Chances in november . This morning, we look ahead to South Carolina with the states most prominent democrat, congressman jim clyburn, plus our powerhouse round table, and new reports that russia are interfering in our elections again to help Bernie Sanders. They are trying to cause chaos. They are trying to cause hatred in america. And President Trump. They said today that putin wants to be sure that trump gets elected. Here we go again. The president retaliates after intelligence officials report that analysis to congress, raising questions this morning for National Security adviser Robert Obrien. Well break down the politics, smoke out the spin. The facts that matter this week. Good morning and welcome to this week. As we come on the air this morning, Bernie Sanders is riding high. The clear frontrunner for the democratic nomination. Theyre still counting the votes in nevada, but no question hes the winner there, crushing the competition making good on his promise in that state to build out a bigger coalition of democratic voters. With half the precincts reporting from the caucuses, sanders has 47 of the county delegates. That translates into 12 of the 36 National Delegates up for grabs in that state so far. Joe biden and Pete Buttigieg battling for second, and right now biden does have the edge in 19 , mayor pete at 15 . Elizabeth warren, Amy Klobuchar and tom steyer further back rounding out the field. South carolina, the next key vote saturday before the race Goes National on super tuesday on march 3rd. A lot of Big Questions now. Is that make or break for joe biden and other moderates . Will Mike Bloomberg recover at this weeks debate . Can any democrat stop sanders or does splintered opposition clear his path to the nomination . What will that mean for the democrats chances come november . So much to analyze and debate, so lets get right to our round table joined by republican chris christie, former mayor of new jersey, rahm emanuel, author of the new book you see right there, the nation city, yvette simpson, ceo of democracy for america and republican strategist, sara fagen, who served under george w. Bush. Rahm, let me take it to you from the beginning. Is Bernie Sanders unstoppable . Hes the frontrunner. He is stoppable. I dont know, but i would say this. The moderates have to coalesce around one person. If you have a divided field, we have seen this play out in the republican primary in 2016. If there is not kind of a singular mano e mano. Then hell get the delegates. But the delegation. Its clear right now is that everybody has a thread of logic why they should stay, resource or delegate. As long as that happens, he will continue to have 45 , and that makes a majority. I do think people should take note. His entire strategy upends every electoral map that either president clinton, president obama or the midterms of 06 and 2018 put together. Its a different theory of the case, never been tested before nationally and never been proven successful for any democrat either president ial or congressional majority. And yvette, Bernie Sanders, he did not increase the turnout in iowa, but he seemed to build that coalition in nevada winning big with hispanics, and young people and liberals. The only groups he lost were seniors and africanamerican. He continues to struggle with older americans. I think joe biden is Still Holding a lot of those folks. Pete buttigieg surprisingly is getting a lot of those folks in the older demographic. Africanamericans, well see what South Carolina does particularly because you have older people who also happen to be black, but i know hes closing his lead according to polls. He needs more time with those groups and he has the momentum. He is the frontrunner. I believe he will go into the convention with the most delegates. I think the biggest challenge is the establishment continuing to fight at him instead of saying, hes our frontrunner. Why dont we coalesce around him . Hes replicating what happened in the republican primaries last time around getting 30 to 40 , splintered opposition gave donald trump the opening back in 2016. He did give trump trump did have the opening in 2016 because of a divisive republican primary. I think the difference here though is donald trump was ultimately espoused. He was a republican. Bernie sanders is not a democrat. 15 times hes been on the ballot in vermont, and not one time did he say, put his name forward on the democratic nomination. He only runs as a democrat because its the path of least resistance to getting the nomination. I dont understand why democrats feel compelled to hand ring around their Convention Rules around a person who is not a member of their party. Youre shaking your head. First of all, bloomberg is a republican. Elizabeth warren was a republican. He had a record of voting with the democrats for a long time. I think it was with the democrats 95 of the time during his time in the senate. Hes a democratic socialist. We have to continue to say that. So he is not one who believes we dont have to continue to say that. We should say that because its the truth. Its different. Martin luther king was a democratic socialist. Nelson mandela was a democratic socialist. He believes in democracy, but believes that the economy should be looked at from a different perspective. What were starting to see now is Pete Buttigieg, and joe biden, and bloomberg picking up the case that donald trump has been making for months. Hes not going to say democratic socialist. Hes going to say socialist, edge into communist. He is going to say socialist. Hes been saying it. Hes going to continue to say it and by the way, its true. So, you know, that actually has an added benefit for trump because when you listen to Bernie Sanders and listen to what he wants to do, it is a socialist agenda, and hes running on it. As rahm said, this is a different approach of going after the presidency, the way sanders is doing it. I