videotape footage, extensive allegations about what the alleged spies did. that s not been the case here. new details are still emerging about the biography and background of paul whelan and, you know, it doesn t really add up for me right now. someone suggested to me earlier tonight that perhaps president putin would prefer to have someone who wasn t a classic spy in order to trade them for someone who might be a more valuable asset like maria butina. one person has made a comparison back to nick danoff, the american journalist from u.s. news who was nabbed by the soviets in the 1980s and then traded for soviet intelligence assets. now, nick danoff was not an american spy. is that what we re looking at here? i don t really know, but it s a very unusual case, i think. steve, ambassador jont huntsman has already visited whelan in prison. is that sending a signal to the russians about how seriously this is being seen? yeah, absolutely. i think it s the right thing to
russia and the soviet union did in the past, that comparison does not stand up well. and i have no idea why the president would try to do something like that. yeah. susan, i want to get your take on paul whelan, the arrest of paul whelan, a 48-year-old arrested in russia on charges of spying. the arrest comes 15 days after the alleged russian spy maria butina pleaded guilty in u.s. federal court. is this payback for the butina prosecution? well, look, the timing obviously of these two events strongly suggests there s some sort of a linkage. this is a very unusual spy case compared to those we ve seen recently play out in the sense that the russians have not given us more specific details. they allege that this american was caught in the midst of some sort of an espionage act, but they haven t given us any more evidence. when i was in moscow as a correspondent and there was a case involving british diplomats, they immediately trotted out on television
butina pleaded guilty in u.s. federal court. is this payback for the butina prosecution? well, look, the timing obviously of these two events strongly suggests there s some sort of a linkage. this is very unusual spy case compared to those we ve seen recently play out in the sense that the russians have not given us more specific details. they allege that this american was caught in the midst of some sort of an espionage act, but they haven t given us any more evidence. when i was in moscow as a correspondent and there was a case involving british diplomats, they immediately trotted out on television videotape footage, extensive allegations about what the alleged spies did. that s not been the case here. new details are still emerging about the biography and background of paul whelan and, you know, it doesn t really add up for me right now. someone suggested to me earlier tonight that perhaps president
there are really good reasons why the supreme court is taking this case. and they don t necessarily have to do with the particulars of the mueller investigation. however, the outcome of this case will be significant. this is a state-owned enterprise. it s probably been engaged in commercial activities. it could be a bank. it could be a technology company. and it is resisting a subpoena mightily. and no doubt for good reason. okay. so garrett, i want ooh bring you in here. sources tell cnn that the incoming chairman jerry nadler is planning to reintroduce legislation to protect robert mueller tomorrow. first day of the new congress. this is isn t the first time a bill like this has been introduced. do you think this one will do any better than the other ones did? well, it s going to run into the same problem that the bills ran into the last congress which is it s going to be tough to get out of the republican-controlled senate. remember jeff flake in sort of his final days in the la
i m sure you know people like this that try and make themselves look stronger by making other people look weaker. yes. in this case, it didn t work. it doesn t work. jim mattis was not fired as the head of central command. the guy actually had a total of six years as a four-star general in two different commands. he had put in his retirement papers a year before he actually left central command. he did have some disagreements with president obama over iran policy, but he was not fired. and everyone knows that jim mattis put in this letter of resignation because he disagreed with the policies, and he made it very pointed. general hertling, can i ask you a question? it s just throwing stones and smearing a guy. sure. can i ask you a question? what is wrong with saying that general mattis and i had a disagreement over policy, which happens? and as he said in his resignation letter, i deserve to