but one of them is freedom to elect legitimately leadership. that s the fundamental principle. and if you destroy that, then you have really destroyed democracy. if someone, if an american citizen were come police placene russians, would that be an element of treason? i think you have to engage the circumstances. it s one thing to have a conversation, but it s another thing to plot together. i think it would be, it would be something that individual would have to be held accountable. david, senator mccain can be seen as the republican elder statesman in washington, so how much weight do you think his words carry among his colleagues when it comes to this investigation? well, i think on the issue of russia, his words carry a great deal of weight. and this is a very tough opponent of vladimir putin. he personally has lost friends
in your folders. get outraged. reporter: experts say the real-life troll factories may not look as slick, but they are real. they say paid trolls who spread fake reports can amplify their impacts. thousands of other people s computers harnessed to do their bidding. analysts say the gold is to create distrust. they didn t just want to discredit u.s. elections. they wanted to discredit hillary clinton. sowing division is all part of the russian agenda. when asked, vladimir putin said, quote, read my lives no. but experts who testified before congress say we can expect putin s government to continue to support fake news campaigns. they say for putin, it s easy, it s effective, and best of all for him, it often can t by traced directly back to him. brian todd, cnn, washington. fascinating report, our thanks to brian todd.