Transcripts For MSNBC MTP Daily 20240708

Senator chris coons joins us what it means for the party and ahead. And new fbi warnings from director chris wray, as he tells my colleague Pete Williams he was, quote, blown away by the state of espionage inside the United States. Well have more of petes exclusive interview coming up. Exclusive interview coming up. Welcome to meet the press daily. Im chuck todd, the u. S. Has put itself on firmer war footing as ukraine and our nato allies brace for this possible russian invasion of ukraine. The pentagon announced its deploying thousands of troop to Eastern Europe, Repositioning Thousands of troops already in the region as well. Heres where the new deployments are going, romania, poland, germany. Include a mounted cavalry and brigade teams. In total, it adds up to 3,000 soldiers. This is in addition to the 8500 troops placed on alert to deploy. This is in addition to nato troop already there. This morning, pentagon secretarygeneral john kirby addressed it. I want to be clear about something, these are not permanent moves. They are moves designed to respond to the current security environment. Moreover, these forces are not going to fight in ukraine. Theyre going to ensure the robust defense of our nato allies. The movement of american troops coincides with russias continuing buildup of troops along its border with ukraine as well as in belarus, one of russias key allies. But as for Vladimir Putins clear intentions its still not cheerful his goals are as definitive as his actions. In fact, addressing ukraine yesterday, the first time he spoke about it publicly in more than a month. Putin accused the u. S. Of leaving open his demands. And telling Secretary Blinken earlier that russia had no intention of attacking ukraine. That the day after the Russian Ambassador accused the u. S. Of the ones that wanted a war. Its a challenge that nick price outlined this morning. Youll have criminologists all around the country and around the world, including some on your airwaves trying to parse every single syllable, word, sentence of Vladimir Putin. I think its fair to say if you do that, you will find reasons for optimism, just as you will find reasons for pessimism. Depending on what it is youre referring to. Heres the thing, were not optimistic, but neither are we pessimistic. Were cleareyed were cleareyed about the stakes and thats why weve been relentless in our diplomacy. It all comes down to the question weve been posing to a lot of people. Is putin a rational actor. Im joined by shannon pettypiece. And general hodges. Hes the chair of the center for european policy. Shannon, let me start with you, and the decision by the president to move these troops, i assume, you know, its interesting when you see that polands one of them. Those closest to the situation in Eastern Europe. And some are the most fearful of russia, poland being one of them. Right. And the white house officials have been saying that the positioning of these troops is not to have them ready to go to ukraine. It is to reassure the nato allies and to have contingency and preparation in place for nato allies under article v which gives the United States the obligation to defend going into. Thats something that the administration has tried to continue to reiterate and drive that message home and say this is not about preparing to go into ukraine, but this is about the obligation to the nato allies. That, of course, raises a question that pes secretary jen psaki was asked recently, when the past hour, whether or not u. S. Thinks nato allies are going to get invaded. And jen psaki said let the door open to that possibility, because she said the Aggression Putin has been showing over recent years towards ukraine. So, another element in dynamics there, too. But continuing to reiterate u. S. Troops are not going into ukraine. Thats not the plan. Certainly at this time, this is about preparation as well as deterrence, and something that the white house has been looking at doing for some time now. Courtney kube, walk me through what nato troops we already have there. I assume these are being added to nato bases, are they not . To u. S. Bases. Yes. So in the entire region in all of European Command the u. S. Has something between 70,000, 85,000 troops. Thats a large number in the region already. Most of those are in western europe. What were seeing 1,000 u. S. Soldiered from the 2nd cav are going move in, and that weve been hearing about that is likely. Its important to point out tod wolters, the commander for nato, has the authority to do that already, inherent in his job but this came at the request of romania who specifically wanted Additional Forces to shore up and show unity among nato members. One thing that this entire announcement today really underscores is what weve been hearing more and more, especially in the last week or ten days here at the pentagon and among u. S. Officials and that is there is an increasing belief that while they hope diplomacy works and that Vladimir Putin may not have made a decision yet theres certainly an increasing belief that he will do something here. And