[inaudible conversations] [cheers and applause]. Good afternoon. The center of American Progress. Robert mueller will appear tomorrow before members of llngress to detail how the government worked to sabotage the 2016 election and donald trump andd his allies to aid and abet and coverup the operation at every turn. The president has lied over and over again and tomorrow the American People with the special counsel. This time around they will be contained within the margins of the legal documents. This time around we hear directly from himself that is utterly damning. Mueller described at least 37 meeting 272 contacts in total like the Trump Campaign that to the highest echelon of the Trump Campaign and through the inner circle including donald trump junior. Campaign manager Paul Manafort chaired internal polling and political strategies with the russian agent. And with that assault and integrity of our democracy. Yet not a Single Member of the trumpe campaign reported their interactions to the fbi instead publicly and enthusiastically encouraged those to intensify their attacks. Since the election the president has tried to derail the extensive and pervasive and ongoing relationship with russia. Fortunately the Progressive Community ison relentless to uncover the truth. After Trump Took Office the center for American Progress watched launched an initiative called the moscow project with Critical Research to track the full extent of the president s many contacts with russia. It has also deconstructed every aspect with elected officials and members of the media and the American Public and even launched a podcast outh the apple top 100 charts. Proud of everything they have accomplished in the moscow project will pursue its mission is finally fully realized and will become clearer than ever before the Mueller Report is not the end of the investigation only signaling the beginning of the next phase. Now to hold donald trump accountable and today we will hear from one of the leaders at the forefront of this effort congressmen shift. And the working to safeguard the interest of america and ourri allies. And then to expand also a former federal prosecutor serving as chairman of the house intelligenceen committee to host a special counsel during tomorrows hearings to be so grateful that the congressman can make time to join us this afternoon just a few hours before what promises to be a truly pivotalal moment in american history. And now i have the pleasure to turn over to the moscow project. Please help me to welcome both of them to theel stage. [applause] thank you for coming. Considering what takes place tomorrow but to start my questioning what that question that you asked yourself in 2017, that was the day of the first House Intelligence Committee hearing and announcing that there was indeed an fbime investigation with the ties to russia. To give a very prescient Opening Statement in which you outline of what we knew at the time on march 20th. So is it possible that all of these events and reports are completely unrelated and you said yes. And not disconnected to use the same techniques for those to be employed in europe and elsewhere we simply do not know k yet is this just a random coincidence. And that the Trump Campaign at the highest level to get that help then to set up a secret meeting that is what we would later learn on the Campaign Chairman that was giving the polling data for the russian states at the same time they were engaged a social Media Campaign i would not pose those questions but obviously we know a lot more now and is not the least bit coincidental and with that seriousness what the Trump Campaign did by lying about and obstructing into that that if they learned about this in drips and drabs and you can imagine but instead they come out discreetly so when the report came out we already knew about that. And how does that relate back to the other facts . But yes. And it seems very innocent for xhosa talk about the russia interference effort. And then they did interfere in this election. And to have a distinct russian Political Campaign with that digital operation was roughly the same size as a Digital Campaign operation. With this was a problem Going Forward into 2020 . So not everybody accepts that. When he met with Vladimir Putin he denied it of course and the president said we are united strongly and made the intelligence agencies did. And then to call this a hoax. And with this conspiracy hoax. And that it intervened the hoax. And then like a fat guy sitting on his bed. And then in terms of the actual impact that that social Medial Campaign for hundreds of millions of americans. And then to be communicated not the members of texas or florida but st. Petersburg and then add a cage at a rally or to organize a protest. And then we will simply never know. There are a lot of aspects of this that were influential at the end of a close election tth a social Media Campaign and the russians to could force them to respond to the dumping of documents. And as a meaningful impact on the Campaign Comes from donald trump himself. Dozens and dozens in which he trumpeted the wikileaks disclosures that he would not have done if he did not believe that was pivotal to his campaign. And then to disavow or to condemn that. And then something similar happened when al gore received that briefing book. And then to interfere in the election by stealing i materials and ejecting that. Is that they