Page 1501 - Leverage News Today

Meeting between donald trump and vladimir putin. thats an amazing thing that happened, and you can feel among a lot of serious people, a lot of republicans who have been concerned about whats happening in this presidency, about whats happening between donald trump and vladimir putin, about what vladimir putin might have in terms of compromising material or other kind of leverage against donald trump, this in and of itself san astonishing thing we learned yesterday and then in the middle of the i...

>> yes. >> he was a vote in favor of it. so i do think that well get it. what were unlikely to get is a change in presidential behavior. i just dont know what the ask is. do you say to the president, hey, until you start not liking president putin were going to not pass your supreme court justice? i mean, its -- you can use leverage here on capitol hill but its more difficult to use it to move the president on positions. and also to expect conservatives like me to say hey, were not going to put ...

Work with interpol that if these individuals travel beyond russia we can get them. >> thats something you can definitely -- you can definitely do that. the executive doesnt oversee that. in truth theyve been putting -- they put more energy today into slow-walking a decision as to whether or not to let putin interview u.s. citizens about his own grievances than they did about how theyre going to implement the 12. now, let me ask you about one other mechanism. you and i talked about this a little ...

President seemed certainly a couple of days ago unconvinced, maybe hes changed now, but unconvinced that that indictment of the 12 russians was serious, or that was valid. one thing we need to do, were not expecting them to be extradited. but what we typically do is put out a red letter which -- and work with interpol that if these individuals travel beyond russia we can get them. >> thats something you can definitely -- you can definitely do that. the executive doesnt oversee that. in truth the...

National security emergency and impose tariffs on goods from mexico and canada. i said that i would block or not vote for circuit court judges until we had a vote on tariffs. but that was something i could do with my own leadership here, moving them. here youd have a hard time finding a tangible outcome here. >> you could do the same thing with mcconnell on sanctions. and its not just gop. i felt the same way about the democrats when it came down to their big moment with the shutdown. i was sayi...

Level as a conservative. it is your only point of leverage. people will make the case to you that you should consider that and see what you can get for that vote. are you open to that? >> no. im not. when you look at using leverage like this, i have used leverage with circuit court judges but not to move the president. but to move my own leadership here on capitol hill. i was concerned that we were just doing the presidents executive calendar, not moving something to the floor like tariff relief...

Im not making any certain claims that russia absolutely has financial leverage, blackmail leverage over document. but youre hearing this increasingly, as you have for the last two years mostly from the intelligence community. thats the thing that people arent taking seriously enough. john brennan, the former cia director, said he thinks putin has something over donald trump. and lots of other people in the intelligence community say this is as well. now, they have seen some of the evidence of ru...

Helsinki asking whether president trump has been compromised by russia. im guessing nothing about this summit or the aftermath has changed your mind. in fact, i interviewed you about this. nothing has changed your mind about this now? >> no, not at all. in fact, a lot of these episodes that happened during the summit and after have been worse than anything i would have predicted. i was pretty suspicious of what was going on behind the scenes with donald trump. the sight of him standing next to v...

But i think, if you assemble the pattern of evidence, there is a lot of reason to think he is. the events of the last week make that case look more plausible than ever. >> i asked you about the blowback you got, because some people think you were being hyperbollic. do you feel vindicated by that? >> ive heard from some people saying theyre taking this more seriously now than they did when the story originally came out, which is great to hear. again, we still dont know the full story. im not maki...

Gop votes. its 50-49 going in. im assuming, and i hate doing, this im assuming that senator mccain wont be part of it. god willing, he is and he can stick it in my face for even questioning whether or not hed be ready for a vote. hopefully he is. but if he isnt its 50-49. now, youre a conservative. a real one. kavanaugh is probably going to be appealing to you on that level as a conservative. it is your only point of leverage. people will make the case to you that you should consider that and se...