as he continues toed by up troops along the border, and move in, not only more soldiers and troops but also more capabilities, more logistic support. He is closer and close to being able to carry out some sort of envision or incursion in a very quick time. So, thats really what a lot of this here, why we heard this announcement today. They can move these troops forward. They will be in place in a matter of days, if they are needed. Not only for the deterrence, which we heard former ambassador mike mcfaul talk about this earlier on the air. He called it coercive diplomacy sending troops forward like this. Thats not the only reason. Then theyll be in place if theres needs to be a nonevacuation, there will be more troops in place to help us out. Courtney, whats the likelihood, other nato nations, close to this part of europe, estonia, latvia, lithuania, in particular are going to look for requests today, we need reinforcements, too, are we likely to see other nato allies in Eastern Europe to ask for this . Yes, we should expect all of them to ask for it. It wont necessarily all come from the United States. Well see unilateral deployments as you mentioned there is this 8500 troop unit in a heightened State Of Alert deployed jens stoltenberg, the secretarygeneral of nato was asked about this a couple days ago, he really made it seem that would not be activated. The nato of course unless it occurs but they have the ability to do that and some of those forces would move into other nato nations. There are other countries, the brits, the netherlands, already open to sending more troops in. So i think we will hear more and more of these kinds of deployments in the coming days. And the movements to germany, courtney, i assume, are those to replace the troops that were sent to romania . No, thats actually a command and control group. Its a very small group. A couple hundred soldiers. Okay. They will go in and almost be a headquarters. Gotcha. Interesting thing, the u. S. Military had a structure in germany but that is one that stood out to me. But, no. Let me move to matt bodnar. Ned price put it well, theres always a criminologist, you can see certain things oh, putin is rational, hes not doing this. Then you see certain things, oh, maybe not. Well see. The last 48 hours it sounded like russia wanted diplomacy. Are we reading too much into this . Reporter i think its just too soon to say, chuck. What im seeing, my criminology, were seeing theyre really playing both side of this right now. Ned price is exactly right, you can take whatever you want to a conclusion at this point. That is part of Vladimir Putins game right now. Every time this comes up, i just see hes leaving himself extraordinary room to do anything. You know, theyre obviously not going to like this deployment to Eastern Europe. Lets say Vladimir Putin wants to back down. Now, if he does it right now, all hes accomplished essentially doubling the size of nato in europe. But he can also turn that right around and start Negotiating Removal of those troops. Then hed pull the wind out of it, its a criminologists game at this point. That sets up my next guest, general hodges. In fact, general, is this sort of, in an odd way, an aggressive exit ramp . Were ramping up, were sending putin a message, nope, this isnt working the way you thought it was going to work. And youre really going to hate this now. And thisis suddenly leverage, new leverage we had that perhaps we didnt before. Is that too are we overthinking this . Am sigh overthinking this, general . Well, youre about two laps ahead of me, chuck. I mean, thats but thats not an unreasonable conclusion. Look, i was in kyiv just two days ago. I had the chance to speak with president zelensky. He is not confused about the threat. He understands the very serious nature of the threats of his borders as well as inside the occupied territory of ukraine. Obviously, he has a different view of the white house of the nature and the scale of that. I think what the administration is doing is prudent. Because it does take time to move troops, even a move, it takes time. The Striker Squad to germany is ideal. A lot of capability. And of course, you know, france has declared a battle group to romania as well. So, this is not just the United States. And finally as courtney nose, up in baltic region, estonia, latvia and lithuania, theyre enhancing groups, germany, denmark, canada, its very prudent. Every one of the diplomatic positions look like that gives putin an exit ramp that he would accept, general . So, i think three things. First of all, there are things that were already doing, to let him declare victory and leave. First of all, more transparency. The russians never live up to anything that they sign, and particularly the existing agreement with more transparency. And frankly, every time i hear an official speak out, but we say, look, were going to doubledown on the existence of Transparency Process that are already there. I loved it when we did the inspection, then they could see how good our soldiers were. Lets double down on that. The second thing, i think we can guarantee today that estonia