spite of himself which i found humanizing and deeply relatable. thanks for joining us. >> sure thing. that. >> that is all in. tonight the unfolding russia sag aire now includes the son of the president, the bombshell report out about donald trump jr. and his changing explanation for meeting a russian lawyer with potential dirt on hillary clinton. and the breaking news tonight that trump jr. was told in advance was russia trying to help his dad. among our guests a former republican white house ethics lawyer even before in story was saying it's time to use the word treason. and president trump's plan to work with putin on cybersecurity until he took it back. the 11th hour this monday night begins right now. begins right now. and good evening once again from our headquarters here in

new york. we begin a new week following the july 4th break. and as millions of americans dial back into the news the headline is this. things just got worse for the trump presidency on day 172 of an administration already consumed by russia. the president's son met with a russian who claims to have dirt on hillary clinton. the president's son changed his story about the meeting. and now the president's son has hired a lawyer. he is going to get invited to talk to the senate intelligence committee. and news tonight that he was told the russian government was actively working to help his father's campaign. more on that later. and his name now joins the list of people around the president who met with russians and later either forgot about it or failed to report it. the questions about russian collusion have been asked

repeatedly. and the answer has always been the same. >> are there any ties between mr. trump you or your campaign and putin and his regime? >> no, there are not. it's absurd. you know there is no base to it. >> did anyone involved in the trump campaign have any contact with russians trying to meddle with the election? >> absolutely not. >> i'm asking you a direct question. was there any contact in any way between trump or his associates and the kremlin or cutouts they had. >> i joined this campaign in the summer and i can tell you that all the contact by the trump campaign and associates was with the american people. >> were there any contacts sir i'm just trying to get an answer. >> of course not. why would be there any contacts. >> it did not -- i did not have communications with the russians. and i'm unable to comment on it. >> did any adviser or anybody in the trump campaign have any contact with the russians trying to meddle in the election? >> oh of course not.

>> can you say who you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with russia during the course of the election? >> well i told you general flynn obviously was dealing. so that's one person he was dealing -- as he should have been doo during the election. >> nobody that i know of. >> this conversations never happened. i hear people saying it like it's a fact on television. that is just not only inact and false but it's anteriorally. it does undermine our democracy. >> the meeting in question was between donald trump jr. and a kremlin connected russian lawyer, according to "the new york times," which broke the story. also in the room jared kushner and trump's then campaign head paul manafort took place at trump tower june 9 over a month after trump became the party's presumptive nominee. but both donald trump jr. and his father's legal team stay the president new nothing about the meeting. and new tonight "the new york times" expanding, again, on this story. the headline quote, trump jr. was told in email of russian

effort to aid campaign. quoting now from the times, "before arranging a meeting with a krem behind-connected russian lawyer he believed would offer him compromising information about hillary clinton donald trump jr. was informed in an email that the material was part a russian government effort to aid his father's candidacy, according to three people with knowledge of the email." this email is reportedly from the same man described as an acquaintance by donald trump jr. who sets up the meeting. this times report goes on and we'll quote. "the email indicates that the russian government was the source of the potentially damaging information. it does not ee a little bit on a the wider effort by moscow to help the trump campaign. there is no evidence to suggest that the promise the damaging information was related to russian government computer hacking that led to the release of thousands of democratic national committee emails." at this point probably a good

idea to bring in our starting panel as we start a new week. starting with the panelist katie tur who covered the donald trump campaign effort from the beginning. be michael schmidt back from "the new york times" and msnbc national contributor. you heard him questioning sarah huckabee sanders. phillip rucker "washington post" bureau chief and newly minted msnbc political analyst from his seat at the white house. welcome to you all. michael i'll begin with you. just about every night there is a -- a print journalism development that causes us to ask a nice guest like you, usually a print journalist, how does this change everything? and i'll ask that about the reporting of your colleagues at the "new york times." how does tonight's story now change everything? >> well, this story by my colleagues really raises new questions about why is it we continue to learn about the meetings and we weren't told

