that sounded a lot like putin disinformation. and there was even this incredibly obscure story about revisionist history about what the soviets did in afghanistan that even for me as a stanford professor that follows this stuff pretty closely i'd never heard until donald trump said it. and i don't know for sure but that sounds like another crazy conspiracy theory, and the author is most likely vladimir putin. >> again we're hypothesizing here but we're hypothesizing based on evidence in front of us. right? the evidence. we know they talk and world leaders talk all the time. and that's fine and they should, even if they have adversarial relationships they should talk. i want to wholly endorse talking, two world leaders. is it your hypothesis putin is just kind of feeding him this stuff? basically oh, you should ask about the server, the server's not there. is that the kind of thing that would happen in a conversation between two world leaders? >> i've been in meetings with vladimir putin many times when i served in the obama admin

sowinski is inexperienced and he wants peace in eastern ukraine putin is a master of his craft and he still claims that russian troops are not in eastern ukraine tonight from reality t.v. to reality politic the reality check for ukraine's new man in charge i'm bored off in berlin this is the day. we're hoping for peace after all this time we need to resolve this war it's been 6 years since it all began. to live in harmony in friendship so they don't call us separatists but at least nothing good will come from the troops pulling back not from some kind of talks from a position of weakness. i don't understand what michael and michael want to do so then skinned putin should sit down together drink some folk get together and put all this behind them we need a united ukraine and we need an end to this to giving the other suddenly making peace and that's going to be tough. also coming up no lympics no world cup russia faces a 4 year ban from all sports a nation called cheating about its own dopey consequence including the finding of russia from the olympics battling fake said whoa champions

. >> reporter: vladimir putin seems to feel the same way. speaking at his annual marathon press conference which features not only journalists but also people from all over russia often praising their leader while asking questions. putin blasted impeachment claiming democrats made it all up. >> translator: it still has to go through the senate where as far as i know the republicans hold the majority, so it's unlikely they will want to remove the representative of their party for some made up reasons. >> reporter: and those aren't the only trump and republican talking points putin was parroting. the similarities and the rhetoric often striking. >> when they didn't win at the ballot box they pursued a russian collusion narrative and special counsel robert mueller had to waste time and taxpayer dollars to prove false. when the russian collusion deception didn't work, madam speaker, democrats sought a new path forward to impeach president trump. >> translator: one party that lost the elections, the democratic party, is now trying to achieve its

how much of a role do you think putin has had on him? >> see, i think it is a combination of factors. could putin have a role? i read the same "the washington post" article you read. it is a combination of factors. the main factor is people like mayor guiliani and president trump feel like they're outsiders. there are two ways you can look at yourself. you could be like i'm an outsider and i don't care or i am an outsider and something is up with that and there is some kind of conspiratorial thing that's made me an outsider where they feel left out. i think this junket to the ukraine is a representation of that and the idea you get attracted to conspiracy theories is a representation of that as well. but as it relates to vladimir putin i don't know the answer. i find it sort of comical that we're repeating -- he is obviously a better white house communications director than me because he has the talking points and everybody seems to be using those talking points. but, you know, my thing with the russians, very simple, we're adversaries w

get skin healthy™ >>> because putin told me. that is the defense coming from the lips of the president when asked why he believed ukraine was the real culprit behind the 2016 election interference. this is according to a former senior white house official. in a new piece in the "washington post," former officials detail how the president quickly seized on this theory that ukraine tried to thwart his democratic victory. thank you very much for coming on. >> thank you, brianna. it's great to be with you. >> it's great to have you, and i wonder how concerned you are that putin was able to influence not just through sort of russian meddling and trying to persuade voters or americans, but actually to influence the president in a way that has him picking what putin is saying over his own intel community. >> i think after the 2016 elections, the gloves were really off when it came to vladimir putin's influence with president trump and the gop. because let's not forget, the gop continues to parrot not only on the floor but also going on

made assessments about what's happening in russia you know mr putin believes that this doesn't count as interference and said that russia reserves the right to do the same in the opposite direction and other part of the very same question from the british media was prime minister boris johnson personally whole was sad some very harsh words to say about mr putin well this was the russian president's response this time took a search that was. as for statements from certain people various political figures about russia about me as the head of the country and i've been used to treating list accordingly but i know what the interests of my country own and that it doesn't matter at all what anyone else says there is absolutely you know why are you in comparing what they say with the fundamentalists which russia is interested in solving congratulations to boris johnson nevertheless he turned out to be the winner he understood the mood of the british people bitten in his political opponents but if you can get on to the latest tensions between berlin and moscow that have to do with the. murder