is never going to attack russia. And lithuania is never going to attack russia. Of course, its ridiculous. But lets make a joint statement that says we guarantee like we havent for the last 70 years we are not going to attack russia and let President Putin take credit for that and go home. You think nato nations alone would make that statement . I think its more considerate. It sounds ludicrous on its face. But weve been guaranteeing the border of soviet union and russia since it collapsed. Nato crossed that border, so, lets go forward with this, declare, we guarantee we will never invade russia. Im curious, it seemed to be, whether it was a Trial Balloon or one idea, senator dick durbin on my show on sunday, he said, look, ukraine say sovereign nation if they make the decision publicly they dont want to be a member of nato for x number of years, perhaps thats a way to resolve this. Do you think thats a real option . No, i dont with all due respect to senator durbin. First of all, that would be political suicide for any ukrainian president or any ukrainian government. So, thats not going to happen and when i listened to president zelensky the other day, i was struck how serious they are about their sovereignty. About fighting and the idea that they would forfeit the option of asking them to continue to apply for nato membership. They know that would be like throwing raw meat to the russian bear and probably not go away. Matt bodnar, putin is headed to china. Any insight on what we should expect . Reporter sure, well, we actually heard a little bit about this today from putins Foreign Policy adviser. And they are kind of setting the station for a very substantial bilateral meeting. Theyre going to do this before the opening ceremony, in secret, several hours. Theyre signaling we might see Something Like 20 intergovernmental agreements, corporate agreements, and theyre also quickly talking about the situation in ukraine. You know, putin does it, one, for optics, were definitely meant to be paying attention to this trip to china, and i think theyre going to play it up. But china plays the game a little more cooley than russia right now. I do not picture theyre going to get what they want from this trip. Courtney, any insight on, you know, it would be just like putin if he decided china resolve this, as sort of a you know, you could just see his sort of Propaganda Brain Work here. Is there any sort of concern analysis here, and what they expect out of this . Not that ive heard out of here. I mean, what were hearing more and more about those potential off ramps, the areas of diplomacy. And some of them, there was a european newspaper that actually reported on some of this deal. And the Pentagon Press secretary john kirby when he was asked about it this morning, he didnt deny the details on that. He just said he wasnt necessarily goinged to adjust it. But that report in fact showing the u. S. Was willing to negotiate, willing to put some things on the table. So far, we havent heard anything really new about what the u. S. Is willing to do to work with russia. Yeah. On some sort of offramp here, exercise, Military Exercise is something we hear a lot about. More transparency in the exercises so notification of before they occur on both sides. Maybe some potential infections of each other, you know right. Equipment that they have in the region, those kinds of things but that seems to be where the diplomatic piece is according to the officials were talking about here. Shannon petty piece, courtney qube, matt bodnar, Lieutenant General hodges, appreciate your insight. Thank you. My colleague Hallie Jackson will interview john kirby at 3 00 eastern. I know my friend halle will get mr. Kirby on that. Up next, we dig deep into the chairman of the joint committee, and the administration relaunches the campaign that he started as vice president. His moonshot to end cancer. 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With Unitedhealthcare Medicare advantage plans, you can take advantage of free eye exams and free designer eyewear. Wow. Uhhuh. Free yearly eye exams, Designer Frames and prescription lenses. Take advantage now. Wow welcome back. As President Biden authorizes a plan to deploy thousands of troops to Eastern Europe, congressional leaders are weighing a plan to sanction the kremlin. But they arent on the same page on when or how to hit hard. And a package could, quote, come relatively soon. From the secretary of defense and Secretary Of State on evolving threat of russian invasion. Joining me now senator chris coons, democrat from delaware. Member of the Senate Foreign relations committee. Senator, great to see you. Good to be with you, chuck. Let me start with the decision to deploy troops. You know, a lot of times, at what point, do you think the president should be getting advice from congress . Or congress is, i guess, acceptance of deploying troops like this, at what point do you think he needs to go to congress . Look, i think its important that the president , the secretary of defense, the Secretary Of State consult with the Foreign Relations committee. The president and