about them before? march don jr. told us at the times that he had no meetings as part of the campaign with the russians, that there had been nothing -- nothing there. and it had to be clear to them at the time that the russia story was going to continue to go on and on. but still his story even in the past few days change. at first he said the meeting was about adoption and nonyou know as things went further on the weekend. so the question here is why hasn't the administration come out you know earlier about in and why do the stories continue to change? just more evidence of that. >> phillip is one of of the cases where we are left to assume someone's story change migranted because that someone, in this case donald trump jr., knew what was about to come out? >> you know partly that. it's also the story change as donald trump jr. learned what "the new york times" was learning over the last 72 hours. it seemed like the story got more and more complicated the more interaction there was with

the reporters doing the pretty extraordinary reporting. there are a lot of questions to be answer pd by the trump team, the white house, the legal defense team, including what the president knew about all of this back when he was a candidate and whether there were other meetings. one thing that stuck out at the white house was that sarah public huckabee sanders explained this as not inappropriate as frankly normal behavior upon a campaign, normal sorts of interactions on a campaign. and it just begs the question of whether there were additional meetings with additional players. >> and phil, because you are white house bureau chief i was going to ask you -- i did read on a o on twitter i'll parafriez glenn tlush tweeted out tonight if the house knew this was coming, this is again an area where there was no apparent strategy. has there been a reaction tonight to this? >> not yet. we've seen the president's private -- personal lawyer say that he knew nothing about in meeting, that donald trump jr. had. and of course early yerl today the white house spokes william

sarah huckabee sanders said the president only learned about the meeting in the last couple of days because of the news reports. but there is no indication of a broader strategy within the white house they've really been trying to isolate this russia issue and keep it focused with the legal defense team. >> so of the four of us -- i mean this in the nicest way katie tur you spent the most time hanging around the lobby of trump tower. >> today as well. >> today what was going on in time in the life of the trump campaign? i know you've been writing a book. so a lot of this you've just been through all over again. >> yeah. >> what was going on back then. >> this is june 9th, 2016 this was a pivot altime he was face ago serious deg git fight at the convention it was unclear he would be able to hold on to the nomination. the campaign brought in somebody who knew how to do that his name was paul manafort. cory lewandowski was the campaign manager. and there was a power struggle between manafort and cory

lewandowski at the time the kids were sick of lewandowski. they wanted him out. they wanted march in. the kids were amissing power and influence with their father, trying to set an agenda. so when someone like don jr. says, hey, i have a meeting and you should come to it you're going to that meeting is your name is paul manafort if your name is frankly anybody in that campaign. flfs something of a an unprofessional atmosphere in in campaign, a naive atmosphere, an anything goes sort offer. it was the kind of place where unplanned meetings with unnamed people were frequent, stopping new a hallway saying this person is coming by. there wasn't a vetting process. it was not a professional campaign. so it's easy to imagine one of these sorts of things flying under the radar. what was going on, though in don jr.'s head? that's unclear. did he know this was going to be problematic going forward?

it doesn't seem likely from the people that i've spoken with. more that they -- they were just in this atmosphere trying desperately to get something that would move the needle in their father's direction because things were not going well. but the big headline of this, brian, is that as of a year ago, don jr. knew at least a little bit that the russian government was trying to aid his father's campaign. >> mr. schmidt that's kind of the centering point here. we all need to remind ourselves that if true, if the email is verified that's what we're talking about here. let me ask a question that didn't exist at this time yesterday. tell me what you know about this russian female attorney, daughter of a very connected man in terms of the kremlin and putin. what do we know about her, her motives how long has she been in and around the united states. >> this is something that actually has been on the fbi

radar for some time. when we talked to law enforcement officials over the past few days. they said this is someone they tracked. the united states, the fbi specifically spent a lot of time looking at russians inside the united states that may be working for the kremlin. we don't know specifically what the fbi knew about her. with you we also know that robert mueller the special counsel himself did not know a lot about this meeting. and he himself will be diving into this and trying to figure out what went on there. this speaks to a larger point about this investigation, is that there will be things like this that come up and you pull on the threads and they turn into larger things. and it forces mueller to go look at them some people said mueller will be able to get to the bottom of this in a year. as we move forward there is more and more questions, more things that have to be looked into. mueller is going to be painstaking in how he does that.