a flood of new putin has kind words for the russian economy the numbers are less kind growth remains weak incomes are shrinking and production is tilted toward oil and gas will take a look. also on the show rising rents have sparked anger in european cities from force a lot of super led now real estate markets are bracing for the backlog. and we'll look at an extreme case of a rental market gone bad. were all the collective buildings are at risk of collapse . welcome to business asia i'm stephen beers in berlin thanks for joining us could russia finish construction on the controversial north stream to gas pipeline president vladimir putin told russian businessmen that the country has a pipe playing vessel to complete the project connecting russia and germany the comments reported by russian newspaper commerce came days after switch the swiss dutch firm all season spending pipe play following new u.s. sanctions against the project putin said he expects a delay of several months which could push the start of operations into 2021. now putin praised the russian economy at that same meeti

because, quote, putin told me. that's according to a former senior white house official quoted in "the washington post." joining me now to discuss, julia ioffe and michael isikoff. good evening to both of you. michael, you first. according to the post, trump seemed to latch onto this theory after a private meeting with putin at the 2017 g20 summit in hamburg, germany. what do you make of that? >> well, first of all, it's worth remembering that that meeting in hamburg included this private conversation between president trump and putin where no u.s. officials were present. so exactly what was said between the two of them, we don't know. but it's pretty striking to see these words from a former senior official that the president came to believe that ukraine interfered in the u.s. election because putin told me. somewhere, wherever the retirement home is for old kgb officers, you can almost hear them saying, well played, agent putin. he managed to inject this conspiracy theory into the american political dialogue thro

a lot of our putin was even asked who he believes could become his successor and a few years well we didn't get any answer to that although mr putin did hint that he believes that a woman could become the president of russia at some point most of the reporters in that massive hall war are from russia's regions which explains why a lot of questions were on domestic issues from the pension reform in russia to issues with medicine and so on and so forth but let me move on to something that's probably more interesting for an international audience that is the impeachment proceedings in the u.s. well a lot of our pope did say that he believes attempts to knock down donald trump won't succeed and also went on to say that he believes that the reasons for all these impeachment proceedings. these were actually invented it's just a continuation of political infighting one party that lost the elections the democratic party is working for results through other methods accusing trump of collusion with russia then it's discovered that there was no collusion that can't be the basis for impeachment

putin. first russian channel that was created on the initiative on the presidential council on international relations. my question is as follows. seven years ago, your article was published and called russia the national correction and over the seven years, has anything changed in terms of this national question? what do you think about the international relations inside russia? what about the relations within the regions? and one year ago, when having the press conference or right fter, supporting the first russian national channel and we again, e to ask you done a lot and the governor has been helping us a lot. the supporters have done a great job and want to go to other regions and want to expand to grow. and we think the regional sources could help us with that. >> people suffered back then. that was the results of adverse developments between ethnic groups. this was true for the caucuses and for other nations and how they were transported and in died.cars, so many people you will remem

putin sort of took it personally. [applause] since i wrote that part of the book, we've seen dmitri furtash hire two of president trump's lawyers to represent him in his extradition fight. we've also learned he was financing lev and igor, my boyfriends -- [laughter] who are now fighting multiple charges in the southern district of new york, and his relationship with rudy giuliani is still not explained. mr. giuliani has described them as, well, his friends, his clients. at one point the lawyers for mr. furtash said that lev -- he's the cute one -- [laughter] was part of president trump's legal team. [laughter] that lev was working for mr. giuliani in the context of mr. giuliani's work as president trump's personal legal adviser. if that's true, if lev was working for the president's legal team, a, that's amazing. [laughter] but, b, it's a little bit weird because if lev was working for giuliani in the context of giuliani's work for the president, what's weird there is that giuliani wasn't paying lev, lev appears to ha

