Right now. President trump is inviting Vladimir Putin to the white house for a new separate special meeting. It comes as his own intel chief concedes today that trump didnt take the right approach in his big meeting with putin this week, saying he would have done it a different way to avoid giving Vladimir Putin power by holding this now very controversial meeting without u. S. National security staff in the room. They asked me how that ought to be conducted. I would have suggested a different way. But thats not my role. Thats not my job. So it is what it is. It is what is. Coats making waves by admitting he was kept in the dark when putins top officials went into that Oval Office Meeting without National Security staff, and that was, of course, another very odd russiarelated meeting trump held. The white house is pushing forward, though, with this other meeting amidst universal condemnation of the helsinki summit which even trump acknowledged by walking back three different major russia positions this week, including the white house tamping down a provocative attempt to undercut the ambassador to russia, suggesting he could face a grilling from the kremlin. Heres the whole progression. He feels very strongly about it, its an interesting idea. Its an incredible offer. The president s going to meet with his team and well let you know when we have an announcement on that. Donald trump has now disagreed with that proposal, they say it was made in sincerity. But something they disagree with, and they will not be pursuing. Something they now disagree with. Donald trump did cheer that offer, though, when he was at putins side, then leaving it to aides to declare this disagreement, just like his spokesperson had to spin this odd exchange about russia also this week. Is russia still targeting the u. S. , mr. President . Thank you very much. Lets go, make your way out. You had a chance to speak with the president after the comments, the president was said thank you very much and was saying no to answering questions. Just no to answering questions. Those walkbacks pale next to one empowering so many jokes and memes this week. The reference to a double negative to spin his embrace of putins defense at the summit. The sentence should have been i dont see any reason why it wouldnt be russia, sort of a double negative. So you can put that in and i think that probably clarifies things pretty good by itself. So heres where we are. Donald trump forged his entire public brand on firing anyone, fighting anyone and never apologizing or backing down. His whole aura was reality star meets tom petty, wont back down, gonna stand my ground, and i wont back down. That was the narrative. This week, of course, exposes the giant exception. When it comes to putin and russia policy, trump wont fight. He looks like hes afraid putin will fire him. He spent four consecutive days backing down and explaining himself. And this quite blatant departure from trumps normal brand has many serious people asking questions this week. The new york times, front page, with an article questioning what happens when treason may hit the oval office. If russia is the one topic that terms trump from a relentless tom petty fighter to a kind of a bumbling, flinching, flailing ca pitlator, people are going to ask why. Like tonight, people are asking why this widely contended week of Donald TrumpsForeign Policy towards russia is being capped at this hour with this developing news of a dramatic red carpet invite for Vladimir Putin to the white house. I am joined now by former ambassador, mark ginsburg, who called mondays meeting a shame and sure reddrender summit. And sam seeder. Ambassador, i begin with you, why is this happening . Well, its happening largely because of the duress that trump has received from some supporters, particularly Newt Gingrich and a couple others on fox news. That got under his skin. Its not because of the substance. He actually is convinced that what he did in helsinki was not the equivalent of a chamberlain surrender, or an appeasement, that they accomplished something. What he said saying to the American People is that mr. Putin has something on him, that theres a reason why this obsequious kowtowing to putin that putin inflicted on the United States and the international community. In my humble belief, the efforts trump has done to engage putin separately and away from any prying ear of any aide, its because mr. Trump is fearful that mr. Putin has something on him. Thats been one of the questions thats getting mainlined. Because putin himself was asked about it, both at the summit, senator, as well as in the fox interview he did, which well touch on later in the hour. When you look at all this, it seems like even if you forget collusion, and that investigation, which is not done and doesnt need to be prejudged, something very concerning is happening right now between these two men while hes president. In some ways its more profound for National Security than perhaps what may or may not have occurred in 2016. It actually, to the casual observer, would appear that donald trump is worried that somehow now hes offended putin by his recent walkbacks and is now trying to make amends. You think thats what this offer is about . Certainly, to a casual observer, it looks that