going to be a russian sanctions hawk. and it was uncomfortable with it but felt like almost tramd is not the right word, but boxed in. understanding that it s not the best policy, at the same time they had to do something. that was the mind-set. you should be careful about taking positions thousand in this sort of fever that they wouldn t take otherwise. they were worried that he would undo it otherwise, right. they had to do it. they had to do veto proof when you guys were in the white house you guys were fighting congress from putting restrictions on the iran sanctions when you were doing the iran deal for the same yes. that is the domain of the president and it was greatly infringed upon by this bill. arguably more has come to light about russia so to the extent that people are changing or evolving their positions it s because russia does stand out to american interests repeatedly. that it wasn t just a talking point from the 2012 campaign. but the point simply is i th
arthel: vice president mike pence overseas visiting three baltic nations bordering russia. he s getting ready to meet with our embassy staff in estonia. the former soviet republic along russia s western border. eric: the vice president is there with a message to our allies. a new bill slapping sanctions on russia is now headed to the president s desk it was passed overwhelmingly in the house and senate, veto proof. it prevent the president from imposing sanctions on russia without going to congress first.
russians are acting contrary to security issues around the world. we have a responsibility to send a strong message we will not tolerate that and it s not a surprise they responded this way. but we need to send a very strong message so we can protect the integrity of our elections and reduce the kind of aggression that they re engaged in around the world. if the president decides no the to sign the sanctions bill? the response? i think there s it would be very hard for the president to do that. the this is a sanction bill which imposes sanctions on north korea, russians, overwhelmingly passed in h the house and senate in a very bipartisan way. i thi i think it s veto proof. i don t think the the president can do math, we hope. we hope it would be overridden. very important they go into place. congressman, obviously health care in the senate went down last night overnight.
that he wants us to end. he acts on impulse. it s not entirely impossible to imagine a scenario where he does it. an agreement from ryan an probably mcconnell to block any move pi congress afterward? well, as i understand it, he actually has to have deputy attorney general i m saying, i m jumping ahead. he can t fire them directly, has to be rosenstein. he goes to rosenstein and says do what i say. he folds. i m saying this is what has to happen. gets rid of him. then congress makes a move. he d have to know in advance ryan and mcconnell will protect me, won t do anything. i think they will protect him. the republicans who are in control of congress basically are very supportive of trump. you d need two-third of the house and senate. veto proof. you re not going to get that for an anti-trump initiative of any kind. i do think when we talk about
bill to authorize a special counsel. would they standby it? i think they would be upset by it. i think it would worry them. i think the politics would worry them. i think they would feel like this was thrown directly back on their plate. i don t think they would rebuke the president if he took the extraordinary move to do this, i think they would try and sort of just get past it. i just don t b see how extraordinary would it be for them to pass a law that was going to be veto proof where they were going to have all these votes. you re not going to have republican leaders working as a handful of democrats. this would be a sharp rebuke. you think this is some kind of a trial balloon. i think it s a trial balloon and the thing about the trump orbit is there are so many different circles around the president that sort of touched the president. we know chris is a friend of his and a confidant of his. so it s hard to tell if this is a group of trump s friends