said he and vladimir putin are elder statement. a lot of them is the selling to turkey and vladimir putin is making -- is working hard to make that happen. it is hard to me -- it is clear to me what is in it for president putin. he can peel off turkey from native and a u.s. alliance. what is in it for turkey? why does president erdogan benefit from this? a numberurkey has had of problems with united states and nato over the last years. president erdogan was very frustrated the united states and the eu were slow to respond to the coup attempt against him in july 2016 whereas vladimir putin reached out much more quickly. he has also been frustrated with united states for approaching a faction of kurds in syria. thats also been clear russia has played a much more active role on the ground militarily in syria. own objectives in syria, it has been in his interests to align himself more closely with the russians than the americans. erdoganerdogan that said, i do not think -- that said, i do not think erdogan is wanting to shift with the

putin with various dogs. putin feeding a young deer with milk. putin stroking a baby bird in the palm of his hand. putin hugging a koala. and of course putin cuddling a leopard. the intended message is i think pretty clear. this is still a strongman president despite being in power for more than 20 years. no longer isolated despite continuing international sanctions against russia. but with his softer side, his apparent connection with nature still very much intact. matthew chance, cnn, moscow. >>> irving ber ji, the singer and songwriter who penned the classic tune "deo" has died at the age of 95. he passed away on friday in his native home, brooklyn, new york. he wrote most of the songs for harry belafonte's 1956 album, calypso, the first to sell over a million copies in the united states. the hit song "deo," also known as the banana boat song, transcended the '50s. it was even used in the 1988 film "beetlejuice." ♪ work all night and i drink rum ♪ ♪ daylight come and me want to go home ♪ ♪ >> brilliant. and the song was so popular th

so if it comes out of putin's mouth or it comes out of somebody else's mouth that comes from putin, the danger is why do we have a president of the united states who ignores what our intelligence agencies say and relies on what putin and the russian propaganda is? that's the danger to this country. >> so in that same discussion with reporters, the president also talked about impeachment and there's a headline that i want to ask both of you about. and putting some caveats on it. you have this house judiciary committee court filing that was submitted this week against dan mcgahn and the ongoing legal battle there. democrats on the judiciary committee want to see mcgahn testify about potential obstruction of justice. the administration has been fighting that. now, counsel for the democrats suggests maybe they would consider new articles of impeachment against the president if mcgahn's testimony were to reveal possible new evidence. and congresswoman, i'll start with you, and jamil, percentage-wise, to me it is highly unlikely that this actually happens, based on our analysis here at nbc ne

putin. i am with the first russian channel .first russian channel -- i am with the first russian channel. it was created with the initiative on the presidential council on international relations. my question is as follows. almost seven years ago, your article was published. seven years, has anything changed in terms of this national question? the do you think about national relations inside russia? what about the relations between ethnic groups in russia, between the regions? and one year ago, when having the press conference or right after, you supported the first russian national channel. and we would like to ask you again. have done a lot and the government has been helping us a lot. the supporters have done a great job. now we want to go to other regions. we want to expand, to grow and we think the regional authorities can help us with that. maybe you can help us with that. you have just said we have been helping you. is it not enough? the relations between different ethnic groups belon

what is putin saying about it? we'll go to moscow next. female anchor: it's 6:39, time for 'news update' male anchor: ...an update on the cat who captured our hearts. female anchor: how often should you clean your fridge? stay tuned to find out. male anchor: beats the odds at the box office to become a rare non-franchise hit. you can give help and hope to those in need. uh, "fifteen minutes could save you 15%ain? or more on car insurance." i think we're gonna swap over to "over seventy-five years of savings and service." what, we're just gonna swap over? yep. pump the breaks on this, swap it over to that. pump the breaks, and, uh, swap over? that's right. instead of all this that i've already-? yeah. what are we gonna do with these? keep it at your desk, and save it for next time. geico. over 75 years of savings and service. when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. try pepto liquicaps for fast relief and ultra-coating. nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. get powerful relief with pepto bism

well the coverage of this opening today has been rather bombastic we saw putin kind of traveling across the bridge we saw presenters referring to that footage today on t.v. as a historic moment just last year vladimir putin opened kind of a road traffic on the bridge he actually drove across a truck across the bridge now we see him and then in a train he was addressing as well workers today the workers that build that built this bridge in as people here say record time and he was saying that this is a symbol that russia really can do everything and anything at all and we mentioned that people accuse moscow of building that bridge illegally i mean how is this being seen internationally. well this bridge is seen by the u.s. by the e.u. and by ukraine as well as a violation of ukraine's sovereignty of course ukraine sees the bridge as illegal in the sense that people passengers will be entering entering what they see as ukrainian territory via the russian mainland so that's kind of against against international law and there have been sanctions as well against russia starting in 2014 for t