this will drag longer than we think. >> one of the things one never wants to hear is what michael just said about mueller. oh mueller will be diving into this. >> yeah, he will be. you know what he is staffing up. he has a lot of lawyers working on the team now. there is no sign this is going to be a short investigation. indeed it may go on a few years. it's something the white house is prepared for. i was interviewing a pretty senior official in the west wing late last week while the president was overseas. we were talking about russia and the mueller says. he said look we feel like the russia story is behind us. we haven't talked about it in the last we can or so. it may be over it's behind us. clearly it's not behind them and the i think the white house has to teal with the fact that is the reality for years to come potentially. >> katie tur at the risk of going gail shea, talk about donald trump jr. he was around the campaign a lot and relationship between father and son. >> well, they had a contentionious relationship at

one point where don jr. wasn't speaking to his father over the divorce. that was past them. they'd grown closer. he was one of the people that his father went to for advice. the kids, don jr. among them were the ones who could sway him in one direction when he needed to be wayed not all the time. it took them months to get lewandowski out. but he was also someone relatively friendly to press. you could go talk to him and he would be forthcoming with what he knew at the time. but they all soelt felt very much -- and don jr. included -- abstill feel this which there was a campaign a crusade out totting to get them they were very much on the defensive. at the time they were feeling like the media was not treating them fairly as they still feel. they were looking for anything what so far in order to try and claw their way back up. ultimately, you know, the question is going to be, what exactly would they do?

how far would they go to get there? and at the very least this does make it seem like there was at least a willingness about the idea of collusion. >> and this needs to be said as we bring the first segment to an end. this is a big development tonight, another one that came out, not the result of disclosure at a government level as much as it did the result and hard work of a free press, despite charges of fake news all around us. our thanks to three members of that robust news media, katie tur with michael schmidt phil rucker thank you for tonight. coming up the chief ethics lawyer in the george w. bush administration weighs in when "the 11th hour" continues. the future isn't silver suits and houses on mars,

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all i'm say something the facts reported in "the new york times" article come very close if not crossing the line with respect to treason if those facts are true. we need to find out what's true. >> strong words from the chief ethics lawyer for former president george w. bush and the white house about how legally significant this meeting between donald trump jr. and in russian lawyer really is. with us to talk about his claim is richard painter who now teaches law at the university of minnesota. also with us our friend paul butler former federal prosecutor focused on public corruption while at doj prosecuting a u.s. senator and fbi agents. for his part he teaches law at georgetown. richard painter, what as it has

happened as alleged in "the new york times," what is illegal about it? well we now have even more information. we are told that donald trump jr. received an email and informing him that the russians wanted to help his father's presidential campaign. he was also told that the russian had derogatory information about hillary clinton before the meeting. at that point any loyal american would have called the fbi because we know how the russians get derogatory information about people. it's the way thief been doing it ever since the 1917 russian revolution, by conducting espionage and trying to destabilize western governments. they've been trying to do this to us. he would have called the fbi if he had been acting responsibly.

but instead he goes to the meeting and brings along to the meeting apparently jared kushner and mr. manafort, the campaign manager. we've got the top three people -- the top brass of a political campaign at a meeting and we're supposed to believed that nothing happened? nyet. we know. >> how does in compare if the clinton campaign was trying to work through local folks to get the new infamous trump dossier, would that have been the same thing in the eyes of the law as this. we're still all of us getting used to the notion of russians having anything to do with american politics of course. >> that's right, brian, it's a federal crime to solicit a contribute attention from a foreign national backup trump says he went to meeting and now nigh he was meeting with a russian operative. when she didn't deliver that's when i got up and left. that's still a federal crime if

you solicit, try to get information from dirt on hillary from someone not allowed to participate in the selection. >> soliciting doesn't neen a dollar amount necessarily tp. it can be something in kind. >> a thing of value or a service like opposition research. >> richard painter, because i heard some lawyers bring it up this evening and i think this is a term of art that we better learn now. can you please explain to all of us consciousness of guilt, as legal terminology and how it might play a role in this case of donald jr. >> first of all we're told that the russians didn't deliver the goods at this meeting. but we know that the russians delivered the goods big time by november. and we are now learning for the first time of contacts between not only people in the campaign but the very top people in the