fear for the democrats that biden and buttigieg waking up last night to say, hey. Maybe we should stop attacking each other and start attacking sanders, maybe a little too little, too late, and the last piece is, and i love to watch this last week. Well talk about the debate im sure later, but, you know, this is tough. This is tough work to do, to do this, and Mike Bloomberg showed no matter how much money you have, if you have no damn idea what you are doing in this business, you have no damn idea what you are doing. He was awful, and thats leading to even more hope for sanders. Heres the one point, and heres a classic why. Somebody better figure this out. Youre in nevada. The site of one of the worst Mass Shootings in american history, just two years ago. Its not that far in the rearview mirror. Bernie sanders record on guns is horrendous from assault weapons to litigation. Not one person on that stage had the gumption or the wherewithal to mention it. Kind of in passing. A throwaway line with that many people dead . When you are talking about democrats at a primary and his record on guns, its more representative of vermont than it is where the country and, and the democrats. That tells you the candidates have not taken him seriously and they woke up this morning. They have to take seriously his record on guns. Many leaders march for our lives and thats because they understand his record was more about representing Rural Communities in vermont than about gun violence than happens in places like chicago or l. A. Its very different. As a person assigned by president clinton to both pass the brady bill and assault weapon ban, Bernie Sanders was on the side of the gun manufactures. My point is political, not policy. You are on a stage in vegas with one of the worst Mass Shootings and nobody brought it up, dealing with him seriously. I think the broader point is sanders hasnt really been vetted yet. He is the frontrunner and it is coming to him, and were starting to see the drip, drip of comments about communist leaders around the world and socialist leaders around the world and as rahm pointed out, you know, hes been on the wrong side of the Democratic Party on guns for a long time. He has come around more recently. Hes about to have a spotlight shown on him, and well see how he stands up. Who is the messager . I agree with sara about him being vetted, but whos going to do it . You know, the gun question wasnt asked. Now imagine this. Forget about the other candidates. We have done seven hours on medicare for all, and not one on this. On the panel, no one asked a question on guns. If it were a Republican Panel with those journalists, you can guarantee guns would have been an early on question. Thats the thing. Who will do the vetting . Secondly, which of those candidates will show the aptitude, george, to really vet Bernie Sanders . You have to give him credit. Sanders has stood up there in the middle of that stage when donald trump was in the middle of the stage. People were hitting him. Not that much. The press certainly was. The press, yes. Theres two elements of a debate, right . That can hurt you. Either the questions being asked, and how the aggressive the panelists are at you, or your opponents. In this instance, sanders has skated with both. They dont go after him. You are making the point about guns and i take that point, but thats not likely to be at the same residence in South Carolina. To pick up on chris point, the question is who will take these questions surrounding socialism to Bernie Sanders at the debate . I think right now heres a twopart problem. One, everybodys about to do that, and the problem is you need one person, and as this happened, we saw it in 2016. I want to get back to this one point. The coalition that president clinton and president obama put together, a coalition for congressional majorities in 06 and 2018, is totally different than anything Bernie Sanders is talking about. He doesnt care about that majority welcoming independent swing voters from the suburbs into the Democratic Party. This has been tried. You just saw it in great britain. Jeremy corbin went down dramatically, and this is upending. It may prove something that has not been proven in cultural and social issues that have upended that, and scrambled the egg so to say, but i think this is a strategy, and heres a test. Not one of the Congressional Democrats who flipped red to blue district in 2018 have come out and endorsed him. That has to be one of the questions that Bernie Sanders is going to have to answer if he continues to get momentum. What does it mean for Democratic Senate candidates . What does it mean for Democratic House candidates . You hear some critics warning if Bernie Sanders is at the top of the ticket that the democrats could lose the house. I dont think thats true. We saw amazing historic election in 2018, brought on in part hatred by trump, but the new american majority is representing us, and they want to run for offices like the senate. Bernie sanders is building a multiracial coalition, a multigenerational coalition. People are thinking about previous races. Trump showed us that people are voting a little bit differently. Even Barack Obamas race, people were coming out who traditionally come out. Whoever the nominee is, if its Bernie Sanders, people need to get their folks to show up. Were not there yet. First of all yes, it is. Take illinois. Mmhmm. Which is now solidly blue, but just ten years ago wasnt. You have three congressional members of congress. Yes. In the suburbs. Ask them if thats the choice p they want to have a democratic socialist at the top of the ticket. You said, congress, senate, statehouses where we districting is done. Thats all up here. That is at risk. One of the things that helped lets go to sara fagan. One of the things that helped donald trump even though he wasnt getting 50 is winner take all of primaries on the republican