putin told me. plus, it's one of, if not the, most notable cracks in the president's base. an evangelical christian-based magazine calls for president trump to be removed from office. d memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. great riches will find you when liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wow. thanks, zoltar. how can i ever repay you? maybe you could free zoltar? thanks, lady. taxi! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ (children playing) (dog barking) ♪ (music building) experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. >>> welcome back. putin told me. that's what the president reportedly said when he explained to advisors how he knew that ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. despite aides warning

why would an american president ask vladimir putin for direction in terms of how putin wants to start treating north korea? but the record of that call in which president trump is reported to have asked vladimir putin what he wants the u.s. to do towards north korea -- i mean the record of that call is reportedly one of the trump presidential call records that's been taken out of circulation effectively inside the white house. they locked up the record of that collin a code word level super highly secure server so almost nobody can access that record. the trump white house is reported to have done that with call records between president trump and mohammed bin salman and to collards from multiple calls between president trump and president putin including the one where he reportedly asked putin what he wanted the u.s. policy to henceforth be towards north korea, the one in which he second degree putin to set u.s. policy towards north korea. the trump white house has also reportedly locked up the presidential call records in which president trump is recorded to have spent a solid ten m

well 1st of all let me bring up the russian constitution because this is something that lot of our putin does and talk about quite often well this time he actually hinted that some parts of it may be changed and in particular he spoke about changing the cost to sion to make it up allow only 2 presidential terms now why is that a big deal while there was a lot of public debate about this specific aspect after mr putin was reelected in 2012 and he once again be game president it was his 3rd term after a break when russia's president was dmitri medvedev here's what mr putin said about that in particular. still more than a little bit easier which could be done is to come to a room and didn't we have 2 terms in a row ules truly civil 2 terms then resigned and had the constitutional right to return to the presidency because it was not to to lose in a row them humans when confuses some of all political scientists and public figures so we could become sort of. the russian president was also asked about a potential successor but we didn't get any specific answer although mr putin did go on to say

vladamir putin denouncing the trump impeachment using republican talking points. steyer: i'm about to say two words that will make washington insiders very uncomfortable: term limits. you and i both know we need term limits, that congress shouldn't be a lifetime appointment. but members of congress, and the corporations who've bought our democracy hate term limits. too bad. i'm tom steyer and i approve this message because the only way we get universal healthcare, address climate change and make our economy more fair is to change business as usual in washington. the wait is over. t-mobile is lighting up 5g nationwide. while some 5g signals go only blocks, t-mobile 5g goes miles... beyond the big cities to the small towns... to the people. now, millions of americans can have access to 5g on t-mobile. and this is just the beginning. t-mobile, the first and only nationwide 5g network. i'm finding it hard to stay on a faster laptop could help. plus, tech support to stay worry free. worry free...boom boom! get free next business day shipping or ...1 hour in-store pick

vladimir putin in february of 2017 president putin said 2nd as we all know during the presidential campaign in the united states the ukrainian government adopted a unilateral position in favor of one candidate more than that certain oligarchs certainly with the approval of the political leadership funded this candidate or female candidate to be more precise 600 hours g.m.t. here on al-jazeera that is 11 am in washington d.c. live continuing coverage of the impeachment hearings against u.s. president donald trump this is the house judiciary committee and we're listening to daniel goldman right now who is the legal team for the democrats laying out the evidence that has been presented so far in the case for impeachment not only from intelligence community experts but from his own national security team that russia not ukraine interfered in the 2016 election for the benefit of donald trump president trump still pressed the ukrainian government to announce an investigation into this conspiracy theory and why because it would help his own political standing president trump even sought to withhol

