you understand the question . And is his position that no, russia, is not doing anything to interfere with the election . The president said thank you very much, and said no to answering questions. No to answering questions. Donald trump lies and trolls a lot. That is a documented fact. The question for america is how to respond. And his attempts to damage control this week increasingly inviting ridicule, like the normally trump friendly tmz saying yesterdays dodge amounted to trump, i didnt commit treason, i just botched a double negative. And todays claim was that no really isnt a no drew mockery from republicans. Do you believe it . No more questions. No i guess thats what no, it was a joke. I saw it. It sure looked like he was saying no. Thats consistent with what hes been saying, you know, again and again and again that he mistrusts our Intelligence Services and believes the words of putin. So that was a joke there, which wasnt funny because the problem is so serious, now to be fair unfunny jokes are something we know a lot about here at the beat. Meanwhile, tonight the president compared himself to putin in a new interview. You agree with u. S. Intelligence that russia meddled in the election in 2016 . And ive said that before, jeff, i have said that numerous times before. And i would say that that is true, yeah. But you havent condemned putin specifically. Do you hold him personally responsible . Well, i would because hes in charge of the country, just like i consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country. So certainly, as the leader of a country, you would have to hold him responsible, yes. What did you say to him . Very strong on the fact that we cant have meddling, we cant have any of that very strong to putin that we cant have any meddling, thats allegedly how trump sounds when he gets a safe distance from putin. Everyone saw it was a different story when they were side by side. And that is why i want to hold this up. Todays New York Times features something you dont usually see right here on the front page, a headline exploring a mainstream and now National Debate about whether the president of the United States is committing treason. It is common to claim that nothing matters. It feels like to some people in the trump era. Facts do matter. It was facts and criticism and pushback that exposed trumps border policy and made him partly cave on it. And now its facts, this public spectacle of trump siding with putin as the russian leader stood by and walked him out there and watched, those are facts americans saw and which have already led trump to at least spin and try to revise his position, however partially and ridiculously, and tonight it is facts that are also driving some to raise this question on the front page of the times of his alleged disloyalty to a nation and they want this interpreter to testify before congress to find out what really happened in this private meeting with putin. Those meetings are usually reserved to the utmost secrecy between leaders. In a moment the senator pushing to question that interpreter will be live here. But we begin with george will. His new column says donald trump is a child president kind of like a baby, with a play date with a kgb alumnus. And Michelle Goldberg who writes in her own paper that trump has a slavish and toadying impression. Mr. Will, i begin with you. As a longtime reader of yours, you are not known for being reflexively or automatically hypercritical of republican president s on Foreign Policy, although youve made your criticisms before. This is the first time youve used this language about a president in relationship with russia. What moved you to do that. What concerns you about the unfolding of a trumpmade crisis with russia this week, sir . Youre quite right this is trump made. The president is, and i want to say this as delicately as possible, sin tactically challenged. His sentences tend to explode in midflight. For that reason it sometimes is difficult to know what he intended to say. I think as a matter of philosophy, if you cant say something, you cant think it. The fact that a lot of what he says comes out in confused language indicates that theres confusion straight through. That said, it was quite clear, a, what he said in helsinki, which is that he did not side with the u. S. Intelligent agencies. And b, that someone, and i would love to have an analysis of what happened in the white house to bring this about, someone made him sit down and read a statement. He doesnt like to read. He doesnt like to read statements. But to actually go through with this kind of contrition theater after that. But then as soon as he was done with the contrition he began to say, well, there are a lot of other people out there. Again, a kind of verbal gasp that put more fog back in place. A followup, when you say contrition theater, your emphasis is on the notion that this was not authentic . Of course. I mean, this is i dont know if its the case as has been reported that some senior white house people, including perhaps the chief of staff were orchestrating pushback from the hill in order to get the president to do this. It would have been quicker just to go onestop shopping to fox news and get someone there to disaprouf disapprove of it. Clearly the president was either startled or his staff was startled by this pushback, and clearly someone in the administration said you better do this or there will be trouble in house. In house, right, and the notion that it could get even worse than what was widespread publ public. Tony, he said the president doesnt like to read. Youve been ringing an alarm bell very vociferously this week, and part of it is about motivated trump to act this way. Here we have a spectacle of Christopher Wallace who happens to be on a competitor channel, he definitely contributed to Public Information with his interview of Vladimir Putin. Here was the exchange with