Especially the slovenians. That first summit between bush and putin in slovenia produced one of george w. Bushs most memorable quotes, not just because of the way he described the russian counterpart, but because its not usually the way american president s talked about other world leaders. I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul. Well, not everybody at the time got the same sense of putins soul. Joe biden was the senate chair Senate Relations committee and he questioned whether trust was the right word to use about the operati operative, mr. Putin, a former operative of the kgb. The soviet Intelligence Service and former head of russias domestic Intelligence Service. Michael mcfaul who would become ambassador told the times quote i think there is plenty of good reason not to trust president putin. This is a man trained to lie. George w. Bush continued to try to build his relationship with the russian president. A few months later, president bush hosted president putin at the white house and took him to a visit to his ranch on crawford, texas. If youre wondering how that was covered at the time, the best word is bemused. Finally tonight, a picture to contemplate two baby boomers who not so many years ago never expected to be president s of their country meeting in texas this weekend for pickups, barbecue and oh, yes, how to make the world safer in a nuclear age. Thats nightly news for wednesday. Im tom brokaw. Thats nightly news for wednesday. George and vladimir riding around in a pickup truck eating barbecue, but that was nothing compared to 2007 when putin got to meet the whole family. For Vladimir Putins arrival, the bushes worked some dad diplomacy. The 83yearold former president served as official greeter when the russian leader touched down by inviting putin to the place where the first family gets out to play, advisors suggestion this rare personal trust could encourage more trust. At the seaside compound, they will settle in for what is informally dubbed the lobster summit. The welcome at the seaside home quickly turned to fullthrottle diplomacy. A quick trip cutting the wavers with all that security. Advisors say bringing putin into the Family Circle is meant to develop a deeper trust. The lobster summit. In all, Vladimir Putin visited president bush in the United States five times. His last visit to the white house was in 2005 and bushs evaluation of putin as straightforward and trustworthy has not aged so well. Even texas barbecue and a boat ride with mom and dad could not make putin into an ally. Whatever your opinion of the Bush Administration and how it handled Vladimir Putin, at least we knew what they were doing. These meetings and summits were telegraphed and choreographed affairs, with the president staked out in kenebunkport and white house officials keeping reporters apprised. With our current president , there is a strange dynamic we have not seen before. Not just the overall dynamic, the difference trump seems to show putin which weve observed. I mean, specifically the way we find out about things the president does. A few days after donald trump was sworn in reports started to circulate trump would have a phone call with the russian president. The kremlin spokesman told reporters they were working with washington to nail down a date for an upcoming call. The actual call happened on january 28th but we got wind of it first from russia and then it happened again and this time it wasnt a call. In the spring after trump fired james comey, Russia State News Agency tweeted out this picture of donald trump and Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov shaking hands and lavrov brought along sergei kislyak. Nobody knew about the meetings in advance. American journalist were kept out. The meeting was not on the president s official schedule and when it happened, the press pool was taken by surprise. The white house said that trump decided to take the meeting because quote putin asked him to so he said yes and then we had to learn about it all from russia. The third time was in september with the new Russian Ambassador who announced that, quote, the u. S. President received me in a warm and friendly way. It was constructive and welcoming. Thats what the Russian Ambassador told the state owned news agency. The white house announced it afterwards, once the report from russian state media started getting around and it was the Russian Embassy that tweeted out this from the oval office. Fourth time, november. There was a flurry of reporting, again all sourced to the kremlin, on how donald trump was going to meet Vladimir Putin at the Asian Pacific summit. The white house initially denied they would meet, but then they met just like the kremlin said they would. That was in mid november. By the end of november, the Russian News Agency facts reported they were set to host a call but the call happened. That was the fifth time we learned the news from russia. The sixth time was december 14th when there was a photo announcing Vladimir Putin had another call with donald trump. Thanks for the heads up. The seventh time was three days later on december 17th. The Russian State News Agency tass reported that putin and trump had another heart to heart. The