Meddled in the u. S. President ial election, but the u. S. Is finally sanctioning these people. This is under a law that was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, several months ago. There was a deadline which they could sanction that. That has already passed. The administration has always viewed that as a deadline at which they should begin the process of sanctioning these people, that they had identified in the interim. Anyway, this is a number of people, you said, five entities, 19 people, these are people who were named in special counsel Robert Muellers indictment forred for ed meddling in the u. S. Election, property is frozen, u. S. Entities and people cant do business with them. Uncertain how much that will affect them, but the value of this is that you hear u. S. Administration officials saying, first of all, yes, these people did try to interfere and did interfere in the u. S. Election. And now we are punishing them for it. You see them named for being russian trolls, one of the people is one of putins top people who funded this russian troll operation, people who made up fake internet identities, the list of sanctions by the Treasury Department gives a little detail on the things that they did and the numbers of people that they reached through this. So the administration has taken plenty of criticism for taking such a long time to do this. Now they have done it, and they are saying this is hardly the end. In fact, this is only the beginning of the sanctions that they will levy. And the other thing, the joint statement coming from the u. S. And european allies, squarely putting responsibility for this nerve agent attack in the uk on a former russian spy on russia. Tell us about this. We heard that very strongly at the u. N. Security council yesterday from nikki haley. It was almost surprising to hear her so clearly spell it out that the u. S. Does believe that russia was responsible. And the call, the background call we heard from Administration Officials today, they spelled it out as attempted murder. So in this joint statement that the u. S. Has been brought into, the u. S. The use of a military grade nerve agent, of a type developed by russia, constitutes the first offensive use of a nerve agent in europe since the second world war. It is an assault on uk sovereignty, and any such use by a state party say clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and a breach of international law. So on a number of fronts, were hearing and seeing these strong statements by the u. S. Against russia, of course, you could use the word finally in there a number of times, especially given the kinds of equivocating statements we heard from the u. S. President himself and it is also worth noting that these Administration Officials now are saying theyre also going to go after russia for trying to get into the u. S. Energy system where there is evidence that they have been in there, they say they have been removed. And also for cyberattacks. Michelle kosinski, thank you for that. I want to get reaction now on the russia side of this story. Cnns Frederik Pleitgen is in moscow. Tell us whats going on. Reporter there is no reaction yet from the kremlin, really has just hit here. But i can tell you the kremlin has taken note. In fact, the fact that the sanctions had been issued was announced on russian state media before it was even announced by the Treasury Department. So you can see they are taking this quite seriously. There is two things that really stick out in this list of people and entities that were sanctioned. One is yevgeny prigozhin, an oligarch, and his Internet Research agency, that troll factory, that did so much more damage around the u. S. Election than we had previously thought. Hes the key centerpiece of the mueller indictment issued in february where he had sent operatives to the u. S. To organize rallies there, it try to gather intelligence there. Some of the other people who worked for that Internet Research agency, the other thing that we need to point out, thats important is that there is also the fsb, russias Intelligence Agency on there, the gru, the military Intelligence Agency, and several gru operatives on that list as well. Interesting because, of course, we know the entities have been sanctioned in the past and yet you do have high level members of russias Intelligence Community still coming to the u. S. And holding high level talks here. Again, the russians will definitely have taken note of this and were waiting to see what exactly their response is going to be. We do expect that they are going to be quite angry at this new sanctions list that has just been issued. Thank you so much. I want to talk more about this with jim sciutto. And we have cnn Global Affairs analyst and former state Department Official under president obama tony lincoln. The key one of the key questions is going to be when we do get a chance to hear President Trump speak about this, is he going to be in line with what were hearing coming out of treasury, out of this joint statement. But that aside, jim, as we just look at its on its face, at these sanctions, and at this joint statement what is the significance of this . I think a couple of things. First, the administration is acknowledging that russia meddled in the election. Treasury department