campaign and russian agents. and to criminally prosecute someone, yes you need to to show mens rea to intent on their part at the time of the criminal to exit the crime. if they knew the russians obtained information illegally, of secretary clinton by hacking computers, by that engaging in espionage inside the united states. it would be a cranium for them to meet with the russians and participate in that conspiracy. as professor butler pointed out it's also a criminal to accept contributions in kind in dollars or rubbles or whatever fl a foreign government or national of any sort. and this was clearly assistance from the russian government offered to the trump campaign. it needed to be reported to the fbi. i am very concerned about this this.

and i do not buy the story that president trump at the time didn't know about it. it's his own son. it's his own campaign manager. it's his son-in-law all three of them in the room with a russian agent. and they are -- appear to me to be violating the law. it's a very, very serious situation. and the white house is not taking in seriously at all. i think we have a lot more to learn about this over the coming weeks. >> professor butler if you're mueller and you open your "new york times" or the lid of your laptop or look at your phone and you see tonight's story, what's going on there? >> well, a couple of things. you're keeping your eye on the big kahuna. so president trump seems to be a subject of this investigation. there is no way that a prosecutor naturally skeptical and suspicious would think that trump didn't know about this meeting. so, again, it's the president's son, his son-in-law and his campaign manager meeting with the russian operative around the same time russian trump

candidate trump is saying i sure wish the russians if they have information about hillary would deliver it. they go to the meeting with the russians and don't tell him. bob mueller will have a hard time bleefrg that. he is going to wonder why is everybody lying about this? that's when he pulse donald trump jr. into the grand jury or meeting with an fbi agent, you know he has never testified under oath unlike jared kushner unlike michael flynn he didn't have to get a security clearance. he is not on the record. they get him on the record and proceed from there. >> counselors thank you very much. professor paul butler and richard painter who by my count spoke three languaging os tonight, english, russian and latin. and richard, i want to find out if your next visit what mens rea it sounds like something to avoid for now. thank very much and a note about paul butler. the new book is out.

"choke hold: policing black ben" comes out this week. coming up after a break. donald trump reverses course on a cybersecurity task force with of all people vladimir putin and the russians. that is next when "the 11th hour" continues.

i think this is a very important step forward that what we want to make sure is that we coordinate with russia, that we're focused on cybersecurity together, that we make sure that they never interfere in any democratic elections or conduct any cybersecurity. and this is like any other strategic alliance whether we're doing military exercises with our allies or anything else. this is about having capabilities to make sure we both fight cybertogether which i think is a very significant accomplishment for president trump. >> it is one of the jobs of a surrogate, certainly a member of the cabinet to go out and defend your guy. it's painful to watch now 36 hours later. that was treasury secretary steven mnuchin yesterday defends the president's plan for a joint cybersecurity team with russia. however, criticism came so quickly and in such huge amounts.

and his swirt page senator ben sass nebraska republican wrote quote this obviously should not happen. and obviously will not happen. why the president of the united states would tweet to it is inexplicably busy arp. senator marko rubio wrote quote partnering with putin on a cybersecurity unit is akin to partnering with assad on a chemical weapons unit and others followed suit. >> it's not the dumbest idea i've heard but it's close. >> i'm sure that vladimir putin could be of enormous assistance in that effort since he is doing the hacking. >> certainly indicates he doesn't take the word of the intelligence community. >> i thought it didn't make sense. i used the and allege of letting fox guard the hen house. it's like the road runner working with the coyote to ban dangerous acme products. >> making an arsonist your local fire chief. hours after the president