eighth time came at the end of january when reuters siting russias foreign spy chief i should note is under u. S. Sanctions came to the u. S. The week before to meet with our spy chiefs. We later learned he did not come alone, but we first got the news from russia. In february, it happened again. The ninth time. Russian news agency facts put out a report that putin spoke with trump on the phone. That was quickly followed up by a statement from the kremlin with a tweet and facebook post. They blasted it all over social media for maximum effect and last month, two days after Vladimir Putin secured a term as president in a sham election, it was the kremlin then announced that donald trump called to congratulate putin on his victory after being told not to congratulate and a reporter asked trump about it prompting him to deliver news of his own. I had a call with president putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory. The call had to do also with the fact that we will probably get together in the not too distant future. We had a very good call and i suspect that well probably be meeting in the not too distant future. I think well see president putin in the not too distant future. Trump called putin to congratulate him on the election win, but for the important part he repeated it seven times, did i mention we are getting together soon . Ten times where there was a meeting or call between washington and russia but we here in the United States had to learn about it from russia and today we again got the good word what the american president is up to from the russians but this time not a call or meeting with putin, its something important he said during the last call. Today the kremlin told us that donald trump invited Vladimir Putin to visit the white house. From the Washington Post today quote, a kremlin aide disclosed the white house invitation and comments to russian journalist monday. According to the Russian News Agency, when our president s spoke on the phone, it was trump who proposed holding the meeting in washington in the white house and the white house was forced to confirm something about the president of the United States first reported by russian state media. Quote, White House Press secretary said a number of potential venues including the white house were discussed. Apparently thats how trump and putin spent their time last month. I wonder if trump mentioned he knows a great hotel across the street that used to be a pose post office. The United States expelled 60 diplomats over the nerve agent poisoning of a former spy and his daughter and less than a month ago the fbi and Homeland SecurityDepartment Russia had an alert did the mention the provocative missile tests . See, there is a reason Vladimir Putin hasnt been to the white house since 2005. Someone might want to tell the white house. Joining me is michael mcfaul. Ambassador mcfaul, thank you for joining me tonight. Thanks for having me. Lets go back to george w. Bush in sort of diplomatic speak, how big of a mistake was it for george w. Bush to come out in the very First Time Ever meeting Vladimir Putin and saying he could see into his soul and got a sense of it . Thanks for doing the research and reminding me what i said to the New York Times then. I actually briefed the president before that meeting two weeks before he went on that trip and then after that comment in the New York Times i was never invited back for eight years after that. But i do think he made a mistake, as i said, the strategy i understand, the strategy they were about to pull out of the abm treaty, the anti ballistic treaty and the president and advisors including my colleague here, condoleezza rice, the National Security vadviser at te time, they were trying to soften him up before they did that action because they knew it would be negative. But you dont say things like that. It makes it look foolish and he paid a price for that. Give us a sense of Vladimir Putin. When hes meeting with american president s, what is his goal . You saw him hanging out with the bush family. Now he keeps calling with donald trump. What is his goal in your view . Well, his goals change from time to time. I participated in summits with Vladimir Putin as a Prime Minister and as a president with president obama but the key point, joy, is to have a goal, to have an objective. Vladimir putin shows up to those meetings to try to achieve a concrete objective that he thinks is in russias National Security interest. What to me is so bizarre about President Trump and the way he deals with Vladimir Putin is it doesnt seem like he focuses on any concrete goal or objective including pushing back on the long list of very negative things that Vladimir Putin has done for our national interests. Therefore to invite him to the white house especially by the way without some concrete objective in the government you call them deliverables is inappropriate. It means he doesnt understand how diplomacy works. It will be one thing ambassador mcfaul, if both parties, the white house and kremlin decide well have this call and neither of us will talk about it or have this call and both of us will talk about it but what does it say to you they have these calls and meetings and