A combative President Trump unleashing an extraordinary stream of criticism on allies at the nato summit in brussels slamming them over defense spending and singling out germany which he called, and im quoting him now, a captive to russia. A senior yushian diplomat said the performance beyond belief and here in washington members of congress expressing shock and concern. Well talk about that and much more with congressman schiff, the top democrat in the House Intelligence Committee and our correspondents and specialists standing by. First, lets go straight to brussels. White house correspondent jim acosta is on the scene. Jim . Reporter wolf, this is exactly what u. S. Allies feared this week. President trump ripping into the Nato Alliance just before meeting with russian president Vladimir Putin. President asking what good is nato as he describes germany as a captive of russia with the dependency on russian oil and gas and sounds as if hes saying hes not the one with a russia problem.
The white house has reportedly drafted multiple documents revoking security clearances of the critics the president wants to punish. And one senior official says they have discussed timing the release of those documents as a distraction during news cycles unfavorable to the president. Thats according to the Washington Post. And this latest effort to distract and deflect comes as 60 former cia officials have signed a letter warning President Trump that the country will be weakened if there is a political litmus test applied before seasoned experts are allowed to share their views. Thats on top of 15 former intel officials whove already issued a similar statement in response to the president s decision earlier this week to revoke the security clearance of excia chief john brennan. But the president , well, he says this. Theres no silence. If anything im giving them a bigger voice. Many people dont know who he is. Now he has a bigger voice and thats okay with me because i like taking on v
Deliverables we can expect . Remember going into the north korean meeting, the president was playing the game of lowering expectations and then they came out with that communiquc that surprised a lot of people but the critic said it didnt really say anything and that there were a lot of giveaways by the United States in exchange for nothing. Theres a lot of caution being aimed at the president s way to say dont be giving anything away to latimer putin. Dont let him stay in crimea and other things hes been doing. In terms of deliverables, you maybe get something on syria. The president is trying to come alongwith russia, craft a plan. For there to be an orderly transition of power in syria. Russia is a big patron of assa. I dont know how much hes willing to do on that front. Theres also the issue of getting iran out of syria and i think President Trump will ask putin to do what he can. You got a really interesting balance. Youve got the meddling in the election, the occupation of crimea
The issue of abortion, making sure that women in their states and across the country had access. So that was something that they thought carefully about. Its different, i guess, when theyre voting on an issue rather than putting somebody up on the court who may or may not hold those beliefs. Its also going to be interesting to see, jake, tonight how much the president speaks before actually getting to what everyone is gathered here to hear. Yeah, because he loves this moment. Gorsuch, you might remember, during that rocky first half of his first year gorsuch was one of the moments that went off pretty well, whatever you think of him as a judge or as a nominee. That announcement went well compared to so many other things in the First Six Months of his presidency. And, look, i mean this is a president who weve made it to 9 01, and we still do not know for sure who it is. And there is the president. Lets listen in. [ applause ] my fellow americans, tonight i speak to you from the east roo
Stunning move for an american president throwing his own agencies under the bus. Reaction tonight is outrage. Everyone the Editorial Board of the wall street journal owned by trump ally Rupert Murdoch says details from the talks in helsinki will spell out but mondays joint press conference is a personal and National Embarrassment for a rare moment in the presidency, mr. Trump projected weakness. He was the one on the stage. On the eve of todays summit, trump appointed the National Intelligence agency had this blunt warning. Watch this. In regards to state action, russia is the most aggressive. No question. They continue their efforts to undermine our democracy. The warning signs are there. The system is blinking. And it is why i believe we are at a critical point. Well, when President Trump was asked a direct question, who did he believe . Vladimir putin, a trained kgb officer who denies all invol involvement or American Intelligence Community which unanimously concludes otherwise. Her