side. That is not the case on the democratic side which increases the chances that Bernie Sanders will have a plurality of votes, but not the delegates he needs. Unless a few of these or Elizabeth Warren gets out and several moderates get out, i think thats guaranteed. Hes going to have a plurality plurality. Excuse me. A tough word to say. Scrabble today. But i think importantly, you know, theres no reason for people to get out as you pointed out earlier. The reason is they want juice in this convention. So why would you get out . The more delegates you have, the bigger say you have in the nomination contest, and the more delegates you have, the more likely you are to be somebody in a cabinet. They could fall back to you. I think this is just a a challenge that chris and i are going to enjoy watching for the next many weeks. And the other reason people dont have to get out now, is youre seeing on the republican side, so much of the funding now for people like Elizabeth Warren comes online, and they wont run out of cash. You saw warren off of her debate performance, and klobuchar in New Hampshire, raise significant amounts of money online. As long as they have that money, theyre not going to get out. I think the other thing is the only dream for republicans that is more than Bernie Sanders marching to this nomination is him not, and then them going to that convention and going to the second ballot and superdelegates if they ever throw this to biden or someone else on the second ballot, this will be a destroyed Democratic Party, and the only thing better than running against sanders and to have somebody else there with a completely divided Democratic Party. Thats a fair analysis. If i were chairman perez, i would get a big parliamentarian who understands the rules. Youre going to need it. Rule number two, rule in politics, pick your opponent. Putin and trump are picking their opponent. This is not who we want on the ticket to lead it, and its clear by what the congressional candidates everybody whos low to the ground that has flipped a red district to a blue district its more complicated than that because the first vote of the convention is the vote on the rules. Are they going to change the rules . Will there be enough bernie delegates to change the rules . This could get out not even get out. More than an hour. One thing that could scramble this, and we dont know what will happen at the debate next tuesday, and the votes in South Carolina. If joe biden does win saturday in South Carolina, that gives him a boost into super tuesday, and that dramatically increases the chances that Bernie Sanders cannot get a majority going into the convention and you will see a split on the delegates on super tuesday. I think South Carolina is special for joe biden, particularly because he didnt come out of nevada number one, and hes at a distant second or third at best in nevada. If he wins South Carolina, i dont know what happens on super tuesday. I still dont think he wins there. I think bernie has a lot of these states and well see what the bloomberg effect is going to do. Particularly if he has a better debate performance. Well talk about that later. Not good. A better performance. Its not good. We can do a whole round table on that. What i want to say, george, is listen to what you are hearing. This is someone who is getting votes from the base of the democrat party. Bernie sanders is who im talking about, and the establishment is trying to figure out how to not give him the nomination. This is not what the party is supposed to do. If he gets the votes from your delegates isnt that what he did to Hillary Clinton . Sure did. Thats exactly what he did. Hillary clinton had the most votes. Thats what happened, okay . Bernie went in there at the convention and caused mayhem, had his people booing people at the convention and he was a sore loser last time. Now hes saying, well, im ahead, so everybody come together behind me. If he had done that four years ago, there would be a lot more people willing to do it. Nobody is going to be willing to do that. It was a different change. That was then, this is now . Were talking about not letting superdelegates override the will of the people. His will was not expressed. He didnt have the majority. There will be more democrats and not less democrats. You were right about one thing, and that is that he is amassing the delegates and getting more delegates than anybody else. What were saying, just as this is fraught with Political Risk that has never been tried since 1992, and that we have to be smart about it, openminded. You are right. He is amassing the delegates, but the rules that are written today, the last time this happened, i remember richard j. Daly took albert off the podium, and put a young congressman up there because he couldnt get the place together. The fact is youre going to need a parliamentarian, and a person who understands the rules backwards and forwards and the strength to see it through because at this point, i think to all the other candidates coming in third and fourth consistently, and do have a thread of money that in past years, they would be done by now. They have enough internet money, and they have to make a decision and say, do i stay in this, or do i understand this has to get to mano e mano . Jim clyburn is next. The round table will be back later in the show. Burn is next. The round table will be back later in the show. Digital transformation never stops. Verizon keeps business ready for whats next. man we weave security into their business. second man virtualize their operations. third man and could even build ai into their customer experiences. We also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. 