then the white house is silent . We dont get readout. The American People do not hear from our White House Communications team but the Russian State News Agency is blasting it all over their media and social media. So if you do it the first time, you know, call it a rookie mistake like i talked about the president 18 years ago or whatever it was but the ninth or tenth time, thats just irresponsible. The readout, and i wrote many readouts when i worked at the white house for the first three years of the obama administration, thats a chance for the Trump Administration to shape their message. So theyre missing their opportunity to do that. It is shocking. They announce that president putin is coming to the white house . I cant imagine any other leader would say they are going to the white house without such a major event in the agenda. It is curious the way that donald trump deals with Vladimir Putin in russia. Its just weird. Michael mcfaul, thank you so much. Really appreciate you being here tonight. Thanks for having me. Up next, several important developments in the mueller investigation. Well be right back. Im your phone, stuck down here between your seat and your console, playing a little hidenseek. Cold. Warmer. Warmer. Ah boiling. Jackpot. And if youve got cutrate car insurance, you could be picking up these charges yourself. So get allstate, where agents help keep you protected from mayhem. Like me. Mayhem is everywhere. Are you in good hands . Racing isnt the only thing on my mind. And with godaddy, im making my ideas real. When i created my businesses, i needed a way to showcase it. With godaddy you can get a website to sell online. And it will look good. I made my own way. Now its time to make yours. Get started at godaddy. Com everything is working, working just like it should im allbusiness when i, travel. Even when i travel. For leisure. So i go national, where i can choose any available upgrade in the aisle without starting any conversations or paying any upcharges. What can i say . Control suits me. Go national. Go like a pro. Turns out Vladimir Putin isnt the only autocratic leader to get a hardy congratulations on winning from the american president. Trump congratulated the egyptian president alsisi on his reelection win after he was reelected with 97 of the vote. Trump has forged a close bond with the strong man since the two met in new york while trump was a candidate in 2016 and more recently relearned how that meeting came about. It was set up by supposed coffee boy George Papadopoulos. Thats some coffee boy. He found himself back in the headlines, a report on a liberal site says papadopoulos was apparently discussing the russia investigation last week in the club. Quote, on thursday at a chicago nightclub papadopoulos had some drinks and in a conversation with a new acquaintance made new and explosive claims about attorney general Jeff Sessions. Jason wilson a computer engineer recognized papadopoulos and his wife at the hydrate nightclub where he sat down at their table and introduced himself. Papadopoulos said sessions were was well aware of the contact between himself and joseph mitsud with high level connections in russia who first informed papadopoulos about the democratic emails. Wilson said papadopoulos said during the conversation that sessions encouraged me to find out anything he could about the hacked Hillary Clinton emails that he mentioned. Whether thats true or not, we do not know. Papadopoulos wife denies any discussions but she did admit she spoke to wilson and the russia investigation was discussed. Nbc had not independently confirmed but the allegation comes after the attorney general is under fire regarding contacts with papadopoulos. The attorney generals claims he shot down papadopoulos when the adviser broached the idea of trying to arrange a meeting between the candidate and putin. There are reports you shut skrorj george down, unquote, when he proposed this meeting with putin . Is that correct . Yes, i pushed back, i pushed back against his suggestion i thought may have been improper. It was reported three people since contradicted the account in interviews with Robert Mueller in congress. If sessions really did encourage papadopoulos to find hacked emails, that would be a major development. Now again, we dont know, but we do know that papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and is currently cooperating. What information he may give up has yet to surface publicly. We know his corroboration continues as his sentencing date has been pushed back to april 23rd at the earliest and will likely be delayed further. Another cooperating witness, Michael Flynn who pleaded guilty to similar similar offense has similarly seen his sentence delayed until may 1st at the earliest and likely much longer. The one person who pleaded guilty but no cooperating with sense the special counsel is Alexander Van der zwaan, who lied about a manafort employee in ukraine whose muellers team says has ties to a russian Intelligence Service and had such ties in 2016. His sentencing is tomorrow. Tick, tick, tick. Joining us now is barbara mcquaid. Thanks for being here. Great to have you. My pleasure, joy. Lets talk about lets start going back to the