confidence, i still do, in the american government, the system, the department of justice. i don t see how they will let this go forward. just to remind you, vladamir putin actually outlined the treaty in the press conference in helsinki under which people can be interrogated in this way. i expect them to push back. i do have to worry about interpol if ever they go farther and indict me. i hope that doesn t happen. if it does happen, then i will have to experience the horrific harassment mr. browder has been living under several years now. and the u.s. government officials can usually expect the defense of their own government in protecting them against. michael mcfaul, former u.s. ambassador to russia. i m sorry about the circumstances and you re one of the americans caught up in this. thanks for talking to us about it. sure. thanks for having me. we ll be right back. stay with us. [ coughs ]
maybe we would ask you to please add for purposes of the record your name please. miss curtis says thank you, your honor, good afternoon your honor, deborah curtis on behalf of the united states. this is new. we knew that mariia butina was not being charged and prosecuted by special counsel s office by robert mueller s office. we knew she was being tried by the federal prosecutor in d.c. we knew at the initial appearance while the case was still under seal, the prosecutor from that u.s. attorney s office who was leading the government s case was this is eric kenner son. but today they added another prosecutor in the courtroom. the person they added is the deputy chief of the national security division at the d.c. u.s. attorney s office, an experienced counter espionage prosecutor. before her current national security division girks she was at main justice in the national
we know how at least one member of congress feels about this. what does ambassador mcfaul think about the white house s apparent willingness to consider russia?joining us is ambassador michael mcfaul, former russia u.s. ambassador to russia under president obama. thank you for joining us. i guess this is a weird couple of days. definitely a weird couple of days. thanks for having me on. my guess from having had conversations with you over the last couple of years, you are not necessarily surprised that russia has made thid demand that they want to question you. i guess you are surprised by the u.s. government fielding the request, not rejecting it and essentially saying they re considering it? correct. you re right. vladamir putin has been after me for a long time, even when i was ambassador harassing me in ways no other u.s. ambassador there has ever experienced. i wrote a whole book about it to try to educate the american people about this man.
from what they call a sources and megds standpoint, it sounds like a lot of information to give up particularly if the people you re charging are never going to jail because they re never coming to this country. like mueller s indictment of the chinese military attackers was meticulous in its detail down to specific actions and locations of specific individual named chinese hackers. the architect of that 2014 indictment and strategy behind it was a former u.s. attorney for the western pennsylvania, cybersecurity expert named david higdon. he started the u.s. government down this path. now we re seeing how it works in the russia scandal. joining us for the interview is that former u.s. attorney for the district of pennsylvania, now the founding director of the university of pug institute for cyber law and security. it s really nice to have you here. thank you for the invitation. was that a fair description that chinese hacker was the first time that had been done? well done. that
on your tv, online or on the go with the xfinity stream app. we re on to something. come on. and it s all on us, and it s all week long. so you should probably start canceling your plans. you ve got some serious watching to do. this is the russian state news agency tass, asking to question one of america s former diplomats, they want to question former u.s. ambassador