suggesting a cyber security unit with putin, the reluctance to impose new sanctions on russia, the latest withdrawing troops from syria, does it seem as though the president is just continuing to validate this investigation? he certainly is. and let s not discount the tweets that he issued today, which really just looked like they were taken from putin s own play book, and that the kremlin scripted them. he continues to do everything that russia wants him to do. to spread the vision. the undermine the credibility of our institutions and remove u.s. influence from the global stage. while the president goes about drafting these tweets and thinking about his next steps around the world, it is unclear whether he s making these missteps because he is so manipulated by the russians unwittingly or whether they had some kind of a bribery point on him, and have a quid pro quo established where he is in some way a witting asset of russian intelligence. i think it is important that we note we
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 can t have meddling, we can t have any of that. i let him know we can t have this. we re not going to have it. and that s the way it s going to be. do you believe that? well, the reason that i don t believe that, first of all, you can t believe a single word that comes out of that man s mouth. but also remember at their joint appearance, they talked about renewing this idea of a cyber security unit, a joint u.s./russian cyber security unit where mueller s people would go over to russia and find out from them, you know, information and then in exchange for that, according to putin, we would cough up bill browder, who has been trying to hold russia accountable. he would immediately be killed. and michael mcfaul, the ambassador that s always on our air. browder, they want to literally kill him if they could, like they did his
cyber unit. we expect him to raise that during this summit. that was outright rejected the first time he raised it, that the u.s. and russia would work together on this cyber security unit. so we expect him to raise that again. it is possible that that could lead to at least some kind of talking about it. that would be something of a win for putin. and that putin will suggest that he has a role in north korea s eventual denuclearization, offering some technical assistance. president trump might say, okay, you can share with us your expertise in handling nuclear material. again, that would be a win for putin. there are those who are arguing now that what came out of the mueller investigation, the detail, the knowledge, actually it gives trump leverage against putin to say we know a lot more than you think we do. we ve got a much better view into you than we think you do and that may help him in this negotiation. do you think that s true? it s possible.
trade. now, you wouldn t think of the european union, but they re a foe. shortly thereafter, geoff, the eu tweeted out, america and the eu are best friends. whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news. talk about these two things in concert, if you would, geoff. you were there at that nato summit. just before that summit got under way, you had an agreement signed between nato and the european union, some strong words from donald, as well. what does this say to you about the integrity of that transatlantic alliance? well, david, it s interesting. the president s comments, i think, are fueling concerns that he doesn t fully understand or perhaps doesn t fully won t fully acknowledge the real geopolitical threat that russia poses to the u.s. remember, the last time the president and vladimir putin sat down, it was at the g20, last summer, and the president and putin left that meeting. the president tweeted and suggested that russia and the u.s. work together on a cyber security
cyber security unit. the president only really backing away in the face of international ridicule. just a couple of weeks ago at the g7, he wanted to invite russia back into that gathering and make it again a g8. so what will the president say when he sits across from this table with no aides and no interpreters in the room? i offer that up as a rhetorical question. based on the things that he said in public, it doesn t appear he ll hold his feet to the fire. all right, geoff bennett, we ll be watching and see. the president is supposed to be asleep right now, right? i have a feeling he might have some tweeting in him. we ll see. reporter: i think you re right about that. all right, geoff, i will let you get ready for other news gathering for later tonight. welcome, guys. george will, i want to start with the white house s reaction to today, because we both remembered watergate and there s a great line when bob woodward was asking and talking about, he goes did you call the white