aided the russian attack by promoting the materials . Without a doubt. And also the opportunity of 2016 was that at the time when they involve themselves in the election but john mccain was not the nominee. John mccain iai am confident he had the strengthth of character to say i dont want your help i dont need your help. But it wasnt it was donald trump. And build that into his campaign c strategy one of the most startling facts is that within hours they were prove they were listening because they try to hack a server so yes a lot of responsibility goes to donald trump. So many of us were urging o the press it isnt always the case that the documents are stolen and sometimes to override that public significance. And with these articles and then to begin with the most important part we only know what the russians want us to know. And this is what we learned and without that critical context that the russians amplified. Spirit that my frustration and then it puts into context what people knew at the time. And then to dissemble the context. But over the course of your investigation that the Trump Campaign officials knew that russia was interfering that wikileaks was acting so was there an awareness on the part of the Trump Campaign at the time . Of course there was. They were reading the clippings like the rest of us in the intelof briefing that the russians were interfering in august but what was going on but they were delighted to have the help. The ethic was and even after all we have been through with giuliani or jaredr kushner. To bring themselves to say with the authorities there ethic is you would be a sap not to take the help it isnt patriotism or ethics but to escape criminal prosecution and withth that standard and the president of the United States. Then to make any criminal case if they think that is unfair. And that obliviousness and meeting with those russian representatives in trumpan tower in november and december. But what that meeting was about and why Jared Kushner wanted to be rescued because getting dirt from the russians on their opponent. And of course they knew the russians had stolenha emails. Much more valuable dirt and papadopoulosos advised with those stolen emails. And that is a modus operandi its better for the russians and to give directly to the campaign and the wikileaks publication gave some deniability but the idea that this meeting that they held a secret that they all denied having but then of course when its revealed then come up with this phony statement that the president dictates. So then that the idea that it falls completely flat so one of those Weaker Sections of, the report with the knowledge of the participants in the meeting were quick to point out and in terms of the criminality and was new to the president ial campaign. This isnt the first president ial campaign manafort was involved in. And that concealment and then they would consider that evidence of raw knowledge it knowing that wrongfulness of conduct. Unlike Robert Miller so why did they decide they didnt need to ask questions and what took place . Im sure the mueller team understood but thats all i will say on that today. I want to shift gears and in 1990 to prosecute espionage. In the same case Richard Miller with classifiedie information and with the kgb do you see any similarities coming back all these years later . And also coming full circle with the fbi agent and to tell you one thing that came out of that the investigation into one of their own to respect that professionalism that was a cut above but i learned about russian tradecraft how those assets in this country with the seductress. Be careful out there. So she emigrated to the United States an act of treachery and character and was unhappy and wanted to go back. Learning how the soviets and how they targeted people access to classified information and how to identify people with financial troubles and fidelity in their marriage and Richard Miller was a good target form them. And then to look at the investigation of who were the week links that they could identify . And and George Papadopoulos t d with those targets like Paul Manafort with russian intelligence to be driven by his desire and then to be made whole and monetize the work on the campaign and then make them right for potential targeting. And then to ask for something relatively innocuous then a little less and then they will give you that and then before you knoww it you are hooked because they can expose anything you have done this far. So certainly looking very much like russian tradecraft. And for the briefings or polling data. And the strategy of these key states and then to offer this. And then the precise nature among other things because they are using encrypted apps and then to be not the least bit cooperative. When i entered the state department the process of security clearance it was incredibly extensive of what investigators are looking at to determine the issues of my background as part of the investigation, the fbi announced the counterintelligence investigation so what is the status of that investigation . The status is one of the big Unanswered Questions publicly. And that information about that. And with this criminal investigation and counterintelligencebe with that form power and if they were influencing policymakers but the Mueller Report is a criminal report it to prosecute these people it doesnt say anything of who is at risk and how is that mitigated . But there are other ways to mitigate the risk so the concern with flynn when he lied to the administration about the vicepe president that they misledof the country when he was discussing sanctions with the Russian Ambassador that the russians knew what they were talking about so they were exposing and compromising mike flynn and also youre making a big real estate deal in moscow and no business dealings and associates like Michael Cohen and congressman ryan. The russians knew they were lies. Out one and when they were very close to putin, the russians knew in great detail and that gave the russians leverage over donald trump and the administration and what is so compromising about this that the negotiations went on long after to the middle of the campaign and that had emailed the kremlin and called the kremlin and issued a statement and said we never responded to that. That was aau lie. Here it was covering up so that when the president was confronted to say i might have lost the election. For their again is the standard for the investigation. But then he said why should i miss out . We still dont know where he plans to build moscow trump tower. Is still could be his motto why do i miss out on those opportunities . So the project worth hundreds of millions of dollars so that ought to concern every american with bob Mueller Reporting on the russian activity hen bob mueller outlinee russian interference campaign he identified two lines of effort and there was a Hacking Campaign and a social Media Campaign but one of the things we started to see in europe is that theres usually a financial component to russian interference. Theres been financial ties from a russian bank to the National Front in france and recent stories in italy can act with far right parties of dangling russian money and it seems to me rather odd that there were not be a russian financial component to interfering in this election and it is, after all, what candidates need and what campaigns politicians are asking for donations and having people for money to support the campaign and it is in fact, to fund it. Did more look into the finances and you have a sense of whether money was whether mueller examined or russian Money Laundering somehow made its way into the trunk campaign. Short answer is we dont know. We dont know what the scope of muellers invitation was and we dont know whether the decisions on scope were imposed on him by the acting attorney general or Deputy Attorney general and we dont know the answer to that. This is the reason replaced a giant priority and following the money because if that was not done at least it was not done as part of the criminal probe and someone needs to look at whether theres financial compromise and the report makes clear that bob mueller considered his mandate to be very narrow. As you point out, he considered his mandate to be investigating the social media operation, and best getting the hacking and dumping operation and determining very narrowly whether he could prove the elements of conspiracy of the trunk campaign with either of those two lines of effort. In terms of whether there was an investigation into whether there were other means of influence we dont know. We dont know. We are determined to find out. We are also determined to make sure that we do whatever is necessary to expose and economize so we can protect ourselves. Are you happy with the cooperation from Financial InstitutionsLike Deutsche Bank and have you gone financial records that you have been after . The Financial Institutions are more than willing to cooperate. They are being sued by trump to prevent them from cooperating and this is right we are in mitigation and so far were winning litigation. Lower courts have addressed th this, not only ruled in our favor but also gave such short [inaudible] in the opinions of the court to the trump arguments that the Deutsche Bank case look at the oversight committees accounting case and we are doing ours jointly with the Financial Services committee and we are sort of the legal equivalent of get out of my court. Its what they told the trump organization. Your arguments have no merit and dont even have tolerable merit. We feel pretty optimistic but the cold, i think, of the Trump Administration and Organization Even advancing what i think they know are spurious arguments is just to draw this out as long as they possibly can expect to have concerns over how the invitation concluded and Robert Mueller throughout it knows that the firing of Jeff Sessions with something on toms mind because he could exert control over the investigation and then trump, lo and behold, fired Jeff Sessions and appointed Matthew Whitaker who seem to have no qualifications and then appointed william barr but thats not the point when he fired Jeff Sessions. Maybe Nothing Happened but do you have any concerns over how the investigation concluded . Well, i have continuing concerns about the ongoing investigations in particular. Yes, i have concerns about the ending of the other investigation. We have little if any visibility into for example white the special counsel decided not to pursue an interview with the president and why not subpoena the president. The president played robe a dope with special counsel for a long time and i can understand from a personal point of view why the prospect of entering into a lengthy litigation to finally get the interview before you can conclude investigation was n