papadopoulos part of this. Where papadopoulos is in the club. He meets a brandnew acquaint spills his guts and knew about and encouraged contacts with the professor about getting Hillary Clinton emails. How much jeopardy could a claim like that put Jeff Sessions in . You know, a fascinating story on so many levels. You know, first, as you mentioned, this is a story not quite confirmed from a guy in a bar but we know George Papadopoulos has a habit of spilling the beans to guys in a bar. It has that factor to it. With respect to Jeff Sessions, if this statement is true, i think its problematic for Jeff Sessions on two levels. One, as you mention, it contradicts what he told congress about his reaction. He said there was no discussion about russia with the Campaign Period and then once the papadopoulos information came out, he said now my memory is refreshed but when it was brought up, i pushed back and if instead he encouraged papadopoulos, that would be a direct contradiction of what he told congress and thats a prosecutable offense. There is that problem. I also think it opens the door for further inquiry by Robert Mueller about what is going on. Did they pursue those further contacts to what end did they encourage the hacking or decimation to the timing and he location. It causes concern about George Papadopoulos as a cooperate cooperator. If im his lawyer, im probably calling him and telling him to keep his mouth shut at bars. There is the fact hes speaking freely and out at the club talking to people, does that indicate hes cooperating so fully he has no fear of crossing the prosecutor at this point because hes given it all up . I dont know. You know, hes obviously free to say whatever he wants to say. The prosecutor and team cant tell him not to speak about these things but it certainly could diminish his value as a can operator if he is shooting his mouth off and he can be seen as a loose cannon if he contradicts himself. That could be used to impeach him later its usually wise to keep your mouth shut. Its uso keep your mouth shu its usually wise to keep your mouth shut. I dont know whether hes feeling liberated because hes told the truth or just sort of likes the attention. Van der zwaans sentencing is tomorrow. What do you think . Hes not cooperating and probably faces a modest prison sentence. His maximum exposure, i think, is in the zero to sixmonth range. Its likely the sentence will not be an extreme one. He did not agree to cooperate but i wonder whether in the end mueller could compel him to testify about things like who is person a and some of the other factors about person as involvement in the Trump Campaign in 2016 if he knows. It could be the end of it and i think if nothing more, it stands for the proposition that if you lie to the fbi, you will be convicted of a crime. You will have a felony conviction for the rest of your life. It could prevent him or harm him from practicing law even if he doesnt get additional prison time. The plot gets thicker. Appreciate your time. Still ahead, new reporting that could cost trump yet another cabinet secretary. Thats next. If youve been diagnosed with cancer, searching for answers may feel overwhelming. So start your search with our teams of specialists at Cancer Treatment centers of america. The evolution of cancer care is here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com experts jimmys gotten used to his whole yup, hes gone noseblind. Odors. 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Together, were building a better california. 2,400 is how much it cost to repair a door after you break it down and the security detail break down his apartment door because they thought he was unconscious and needed to be rescued. It turns out scott pruitt was just fine. He was groggy from his wednesday afternoon nap. We learned about that in the afternoon after relearned the apartme we learned that the apartment where scott pruitt stayed actually belonged to the wife of a lobbyist that did work related to the expert of liquid gas. It turns out scott pruitt was interested in Liquified Natural Gas, even though that has nothing to do with official duties. He traveled to morocco. The only u. S. Company that could provide that Liquified Natural Gas to morocco was cheniere energy. He got a sweet deal of 50 a night whenever he needed it. Ethics officials have been scrambling to explain why they allowed pruitt to rent it. Now the New York Times is reporting that while scott pruitt was staying in the apartment, he signed off on a pipeline expansion that benefited another client whose wife owned the apartment. There is a lot to be learned but when it comes to the rest of the Trump Administration, scott is in good company. More on that next. Tech at Safelite Autoglass we know that when youre spending time with the grandkids. Music tech . Every minute counts. And you dont have time for a cracked windshield. Thats why at safelite, well show you exactly when well be there. With a replacement you can trust. All done sir. Grandpa looks great tech thanks for choosing safelite. Grandpa thank you child bye tech bye saving you time. So you can keep saving the world. Kids safelite repair, safelite replace could Michaela Deprince use the chase mobile app to pay practically anyone, at any bank, all while performing the grandest grand jete . She could. But in real life she pays her sister, for that sweater she stained. phone buzzes chase. Make more of whats yours. Come to my window ohh crawl inside wait by the light of the moon applebees to go. Order online and get 10 off 30. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. The wall street journal is breaking some news tonight about the head of the epa, scott pruitt. The reporting has been that pruitt last year rented an apartment owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist. Scott pruitt paid way below market rate to stay in that apartment, just 50 a night and only had to pay for the days he was actually physically there. The wall street journal reports the white house is conducting a review of pruitts activities. Quote, the purpose of the inquiry is to dig a little deeper, indicating that the white house isnt satisfied with the statement from the epa last week that the 50 a night Lease Agreement didnt violate federal ethics rules. Quote, while theres no sign yet that mr. Pruitts job is in jeopardy, few people are coming to mr. Prosecutes defense. The white house is making it known they are not pleased with the reports about his housing situation and making it clear that he has few supporters in the west wing. This news is breaking at a time when a handful of trump cabinet officials are phasing facing ethics scandals. Before he was fired, he was the subject of a scathing report admonishing him for sightseeing and for making sure the v. A. Paid for his wifes travel. Ryans travel expenses are right now under investigation by the Inspector General of the interior department. The Actual Agency is investigating a potential hatch act violation for a speech he gave to a hockey team owned by one of his former campaign donors. The treasury secretary donation is under scrutiny for costing taxpayers 1 million for taking military planes on trips across the country. It cost 33,000 for Steven Mnuchin and his wife to travel to kentucky last year. Then theres the 31,000 dining room set that carson told housin and urban Development Officials to order for ben carson. The Inspector General of hud is reviewing ben carsons family. Hes not the only cabinet official whose family seems unusually involved in the work. The Washington Post said mike pompeos wife had been working as a volunteer and has her own officer space. New York Magazine took on the task of putting together a timeline of official corruption from smalltime graft and brazen influence peddling to full blown raids on the federal treasury but it really does start from the top. Journalist and trump david k writes that quote, more than at any time in history the president of the United States is actually actively using the power and prestige of his office to land loans for businesses, steering wealthy buyers to condos and securing cheap foreign labor for resorts, preserving subsides, easing regulations on golf courses, licensing his name to overseas projects and peddling coffee mugs and shot glasses bearing the president ial seal. For trump whose business is on revolves around the marketability of his name, there has proved to be no Public Policy too big and no private opportunity too crass to exploit for personal profit. Joining us is david k. Johnson author of the making of donald trump. David, great to have you with us. Glad to be here. Lets run through some of the greatest hits or low lights of the Trump Administration spreading the wealth around both not only Donald Trumps family but it seems its translated down to his cabinet. Well, joy, one of the things striking about the cabinet is what you went to in your intro. All of the wives and their involvement in the case of epa administrator scott pruitt, the wife of a lobbyist, sebastian, the alpha males are in and a defining feature, if something happens, she did it, they wont take responsibility. Ivanka trump is featured in the apprentice, shes this unpaid advisor and involved or at least it looks weird. Shes traveling to china. She gets patents proved. How much is she doing business while doing americas business. Nothing changed about her business. The business is now in one of these trump kushner eyes wide open blind trusts and the trustees are two of the kushners who, by the way, tell her they say about the finances and she continues to wear clothes that make her a walking billboard for her businesses. Youll recall she specifically promoted her 10,000 bracelet and 138 dress that sold out. There is no boundary. They dont see a difference between the personal profit and duties. This illustrates a second problem. She is not an employee of the federal government. She actually has no authority. The same thing applies to the other wives like mrs. Pompeo, susan pompeo has been doing all sorts of things involving her husband and his National Security position and shes not an employee. There is a reason we want people who are our employees to be making these actions on our behalf so that we know that they are also subject to ethics rules, discipline and not just to if they really do something grossly improper, the risk they might get prosecuted. Theres a reason why we