putin, tony, as Chris Wallace at fox, raising profound questions about what Motivates Trump to act this way this week. There are many theories in the United States about why President Trump is so reluctant to criticize you. And id like to ask you about a couple of them. One is that you have something on him. We dont have anything on them and there cant be anything on them. I dont want to insult President Trump when i say this, and i may come as rude. But before he announced that he will run for presidency, he was of no interest for us. Tony . Well, im willing to believe that he was of no interest until he ran for president. That makes sense. On the other hand, what putin does is exactly what trump does, or what trump does is what putin does, they lie for a living. So its irrelevant what putin said in that moment as it is when trump says what he says. Heres the irony about donald trump. Its very unusual that you have a person who, when he is impulsive and speaking reactively, he tends to tell the truth. Its a grim truth that he tells because it reflects what he actually believes. And when he is, quote, reflective, or when he takes time to think about what hes going to say, he always lies. Let that sink in. Michelle, i want to ask you something. But senator shahins office told us to get her on. Thats the situation. So the whole panel stays with me. Let me give context to what is about to be a newsworthy interview. There is a push to find out what trump and putin talked about in private. The russians have their own information. I think whatever mr. Trump said in that meeting with mr. Putin is now memorialized on russian tape and it will be used as necessary by mr. Putin against mr. Trump. Kremlin even claims there was a deal that came out of the meeting bragging about agreements in the sphere of interNational Security. Lawmakers want to hear from this trump translator. Its important for us to know what was said in the meeting. The interpreter is the one in the room who may have some of that information. We want the interpreter to come before the committee. We want to see the notes. Im not sure its appropriate to subpoena the translation notes. If it is, well certainly look at it. Im joined by the senator you just saw there in that clip Jeanne Shaheen who is leading the push to find out what happened. Thank you for your time. You have a very busy schedule. Nice to be with you. Why should this type of information go to the congress and potentially become public . Congress has an oversight responsibility for our Foreign Policy. We are an independent branch of government. If we cant get the information to do our jobs, then the American People are the ones who are hurt. So its very clear that were not getting a readout from the administration about what happened in that meeting. The interpreter is the only one, as far as i know, who knows what actually happened, and its not acceptable to have the russian government tell us what happened in that meeting. Its the Defense Ministry and russia thats put out a statement about what was agreed to in that meeting. Its just not acceptable for congress to take that as what happened in the meeting. Did you ever make this kind of request of an interpreter working for a previous administration, say the obama or Bush Administration . No. But weve also never had this kind of an unprecedented meeting where the president of the United States stood up and took the side of our aggressor, the russian government against the American People and our own intelligence agencies. Do you see this, then, as an exception or a potentially new rule . Because, senator, as you know, there may be many viewers who hear what youre saying, that this seemed really bad, and thus and thus is a reason to do something. But what if then all private meetings between heads of state are going to have this kind of this kind of potential leaking, wouldnt that be bad for u. S. Diplomacy . Look, i cant address all those other meetings that may happen at some point between president s and heads of state. What im telling folks now, and what i believe now is that Congress Needs to understand what happened at that meeting. We saw, as i said, an unprecedented performance by an american president undercutting United States interests, taking the side of russia, which is not a competitor as it was described by President Trump, but is an aggressor nation. Weve seen what happened in ukraine. Weve seen their meddling in our elections in 2016. Weve heard from dan coats, the president s own dni that theyre doing it again in advance of the 2018 midterm elections. And yet the president , in the face of all of that evidence, took the side of Vladimir Putin. That is just not acceptable. And the final question for you broadening out to i think what you just raised, and weve been reporting, and i think viewers have heard a lot about the theories, the mainlining of the questions, what the New York Times today was looking at as the treason question, do you have any reason to believe or are you concerned that the reason that donald trump did, as you say tonight, undercut u. S. Interests in this meeting is somehow elicit, is for some nefarious reason . I have no idea why he did it. But the point is, Congress Needs to fulfill our responsibilities of oversight of our Foreign Policy, and as a separate independent branch of government. And to do that we need information. Senator shaheen, joining us me between other activities on the hill. Thank you for joining us. Michelle your thoughts . My thoughts are that congress was remiss in letting this meeting go forward in the first place. Obviously their power over trump is limited. But there should have been a huge cry over the fact that the president was going into this meeting by himself, something that no previous president would have done and that basically the American People, it was known going into it that we were going to have to take either trump or