Sex for access. I felt like President Trump was lying to the American People. When all in starts now. Good evening, from new york. I am in for chris hayes. This time, aimed at the midterm election. And yet again the white house is trying to tell the American People that the president did not say what we all saw and heard him say. At a cabinet meeting, the president told reporters that russia is not trying to disrupt this years election. Is russia still targeting the u. S. Press, lets go. Make your way out. That directly contradicts the president s hand picked dan coats. Coats compared this moment right now to the summer before 9 11. According to this cia director, the system was blinking red. And here we are two decades, nearly two decades later, and i am here to say the warning lights are blinking red. The warning lights are blinking red. The president s dismissal of that threat comes two days after he stood on a stage and took putins side against the u. S. Government on 2016 election interference. He tried to undo the damage yesterday. With these comments today, the president appears to have walked back his walk back. And so at her first briefing in more than two weeks, the White House Press secretary informed reporters that the president in fact meant Something Different than what he said. The president said thank you very much and was saying no to answering questions. The president and his administration are working very hard to make sure that russia is unable to meddle in our elections. So despite the video that shows the president looking at cecilia and answers no. And despite multiple people in the room that the president was responding to the question. You are saying it is reverse. I talked to the president he was not answering the question and he was saying no, he wasnt answering the questions. That account doesnt pass the smell test. After he said no to more questions, the president kept taking more questions. No one is tougher on russia end quote. And it is not clear that the president or his allies actually care to stop russia from putting a finger on the scale. Just today, House Republicans blocked a push by democrats to pass new funding for cybersecurity and other measures. Members of the president s twitter army and the pro trump media are dropping all pretenses of actually objecting to russian interference. If russia assists magga candidates on the internet in this years midterm, thats not the end of the world. Joining me now is congressman swalwell. Let me repeat that tweet to you. If russia assists magga candidates on the internet in this years midterm, thats not the reend of the world. What is your response to that sentiment. It certainly would be the end of our democracy. It is going to take unity to make sure this democracy continues to thrive. We offered as democrats a no use truce. Essentially saying if there is a hacking that occurs against you, you will not use any proceeds against you and we will expect the same for us. They have not yet signed that. That type of unity will show that we will not tolerate it. We will not give any oxygen to anything you put out there. You can see how some people including people running in congressional races could say maybe if they help donald trump, help some members of congress, why not take the help. The cynic in me, when you look at 44 members that were recently outfruund outfundraise. The more that they distaont stp and unite with us, when are we going to stand up for our country. We standing up depends on everybody including the president of the United States being on the same page. The president has now given another interview to cbs news. Lets listen to what he told us about russian interference in the election. Do you agree with u. S. Intelligence that russia meddled. Yeah, and i have said that before. And i would say that is true. You havent condemned putin personally. Do you hold him personally responsible. I would because he is in charge of the country. Just like i consider myself being responsible for things that happen in this country. As a leader of the country, you would have to hold him responsible yes. What did you say to him . Very strong to the fact that we cant have meddling. We are living in a grownup world. What they did here is the statement he made to putins close friend. And that statement was not acceptable. Didnt get much play, but that statement was not acceptable. But i let him know we cant have this. We are not going to have it and that is the way it is going to be. Congressman, a reluctant worrier at best. More qualifications as it relates to putin and the 2016 elections and quite possibly in the 2018 midterms. What do you make of this . He didnt say that to Vladimir Putin when he was face to face. I cannot believe with a straight face well i can, that he said barack obama, we cant trust what he said in private. That is what he did with Vladimir Putin. He wants us to accept what he said. And when i say we need to unite, this is not just some symbolism. There is a to do list. We could have an independent commission to take this out of congress. We can protect the mueller investigation. There is a lot we can do to show the American People and our enemies that we are not going to tolerate this. Congressman Eric Swalwell from california. For more on the fallout and its potential impact. I am joined by Jill Winebanks and new York Magazine magazine jonathan shay. Let me start with you. I reach back to a column you wrote last week in which you wrote, what is missing from our imagination is the unlikely but possible