want our employees to be making these actions on our behalf so we know theyre also subject to ethics rules, to discipline and not just to if they really do something grossly improper, the risk that they might get prosecuted. And you have now the white house making it very well known that they want to look into Scott Pruitts apartment and living situation. But what about the idea that his landlords clients, essentially, are now having their products peddled in morocco by scott pruitt . Theres another element of that 40,000 trip to morocco to promote something outside of the portfolio. Lets keep in mind that the qataris turned down the kushners and the u. S. Government turned on the qatar government where we have our very, very important middle east base and what business are the qatars in . Exporting lng. This could be action on behalf of this american competitor against the ka qataris and part of the attack on the part of this administration. Lng stands for . Liquified natural gas. Ah. It all comes together. You press gas down to onesix hundredths of its normal size and thats how parts of europe are heated up and were about to get into that business. The white house says were conducting a review. What do you need to know about 50 a night on the nights youre there and a free apartment for your daughter there all the time and corruption . I mean, any other president , barack obama, george w. Bush, bill clinton would have said youre fired. Well be right back. My time is thin, but so is my lawn. Now theres new scotts thick r lawn 3in1 solution. With a soil improver seed and fertilizer to feed now yard time is our time. This is a scotts yard. Last month we got a shocking announcement of a planned facetoface meeting between donald trump and kim jong un of north korea. The first since the korean war. Even more bizarre was the actual announcement itself. President trump appreciated the briefing and said he would meet kim jongun by may to achieve permanent denuclearization. That was a top official from south korea delivering this bombshell news about a meeting between the american president and the north korean dictator from the steps of the white house. Why were we getting this news from the South Koreans . Where were american diplomats . The short answer is they dont exist or at least the ambassador doesnt. The space is vacant and has to be for more than a year. Someone was about to take that credential, he was director for Asian Affairs and then after months of vetting, his nomination was called off but tonight he is here speaking the us for the very first time in the interview. Joining us now for the interview is victor cha. Today marks his first days as an nbc news and msnbc korean analyst. Welcome aboard. Thank you. Lets talk about how it is you came to not be up for this nomination. Did you withdraw on your own or were you asked to withdraw . I was told my nomination was not being put forward, but i should say before that that every administration has the right to choose their own people and have the right to change their mind. And while the actual political appoint appointee, the guy there is top notch. It was South Koreans that did it, not the acting ambassador. Thats unusual. I worked in the white house before and to have that was the south korean National Security advisor, to have him come out and announce that the u. S. President was willing to meet with the north korean leader, ive never seen anything like that before. You wrote a piece in the Washington Post, you talked about a policy difference that may or may not have had anything to do with your nomination being withdra withdrawn, this is a limited strike against north korea would change the dynamic between the u. S. And north korea and help bring us closer to disarmament . How was that received . I thought it was not a smart idea to carry out a limited military strike. It would achieve none of the objectives to stop the proliferation of materials or scientists or weapons or anything. The risks were huge because we have 250,000 americans that live in south korea and 100,000 in japan and all would be under threat of attack if the north koreans retaliated. These were views i put forward. When i was asked as an expert, not a political person to take this job. Who did you giver the views the and how soon after were you turfed out . I consulted widely in the u. S. Government, all the different agencies. Thats part of the process, as well as at the state department and the white house. So now incoming National Security adviser number three, the third one, is going to be john bolton. There are few people more hawkish than john bolton, who has made it pretty clear he thinks first strikes are a great idea. How concerned are you that somebody is sitting at the Security Council that has the exact die ma metric opposite viw that you have . I worked with john bolton and i believe hes going to go along with the idea of summit diplomacy that donald trump has put forward but with regard to the sanctions pressure, he was part of the initial effort on smart sanctions with north korea ten years ago. And when he sees whats being put on north korea, hell see that as a good thing and wont want to put his foot off the pedal in terms of sanctions. You