putins word for what was said. And and why reward him with a meeting after these indictments . And not just that, but also even if you assumed, as i dont assume, that trump doesnt have sinister motives, hes now in a position where putin can say that trump agreed to anything he wants, and trump has kind of no way to argue otherwise. I mean, its just it was both it was just so strategically idiotic if you assume that trump in any way has interests that are contrary to putins, which is notless necessarily an obvious assumption. George, i want to read to you from your column, this is part of the newscast where we go into baroque news states. Jim mattis, john kelly, daniel coats and others might believe they must stay in their positions unless there be no adult supervision of the oval playpen. This is a serious worry. But so is this. Can those people do their jobs for someone who has neither respect nor loyalty for them . George . Well, these gentlemen are serious people, and theyre vastly experienced. And they have a very difficult decision to make. I think either way they decide it deserves respect. It is so say no more, interesting that the president wanted neither his National Security adviser bolton nor his secretary of state pompeo in the room with him when he was with mr. Putin. It is not within the power of congress to prevent this summit in helsinki. The president s powers in conducting Foreign Policy are almost plenary. But congress could have raised a hu h about Going Forward with it. Wood row wilson famously as part of his 14 points to remake the world wanted open covenants openly arrived at. There has to be a certain degree of privacy and secrecy in the conduct of diplomacy, whether Congress Wants to set foot in this dark and bloody ground of controversy, im not sure. Thats a fair point that i was thats why i was raising the question for the senator. One can see the overwhelming interest in this meeting. And yet we all know how precedent works, tony, if you go down that road, then you dont necessarily have a limiting principle. What are your thoughts on the larger difficult questions facing the nation, what to do about this, what happens in a situation where you still have a constitutionally elected individual here, and no way to address what many people, including according to reports, people in this trumps own administration viewed, as a cataclysmic disloyal failure of Foreign Policy this week . Well, you know, were dealing with an exceptional case, obviously a unique case with trump. And in any other situation you would imagine that the person would be immediately either impeached or in one way or another forced to resign for saying the kinds of disloyal things he did, and for arguably being a traitor. What i think is that the republicans at this point are quite clearly not going to respond to anything that trump can shoot someone in the middle of the street which is the equivalent of what he did, the equivalent of what he did, and nobody will respond, nobody who supports him will respond. So i think actually what you have is an extraordinary issue now for the democrats Going Forward, which is you know, i can see the ads as we go forward. Do you want Vladimir Putin as your president . Or do you want a democrat and democracy . And i would imagine that thats going to be a very, very powerful argument to make. Theres always going to be the 20 or 30 that are going to stay with him no matter what. But i have to say the number of people who dont want putin to be in charge of our country, or dont want trump to be a putin in charge of our country vastly exceeds the number who dont. And so all the only question really is will they get out and vote . Right. And when you put it like that, it is stark indeed. Tony and george, thank you both. Michelle, stay with me. Coming up, a judge today denying bail for this accused russian agent offering sex for political access in washington. The case involves the kremlin, the nra and the trump campaign, all new, up next. Also, new tape of Trumps Supreme Court tnominee blastinga law that holds president s accountable for criminal conduct. And this is a bombshell. A live interview with a republican congressman who has a different view on everything that happened this week. Im ari melber. Youre watching the beat on msnbc. Record of being prescribed for over ten years. Its the 1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists. 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Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. New tonight, a judge jailing the russian indicted for political activity inside the u. S. In 2016. Here is the agent. Shes behind bars based on federal charges that she worked with russian intelligence to infiltrate gop circles. Maria batina was in a Critical Court appearance today, she was in an orange jump suit and asserted her innocence. Shes stuck in jail based on new allegations and evidence. We are learning from these new federal indictments. While trumps putin summit has gotten a lot of attention, whats in here is fascinating, reading like a spy novel. She offered to exchange sex in exchange for a Political Group to infiltrate gop circles. In spy novels which is called a honey pot, sexual seduction. In these new charges its russian Sexual Activity alleged to be part of an effort to cultivate conservatives and progun Political Groups right here in the u. S. And these orders allegedly come from a putinlinked oligarch who batina told them i am ready for further orders. Thats a lot. We dont know if those orders ever involved what looks now like a very embarrassing exchange with donald trump himself, he may have had no idea in what youre about to see when he was speaking to this newly indicted alleged russian operative. I am visiting from russia. So my question good friend of obama, putin. He likes obama a lot. My question will be about foreign politics. Okay. Im joined by Tim Dickinson