outcome on the other end that this is much worse than we suspect. You look back at the events of the last week, brussels, and nato, london and helsinki, does this make the horrible prospect that donald trump is in the pocket of Vladimir Putin more and not less likely . I was expecting some dark things to chance py things to transpire. And it is worse. Nobody thought he was going to stand up. And certainly nobody thought he was going to endorse this crazy offer by Vladimir Putin. Sort of combine our intelligence efforts with his. That was really beyond our worst fear. I do think we dont know how far the scandal goes and how far the collusion. The worst scenario seems more likely now than a week ago. We heard president putin speaking to the world about bill broward. If the u. S. Maybe lets us talk to bill broward. He talked about Michael Mcfall who is a frequent guest here. This is serious. The russian president is naming americans and targeting them. We have got indictments that have a legal basis for charging russians and Vladimir Putin is putting names out there. Exactly and it is a big difference between having probable cause that leads to an indictment and just grabbing names of people you know they are after. This goes back to the meeting in trump tower when we were talking about the act. This has been a sore point for the russians ever since it passed. We now how well that ended for him and we need to have a president who is willing to stand up and say to the face of the president of russia, we know that you hacked our election. We know you interfered and tried to disrupt our democracy but we would not allow that. It will not happen. We are taking actions to stop it. He did not say that. He said i cant see why it would be russia. And trying to say that he meant wouldnt be russia is just absurd. People dont speak in double negatives, it didnt happen. He clearly said it. It took more than 24 hours for them to correct it. And that was the best they could come up with. Just like they are trying to say, no, i am not taking any more questions after he did take more questions. That is a spin. The president says these things. We all hear him together and he says he didnt. And there are clearly some people in america who continue to believe this or as i pointed out before i talked to congressman swalwell, dont care. Thats right. And trump interestingly is apart from his administration in the entire lead of the Republican Party in his affection for Vladimir Putin and for russia and this is played itself out in interesting ways. Trump himself wants to form an alliance with russia and has been stymied and blocked. And at every opportunity he tries to break loose from these advisers. And when he got in a room by himself with putin, this is an opportunity for him to do who knows what, but to the horror of his entire administration. Jill, maybe it is hard for the president to stand next to Vladimir Putin and tell him, i dont think it is that hard, but he could say look, we dont go to this thing. You cant come to america and pick people up and decide you are going after them. That would have been an easy one for him. What more does anyone need to see to understand something is r rotten. This is collusion in plain sight. It would have been easy to say, no, an ambassador cannot be questioned. You cant pick names out of a hat to start asking questions. Why dont you turn over the people who have probable cause . Why would he even support the department of justice in its efforts. Why wouldnt he admit that the allegations in that indictment which are laid out so clearly are true. When i heard jonathans piece on july 9, a week before this terrible episode of the helsinki summit, i thought he is pushing it a little far and now i have to say, no, he is exactly correct and since then, we have Maria Buttina. And doesnt constitute espionage. She is clearly an agent of the government. And doing things to influence the outcome of elections. And we need to protect ourselves and not doing that. We are following that well. Jill winebanks and jonathan chait. Thank you. I want to play this for you. This is what he told lester. Did you watch and what your reactions were to Vladimir Putin denials. Well i didnt watch it live. I was in a meeting actually with some of my foreign counterparts, some of our closest foreign parters in the Intelligence Community. But i certainly saw it afterwards. Hes got his view. Hes expressed his view and i can tell you what my view is. The Intelligence Community assessment has not changed. My view has not changed. Which is that russia attempted to interfere with the last election and continues to engage in operations to this day. Aimed at our political system . Aimed at sewing discourse and divisiveness. Certainly other efforts what i would call malign influence operations are active and we could be a moment away going to the next level. To me, it is a threat that we need to take extremely seriously. This suggestion has been that it is russia, but there may be others. Are there others . Well, there are certainly other countries that are designed on a Going Forward basis have their own ways of influencing our public opinion, our politicians, our business community. But no question that russia has been by far the most aggressive actor in the space that we are talking about right now. And you are seeing it in real time right now that they continue . Absolutely. Efforts to what they do is identify a divisive issue and through a variety of means, some overt, some covert, some through fake news, some propaganda. They