run by President Trumps appointee is issuing these sanctions. I would also note that 13 all 13 people indicted by robert mueller, just a couple of weeks ago, for interfering in the elections, are cited here. 13 i should say individuals and agencies or entities rather including that troll farm, Internet Research agency. A probe and the catering company. We say catering, this say guy that caters to russian troops, more than putins chef, a significant figure. But this is a probe that the president has dismissed as a witchhunt and yet his Treasury Department just lifted all of those indictments and plopped them here into the sanctions and sanctioned them openly. The final thing i would say is, does this work . The u. S. Has sanctioned russia for crimea, tony knows this better than me for interference in ukraine, et cetera. Russia is still in crimea, still in ukraine. The Obama Administration previously sanctioned russia for interfering in the elections. And everyone says russia is still interfering in u. S. Elections as the midterms approach. Will the sank sanctions deter . Based on recent experience, doesnt look like it. What do you think . Hold on a moment. Lets go to the white house where we can hear President Trump. Are you going to come visit us soon . I will. I love it. I have property there. I may never get to see it again, but i will tell. Do you play golf . I do play golf. You play golf, right . I dont, but im always willing to learn. Can take me for a few rounds. Going to open the border with ireland . We have two interesting borders. One is where you are, right . Interesting to see what happens. It is my great honor to have the very popular Prime Minister of ireland with us. And we were having some good talks about trade and about military and about cyber and all of the other things were talking about. The relationship is outstanding. And only getting better. And it really is a very special group of people, a tremendous number of irish are living in new york where i grew up. And living in the United States and these are truly wonderful people. We love them. And mr. Prime minister, great to have you. Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you for the invitation to be here. Going to be in new york on saturday. Good, wow. Fifth avenue. I would like to do it with you. Dont know does it pass by trump tower . It does. I used to watch it all the time. Youll there be on saturday . Yes. A lot of my a lot of the american side of my family came through new york. All in new jersey, florida now. Ill be at the reception later. That makes sense. And this is the first time in the oval office. I was here before as a congressional intern back in 2000, but they didnt let me into the oval office. Now we do. You made great progress. Thank you. Thank you for being with us. Look forward to talking about think putin is behind it. It looks like it. I spoke with the Prime Minister and we are in deep discussions, very sad situation. Certainly looks like the russians were behind it. Something that should never, ever happen. And we take it very seriously as i think are many others. The story was very false. They wrote a story about staff changes today that was very false. We made a wonderful change. I think mike pompeo will be an incredible secretary of state. We have some wonderful ideas. Ive gotten to know a lot of people over the last year. Ive been in washington for a little more than a year, some people have been here for 30, 40 years. Ive gotten to know great people. There will always be change. Very little. Very false story. Very exaggerated a very exaggerated and false story. But there will always be change and i think you want to see change. And i want to also see different ideas. Larry kudlow just came in little while ago. And i think larry is going to be outstanding as economic adviser. So we look forward to it. Well talk to you about it later. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you ufr, everybody. You are looking at video from moments ago of President Trump meeting with the irish Prime Minister visiting there in the oval office, just asked about the sanctions, the Treasury Department put out with russia. There is also a joint statement of course, coming from the u. S. And european allies and tony lincoln, something that struck me is how he did say it certainly looks like it was russia behind it, the nerve agent attack against former russian spy. But he afforded a lot more of this press availability to talking about answering that question about staff changes than he did about russia. I wonder what that sort of bodes for how he reacts to all of this russia stuff as opposed to how the Treasury Department and the White House Press office reacts to it. The president s been dragged kicking and screaming to this moment. On the one hand, youre tempted to say it last with the Treasury Department sanctions, with the strong statement by Ambassador Haley at the u. N. Yesterday. The entire system is flashing red on russia. There are russian opponents of putin who died mysteriously in the United States, we should get to the bottom of that too. Thats good. But the fact that the president himself refuses is reluctant to give voice to this, he didnt he should have raised this at the very top of his statement with the irish Prime Minister. Without being