from rolling stone. He reported on this all the way back in april. What is this story about . Well, this has turned into a real life plot line from the americans. Its just sort of staggering. When we started piecing this together back in the spring we didnt really understand, i think, that we were piecing together whats now alleged to be a vast criminal conspiracy involving russian intelligence and Russian Oligarch funders seeking to essentially flip the nra and religious conservatives, you know, to try and reverse the gops hostility towards russia. And when you look at, for example, whats in here thats now coming out, a document uncovering a handwritten note that says marias russian patriots in waiting organization, how to respond to this fsb offer of employment. As for the agent worrying the trump team, Campaign Advisers wondering about these encounters, this is from bannon had a fully developed answer. Whenever there were events held by conservatives group, she was always around. Why did it not get farther than this earlier if so many folks were seeing something suspicious . Because they this is a years long effort to infiltrate right wing conservative circles. First her handler came over as sort of this eccentric gun nut and kept coming to the nra conventions and made lots of buddies there, including david keen, the nra president at the time. And so torsion, the squash buckling russian carved this path. And then they started having these exchanges with this brand new upstart gun group in russia with butina as the sort of comely founder of this. She became she followed in torsions path and became friends with all the same people. They got john bolton to cut a video for them. The tentacles of this thing went really far and wide. It was sort soft so slow and so convincing they invited these nra folks over to russia, lots of vodka, we all love guns was the idea. And then all of a sudden everyones deeply compromised. And this one guy american, the u. S. Person got especially compromised as we can tell from these latest indictments. Its an extraordinary set of allegations, as always, they remain just allegations because they havent been proven in court yet. But they do have some evidence and you had reporting to begin it all off. Its extraordinary, Tim Dickinson, thank you so much. Up ahead, how are republicans defending trump on russia . And first, very important, donald Trumps Supreme Court pick under fire for some new tape. Were back in just 30 seconds. man 1 i read that the saguaro can live to be two hundred years old. woman how old do you think that one is . man 1 my guess would be, about. man 2 id say about two hundred. man 1 yeah. burke gives houseplant a whole new meaning. And we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum as the white house is fighting off this Foreign Policy crisis of trumps making, here at home his potentially pivotal Supreme Court pick under new fire for a newly unearthed tape, from 2016. Judge Brett Kavanaugh doing something that judges actually rarely do, he volunteers a Supreme Court ruling thats on the books that he personally says he wants overturned. Guess what . Its exactly the kind of case that trump and giuliani would love to see overturned, a case that makes a white house subject to tough criminal investigations. The case morrison v olson. Can you think of a case that deserves to be overturned . Yes. Actually, im going to say one, morrison v. Olson. Thats the independent counsel statute case. Its been effectively overruled, but i would put the final nail in. That is a nail that just about any incumbent president would like. Democrats, though, are arguing hes showing partisanship because he operated under that law to go after a democratic president. And at the time when he was investigating bill clinton he wrote, he was, quote, strongly opposed to giving the president any break. Im joined now by attorney vince warren, as well as nprs Legal Affairs correspondent knee that tottenberg. Vince, is this a case of selective partisanship, which democrats allege, or another example of a confirmation process where judges are discouraged from ever saying anything about any case . Its a combination of the two. The problem we have here, this is this whole fight is the question about independence, who gets to investigate the president or the executive branch . What do they find . What access do they have . And i can understand why someone like Brett Kavanaugh working for the special counsel, ken starr, and why he was working with george bush and the white house would have two different views of executive power. So when hes a prosecutor, he wants all of the power. When hes working for the president , he wants the president to have all of the power. I understand that. The real question is, why is donald trump so interested in this particular person . Hes showing his hand that when it comes to independence and the power of the presidency hes never met an investigation that he likes if hes on the wrong end of it and that the president should have more power particularly if hes in the judicial slot as opposed to being in the prosecutorial spot. Well, you know, nina, vince clearly has something in common with you, which is a nuanced legal analysis of a complex situation. The saying in washington is that where you stand is often determined by where you sit. And so it is not shocking or necessarily terrible that this nominee held a position as a prosecutor that is different than the way he conceives his role as a judge. What do you think of this controversy . Well, first of all whatever Brett Kavanaugh said when he worked for starr, he was a prosecutor. He was also only, i think, about 27 years old. And people are allowed to have experiences that change their minds over time. What i find very interesting about this particular exchange that you showed is that morrison versus olson actually hasnt been effectively overruled. What happened was