does seem i think david sounds exactly right. also we need to talk about one notable aspect of this. you were talking about the lack of officials who had been there before that were very aware or very cautious of putin and the president s relationship. that s mattis, kelly, john bolton, but also the presence of mick mulvaney is a central notable aspect of this because he was someone who at times overruled national security officials. he has his own national security adviser, which is unusual for a chief of staff. and as we reported over the summer, he was locked in this feud with john bolton over the holdup of this ukrainian aid, which at the time we were reporting it out, people were confused by it and didn t understand the reason. this seems to be a role in all of this and why the president was able to sit down with these officials, have these conversations that have so clearly changed the trajectory of so many aspects of his presidency. the washington post saying that mulvan
also kaitlan collins and jeffrey toobin. david, shouldn t putin be the last person on the planet influencing how president trump feels about ukraine given the fact that putin has invaded crimea? absolutely. and it s hard to think of a more wholesome trio than giuliani, putin, and orban. you know, it is like what? what are we doing here? listen, a little context. it has been american foreign policy for some time now to support and strengthen ukraine, to come to the aid of those leaders. that s why we were sending them money, because the russians had invaded their country, were threatening to dominate the country. so the whole point of mattis and kelly and bolton was to reinforce the president and make sure he approached the ukrainians in a sense of trying to help them. instead, what the president listened to with putin and orban and giuliani, and it soured his view on the ukrainians, and
well known for their, you know, fair investigations and treatment of any sort of suspect it would make sense if you re asking china to investigate the bidens, you would why not ask vladimir putin. but there s no evidence that came up at all. right. he has outsourced that question pretty widely. there s no evidence that he outsourced that question and tried to get either the hungarians or the russians to get more information on biden specifically. but he was poking around, and he was asking the views on zelensky, and he certainly got some answers on that. it s also amazing that his own people in the white house, or at least those who were there, mattis and kelly, were concerned about, you know, what putin might say to him, what the hungarian prime minister might say to him. nevertheless, they re gone, and he meets with the hungarian prime minister one-on-one, and it s not until later, i understand, that bolton and his
that on every american. you did four tours in iraq. and iraqis are notably nervous about iran, and actually would prefer that the u.s. not be as provocative, they believe, according to their leadership, against iran. what is your take on the way john bolton and others have been, some say, pushing the president towards a confrontation with iran? i think that s exactly what john bolton is doing and exactly what john bolton did 15 years ago when he pushed us into war with iraq. had you a similar situation with a weak commander in chief. someone who dodged his own generation s war and didn t have the credibility to say, stop. we don t need to escalate. when the last people in this administration who had that credibility was secretary jim mat in tis mattis. when he came in september, when we were actually attacked, matt mattis, said, no.
i m sure you read, he repeatedly emphasized the importance of treating u.s. allies with respect and treating our u.s. adversaries in a clear eyed manner. is mattis correct? has the president been too solisitus? i appreciate what general mattis said, and i wish him well. he s done a great job serving the american people as well as syria and washington, d.c. the bottom line is i have never been a fan of boots on the ground in syria. my position on it is very clear. i think what we re doing here is disengaging and not being the world s policeman all over the world. that s a separate issue. but i m asking you about mattis. he chose every word of that letter so carefully. you know that. was he right in the point he makes? politics aside, are you comfortable with the way the