his team have been doing that regularly, within his scope as Commander In Chief the president has the ability to deploy troops particularly to our nato allies. And in the face of a demonstrable threat to the region and regions stability towards putins progressive stance towards ukraine. But i think one of the things weve been seeing President Biden and the senior team do very well is pull together our nato allies, canada and the United States and western and Central European nations and push back on putin. I think putin was testing biden. Testing nato, testing the west. And i think hes been surprised how forcefully and quickly were coming together. Its not just american troops who are being deployed. Its french, british, polish, a dozen other countries forward deploying assets. Its interesting on the issue of getting everybody together, it does, in hindsight, not punishing putin very well for crimea not getting involved in our election, for everything he did, did it lead to this point . Is this one of those things, okay, now, everybody realizes the threat that he is, in hindsight, was it a mistake for all the light punishments in the past . Look, my view of Vladimir Putin has always been he will only stop when we stop him. In 2008 he invaded and still occupied two sections of the country of georgia. He also later invaded and still occupies a portion of the country moldova. In 2014, as you said, chuck, he invaded and Annexed Crimea and separatists since 2014 in donbas. I think we need to send as strong and decisive deterrence signal now as we can. I think that started when President Biden came into office. Remember, his first overseas was to meet with nato allies and go to geneva, to sit toe to toe with putin and to be clear what cyberintrusions in our country, our infrastructures and elections would mean and with our partners and Eastern Europe would be. I think these Marshaling A Forceful response. Well, he has done Cyber Attacks already in this country. And it goes to the issue of punishing putin now. Hes holding a country hostage. And weve not leveled any sanctions. Why . Well, i think the sanctions that we are building european support for would be the toughest sanctions ever imposed on russia. It would have costs and consequences for some of our closest partners. Germanys new chancellor olaf scholz will be here monday to meet with President Biden, im certain the ongoing reliance in most of Eastern Europe including germany on gas plies is a key part of thats why President Biden met with the amir of qatar, his country is one of the biggest providers of liquefied natural gas. The president and his cabinet are making thoughtful moves to provide deterrence against russia and the alternative that it leads to strong and tough sanctions and it has consequences for the economies and Energy Supplies into our partners in europe. Im curious, im curious, if youre seeing a divide inside your republican colleagues in the Foreign Relations committee. I saw senator mike braun put how a statement that he was opposed to President Bidens decision to send troops to Eastern Europe. Senator Lindsey Graham was very much in favor of it. I know theres a bit of a divide on the right. In the Foreign Relations committee how unified is everybody on pushing back on russia . Are there any handful of republicans arguing against it . My impression, chuck, theres only a few members of the Republican Caucus, let alone the Foreign Relations committee who are following what ill call the Tucker Carlson line which is questioning why we should do anything to defend ukraine. Why we should be deployed troops why nato is essential to our security. But the vast majority of americans ive heard from or spoken up in hearings, i just came from a several long hour hour with Secretary Blinken and secretary austin, im not hearing a lot of voices that are saying from the Republican Caucus we shouldnt be reinforcing our allies in europe. In fact, its a weird divide. You have a small group saying one thing and then you have others who say we havent been aggressive enough, right . Who are actually seeing sanctions already. Marco rubio is arguably probably in that category. Is there a chance we level sanctions before putin does something in ukraine . Chuck, what i think we will end up taking up and passing through the Foreign Relations committee will be a robust package of sanctions that chairman menendez has put together, he and senator risch are working together on. With another aggression on ukraine in the recent months to justify some sanctions now but we should hold off on the most devastating and significant sanctions, to use them as a deterrent against any further invasion of ukraine. Let me ask you about your colleague Ben Ray Lujan. Were obviously all hoping for a speedy recovery. Its the quality of a 50 50 senate, though. What does this mean for the next month. I saw one report that basically said, look, some Senate Business can go on, but probably not the controversial stuff. Look, anytime the senate is this closely divided every single one of us, should we not be able to be here and vote, can potentially change important