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We are headed of course, to South Carolina. I think were going to have a good night tonight. I think were going to have a good night next saturday in South Carolina. Now were going on to South Carolina to win, and then were going to take this back. On to South Carolina, on to the nomination and on to the white house with your help. Thank you. [ cheers and applause ] democrats looking ahead to the next big contest. Were joined now by the most powerful democrat in South Carolina. Congressman jim clyburn. Thank you for joining us in this morning. Whats your take on the nevada results and what it means for South Carolina . First of all, thank you very much for having me, george. I do believe that nevada will have somewhat of an impact on South Carolina. All the prior contests do have an impact. I do believe however, though, south carolinians know where theyre in this primary window. We got in the window because of the demographics of the state and the demographics of the democratic electorate, and we think we reflect that, and we really believe that now that the west and the midwest and the northeast have had their say, we are going to let people know how we feel about these candidates, and it may not line up with nevada or New Hampshire or however. You have historically been a king maker in South Carolina. You said youre not going to make an endorsement before tuesday nights debate. Does that still hold, and will you definitely make an endorsement after the debate . Yes, it still holds. Im going to honor this debate. I dont want to distract from it at all. I want to maintain our first in the south primary status, but on wednesday morning, i will let my choice be known. I have been asked about it by too many people, and i think it would be dishonorable if i did not tell people exactly what i feel about the candidacy of all of our candidates. Is South Carolina make or break for joe biden . Well, its not make or break. It all depends upon how it comes out. It could be. It doesnt have to be. I think make or break is probably the following tuesday, super tuesday. And as far as Bernie Sanders goes, he built out that coalition in the state of nevada, brought a coalition that he had in New Hampshire and in iowa, but youre already starting to see these attacks for his background as a democratic socialist. How deep will that cut in South Carolina, and if hes the nominee, do you think it could put the House Majority in danger . A lot of people think so. I do believe it will be an extra burden for us to have to carry. This is South Carolina, and south carolinians are pretty leery about that title socialist, and so i think that that would be a real burden for us in these states or congressional districts that we have to do well in. If you look at how well we did the last time, and look at the congressional districts, these were not liberal or what you might call progressive districts. These are basically moderate and conservative districts that we did well in, and in those districts, its going to be tough to hold onto these jobs if you have to make the case for accepting a selfproclaimed democratic socialist. Congressman clyburn, thanks for your time this morning. Thank you for having me. When we come back, dramatic new revelations this week. Intelligence officials Tell Congress that russia is attacking our elections again. Weighing in to favor both Bernie Sanders and President Trump. The president strikes back at u. S. Intelligence and his National Security adviser Robert Obrien is up next. Announcer this week with George Stephanopoulos is sponsored by pacific life. Life insurance that lets you live for today and protect tomorrow. Thats the power of pacific. nervously ready . Ok, ready sweetie . 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Has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. Memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. Try neuriva for 30 days and see the difference. We do things differently and aother money managers, dont understand why. Because our way works great for us but not for your clients. Thats why were a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. So, what do you provide . Cookie cutter portfolios . Nope. We tailor portfolios to our clients needs. But you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right . We dont have those. So, whats in it for you . Our fees a structured so we do better when our clients do better. At Fisher Investments were clearly different. My bladder leak underwear. Orried someone might see so, i switched. To always discreet boutique. Its shapehugging threads smooth out the back. So it fits better than depend. And no one notices. Always discreet. Leadership that makes a difference. Vo a great president and an effective mayor. Obama hes been a leader throughout the country for the past twelve years, mr. Michael bloomberg is here. Vo together they worked to combat gun violence, and again to improve education for every child. Obama i want to thank the mayor of this great city, mayor bloomberg, for his extraordinary leadership. I share your determination to bring this country together to finally make progress for the American People. Bloomberg im Mike Bloomberg, and i approve this message. Liz, you nerd, cough if youre in here shhhh. I took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. What about robs dry cough . Works on that too. And last 12 hours. 