asked. That would be customary. Right. As we have covered or worked in the white house he didnt address the sanctions either. He addressed the poisoning in the uk, not the sanctions. There is this tremendous reluctance. What happened today with treasury validates the mueller indictment, which the administration was running away from and the House Committee on intelligence was trying to run away from. The mueller indictment to be clear which concludes though Rod Rosenstein at justice was very clear to say were not saying that it affected the election, but that indictment makes clear that the efforts of the russian intel backed operation was to put a finger on the scale for President Trump, which is something, of course, that the House Intel Committee said thats not actually true, and the actions taken by the very Treasury Department, jim, validate what the president and what the House Intel Committee has tried to say, no, no, nothing to see here. Even on the basic premise of russian interference in the election, the president until recently would continue to raise questions, if it was russia, could have been someone else, that kind of thing. Now with this Treasury Department sanctioning them, thats something he can no longer express. It is right here in paper. He said it certainly looks like the russians are behind it. What was your take was that a sort of an at last, is that your response . Hes talking about there is an at last or too little, too late . Is that enough . Is this in line with what youre seeing in this joint statement . No. If youve seen the statements via twitter and public of European Union leaders on what happened, it is stern language saying we cannot tolerate this. Churchillian saying this will not stand. Trump did say, you know, i believe they did it, i take the uks word. Is it to the level you see there . No. Tony knows the importance of the language and diplomacy better than me. You would think that when our closest ally suffers an attack on its own soil, and, by the way, not only were the russian spy and his daughter victimized, but apparently a number of british citizens were as well, came into contact with this poison, you would think the very first thing you would do from the lips of the president of the United States would be to express total solidarity. We havent seen that. The rest of the system is doing what it is supposed to do. But not the president. Well see if thats enough. Jim, thank you so much. Tony, well have you stick around to discuss some more issues with us in just a moment. Also breaking this morning, President Trump falsely claiming that the United States has a trade deficit with canada. Very easily verifiable thing. This comes after reporting that trump admitted to lying about the issue in a meeting with canadas Prime Minister. Stay with us. Well, heres to first dates you look amazing. And you look amazingly comfortable. When your vneck looks more like a uneck. Thats when you know, its halfwashed. Add downy to keep your collars from stretching. Unlike detergent alone, downy conditions to smooth and strengthen fibers. So, next time dont halfwash it. Downy and its done. Lets team up to get the lady of the house back on her feet. 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President trump offering a remarkable admission that he made up facts in a meeting with another head of state. Cnn confirmed the Washington Post report that the president boasted of his meeting with canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau. He bluffed that the u. S. Has a trade deficit with canada. It does not have a trade deficit with canada. Just a short time ago, the president repeated his claim. We do have a trade deficit with canada as we do with almost all countries, some massive. Prime minister Justin Trudeau of canada, very good guy, doesnt like saying canada has a surplus versus the u. S. , negotiating, but they do, they almost all do, and thats how i know. Heres the thing. Thats simply not true. According to the official numbers from the commerce department, the Trump Administration commerce department, the u. S. Ran a 2. 7 billion trade surplus with canada last year. Cnns abby phillip at the white house for us. Take us inside the fundraiser, abby. Reporter it seems very much the president does not want to let go of this talking point, even though as you just demonstrated, it is untrue. It is false. The president last night in a jovial mood at a fundraiser repeated this story almost jokingly talking about how he didnt actually know the answer to the question essentially. He didnt know whether the u. S. Had a surplus or a deficit, but he insisted that the u. S. Had a deficit because he believes that the u. S. Has a deficit with almost all countries. And despite being confronted by trudeau repeatedly who said no, there say surplus, and he sent aides back for aides from the United States and aides from canada to find out the answer. When they came back, the president still said essentially pushed back saying he still doesnt believe it because he didnt believe that it included exports like lumber and oil. Thats not true. That number includes lumber and oil, and it does not it does not show a deficit at all. But President Trump here indicating how far hes willing to go to push his new trade message and clearly, bri