outcomes. I have reached out to my friend ben ray to just express my concern to tell him that my wife and i have him in our prayers. And to express my hope that he will be fully recovered and returning soon. But, any one of us, if were not able to be here, whether through covid or a Family Emergency or a change in life circumstances, would have a big impact on important votes like the Supreme Court confirmation thats on our horizon here in the next few weeks or month. Does this clarify your Senate Conference a little bit here, that, hey, you know, you may only have a finite amount of time to govern. Whether its the president s agenda, build back better, what was formally known as build back better, the Supreme Court or other, electoral reform. It seems to me, does this focus the mind, do you think . Chuck, what i would hope would focus the mind of my colleagues is what we hear back home, week in and week out. Folks who are eager for us to fix the postal service. To deliver more support for restaurants and gyms and small businesses. To make sure that what were doing is helping our schools open and operate safely and support educators and support teachers and parents and students. I hope that would be the source of our urgency about moving forward. The president s agenda. But to answer your question, directly, yes, a sense of the fragility of the majority some add some added oomph to that focus and energy. Senator chris coons, democrat from delaware, always good to get your perspective. We know you have a lot of president s ear at times as well. Thank you. Coming up we have whats happening next now that the democrats no longer have a Working Majority temporarily in the senate. Youre watching meet the press daily. Youre watching meet the press daily. And needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. We cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, like asap so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee. Yeah i shouldve just led with that. With at t business. You can pick the best plan for each employee and get the best deals on every smart phone. Im 77 years young, still going strong. Diabetes is not going to slow me down, thanks to my dexcom g6. This little wearable sends my Glucose Numbers right to my phone or receiver. And the arrow tells me which way im heading and how fast. So its easier for me to keep my glucose in range. And the more time i spend in range, the more i can do. If youre on medicare, learn more at dexcom. Com. vo for me, one of the best things about life is that we keep moving forward. We discover exciting new technologies. Redefine who we are and how we want to lead our lives. Basically, choose what we want our future to look like. So whats yours going to be . Welcome back. As we mentioned the senate is in session with just 99 members right now as mexico democrat Ben Ray Lujan is recovering from a stroke. According to his office, he was hospitalized with dizziness and fatigue last thursday. He was found have have suffered a stroke and surgery to ease the swelling in his brain. Hes in the hospital and expected to make a full recovery. They did not put a timetable on this. There is no remote voting in the senate like in the house. As long as he remains in the hospital, democrats lack the vote. As a moment when they have a lot on their plates including the president s upcoming nomination for a new Supreme Court justice. Leigh ann caldwell has the latest on capitol hill. I saw one report that said, okay, february is now, you know, probably off the table. This is something, hes still in the hospital. You cant imagine hes going to be able to fly very soon so this you know, this is going to be a while. How are Senate Democratic Leadership Planning for this going forward, at least for the next few weeks . Reporter yeah, its really hard to tell, chuck because we dont, Rank And File senators and reporters dont know the time line, im sure Senate Majority leader knows more about the time line of how Ben Ray Lujan is doing, and when he could possibly come back. Its really unclear at this point. A lot of members that were talking to dont really want to talk about it, theyre offended that were asking what the senate is doing. But the reality is theres a very slim majority in the senate, theres still an election and theres still a biden agenda and theres still a Supreme Court vote coming up. Just today in the Commerce Committee when Ben Ray Lujan sits on had to cancel their Confirmation Vote for three people, including to the fcc, because they didnt have a vote out of committee. And another thing, build back better regrouped negotiations because that cant come to the floor anytime soon, even if there is some sort of agreement on legislation. And then, of course, the Supreme Court confirmation, Ben Ray Lujan is not on the judiciary committee. So they could still go through that process. But they could very well need him for a vote, unless they get republicans to support it, chuck. Speaking of the Supreme Court, did you learn anything how of the Durbin Grassley meeting with the president and i guess Chuck Schumer is there today, correct . Reporter