announced the plan for the joint cybersecurity agreement with russia, he backtracked on it. writing on twitter, the fact that president putin and i discussed a cybersecurity unit doesn't mean i think it can happen. it can't. but a cease fire can. and did. in today's white house briefing which again took place in the dark today without cameras and with only audio allowed, deputy press secretary sarah huckabee sanders addressed this issue. >> shfs a part of a discussion in that meeting. and the look we recognize that russia is a cyberthreat. but we also recognize the need to have conversations with our adverses. i'm not sure there were specific details discussed. i think it was simply just a discussion on cybersecurity threats and potential options not necessarily a formal kind of

structure in place. >> with us tonight white house reporter for associated press jonathan le mere is back with us. and also returning former staff of cia and dod former counsel for the house intel committee jeremy bash. jeremy because of your years in the intelligence kplunt i'll start with you. where were you when you heard that, thank goodness, the russians were willing to work with us on this scourge of cybercrime and electronic security? and what's the damage of even letting that notion float out there all day until it can be corrected? >> i was driving. i almost drove off the road brine. my and allege issy oj simpson searching for the real killers i'm not sure if i'm dating myself with that reference. this really shocked me. clearly vladimir putin put this forward in the meeting. and our president bit. he bit on it pretty hard. it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of international relations. we work in concert with certain

countries and allies when our interests are aligns when they differing we we work against them many psychiatric security is one clear case where our interests are diameterically opposed to the russianss. they attacked there is nothing to cooperate with them on in serms of cyberkurt. >> we have a quote, jongtening from the atlantic about the role of a cabinet secretary in this administration. mnuchin quickly learn as many other aides have that the most dangerous task in the trump administration is defending the last thing the president said since he is liable to undercut you immediately. talk about team spirit. it happened to more than one member of the cabinet this weekend. >> that's right. for a president who is known to change his mind rather dramatically. this was an about-face that was rather stunning and sudden how quickly it was. 12 hours. it is. it is difficult for the cabinet members, the press secretary, deputy press secretary, to get

up there to stand behind the podium and deliver a message you think is it sanctioned by the white house from the boss and to have it changed sometimes half a day later. this is in part part of the reason why the white house is having such trouble filling some of those communications roles. >> how about the white house briefing? when are we going to be able to maybe see one of these? again? >> your guess is as good as ours. certainly are reporters agitating for it every day. this is the people's house. the taxpayers are funding it put them on camera. have the messages see them time and time again we particular particularly see on days where it's a bad news story. the don jr. story dominating they don't want more attention called to it than they need. >> the lawyer and government veteran, what -- what are you struck by in tonight's "new york times" story. >> we've been asking people all night the degree of -- of game changer that it is. >> i think this is highly significant for a couple of

reasons brine. first the seniority of the participants in the meeting really stuck out at me having the campaign chairman, the president, presidential counties candidate's son and his son-in-law in the meeting shows this was a very high level meeting, high-level discussion. i find it hard to believe they didn't brief the boss it. they didn't brief donald trump about it. the second is clearly they knew in advance it was information coming from the russian government. third, the way that donald trump jr. sold the meeting to his colleagues is hey we're going to be able to work with this russian individual, this russian cutout on an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election. i mean, isn't this sort of the issue that most people have been searching for and looking for all along. and here we see it tonight spilling forth from "the new york times." i think this is providing more ample fodder for bob muler to follow up upon either in the grand jury or in fibrin of fbi

agents conducting interviews. >> i'm tempted to say i thought it was a meeting about baby adoptions. that is to say another story has migrated again within 24 hours. >> exactly right. this is something where the white house every time they feel like they have a few good days largely they were pleasewood the the trip. they they thought he got things done at the g20 and immediately it's an vanch, the same word over and over. russia, rather. he makes a good point. are we do believe that the president had no knowledge of this np i was on the road with candidate trump that was a day we were in new york. mr. trump was here in new york. attend attended a fund raiser in the city. he had become the presumptive nominee was still in the delegate battle. are we to believe he had no knowledge of a meeting happening one floor below his office. >> two of our very best yb jonathan le mere are, jeremy bash thank you so much before