merkel sat down to mediate the full selenski and putin met one on one after nearly 9 hours of talks the leaders agreed to a cease fire by the end of 2019 a prisoner swap and to hold another summit in 4 months but there was little common ground on eastern ukraine future putin wants a special status for the don't pass region led by russian backed separatists. to synchronize the negotiation process with political settlement 1st of all it means amendments to the constitution that will ensure a special status to donbass on constant terms need to prolong the agreement of specials that this of several regions of the issued have constant character as agreed in the minsk accord selenski made it clear that he would not compromise ukrainian sovereignty. i want to establish the principles that i'll never violate as ukraine's president and that the ukrainian people would never accept the federal laws ation of ukraine is impossible ukraine is a sovereign state. more than 13000 people have been killed in the 5 year war in eastern ukraine between government forces and russian backed fighters close

for the latest also coming up tonight fresh tensions between moscow and berlin comments by vladimir putin over the killing of a former chechen rebel here in berlin have angered german lawmakers and questions mounting after new zealand's volcanic eruption with the death toll rising to 68 people missing in dozens severely injured people are asking why tours were well there in the 1st place. i'm burnt off it's good to have you with us we begin tonight in the united states where democrats on capitol hill have concluded that president donald trump should be impeached for abusing his powers and for obstructing congress the speaker of the house nancy pelosi and the heads of investigative committees announced 2 articles of impeachment today the democrats accused of soliciting foreign interference in next year's presidential election and of attempting to conceal from congress evidence of the president's actions. here's how the chairman of the house intelligence committee adam schiff described the president's actions the president solicited a foreign nation ukraine to publicly announce investigatio

republicans saying putin is a stronger leader than obama and using putin as the anti-obama perfect example of what a strong leader is supposed to look like. the republican party in this country, this hasn't been bipartisan. push to undo sanctions against russian oligarchs. some of those sanctions that went away then allowed a russian american sort of based oligarch to pump $200 million into the state of kentucky. that was gone through, which is the reason that people are calling mitch mcconnell moscow mitch. that's his new nickname because of it. there has been -- i find it hard to see a parallel in the democratic and republican parties to not just a permissive attitude toward russia or trying to find a way to bring them back. the reset button approach of the obama administration. this is different. with the trump -- this trump era, it feels like feelty, not permissiveness. get them off the hook for what happened in 2016. let them off sanctions. let them back in the g7. this is quite different. i don't think it's bipartisan. >> first of all, we're talking about the putin kremlin but even w

not just because putin attracts the - - otherwise known as henchmen if vladimir putin hadn't made them so rich. the connection with the mom it gave him a set of levers to solve problems and to make problematic people to go away. vladimir putin's team and the kremlin was delighted to utilize a man with any tree - - special skills and talent to shape ukraine to its like him. to turn ukraine from its flirtation with the west and the european union, but maybe even nato. so they cut him a sweetheart deal in ukraine. his new company would be given the exclusive right to buy gas from russia to sell to ukraine at a very large profit. about $800 million in pure profit in 2007 alone. ukraine could just have easily bought the gas with no middlemen and no markup. vladimir putin wanted both the middlemen and the markup. dimitri would turn out to be handy. it also caused - - a pretty penny, which ultimately comes straight out of russian government proffers. but still, it was worth it. because - - as well as ukrainian oligarchs would have plenty of cash to spread around to shape their countries and w

that ukraine and not putin interfered in the 2016 elections. it does not matter that it has been debunked. including testimony under both from senior officials serving and the trump administration and again by the i.g. report today. the president's defenders have repeated this conspiracy anyway, including, shamefully, several of my colleagues in the senate. in an effort to protect the president at all costs, the grand old party in the senate has become the conspiracy caucus. one conspiracy theory after another. none of them with basis in fact. it is no laughing matter. these conspiracies are not harmless. they are sinister, they are insidious, they damage our democracy. the president has spent three years undermining the credibility and faith in our law enforcement and in our intelligence community. and he has forced the d.o.j. to use resources on those conspiracies. instead of fighting the opioid epidemic, countering chinese intellectual property theft and cyber operations or countering russian aggression, the d.o.j. attorneyhest of general ba

and putin's call. the white house confirms mr. trump had a friendly chat with the kremlin leader hours after they released details. they did not want to share. wolf blitzer is off today. you're in the "situation room." >>> authorities say the attempted murder of jews at a celebration in new york was an act of hate. the suspect in the stabbing attack appeared before a judge a short time ago and ordered to stay behind bars. mike pompeo is traveled to travel this week as the impeachment continues to grip washington. nee details about president trump's decision to freeze ukraine aid and how his top policy officials pleaded with him to release the money. i will talk with jaime raskin and new york mayor, bill de blasio and our analysts and correspondents are standing by. first, our reporter is at the scene of the stabbing steen in new york. >> reporter: we talked to several here and they are telling us they are terrified what is happening in their community and across the country and including new york. lots more details coming out abou