will spin people up on both sides of the issue and watch us go at each other. Christopher wray about the evaluation of russia interfered in the 2016 elections. Lester asked him how much more of this he can take. Stories that you threatened to resign. Have you hit a point on that issue of sources or methods where you have said this is the line. I am a low key under stated guy, but that should not be mistaken for what my spine is made out of. Well bring more to you as we get that. As the Trump White House continues to do damage control after the president s continued statements are his supporters buying the stories . Im going to ask a republican congressman just that after the break. Today. Back pain cant win. Now introducing aleve back and muscle pain. Only aleve targets tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Aleve back muscle. All day strong. All day long. You always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed . M lets get someone to say it with a really low voice. Carl . Lowest price guaranteed. What about the worlds lowest limbo stick . How low can you go . Nice one, carl. Hey ive got an idea. Just say, badda book. Badda boom. 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It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. The Intelligence Community assessment has not changed. My view has not changed which is that russia attempted to interfere with the last election and that it continues to engage in malign influence operations to this day. Pretty unequivocal. That is fbi director Christopher Wray talking to lester holt. On monday donald trump took the side of an adversary over his own, our own, really, intelligence committee. Walked it back. Today he again under cut. Requiring another tortured explanation that the president meant no more questions. Not no to whether he believes that russia is interfering. Some republicans are saying these explanations suffice. Joining me now. You are a popular guy in a safely republican state. Why do you think that was a sufficient explanation. It is not going to hurt you say what you thought. You heard the president say it and most people didnt believe it. I think he made a mistake when he was speaking the first time and he corrected that. And i am happy with his explanation. You dont really believe that he made a mistake, right congressman . I got to know, because it is not really plausible the way he said it. There was a whole press conference where he reiterated the same sentence over and over again. Where i come from, a mans word is his bond. Consistently he said he understood that russia has tried to interfere with the election. I am going to take the man at his word. This man has been tough on russia than any administration in history. I accept his explanation. Your congress has been tough on russia. The administration hasnt lived up to the requirements that congress voted on and imposed. He also did say he has faith in Vladimir Putin. I have to ask you is that going to go over well with youri constituents. So the president s goals and my goals they line up together. I want world piece. I want the Nuclear Weapons out of north korea. And if the president can use triangular diplomacy, then i am okay with it. We can argue about it, but did that feel like good dialogue to you. Would your constituents support you. Certainly i have faith in our investigative forces, our Law Enforcement people and i believe that russia has and is continuing to try to hack into our, lots of our systems. But i also believe that the president , i am going to give him room and rope. I am not sure what was said behind closed doors, but i think this president has a strategy and his actions have been great. He has sent missiles over there in the face of russia. Sent over 50 diplomats. Ultimate goal for a National Security and peace. The apology tour is over with. This president means business when it comes to National Security. You know, were also not sure what happened behind closed doors. Eric swalwell was on a little while ago saying look, you can discount, but congress has a role to play and can do lots of things to close these loopholes and make sure that america does punish and prevent russia from interfering in the 2018 elections. What are you doing that you are taking a hard line on this. The department of Homeland Security is busy with thousands of eelectric torral agency. Your congress defeated a bill that was going to increase funding for cybersecurity today. I think we have a lot of cybersecurity money out there already. The 380 million is enough to work on the election process. And certainly, you know, engaging with our friends at the military in doing more cybersecurity acts as well. I think we are putting a lot of money in the right directions. We are going to be talking to somebody who says that congress should call upon the interpreter who was in that meeting to testify. Would you support that . I dont think that is necessary. I think that President Trump has a job to do and some things do need to be said behind closed door. I support the president and think he has a plan in mind. Think about a year ago. Nato is stronger, and we are coming close to peace with north korea. You think nato is stronger than it was a week ago. When the president called our europe european allies foes . Just talking to our military folks here in d. C. At the pentagon, i hear them say that nato is indeed stronger. Thank you for joining me, congressman Roger Marshal of kansas. There are only four people on the planet who know what happened in the mee