way. Rather than answering your question. I want to answer a question that williams asked bob kerry. Do you want to walk over there and do his show, instead . I want to do a lot of things, senator. Im going to try that rather than taking this assignment, im going to go to the beach. He asked bob last night noting the real heroes of watergate were republicans. Where is the howard baker of this crisis. And it occurred to me, hearing about this new summit today, Mitch Mcconnell, orrin hatch, grassley, people in the twilight of their careers, youre either never going to be forgiven for being silent these weeks or if you speak up now, never forgotten. Mitch mcconnell needs to go to the president and say when Vladimir Putin comes back to this country for the sake of american security, our credibility with our allies, the credibility of your office, the functioning of this government, you are not to meet with him alone. And if you do you cannot count on me when the report comes out from mueller, make it clear and put it on the line. Otherwise, what ally is ever going to share with intelligence with us about russia again . And how are we going to restore credibility to this administration . Yeah. I totally agree with that. I want to step back for a minute. You know, we need to be asking deeper questions about the president s behavior and why you mean the kind of questions Brian Williams asked. I know the kind of questions. What on earth . The questions that are worth answering. The ones weve raised on this show that are worth answering. But it really we should all just be alarmed, personally offended, but our country is in jeopardy right now. This is not just a political issue. We often get on tv and politicize things, right . Youre talking about what is at stake for our National Security . What is at stake for National Security is what the republicans on capitol hill should care about. The fact we have this man whos behaving erratically, doesnt seem to have any kind of memory, a lack of empathy, theres something thats very pathological about the way he is operating that theres a reason why we have three branches of government. If there is any moment in time that congress should step up and say wait a minute something about judgment isnt right, we actually need to exercise better judgment here, they should, but we saw today that the republicans are cowards in congress because theyve refused to even just to vote and say that we support our Intelligence Community and we agree and we know it to be true, that the russians have meddled. I dont know if were going to get to where you think we should be. I would say, you know, even even if you back up just to the lack of transparency throughout this entire process is problematic from a democratic standpoint. You know, its a small deed, democratic, the idea that these two men are meeting without any record whatsoever and without any notion of what the agenda is is just fundamentally wrong before you even get to these second ask third order questions which, you know, are increasingly becoming first order questions. Which is a question that conservatives often like to pose in the legal process. If youre not guilty, why are you hiding . Yes, and also youre the president of a youre democratly elected president when you go in and meet with this world leader, we have a right to be aware of what is being discussed, at least in broad strokes. I would push you on that, the National Security apparatus has a right. The entire public does not. But the notion, to your point, the notion that the National Intelligence director sitting down with our own Andrea Mitchell tonight is saying in public, perhaps as a signal to people that somethings off, i am being kept out of the loop on this and i know more than the president , and im supposed to be guarding our nations secrets in a nonpartisan way. Why is he being kept out . Thats the question. The fact that hes going public with this is pretty stunning. Theres a lot of red flags being waved around in a lot of different quarters right now that i think, you know, theres this sort of like soft attempt, maybe its getting harder. Yeah, but its soft, its soft. Its way too soft. When we look back at this historically, people are going to say i have Great Respect for general mattis, and pompeo. History will ask, where were you . If the security of the United States is at issue, where were you . And to all of you, and i go back to Mitch Mcconnell, about meeting with the president , about insisting there be someone else in the room. Go to the president s cabinet, are these jobs so valuable, is being in the cabinet so important to you that you would allow the country to be compromised and your own reputation to be sullied, perhaps not today, but in the eyes of history . Is there not a howard baker in the entire United States government . Let me take that to is there not a patriot in the entire United States government . Thats the challenge, right . So the entire cabinet is completely neutered right now. We already know the answer to this question. Mitch mcconnell wouldnt even let was going to was going to punish politically anyone who mentioned this prior to the runup of the election. Mitch mcconnell has made his bed. I dont think theres going to be this moment where Mitch Mcconnell