12 hours . Who studies that long . mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs for 12 hours with 2 medicines in 1 pill. woman no matter what business you are in, Digital Transformation never stops. Verizon keeps business ready for whats next. man we weave security into their business. second man virtualize their operations. third man and could even build ai into their customer experiences. We also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. Like 5g. woman where machines could talk to each other and expertise could go anywhere. woman when it comes to Digital Transformation, verizon keeps business ready. President putin, did you want President Trump to win the election, and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that . Yes, i did. Yes, i did, because he talked about bringing the u. S. russia relationship back to normal. People came to me, and came to others and said they think its russia. I have president putin. He just said its not russia. I will say this. I dont see any reason why it would be. There you see President Trump with Vladimir Putin back in 2018 discussing russian interference in the 2016 election. As weve seen dramatic new revelations about how russia is attacking our elections again. Reports that Senior Intelligence officials have told lawmakers that russia is interfering in the 2020 election with the aim of reelecting President Trump, and that russia is interfering in the democratic primaries to help Bernie Sanders. Sanders responded yesterday in nevada. We were told that russia, maybe other countries are going to get involved in this campaign, and look. Heres the message to russia. Stay out of american elections. Lets address all this now with the president s National Security adviser, Robert Obrien. Ambassador obrien, thank you for joining us this morning. How is russia interfering in the 2020 election . Well, there are these reports that they want Bernie Sanders to get elected president. Thats no surprise. He honeymooned in moscow. President trump has rebuilt the American Military to the extent we havent seen since ronald reagan. I dont think its any surprise that russia or china or iran would want somebody other than President Trump. If President Trump is elected, well continue to strengthen the foreign policy, and thats not good for our adversaries. Its good for our allies. The reports are actually theyre trying to help Bernie Sanders in the democratic primaries and of course, you have seen the reports that lawmakers have been briefed by an intelligence professional that its russias aim to favor President Trump in the 2020 election. Have you seen analysis from the Intelligence Community showing that one of russias aims in its election interference is to help President Trump . I have not seen that, and i get pretty good access as you know from your time in the white house, the National Security adviser gets pretty good access to our intelligence. I havent seen any intelligence that russia is doing anything to attempt to get President Trump reelected. I think this is the same old story that we have heard before. I have seen the reports from that briefing at the intel committee. I wasnt there, but i have seen no intelligence that suggests that. I have also heard that from the briefers thats not what they intended the story to be. Who knows what happened at the house and the Intelligence Committee, but i havent seen any evidence that russia is doing anything to attempt to get President Trump reelected, and our message to the russians is stay out of the u. S. Elections. We have been very tough on russia, and we have been great on Election Security. So i think its a nonstory. A nonstory. A lot of people dont think its a nonstory. Obviously the lawmakers were briefed and the reports are the Election Security official says several times during the briefing that russia had developed a preference for President Trump. Was she not telling the truth . What i heard from the republican lawmakers there, and i wasnt at the hearing so i cant comment what happened at the hearing. Im not going to play that washington game, but what i heard from republican lawmakers is there was zero intelligence that was proffered to them for this support. I havent seen that intelligence, so if its out there, its something i havent seen, but i highly doubt that. Its a common sense question. Why would russia want someone who rebuild built the American Military, and sanctioned russia far more than any president in recent history, why would they want him reelected . You have seen the intelligence they were trying to hack burisma, which is of course, the firm in ukraine that hunter biden worked for, and President Trump wanted investigated. I wont get into specific intelligence issues with respect to ukraine, but what i will tell you is i think the russians and chinese and others like to sow disruption in the american electorate, and i think they have done that doesnt mean because they prefer particular candidates. Its because these are autocratic regimes that dont believe in democracy and they would like to see americans at each others throat. We have a great return investment for a small amount of election interference. They helped steele they helped with the dossier. So, you know, and they have gotten americans polarized over this thing, but well do everything we can to keep anyone who would like to do us harm, out of our election. I have to press you on this. Are you saying you have seen no analysis from the Intelligence Community showing that one of russias aims just one of russias aims is to favor President Trump . No analysis at all . What im talking about i have seen no intelligence, and i havent seen that analysis. The only analysis i have heard was reported secondhand from leaks from the House Intelligence Committee that purport to claim that the woman who briefed him said that, but i have seen zero intelligence that russia is doing anything to help President Trump get reelected and i dont think it makes any sense it doesnt make common sense, and look. Let me tell you who we are doing. Were working very hard with all the agencies and very hard with the states. Were going to paper ballots in many cases to harden our election infrastructure to make sure that not only is there not election influence, but making sure countries cant hack into our 50 states and change Election Results or cause mischief on election day. Were going to do everything we can to harden our systems to make sure that our elections are free and fair, and the will of the American People is implemented. So youre drawing a distinction here between intelligence and analysis, and that