that congress decided that as a policy matter both sides, democrats and republicans, hated this law and they let it expire. So it is no longer the law. However, the rules of special counsels were then transferred to the justice department. Right. And Robert Mueller cannot be fired except for cause under those rules. So if Brett Kavanaugh thinks that that is too much of an intrusion on the president s power, it would mean that the president or whoever in the justice department, if he keeps going down far enough, because he could fire rod rosenstein, he could fire the next guy and the next guy until he gets to somebody willing to fire willing to fire Robert Mueller. Thats sort of what happened to Archibald Cox in the watergate affair, until robert bjork was the person, he had to go down two or three ranks before he found somebody, okay, somebody has to do this, of Archibald Cox was fired, enormous uproar, a new special prosecutor, very independent and that led to the impeachment of richard nixon. Not the impeachment, the almost impeachment, his resignation in the face of almost certain impeachment. While were playing legal footnote bin go, it was robert was a huge figure in the the independent counsel statue became defined by ken starr. It would be like having such a terrible designated hitter in baseball that they eliminate the designated hitter position. Thats how much they didnt like the persons role. Youre saying this raises the keeper question that kavanaugh should raise. Its within the justice department. The criticism of the independent counsel statute, and both republicans and democrats got burned by people they thought were excessive. But it is only when the democrats got burned that they finally had the votes to get rid of it. The criticism of the law was that it was outside the executive branch. Right. And it was still upheld by a 71 vote with chief Justice Rehnquist who was a very, very conservative justice writing the opinion. And now it is within the justice department. Right. Again. But the firing under the rules of the justice department, you cant fire a special counsel, an independent counsel just because you dont like him. It has to be because hes done something wrong. Right, which goes back to donald trump and the way that hes already talked elicitly, i moo en, with russia on his mind, vince, those kind of statements could end up in a court proceeding. Ive got to get you on one other thing, money and speech, James Cavanagh here in 2016 talking about another very important issue. Take a look. Money spent during campaigns is does represent speech, and therefore deserves First Amendment protection. Absolutely. I think political speeches at the core of the First Amendment and to make your voice heard you need to raise money to be able to communicate to others in any kind of effective way. Does that concern you . Oh, it definitely concerns me. Smoim sorry, i was going to vince. Sorry. It definitely concerns me. That was a tremendous problem we have with that construction, essentially if you need money in order to be able to speak evgtively, what happens if you dont have money, equating peoples wealth and being able to raise money around political speech really does drown out the voices of most people in america, but it also creates these interesting First Amendment protections for corporations. So that we have corporations and pacts and other sort of moneybased entities that are on a par in the constitutional analysis with normal everyday people. That should cause us some concern. I think thats why jz was talking about citizens united, he says if money talks the whole worlds about to hear me out, and is that fair . If only we had more time. This is the one area where this is one area where that view already prevails on the Supreme Court. Oh, certainly. And the retirement of Justice Kennedy will not suddenly bring in a whole different view that was not prevailing already. Im supposed to get in a break. The control room both mad at me about both another joke, and my ability to time the show. Thats on me. Thank you for your expertise. Still ahead, how republicans are defending trump on russia. My exclusive ahead. You might take something for your heart. Or joints. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Experience the versatility of utility at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. 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Donald trumps defense of Vladimir Putin and Russian Election meddling have put the onus on many republicans in congress to respond. Im happy to say we are joined by bill johnson from ohio. Thanks for coming on the beat. Hi, ari, good to be with you again. When you look at what donald trump did side by side with putin, were you disappointed . And is it wrong for him to choose putins line of defense over our own intelligence agencies . Well, i think the president made it very clear he has great confidence in our intelligence agencies, ari. He clarified that. He also clarified he made a mistake during that press conference in using the word would instead of wouldnt. I personally would rather us, rather than focus so youre on board with the would wouldnt thing . A lot of peoples ability to give him the benefit of the doubt. As you know it wasnt just would and wouldnt, ill put up on the screen for your analysis, over 21 times as President Donald Trump has either denied or undercut our own intelligence agencies on russian meddling. And hes done it again this week. So at what point does that record beyond would and wouldnt concern you if you are a believer in what the intelligence agencies have found . Well, because i think actions speak louder than words, ari, lets look at his record in how he has handled russia compared to both president obama and president bush . Hes been far tougher on the russians than either one of them were, he drew a red line in syria, he attacked syria against the advice of russia. When