associate named in the trump tower e-mails. how do you interpret that the russian bank says this was for business and the trump administration and the u.s. government say it was for government? translator: it s difficult for me to interpret such a contradiction. however, it s very possible that what your administration regards as a governmental issue, russian representatives view as purely business. although in my experience it s typically the opposite. the fbi is investigating if that kushner meeting was purely business and if kremlin money was offered to influence relations with the trump administration. i hope that we do have good relations with russia. he says putin is an effective opponent. translator: putin is a strong tactician no doubt and he is more experienced than trump. if they were to face off, i wouldn t bet on trump. but the u.s. has other advantages. translator: america has something putin doesn t. putin has a small criminal
future influential persons in america because he would want to make himself useful to vladimir putin. were hereto decide to take such a step, he would get permission from vladimir putin beforehand. he worked with other putin allies also implicated in the russia investigation. his former employee, sergei gorkov, runs a kremlin bank and met with jared kushner in december. translator: when he worked for me, gorkov was a fine employee who dealt with hr. i have no doubt that he wouldn t do anything on his own behalf. he is a man who carries out orders. now for the first time, he says he thinks those orders came from putin s top bankers. translator: if there were any questions they came from mr. gruff. one of those bankers organized a dinner for donald trump along with the same trump
the entire russia probe began with a revelation from one man, an obscure trump aide named george papadopoulos. he bragged to an australian diplomat that russians had gathered dirt on hillary clinton, news that ultimately made its way back to the fbi, and we know what that started. papadopoulos, the very first person as well to plead guilty in the russia probe. while he has not spoken to the press, his wife has. i spoke to her in a special interview here on the beat. she talked about what it s like to get grilled face-to-face by bob mueller s fbi agents. when you look at how the new york times reports that the entire criminal investigation began because of this conversation in a bar with a diplomat, do you think george knew? i really don t know. surely he must be very surprised. i am surprised as well.
gorkov meeting with kushner is not a red flag. it s a blaring siren. it is not just contradictories from the white house and the russian side of this. there has been no plausible white house explanation for what jared kushner was doing in that meeting. was it related to kushner family business properties? was it related to the trump transition, was it related to the magnitsky act, was it related to sanctions, ongoing discussions flynn was having at the same time? we have no explanation about whatsoever. jared kushner s m.o. in terms of dealing with the russia investigation is to appear to be completely transparent and cooperate i. his security application was a complete disaster in terms of disclosing foreign contacts. his answer whether anybody in the trump campaign had been in contact with russian officials is a complete disasters in terms of contacts he didn t disclose. but this meeting in particular, what was it about? the white house should have to say what it was about if jared k
is the key. the key? yeah, is the one that will give us, all of us at some point a lecture of what s happened. you think bob mueller will ultimately get the answers? i think so, yeah. simona, i know you have been through a difficult situation. very difficult. i appreciate you coming and taking the questions. thank you very much. up ahead on the beat, an oligarch jailed by vladimir putin actually takes us inside the kremlin mindset and talks about what putin would have known during the 2016 election hacking. but first, sheriff joe arpaio talks to me about getting that pardon from donald trump, the very first of the trump administration, and i asked him whether he understood he was admitting guilt. when we re back when 60 seconds. at&t provides edge-to-edge intelligence, covering virtually every part of your healthcare business. so that if she has a heart problem & the staff needs to know, they will & they ll drop everything