is fair. You have seen no analysis. Have you seen any analysis that one of russias aims is to help President Trump, is to favor President Trump . I havent seen any intelligence on that, george, and i havent seen any analysis on that. The only thing i have seen is the press reports on this house intel briefing which are secondhand. I dont think if they were leaked out or how the papers got those. Those are the only things i have seen, that but i Vice President havent seen that. I havent talked to her because i usually wouldnt work with someone at her level. I was briefed by joe mcguire, director haspel, and i have not heard that analysis or seen any intel along those lines. So if its out there, it hasnt been shared with me, and as far as i know, the two acting directors at ndi that i have dealt with, and the cia director hasnt seen it either. All i have heard about is this house intel committee, and i also heard republicans have said this, they asked for the backup of the analysis, and there was no intelligence backup for it. So just to be clear, youre accepting the analysis that the russians want to help Bernie Sanders, but youre not youre saying you have seen no analysis they want to help President Trump despite the fact its been reported and briefed to the congress. Its also been reported that President Trump was angry when he was told about this briefing and he confronted Joseph Mcguire and replaced him with current ambassador jeremy richard. Thats all true, isnt it . Thats not true. I was in that meeting. The president was not angry with joe mcguire. He thinks very highly of admirable mcguire, and would elect him to stay in government in a different role, but as you know, his time as the acting dni was up in a week or two. We were looking for someone who was Senate Confirmed under the vacancy act. We needed a senateconfirmed official to replace him, and we went with a highly qualified senate ambassador grenell. He was there for a temporary period of time. We expect to nominate a terrific candidate for a fulltime director of the dni, submit them for senate confirmation, and the president and i will urge for the senate to move quickly to confirm a fulltime confirmed director of the National Intelligence, or the director of the National Intelligence to get someone there through the election and take this out of politics. As you know, your critics the president s critics have said that youre injecting politics in there because this ambassador has had experience as a consumer of intelligence, but no significant experience in the Intelligence Community. I want to press though on what happened with admirable mcguire as well because as you know, its been several inside and outside the community believe that, in fact, he was forced out because of this, including the former admirable who served with joe mcguire as a navy s. E. A. L. He has an oped in the washington post. We want to show that right now, and mcraven says, if good men like joe mcguire cant speak the truth, we should be deeply afraid. He said, quote, joe was dismissed for doing his job overseeing the dissemination of elected officials who needed that to do their jobs. When good men and women cant speak the truth, when facts are inconvenient, when integrity and character no longer matter, when president ial ego and selfpreservation are more important than National Security, there is nothing left to stop the triumph of evil. How do you respond with admirable mcraven . I dont know how to respond to him. He was a great navy s. E. A. L. , but i didnt see him in the oval office when we were talking to joe mcguire, or in any of the meetings with the president. He must have supernatural powers or some sort of incredible intelligence collection to be able to get to what the president and senior aides were thinking. The fact of the matter is admirable mcguire had to leave his acting position on march 11th, and so thats why he left. Admirable mcguire is held in the highest regard. I have never heard anyone criticize admirable mcguire including the president for briefing him. I have sat through dozens of president ial daily briefs with admirable mcguire, and joe is a great guy. Hes a friend, and i think the president thinks very highly of him, and we would like to see joe stay in government. He served for a long time as a combat veteran. I think he wants time off with his wife. I think hes a great guy. The president thinks hes fantastic, and no one criticized him for saying anything, so i dont know where that comes from, from bill mcraven. I respect admirable mcraven, and he did a good job as a navy s. E. A. L. Maybe hes trying out his new job as a pundit for the washington post, and i dont know how he would have that information since he wasnt in the meetings and i was. One final thing. Youre flatly denying that the Intelligence Community has analysis that russia is trying to favor President Trump in the 2020 election . What im saying is i have not seen that analysis, george. No ones briefed me on it, including the leadership of the ic. You didnt ask to see this analysis . I have been with the leaders of the Intelligence Community. They dont have it. If there are lower people that came in and gave this analysis to the house, look. I would like to see it, but i havent seen it and i dont think Richard Grenell has seen it and i dont think gina haspel has seen it. I dont know what happened in this house hearing. I know the republicans were unhappy with the hearing and said that there was no intelligence to back up what was being said. Heres the deal. I dont even know if whats being reported or whats being said is true. Those are leaks coming out of that hearing. Dont you have a responsibility as the National Security adviser to find out . Why is the president calling it disinformation . These are leaks. Youre basing your assumptions on leaks that came out of a house intelligence hearing. I havent seen the intel or the analysis. Have