if indeed the evil plot from being president putin's choice of words was inappropriate you know we will just i'm appalled that he was trying to justify a murder by implying the victim was a terrorist the reason. for the courts to decide what will thailand it was in so far it's a very cynical what the russian president has said and for us germans it's intolerable that what was apparently a contract killing took place on german soil. putin has complained that expelling the 2 diplomats was unjustly he said german diplomats would be expelled in retaliation for the the german chancellor appealed to russia to cooperate if he did also. get off on a lie think the russian side will share information with us in any event that would be a good thing and. the circumstances of his death are still being determined federal prosecutors have taken over the investigation zelin khan congo she really had long been afraid of being attacked and had already reported his fears to german authorities and 2017. are for more this is bring in our chief political correspondent melinda crean she's here in berlin can e

trump stated bluntly, quote, putin told me. meanwhile, echoing trumpian rhetoric in an end of year news conference. >> translator: house of representatives is the democratic majority. they've lost the elections and they're trying to revise the history with the means they have at their disposal. >> of course, trump taking to twitter to agree with the russian president, highlighting a write-up of putin's comments adding "a total witch hunt." with me now is glenn kirschner and back with me is berit berger. why does president trump trust vladimir putin over american intelligence agencies? >> i don't know that he does. i mean, if president trump accepts the fact that russia interfered to his advantage and helped him get elected, it would delegitimize his presidency. so i don't know that it has anything to do with an honestly held belief by donald trump that, you know, ukraine interfered instead of russia. i think he doesn't want to do anything that would in fact delegitimize his presidency. and, you know, vladimir putin, i ayman mus

ending the war there have been held and this is the 1st meeting between russian president vladimir putin and ukrainian president golda meir's and then ski appears set down earlier this evening with french president emmanuel macron and german chancellor angela merkel those 2 leaders are brokering this meeting now the conflict started back in 2014 and has killed more than 13000 people and displaced more than a 1000000 the worst fighting has been in the donbass reach. or corresponded to your boxes in paris covering those talks tours good evening to you georg so what is the latest there done with dinner i understand they're done with dinner or just about done done with dinner a little information here and there trickling out of those big solid walls of the n.s.a. policy which you see right behind me one of the pieces of information is that reportedly flooding the putin was rather happy about his fust bilateral meeting with the ukrainian president selenski he said it was good to meet him and the meeting went a well now what do we make of that that we'll have to see leaders set down the 4 of t

bringing us the latest from vladimir putin's annual q. and a we're going to listen in now to see what he's saying at the moment. and . several occasions underline that it's the. legitimate government of syria. and in other countries credit crisis situations there's also a crisis in libya there are too many government acknowledges by the international community it is still there but i was in a media says that russia supports. called the libyan national army and the russian mercenaries are supporting them how could you how would you comment this statement and you're going to discuss this issue with mr early one. and also are you going to discuss syria and other matters with him thank you but do you really believe what western media right. well you just need to read what they write about and your opinion will change their jokes aside. we are aware of the situation. we. are as different countries have ties with different parties and the level of those ties is different you asked for russia we are in touch with the. government and we are alway

ukraine piste and angela merkel's already said that she will be addressing putin president putin about this killing and to see it be interesting to then see like how this develops in the coming weeks right as you just mentioned medically and putin will set to meet on monday to discuss ukraine but could this new diplomatic tensions we own those talks. well russia certainly seems to not want these diplomatic tensions to weigh on those talks they are very important this is the 1st meeting between the ukrainian president and the russian president these are the 1st talks in the normandy format so about peace in ukraine since 2016 and russia seems to be treading a bit more carefully than germany is even as kate said medical did mention this issue and that she would be addressing putin on monday about it potentially whereas putin yesterday in a press conference didn't mention it at all so the russian side seems to be being a bit more careful and the head of the international affairs committee in the russian parliament yesterday said that these this issue this merger would have no effect on ru