yeah, Senator Schumer is heading to the white house today. We do know that Mitch Mcconnell got a call from President Biden yesterday to talk about the Supreme Court which is interesting. Again, biden is doing some outreach to republicans. As far as the meeting is concerned yesterday with durbin and grassley, not a whole lot of readout. Except durbin expressed his intent to in fact move this swiftly, once he gets to once they get the nominees. But again, swift might be put on hold because again Ben Ray Lujan. So it seems President Biden is causing his ts, dotting his is, talking to republicans and making this as collaborative as possible, chuck. So if you were to look at the tea leaves and what could get done, were the untrue piece of bipartisan action is the electoral count act. And it does seem that the former president has seems the more he speaks, the more Senate Republicans want to do something. It seems like in an odd way former President Trumps bizarre rantings about this law have motivated more Senate Republicans. Have you seen the same thing . Reporter yeah, absolutely. They havent been deterred, lets say that. They are continuing with these negotiations with democrats. And this is a republicanled committee at this point, or its a group, i should say. Later today, this group is going to meet with members of the rules committee, the chair and Ranking Member of the rules committee. So this could become really a formal process that really has some teeth and could move forward. You know, im usually pretty pessimistic about things passing up here. But this seems like it really has a good chance, especially because the former president continues to weigh in. And this is only going to frustrate members, we know that leader mcconnell doesnt have a relationship with the president. He has no loyalty to him at all. So, hes definitely not looking to protect donald trump. No, and the person i might most fascinating to watch in this has been john thune. Hes running for reelection. You can hear it in his voice, the more the former president talks, the more inclined he is to be supportive of these measures, too. This is a case its kind of ironic to watch how former President Trump is almost rallying Senate Republicans to this call. Leigh ann caldwell on capitol hill. As always, thank you. Were keeping a close eye on the white house as the first lady and President Biden electrical speaking about, the Cancer Moonshot to work to reducing the rate of cancer and survival rates, obviously. Joe biden and his family has been on the front lines of fighting cancer. Up next, as the olympics get under way in beijing, the spotlight on china is going to grow. Nbcs Pete Williams has an exclusive interview with fbi director chuck wray on spying on the u. S. Its so vast that it even surprised the fbi director. Youre watching meet the press daily. G meet the press daily. Welcome back. Fbi director Christopher Wray is once again sounds the alarm on hacking and spying carried out by the chinese government, sat down with my colleague and justice correspondent Pete Williams for oneonone on the growing changes of china and the u. S. Countering the threat. Told pete that the scale of the fbi projects have ramped up significantly. Take a listen. I will say, its the greatest thing weve ever seen in terms of the scale. You know, we are investigating opening a new chinarelated counterintelligence investigation, typically it involves theft of American Intellectual property or secrets. Over the course of 24 hours we probably have 2,000 investigates. Pete Williams Joins me to break down the interview. Pete, there was something about him sounding the alarm that was quite familiar. People have been sounding the alarm about china for a long time, meaning theyve been vacuuming up stuff from this country from businesses, i guess why now . Why the focus now . Is it more than they thought . I think its a renewed focus. Hes become clearly the most critical outspoken credit kick of klein in the administration. This is the theme. I think hes concerned its not getting traction, thats thing one. And thing two, he says, the nature of it is changing. That china is becoming border about it. That theyre more aggressive with more consequences for the american economy. He says its the largest, most serious threat to merks Economic Security. And chuck, he had an interesting thing to say in the interview about china, coupling the oppressive nature of its police state with sort of cuttingedge technology, heres a listen. And what is their goal here, to steal American Innovation . They want to replace the United States as the worlds greatest superpower. And they recognize the Economic Security and National Security go hand in hand. China is not the only country to have those kinds of authoritarian ambitions, think of east germany during the cold war. But what were talking about here is china may be the first country to combine that kind of authoritarian ambition with cuttingedge technical capability. Its like the Surveillance Nightmare Of East Germany combined with the tech of silicon valley. So, wray said some of what china does, with people here