you asked for it . I want to get whatever analysis theyve got, and i want to make sure that the analysis is solid. I mean, you know, from what i have heard, and this is only what im seeing in the press, it doesnt make any sense. Why would the russians want the president who has increased nato spending 400 billion from a nonamerican nato state who spent trillions of dollars in updating our military because of the prior administration, and whos moving out of endless wars and moving american troops into europe and asia to confront the great powers, why would they want him reelected . That doesnt make any sense to me, but look. If theres someone from the Intel Community that has something different, i would be happy to take a look at it. I havent seen it. Thats the question youre asking me. It doesnt make any sense, but im happy to look at it. Thanks for your time today. Thanks. Good being with you. More round table up next. Well be right back. More round table up next. Wel be right back. Grand now we have to deal withed us this. Rs. Climate change is an emergency. Thats why i wrote the nations most progressive climate law. And thats why im endorsing tom steyer. Because when big oil tried to stop our clean air laws, he led us to victory. Same with the keystone pipeline. When tom says we can save the world and do it together believe him. Im tom steyer and i approve this message. I read russia is helping. Nobody briefed me about that at all. What they try and do is certain people like certain people have information. No different than its been, but i have not been briefed on that at all. President trump on the south lawn just moments ago on his way to echoing what we heard from his National Security adviser. Lets bring the round table back in for more on this again. Chris christie, let me start with you. We have got these reports that intelligence Officials Say russia is at it again, going after Bernie Sanders trying to help Bernie Sanders, trying to help the president. You saw some selective analysis of the intelligence right there from Robert Obrien. He believes what theyre saying about Bernie Sanders, but he hasnt seen what theyre saying about President Trump. I dont think any of us should be surprised that the russians are trying to play in this election again. I dont think they have ever stopped really since 2016, and i think thats what most of the Intelligence Leaders have said. Theyre continuing to try to hone it. I dont think they were incredibly effective in 2016. Theyre trying to get better at it, and i dont have any doubt theyre going to try to interfere in the election in 2020, and i dont think serious people in the Intelligence Community think differently. The president calls it disinformation. You understand where the president comes from on this. His view is this has been an attempt, and we continue to talk about this, to discredit his election in 2016, and he is as weve seen, incredibly sensitive about that. And i think thats why he pushed back so hard. I think theres another way to divide that pie which is, you know, no one can deny seriously that the russians have been interfering in our electoral process, and will continue to attempt to. By the way, theyve done it before too. Its not like this was invented in 2016. Thats whats going on. Heres what i would just take a step back. Doing research in isis and syria and iraq, you have Intelligence Community chaos because its been politicized. You have nobody in homeland security. The top position isnt filled. Thats true in the Defense Department and we have a president who will not exceed because he doesnt have the politics of it. Would you acknowledge he doesnt like the politics of the notion that russia has interfered to his benefit . They have put their thumb on the scale. The only difference between the 2016 and the 2020, the chinese, the iranians and north koreans will do the same thing the russians did. They like the chaos President Trump has brought to american politics because it makes us ineffective around the world. We cant lead europe and our allies in asia. If you bring the president that information, youre going to be gone. The head of the Intelligence Committee is gone. His deputy is gone. Were seeing now someone else come back. This has become such a politicized issue, and any opportunity democrats get to put out the notion that russians are trying to help trump, they do it. Thats not helpful either, you know, its been reported that the woman doing the briefing in the house did not put any information out about trump, and when pressed, gave her opinion that, in fact, the russians did want her analysis. Her analysis of reports. But it was her opinion, and thats what i think you heard the National Security adviser responding to. I do think though that trump would be well served to remind people of some of the things that he has done to support fighting these foreign governments trying to interfere in our elections. He signed and did an executive order to put sanctions in place on anybody caught interfering. Now is the time to look at that again. There was 425 million in this last spending bill, allocated to states to improve their security. Theres been a lot that has happened. Thats what i think republicans should be talking about. Lets say this is not just any official. Shes in charge of Election Security for the Intelligence Community and was being asked by the members of the house what her analysis is. She was speaking for the Intelligence Community when she gave that analysis. Fair, but it has been reported on cable news not lets say this is not just any official. Shes in charge of Election Security for the Intelligence Community and was being asked by the members of the house what her analysis is. She was speaking for the Intelligence Community when she gave that analysis. Fair, but it has been reported on cable news not exactly trumpfriendly territory, speaking about how she was pushed