talks focusing on ending the war there have been held and this is the 1st meeting between vladimir putin of a lot of resilience people french president emmanuel mccall and german chancellor angela merkel are brokering this meeting a conflict started back in 2014 and has killed more than 13000 people. and displaced more than 1000000 the worst fighting has been in the donbass region our correspondent nick calio traveled there and filed this report. close enough to see what the other side having for lunch that's how these ukrainian troops have spent the last few years just 300 meters from the russian backed separatists facing them the whole night without a single shot i don't remember day like maybe on the 1st night of the cease fire it's a strange when there's no finite or you get all nervous we're used to the shooting and. the conflict may have fallen out of the headlines but the shooting and the death continues less than a 10 minute drive away a young woman out walking with a child was to be really wounded by a stray bullet just last week our guide through the trenches on xander was in h

interestingly, the russians made clear that vladimir putin for the second time invited president trump to attend victory day celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of the end of world war ii in russia. president trump sort of toyed with the idea in november, saying that it might be something that he's interested in, but it would be coming in the middle of the 2020 campaign. no official response yet from the white house as to whether he intends to make good on that invitation, victor. >> thank you both. now let's bring in james clapper, the former director of national intelligence. director clapper, thanks for being with us tonight. what's your reaction to this "new york times" reporting showing the president was very involved in this early operation to withhold the aid to ukraine? >> well, victor, first of all, happy new year. >> to you too. >> first "the new york times" article, assumiing its reportin is accurate, which has been pretty much the track record for "the new york times," kind of fleshes out, i think, a lot of the specifics particularly involving those in the immediate i

right after his 1st one on one with ukraine's president vladimir putin comes out with harsh statement warning of another. takes back control of eastern ukraine without amnesty. i. am refusing to back down protesters in france continue to make a stand against the government's plans to overhaul the pension system at the key speech by the prime minister on the issue. tightening the noose on the democrats go all in on impingement the us president claims the russian collusion case was also an attempt to overthrow. thanks for joining us here on the internet. russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov is in washington for a working visit the country's top diplomats meeting secretary of state. and president all trump following developments in the u.s. capitol. quote sergey lavrov himself he doesn't expect anything in fact he says that russia just comes here to washington to deliver its position to make known to make the united states to make sure that the united states is aware as to what russia thinks they have plenty to discuss that's for sure and arguably topping the agenda is the situation a

foeradimir putin, it's already 20 and counting. da... this woman is a putin fan. when eight houses in her village burnt down... she sobs. ..she went on tv and begged the president for help. the very next day, mr putin sent in the builders and, abracadabra, new homes, courtesy of the kremlin. she even got to meet russia's leader and shake his hand. translation: people in the village told me, "don't wash your hand for a year". some of them asked me to shake their hands with the hand the president shook. under putin, russia has arisen from its knees. let him stay in power, give him another 20 years! laughter. this is exactly how vladimir putin wants his people to see him — as the solution to their problems, not as the cause of them. and because the kremlin controls the media here, and the whole political system, for the last 20 years, it's been able to push this message quite successfully. over the last two decades, vladimir putin has honed the image of modern day tsar, all—powerful, irreplaceable. but not everyone in russia believes that's a good thing. someone

so the question is, you know, was this an instruction frb pom putin? a suggestion from putin? what is going on between donald trump and putin where when they have private meetings donald trump takes back the notes from the interpreter so nobody can actually see them. >> as you know, putin was on tv this week with his very long press conference as he does every year and was defending president trump and the impeachment trial. talk about giuliani for a second here, because he seems undeterred by his client's impeachment, fresh from another trip to ukraine. giuliani is at the center of a right-wing documentary investigating the impeachment inquiry, and the bloomberg post did this article in which you're quoted. titled "giuliani keeps the household going even as trump is impeached." you worked closely with giuliani here in the southern district of new york. what is this strategy? >> i think the strategy is to deflect. take attention away from the facts. that's what the republicans have been doing throughout this entire proceeding. to take attention away from the facts. they don't

i mean, is this tied back to all of this pro-putin conduct? is this tied back to his deep suspicion of his own intelligence community, his own fbi, his own, it would appear, pentagon and other national security agencies? >> well, look. there's reporting that when general kelly, when trump learned that general kelly was creating records of the phone calls used on the white house devices, that's when he went back to what he was doing. and he's doing it despite the intel briefings that allegedly demonstrated to him how easy it was to intercept his own personal cell phone calls. so you've got to come to the conclusions there is reasons why he's choosing to do this. and one might think that, number one, he doesn't care that russia or others are listening because he feels aligned with them and doesn't buy into the theory of adversaries. secondly, he does not trust the intelligence community. i think we have learned that over and over again. we've learned from recent news reporting that he's told the people at dni when he gets briefings i don't think