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tempur-breeze® mattress sets. find the breeze that's right for you at tempurpedic.com. welcome back to the monday edition of the 11th hour rgs. we're joined tonight which congressman john garmdy democrat from california and a member of the armed services committee mp congressman thank you for coming on with us. let's start with tonight's "new york times" story as opposed to to today's "new york times" story. how much does this read like a game changer to you. >> i think it's really serious. and when you think about what president trump has done for the last year which is basically deny that anything was going on with russia, there is no russian involvement in the hacks, and in

an attitude that was very, very strange. his seeming coziness to the russian bear was a great concern. now we're getting more and more details. there are a lot of threads here. this thing is coming unraveling very fast. >> talk to me about the danger of putin suggesting and trump even considering, let alone mentioning in public, this joint cybersecurity task force. you're on armed services. it always struck me that if it had been ken itic warfare if someone fired so much as one shot by way of the cyberwarfare that had been warfare that had been committed we would maybe treat it with more urgency and be better as our defenses counteringing that. >> what do you playbook of it. >> what i make of it is an president that doesn't understand cybersecurity and cyberissues and seems to be in denial that russia actually

hacked, broke the law in the united states, used that information as a weapon to interfere with our election. the fundamental democracy of this nation was attacked. it is a very serious problem. and for the president to even consider and to come back and do one of his infamous tweets saying they're going to work with russia on cybersecurity. in one sense it's laughable. but in another sense this is the president of the united states that doesn't have a clue or maybe he knows exactly what has happened. >> i want to ask you about something that you are justifiably proud of. and there is a chance that a couple of our viewers are among the 30,000 american families who have a family member in uniform in south korea. a very dicey time to be in uniform in south korea. you are just back from seeing members of our armed forces.

>> and as i said it -- the tempo feels that it's been upped. i'm sure the defcon level is high there. >> it's just not the men and women in uniform. it's the families. there are thousands of american families there. it's a difficult and dangerous situation. all of them are within just -- well moments of an attack by north korea. if that were to happen they would be raining artillery shells on seoul some 40 miles away from the artillery batter rowe batteries to tols nothing of the several hundred ballistic mitchells. incredible courage on the part of the families as well on the part of the military that are there. it is very, very dangerous. >> we will of course keep them in our thoughts and coverage.

congressman congressman john garamendi democrat from california thank for being us. >> another break for us. when we come back what are the chances we will see a health care plan out of the u.s. senate this week?

i think we still have a shot at getting 50 republican senators for a bill backup we've got a new version out today. new scores from cbo. >> pennsylvania republican senator pat toomey. this morning mentioning a new health care bill that would come out today. by my calculations we are minutes away from tuesday. so far we have not seen the new version. the nbc news team of reporters and producer on capitol hill is telling us the time line has been pushed back to thursday at the earliest. let's talk about this. kimberly at kins chief

washington reporter for the boston herold one of secrets we keep from our viewers. we always hold one member of the conversation back tonight. that was indeed phillip rucker white house bureau chief for the "washington post". kimberly welcome back. let's talk about this. when john mccain says over the weekend a deal is dead. when all the networks run the graphic of the enknown republican senators known to be opposed. when there is this much of a problem with a piece of legislation, maybe you're not a betting woman. but what are the odds we see something here. >> it's a possibility. remember the house bill, the house health care bill was dead until it wasn't and they ended up passing it. the same thing can happen here. it's two different desires that lawmakers are trying to fulfill here on the one side they do want to fulfill this promise of repealing and replacing obamacare. they feel like they've a mandate to do that from the voter. but on the other hand they don't want to replace it with

something that's far less popular than obamacare. and so that's sort of the push and pull right now. i think they're waiting for another cbo score, congressional budget office score on the recent draft that would allow lower cost insurance policies to be offered for healthier people so long as an insurer offers a plan that meets the obamacare criteria. lawmakers are intrigued by this but they don't want to back it until they know from the cbo it's not going to end up again with tens of millions of more people without insurance or increase premiums. >> phil rucker republicans in the the senate were horrify today see pac ads going on against an incumbent republican in nevada. that was a big deal didn't get all that much attention amidst all the rest we covered and the holiday week. in plain english, people often