dont any that will be the other way around to say lets go to war with north korea . Certainly if the summit fails, if something goes wrong and if they show up at the summit and its clear the north korea koreans are not willing to give up anything with their nuclear weapons, bolton would have a big part in playing whatever plan b would be. Thats really scary. China seems to have taken prominence, that region. World. We walked away from the tpp. They are levying draconian sanctions against us. How much has President Trump cre cededed ground to china . The tpp, these things dont help the United States. The United States has stood on security, value and free trade in asia and were taking away at least one of those pillars right now. Its like a threelegged stool, you take away one leg yeah. China is casting its economic shadow all over the region. Its going to be difficult for the United States unless we fick out a w figure out a way to get back into the trade gig. Viktor cha, these are scary times. Its good to have someone here like you. Dear greatgreat grandfather, you made moonshine in a backwoods still. Smuggled booze and dodged the law. Even when they brought you in, they could never hold you down. When i built my family tree and found you, i found my sense of adventure. I set off on a new life, a million miles away. Im heidi choiniere, and this is my ancestry story. Now with over 10 billion historical records, discover your story. Get started for free at ancestry. Com discover your story. You wouldnt accept from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media. More alarming policies, without checking facts first. Unfortunately some members of the media use platforms to push their own personal bias and agendas. This is extremely dangerous to our democracy. This is extremely dangerous to our democracy. This is extremely dangerous to our democracy. That is the dead spin mashup of local forecasters, forced to blur the line between news and propaganda, forced by management to read a script. Sinclair is the single largest owner of tv stations in the country and its on the cusp of getting even bigger if the Justice Department and fcc give their support for sinclair to buy tribune media. There is real concern that unlike the sinclair deal, the cnn time warner at t deal will be decided less on the merits. Its no surprise that trumps pulling for sinclair. Sinclair and trump go way back. During the campaign, jared curb are in br kushner bragged abo cutting a deal with sinclair for better coverage. One Investigative Reporter at a sinclair station tells cnn, quote, is suickens me the way sn consider claire is is encroa encroaching upon trusted news brands in rural markets. So dangerous is the sinclair intrui intrusion into that trust . What is the danger in your view . Sinclair is not marketing itself as a biased or partisan news networks. When viewers in their local markets tune in to see a sinclair network, it will be branded abc or fox or another network. They dont know that sinclair is pushing a branded message. It would be like going to the supermarket and buying cheerios except the actual box of cheerios is not filled with the stuff you think it is, its full of something thats going to change your political viewpoint potentially. Thats the misrepresentation of what sinclair is really about is what is troubling. And they were already forcing their stations to run these pieces by Sebastian Gorka or boris epstein, former trump employees who are now peddling this propaganda little bites. I worked in lowecal news. The local news anchor is like a member of the community. These are the people that you tune in to find out whats going on with your city council, fire, police activity. Theyre not sort of attuned to covering national politics. And to hear these people saying dont trust what you see on the other networks, that to me, especially when youre hearing it, its the scale and local market after local market and its not seeming like its being pushed by one. When you watch fox news that, is a singling news outlet. Sinclair is spread across dozens of individual stations thats amplifying their message. A friend of the net work tweeted welcome to the american pravda. Jim acosta, a cnn reporter, brad parscale, who we know was notoriously involved in a lot of the were targeting and facebook, et cetera, tweeted today that jim acosta should have his credentials pulled because he shouted a question at donald trump during the easter egg roll. This to me is a troubling pattern were in that if youre somehow separate from the administration, youre an enemy of the state, if youre on board with the administration, youre likely going to have your multimillion dollar deal. This is like in putins russia or erdogans turkey. If youre on board with the regime, you now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, joy. The boycott continues this hour and david hogg is going to join us in this hour. He got it started. Excellent. Ill be watching. Once again we learned what the president of the United States is up to today from the kremlin, instead of the white house. Two weeks ago when President Trump called president Vladimir Putin in what was supposed to be the do not congratulate phone ft