repeatedly by democrats and then she put her thumb on the scale. Thats how its been reported. In the meantime, yvette, were also seeing the reports about Bernie Sanders, and hes taking some heat for not revealing earlier that he had gotten this. He couldnt, right . It was classified. He was in a briefing with a lot of other people who were also senators and probably also could reveal that and could not. I want to clear the air and say he could not reveal it, but once it was revealed he was clear on the record saying, he does not want help. He gave a good response. We have to talk about the Mitch Mcconnell factor. There are bipartisan bills on his desk by the house to deal with this very issue, and he refuses to put it on the floor. The senate needs to do something about this right now to give direction to the president if he actually wants to do this so that his officials will get it done. And the fact theres been no action on those bills, the fact that trump refuses to say he doesnt want this help is the reason were here right now. Isnt russia in some ways getting exactly what they want . If they end up putting their thumbs on the scale for both Bernie Sanders and donald trump, they take the most polarizing figures out there, and they get chaos which is their ultimate goal. Of course, thats their ultimate goal, and the fact is theyll continue to try to do that, george, no matter what we do. This is a battle, and i think sara is right. There has been significant money, and it has come to new jersey and other places to try to, you knowmake our election process more secure. The president , you know, secured that money along with congress and so were going to have this, you know, the fact is that foreign entities and rahm is right. Other ones besides russia after seeing what happened in 2016, are going to step up their efforts, but lets not be naive. These efforts have been going on for decades, and theres a light thats been shined on this because of the Mueller Investigation and other issues that came up that have i think positive because now were really talking about it. The idea that the russians were the first to do that its more intense. It feels that way, but i dont know we know that, george. There are two things that are relevant and very important. One is you have a situation where a president is very clear he does not want certain intelligence he doesnt agree with. Right. I have said this in the situation room, the morning briefings on intelligence, the idea that you are now going to curtail, change, alter, not tell the president what they need to know, it could lead to very serious damage given the operations of National Security for the United States, and its at the lowest level because people are not positions that need to be in those positions. Number two, the fact is every time theres a sowing of distrust here at home, it plays into what russia needs because our voice, our leadership, our capacity overseas is hindered, and that is why they want a polarizing issue, President Trump refuses to get the intelligence and then you have an america that is weaker because its moral voice is its greatest strength. This happens as we saw the sentencing this week of roger stone. The president continuing to speak out on that sentencing, continuing to go after the judge even as the attorney general, william barr said, youve got to some this. Youre making my job impossible. It appears that even though it made his job impossible, william barr is going to stay. Yes. I know william barr. He talked about wanting to leave. William barr is a smart attorney general. Hes been in the job before. Hes not pressured by trump. He works around the washington he has to operate in, and trump is trump. He does things differently than any other political leader, you know, as far as roger stone goes, he seems like a bit to me. The president obviously likes him and wants to speak out on his behalf. He has the right to commute sentences and to pardon people. That is his right as president. I would suggest maybe saying nothing about it and just doing it after someone serves a period of time, but the president has the right to do it the way he wants. Its a real problem. I mean, you know, when you have got how many doj attorneys asking bill barr to step down. He said he feels compromise. I think i might step down, and he does. Its creating this environment of distrust, and i agree with rahm on that where you have got this president who believes he not only commands the executive office. He now commands the senate, and he called himself the chief Law Enforcement official of the United States which is actually bill barrs title. The seven to nineyear recommendation was excessive. They came in between two and four years which is where barr wanted and thats where they would have come into. They were wrong. They were wrong. As a former ballet dancer, this is all choreographed. That is all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your su sunday with us. Check out world news tonight, and ill see you tomorrow on gma. Sunday with us. Well see you on world news tonight. Up next, its being called a miracle rescue. The couple thought to be dead found desperate and alive in the marin county hills. What they did to survive for an entire week. And we have another partly cloudy and cool day ahead of us with this beautiful view from mt. Tam. We see low clouds and a sea breeze. But there are big changes coming up. Abc7 mornings at 9 00 a. M. Is next. Fisnt just about polar bears. Were fighting for our lives, were fighting for clean air and clean water. Thats why i wrote the law to send billions from polluters to communities suffering the most. And only one candidate for president was with us back then, tosteyer. And hes still fighting for us, pledging to make clean air and clean water a right for everyone, regardless of your zip code. Thats the truth. Thats tom steyer. Im tom steyer and i approve this message