don't want to put out to a president they believe is damaged, preoccupied, not involved in the process. what do you think we're looking at veesa v. that line of think sfwloog you're kpllkt right. i would add another point about the president and health care, h making a forceful affirmative case for this republican bill in the senate. he is tweeting about the failures of obamacare and trying to apply political pressure on republican senators to vote for the bill but he is not addressing the american people and trying to explain why he thinks it's better and the problem is the white house and a lot of the senators are having trouble identifying what makes this bill better. the case is very difficult to make. a lot of these senators were back home during the recess hearing complaints about the bill and there is one component i would add it's the governor's meeting, the national governor's association is meeting in rhode island and you're going to hear

there from a lot of republican governors who oppose this bill because of the changes it would have for medicaid. they have been expanding medicaid in their states under the affordable care act. >> look at kasich of ohio out there banging the drum on this. as you indicate, governors are where the rubber meets the road. kimberly you are a lawyer. i want to read you this quote from tonight's multiple source, multiple byline piece in "the new york times" which read to me like maggie haberman, the president was aggravated by the news of the meeting. this is tonight's news story about the don jr. meeting. according to one person, less over the fact that it happened and more because it was yet another story about russia that

has swamped the media cycle. does that ring true to you? >> absolutely. we know this president is very concerned about messaging. he's very concerned about scoring wins, actual wins or perceived wins and fighting with the media he thinks is portraying him unfairly. just the word russia to him equals fake news and any time that word is being said and people aren't talking about the g20, aren't talking about the health care bill or christopher rey, when people are talk about russia that is infuriating to him. >> what great point. thank you very much. and phil rucker does it get harder now for the president of the united states to call russia a ruse? >> i think it becomes harder every day for him to do that but i don't think that's going to stop him and i assume it's going to continue from him in the

weeks to come. >> kimberly atkins and phil rucker, thank you very much. coming up we'll show you what television viewers on the other side of the world are seeing and hearing about our president when the "11th hour" continues. ♪ only tylenol® rapid release gels

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the last thing before we go here tonight and fair warning for lovers of country this is sobering for americans to hear. it's about donald trump's positioning an behavior at the g20 gathering. it was described by the president as a wonderful success, a view not shared by all who were there. the following summation was delivered by a political editor of the australian broadcasting corporation, intended for the tv audience back home in australia. it has since for reasons you'll see ricochetted around the world. >> what we already knew that the president of the united states has a particular skill set that he's identified an illness in western democracies but he has no cure for it and seems intent on exploiting it and we also learned he has no desire and no capacity to lead the world. the g20 became the g19 as it ended. the u.s. was left isolated and

friendless. a deft president would have found an issue to rally around most of the leaders and he had the perfect one, north korea's missile tests. so where was the g20 statement condemning north korea to put pressure on china and russia. others expected it but it never came. there is a tendency to confuse the speeches written for trump as the words of the man himself. he made observations about defending the values of the west and he's in a unique position. he's the one man who has the power to do something about it but it's the unscripted trump whose real, a man who barks out bile in 140 characters and wastes his precious days as president waging war against the judiciary, and be press. he was an easy, awkward, lonely figure at this gathering an you

got the sense the leaders are trying to find a way to work around him. this to be constantly talking and talked about is all that matters and there is no value placed on the meaning of wards. so what did we learn? we learned that donald trump has pressed fast forward on the decline of the united states as a global leader. he managed to isolate his nation, to confuse and alienate his allies and diminish america. he will cede that power to russia and china who will forge a different set of rules. some will cheer the decline of america but i think we'll miss it when it's gone and that's the biggest threat to the values of the west which he claims to hold so dear. following the wrapup of the g20 in germany. that is our broadcast for tonight. thank you for being here with us

and good night for all of us in nbc headquarters in new york. >> on june 9th of last year donald trump jr. met with a russian lawyer after being promised damaging information on hillary clinton. wow. you, yeah. yeah. the meeting took place at trump tower and included jared kushner and then trump campaign manager paul manafort, and proves that at least some in the campaign were willing to accept russian help. pretty damning, but don jr. had a good explanation. it was a short introductory meeting. i asked jared and paul to stop by. we primarily discussed a program about the adoption of russian children. yes.