infiltring countries, but it says a lot of what it does is hacking. Chinese hacking has more consequence in the u. S. , that chinese do more of it than any other countries combined, chuck. Pete, does that mean were that far ahead of china technologically . This is why theyre constantly trying to steal our stuff . Yes, in many ways, there are specific examples here. For example, one of the cases that the fbi recently got a conviction on last november in ohio, at a Ge Aircraft Plant where they make jet engines with Turbine Blades that are made of composite material. And the person who was convicted there was trying to get the secrets of how to do that smuggled into china. And eventually, they figured out what they was up to, fed in false data so they could track it and finally made the case. But, you know, theres so many other examples, the chemical that coats the inside of soft drink cans, for example, china was trying to steal that. The chemical that makes white paint really white. All sorts of things, china seems to be going after any technological innovation. But wrays point that the chinese want to succeed economically and they decided to steal their way to it than innovate themselves. Hes sounding the alarm. This has to be a government approach. Weve been talking about sources the idea we could get cyber attacked, and the response that were worried about. All that comes out it feels as if our government only has so much insight into our private sectors ability to stop, whether russia or china here. Does he have an idea how to improve our own Public Private security . Well, yes. I think thats one of the reasons hes speaking out about this again is that he wants american corporations to be more openminded about the potential threat here. More willing to share with the fbi early on. I come back to that ge case again, because the fbi touts that as an example where the ge felt early on this is fishy. Contacted the fbi, thats why they were able to make that case and shut it down before Technology Made it into the hands of the chinese. Theres always been suspicion between the fbi and Corporate America about how much information the government will reveal about what it knows, vice versa. But he says thats Getting Better but needs to improve. Just curious, should we read into the timing of Christopher Wray wanting to go public about this . Is this sending a message to global corporations, be careful getting into bed with china . Well, i asked him that question. I said, you know, should corporations be suspicious about this, or reluctant to do business with chinese companies. He said its not for me to advise him. Remember, he came from the private sector back to the fbi after he left the justice department. Right. He said, all im saying, you know, he made over and over the point, im not criticizing the Chinese People or chinese americans. Im criticizing the Chinese Communist government. And what he said is, every company in china has to have every major can company has to have somebody from the Communist Party in that company. So youre really almost always dealing business at some length with the chinese government. Just be aware of that and be careful. Pete williams with some interesting comments from the fbi director. Pete, thank you. Let me turn to new developments in other fbi investigation of domestic threats. The fbi has identified six people of interest after 13 historically black colleges and universities received bomb threats. All appear to be, quote, tech savvy and use sophisticated information to disguise themselves. The fbi said people of interest did appear to have racism ambitiouses howard, Southern University and Morgan State University shut down and classes were suspended after receiving these threats. At several schools students were told to shelter in place until authorities were able to give the allclear. Schools were able to reopen after no danger. This is not the first threat to hbcus, the this is actually the second. One into the house probe of the january 6th committee, and two months ago the Committee Held clark in contempt. He was present and meeting with President Biden in the aftermath of the 2020 election. The committee was expected to meet remotely with the leader of the far right Militia Group oath keepers. His attorney said in an interview yesterday that his client would plead the fifth of most questions asks of him. A federal judge recently ordered u. S. Marshals to transport him to washington ahead of his July 11th Trial date. Folks, the folks that have been cooperating are still a whose who of trumps circle. They are getting to the bottom of this. We will be right back. You are watching meet the press daily. The press the press daily. Ay takes everything youve got taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot wouldnt you like to get away . 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It was only yesterday in his first comments since december of Vladimir Putin accused of United States of trying to pull russia into an armed conflict. His words, though, are out of step with his actions. 130,000 Russian Troops equipped from advanced weaponry