why would an american president ask vladimir putin for direction in terms of how putin wants to start treating north korea? why would you ask that? we still don't know. we can only guess. but the record of that call in which president trump is reported to have asked vladimir putin what he wants the u.s. to now do toward north korea, i mean, maybe putin had the idea for moving seoul, we don't know. i mean, the record of that call is reportedly one of the trump presidential call records that has been taken out of circulation inside the white house and inside the national security apparatus of the united states of america. they locked up the record of that call on a codeword level super highly secure server so almost nobody can access that record. the trump white house is reported to have done that with call records between president trump and mohammad bed bin salm so call record to call records between trump and putin, including the one where he asked putin what he wanted the u.s. policy to be toward north korea. the one in which he asked putin to set u.s. policy toward north korea. the

he's looking for praise from putin. and that gives putin the opportunity to -- to float this just crazy ideas, including this latest one that we've now just learned about. >> and i'm just keeping on the screen this picture. this is helsinki in 2018. where an even more amazing thing happened, if you recall. he was asked by jonathan la mere, who was on air about an hour ago with katy tur, about russian interference in the election. and donald trump said, the russians didn't do it because vladimir putin told me they didn't do it. standing next to vladimir putin, he told the world that the reason he believes something that's contrary to the -- to the advice and guidance of all of our intelligence agencies is because the guy standing next to him also happens to be an adversary. same adversary he met with in hamburg in 2017. told him so. so at some juncture, if the president's not willing to fix this problem, his well-meaning advisors can't fix it for him. >> well, i'm glad you brought up the advisors because all these former

the same false narrative pushed by president putin and mr. giuliani. in order for the white house meeting to occur, president trump told the delegation, they must talk to rudy to get the visit scheduled. these comments from president trump were the first of many subsequent indications that in his mind, corruption equals investigations: . in the weeks and months following, mr. giuliani relayed to ukrainian officials and -- officials that president trump designated in the may 23rd meeting to take a lead on ukraine policy. the directive from president trump that a white house meeting would not occur until ukraine announced the two political investigations that president trump required. and well before the july 25th call, ambassador sondland and volker also relayed this quid pro quo to the ukrainians, including to president zelensky himself. ambassador volker conveyed the message directly to president zelensky at the beginning of july urging him to reference investigations associated with the giuliani factor with president trump. in meetings at the white h

i don't understand what maclin max want to do selenski and putin should sit down together drink some vodka together and put all this behind them. with the publicity. that we need a united ukraine and we need an end to all this. so people don't have to suffer in these queues anymore that the. what if you cranes biggest cities it's less than half an hour's drive down the road behind me we can't go that the pro russian separatists in control of the city aware e of the foreign press present selenski was elected earlier this year on a promise to bring down your back to ukrainian government control that's what this meeting in paris is all about. back in the front line it's quiet at least during daylight hours silence allows time to think about the future. but i'm not interested in this normandy summit and what will happen will happen. this war needs to and i've lost so many comrades already but we're giving the other side making peace and that's going to be to the. repercussions of this war will be felt for years to come it's not just about the mines and grenades the litter this landscape

new light shed on the president's relationship with vladimir putin. did the russian leader plant a seed that blossomed in that phone call with the president of ukraine? >> the first daughter on defense. when asked about how the president is handling life after impeachment. >> we start with president trump overnight, signing two spending packages, totaling $1.4 trillion. averting a government shutdown. the white house says the president signed the bills aboard air force one late last night on his way to mar-a-lago for the holidays. but as the president wakes up in sunny south florida this morning, back in washington, a cloud of uncertainty remains over what happens next in the impeachment battle. here is ivanka trump in a new interview. >> i think he sees it for what it is, which is really just raw partisan politics. >> on capitol hill, the impeachment showdown intensifies. the two chambers of congress caught in a bitter standoff as lawmakers head home for the holidays. and the house speaker nancy pelosi is holding impeachment in limbo saying she has n