we attack the assad regime, he expelled Russian Diplomats from america, he gave the ukrainian people weapons to defend themselves. I mean, and hes ghot sanctions in place much stronger than any of the sanctions that president obama had. And lets not forget the evidence or the suspicions of russian meddling into our elections came under obamas administration. I dont remember hearing you guys outcrying about that. So when you talk about giving the president the benefit of the doubt, i look more at what he does, rather than what he says. And when he says he made a mistake, i take him at his word. Im going to ignore the comment about the media because my jobs not to debate the media, although i appreciate the invitation. I will say for the facts, sure, we can go through what president obama did since you bring it up. Because this comparisons come up. He did ask for the meddling to stop. He condemned the oh, he asked for it to stop. Let me go through it. He expelled 35 russians and closed the compounds. The issues with donald trump, as you know, i know you voted for the sanctions bill. He called that bill quote unconstitutional and waited up to seven months to implement parts of those. Do you think that was reasonable . Well, i think the president has been much tougher on russia, and dont forget, this is the same president obama that whispered to the russian official, hey, tell vlad to wait until after the election, and i can have more flexibility. It was under the Obama Administration that Hillary Clinton and the as secretary of state reset the russian relationship, opened the door for the russians to buy american uranium. You name it. This president has been far tougher on the russians than president obama was. So when it comes to taking him at his word, i do. Im not taking a position one way or the other. We are discussing the available record. When you talk about that comparison, how do you account for barack obama never holding the kind of joint summit with press conference benefits that putin seemed to get this week in eight years, barack obama never provided that kind of platform for putin, how do you square that . Im glad you asked that question. When youre working on the world stage in the community of nations, to be able to get along and to strike a peaceful harmony with your adversaries, youve got to be able to have a relationship with them. Lets not forget, and i want to give you two examples, one was ronald reagan. One day he would call the soviet empire the evil empire and tell Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall. And soon after that, hes got him over to his house having hot dogs. And john f. Kennedy at the height of the missile crisis on the brink of warfare. Youve got to look at it from a Historical Perspective too. I welcome the history. We love history on the beat. Ronald reagan did not take their word for it. He said trust by verify. He never went in public and undercut the intelligence agencies at any point, let alone 21 times, let alone on a world stage with the foreign leader in that case, different russian leaders, and this comes on a night, and i want to play for your reaction, on a night when were getting new sound of donald trump in a new interview saying that hes not comfortable calling Vladimir Putin dishonest about any of this stuff when, again, our intelligent agencies and our doj have said the meddling occurred, which does make putin dishonest given what hes claiming in the Chris Wallace interview. For the benefit of your response, lets take a listen to this new sound from President Trump. Is putin lying to you . I dont want to get into whether or not hes lying. I can only say that i do have confidence in our intelligence agencies as currently constituted. I think that dan coats is excellent. I think that gina is excellent. I think we have excellent people in the agencies. And when they tell me something, it means a lot. If the agencies are telling the truth, and putin is saying the opposite, i ask you, sir, is putin lying . Well, i think you just heard from the president himself. He didnt say that he didnt think that putin was being dishonest. He said im not going to comment on whether he was being honest or not. Were you confident on it . Yeah, i think putin is a tyrant. I think putin is entirely capable of lying and being deceitful. Hes murdered some of his own people. Hes backed a murderous regime in assad. Putin has the capability to lie. The russians have always lied, ari. This is about International Relations on the big stage at the big show. And i think the president of the United States deserves some latitude in how he manages that relationship, especially when you look at what he does in context of what he says. Hes been tougher on russia than barack obama or george w. Bush were. And i think that record is being overlooked. Well, we went through some of the facts on that so people can decide. I will say theres been a lot of questions about what the congress, and particularly what republican members of congress are doing and thinking this peek. Congressman johnson, i appreciate your perspective. Thank you very much. New data from facebook shows who the biggest spender is in politics. Interesting answer, straight ahead. [phone ringing] need a change of scenery . The kayak price forecast tool tells you whether to wait or book your flight now. So you can be confident youre getting the best price. Giddyup kayak. Search one and done. When you see some of the lowest options fees in the market and no platform fees . Is it happy . Good. Then its time for power e trade. The platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. E trade. The original place to invest online. Back pain cant win. Now introducing aleve back and muscle pain. Only aleve targets tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. 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Heres how that scene played out at the end of the