all the sudden becomes a different person. That goes to whether people are not only standing by but potentially, allegedly becoming the kind of interference that subverses democracy, the type as charged in the mueller indictment, an international electionrelated conspiracy. Ambassador, as someone who served, ill play for you some of the reaction to something that was the big story earlier today, before, again as were reporting tonight, before donald trump just made a new offer to Vladimir Putin to come to the white house. Before that there was the white house basically leaving up in the air that maybe they would let the kremlin depose people like yourself whove been ambassadors before to russia, take a listen to some of the response to that insanity. That the administration to even entertain this shows to me how naive they are. The president would work with Vladimir Putin to put in danger our ambassador strikes me as almost providing aid and comfort to the enemy. It was incredible, all right, what a stupid idea by putin, continually walking back, its a big problem. I cant imagine the cart wheels theyre doing over in russia. Ambassador ginsburg, you have held this type of post. What was your view of that, which the white house is walking away from, and have you ever heard of the u. S. Government trying to make that kind of deal with russia . Never, never have i ever, in all my years, going back to the days that i worked for senator kennedy on the hill, never have i seen any obsequiousness, the idea that trump could call this an incredible offer and put in jeopardy, first of all, my good friend michael mcfaul, former ambassador of russia, during his tour of duty in russia was subjected to the worst type of harassment by putin and his thugs, his family, himself undermining the integrity, anything that represented the protection of the Vienna Convention for diplomats. Putin will stop at nothing. By the way, may i add, the fact that putin offered to let mueller come over and question his agents, his military agents only shows you that putin knew and in effect recognizes that these were people who worked for him. So maybe in the end we got that little piece out of it. But let me make it very clear, ari, the fact that this white house required people like mike mcfaul and mr. Browder to have to worry whether or not they would be served up on a silver platter to mr. Putin by the president of the United States is despicable. I think its well put. And its one of the many things that the white house may be trying to run from tonight with the other moves its making which are obviously newsworthy, the invite to the white house for putin, and yet was a remarkable piece of state craft over these last few days that it was even, as you say, put out there. Ambassador ginsburg, my thanks to you. And senator, who comes on this show, but likes a lot of other shows. Sam seder, thank you as well. Bob muellers key items that reveal his trial strategy. We will show you how trump tv is tied up in knots over the russia controversy, a brewing civil war. And also, this is important, new ethics questions about that man, one of muellers top critics on capitol hill. Im ari melber, and youre watching the beat on msnbc. A hotel can make or break a trip. 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A new kind of Wireless Network designed to save you money. Visit your local xfinity store today. Donald trump making waves tonight with a new invite for Vladimir Putin to visit the white house. As that occurred, a man paid millions by putins oligarch is one week away from a very anticipated trial, the campaign chief Paul Manafort begins his first trial next week. That means, tonight, were getting some of the first clues about the case against him. Muellers prosecutors telling the court they have up to 500 items of evidence, like pictures of manaforts multiple homes from brooklyn to the hamptons to virginia. And to support a tax and Money Laundering case they are showing his spending, like his home putting green, high priced yankees tickets, a 21,000 watch, designer clothes, oriental rugs. This is all pretty interesting. Now, the trial strategy here is not class resentment. Anyone can buy luxury goods. Prosecutors are making the case that manafort hid illegal income, evading taxes and using purchases for Money Laundering. So people who live luxury lives may relate to the choices manafort made, theres a classic saying in hip hop, beamer, benz or bentley, my jeans are never empty. If you have keys to those cars, your jean pockets are going to be quite full, to say nothing of the money also filling your jeans. Thats the argument prosecutors are making against manafort, the new evidence list showing he has keys to several cars, a benz, just like lloyd banks, plus a land rover. That evidence spills on the larger case in both these trials. Manaforts jeans, prosecutors say, were never empty, and they werent just full of car keys. They were full of money. Allegedly laundered money. Im joined by mara gay, and nick ackerman. I put the question to you, beamer, benz or bentley . This is the whole argument theyll make to the jury. This case a all about greed, this is a man who basically earns 75 million from the ukraine government and didnt report it on his taxes. Instead, he bought all o