Democratic sovereignty or stadiumize the elections and would respond. The bottom line is i told President Putin we need some basic rules of the road that we can abide by. Those comments on the heels of a solo Press Conference of Vladimir Putin who noted the 180degree reversal and described talks as constructive but needled the u. S. He compared his repression of dissidents there to the treatment of the insurrectionists that stormed the capitol. The summit and the remarks by biden a striking contrast to thetime an american leader met with the russian president when trump believed an autocrat who undermined democracy over the assessments of his own intelligence community. It was shocking here and had u. S. Allies questioning whether america was still capable of leadership. I also told him that no president of the United States could key faith with the American People if they did not speak out to defend our Democratic Values. I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. Reviewed by the rest of the world is interfering with the elections directly of other countries and everybody knew it . What would it be like to engage in activities that he has . It diminishes the standing of a country thats desperately trying to maintain the standing. President putin was extremely strong and powerful in the denial. I said no pfrt can keep faith with the American People if they did not speak out to defend the Democratic Values, to stand up for the fundamental freedoms that men and women have in our view. An american president confronting the other guy is where we begin today. Frmer u. S. Ambassador to rodriguez Michael Mcfall is here and ben rhodes and jeremy bash is here, former chief of cia. Ambassador, take me through what you thought first of what happened in the room. And if theres anything you can tell us about whats not been made public yet. First of all, thank you for the contrast between helsinki and geneva. It is important for everybody to remember what a Disaster Helsinki was and how much of a correction this meeting was. In the meeting itself we just hear the readouts of the two president s. Putin sounded like it was constructive. He liked the tone. And President Biden did basically as well. There werent giant achievements here. When they say, put out a joint statement to talk about launching strategic stability talks, thats just a very first step toward doing anything concrete and restored ambassadors so the ambassador is going back to washington and our ambassador will go back to moscow and putin moved out the ambassador in the first place and i think President Biden said it well in the Press Conference. He wanted to meet with putin directly to try to see if they can cooperate on a few other steps. Syria, iran, other issues came up. But the proof is in the pudding moving forward. So far all they have done is set out aspirations. I think the verdict is still out on whether we can do anything together. One thing that is clearly the russian strategy is to equate advocates for democracy in putins autocracy with the criminal insurrectionists in america. Just talk about that as to me it wreaks of desperation. Donald trump is gone so lets side with the insurrectionists. Feels like lowhanging Fox News Fruit but is that what we are to believe of Vladimir Putin . That for me is most outrageous segment of the Press Conference, like a Greatest Hits but thats the worst lets be clear. Alexey navalny is peacefully exposing corruption in russia to try to bring about democracy in russia and the insurrectionists that stormed the capitol broke the law in the United States to seek to undermine democracy in the United States. So somehow to equate those things is radically wrong and im glad President Biden called him out on that in his conference and very appropriate in my view. Ben rhodes, as a message person i am struck by the messages from both men. I saw Anne Applebalm always looking for seens to strengthen the democracy itself with a proportional response to be expected from putin with more cyber aggression. I wonder if you can speak to what you heard behind the messages and sometimes the real real outputs come out. Thats the same denials that you expect from Vladimir Putin and he wants to basically pocket in his view the win of this summit, on par with thest president , an equal with the greatest superpower and what he did. I think there was a number of things to notice about joe bidens messaging. First hugely welcome to speak up for things that americans and people around the world want to see the american president speaking up for. When navalny was poisoned by Vladimir Putin and nearly killed donald trump wouldnt say his name like Vladimir Putin who wont say navalnys name and now an american president not just speaking about human rights but specifically of navalny. It was a shift to kind of a candor in relationship of the messages of private and biden did an interesting job of setting expectations. He didnt want to overpromise that this one meeting to transform this relationship or somehow change Vladimir Putin. What he did indicate is i laid down the markers so sure Vladimir Putin came out and denied he did them but biden made clear i told him in private that theres a response if this continues and laid down that marker and said, look, well what happens with the russians. Will they continue to do the Cyber Attacks, continue to see the relentless crackdown . And biden setting the table if the balls now in Vladimir Putins court and if he doesnt reciprocate by cushing the excesses in his own behavior there will be responses from the United States but i wont detail them for you so i think biden is setting expectations, deliverings warnings and speaking to the audience of the world that the american president is once again speaking up for basic Democratic Values and basic International Norms and standards. Jeremy, the fact that that is what is new is news in and of itself that we have an american president using his bully pulpit to advocate for human right just lets listen to it. Its not about just going after russia when they violate human rights but who we are. How could i be the president of the United States of america and not speak out against the violation of human rights . We dont derive our rights from the government. We possess them because were born. Period. We yield them to a government. I pointed out to him that thats why well raise our concerns about cases like alexey navalny. I made it clear to President Putin that well continue to raise issues of fundamental human rights because thats what we are. Thats who we are. Jeremy bash, your thoughts on that and everything you saw today . For six decades we have had a b partisan consensus back to john f. Kennedy that the United States was going to continue front first the soviet union and then the Russian Federation on a range of issues strategically containing them and speaking up for democratic small d values. And you saw that in the context of the United States an in the 70s for the right of Em Inaugurates and support of the Solidarity Movement and the lifting of the iron curtain. The crumbling of the Soviet Empire and now in the modern era with one exception which is the past four years. Donald trump didnt stand up to putin. On the contrary, he not only gave him a yellow light, in some cases a green light. He welcomed the Election Interference. He welcomed the undermining of democracy. So many of the Cyber Attacks experienced are because we didnt establish deterrents and the Biden Administration and the west have been playing up and how relieving it is to see that the west is now unified, resolute, strong Nato Alliance to stand up to russian aggression. A strong alinsz to democracies in the g7. The west is unified and i think biden went into the meeting with putin with the wind at the back and the Biden Administration got done this week what it wanted to do. Had the sharpened contrast in democracy and autocracy and further universal values nothing could be more important. Let me just press you on that because youre right. The west is united if you mean President Biden, a majority of americans who support him, and the leaders of nato but the u. S. Is not divided and im certain that someone told President Putin that the insurrectionists were fbi plants. Is he doing the work for him . President biden actually talked about this in europe. I was surprised he went there but asked a question in his Press Conference about the political dynamic in the United States and he said those that are advocating for insurrection and antirule of law, antitruth dominate a Political Party but they dont represent the American People writ large and i think he is right about that and can credibly say that the United States of america stands squarely in favor of democracy, of human rights, of the rule of law and that this is something we have to work in our country to perfect and work on and export to the world to be united on. Ben rhodes, this is the topic of a book you have written. Having the majority of americans that won by a 7 million vote mar. Margin is accurate. You have an alignment now, more public and striking than any other point between the american right and Vladimir Putin. How do you deal with that . I think its the central challenge. I think Vladimir Putin represents the darkest place that this strain of nationalism can go. I profile a young woman whose father was Asass Nated In The Shadow of the kremlin. I talked to navalny. Yet at the same time faced with that authoritarianism you have an embrace of the similar messaging from the American Public party, essentially a similarity between the brand of politics of putin and the disinformation and misinformation that we see shaping how so Many Republican elected official behave and supporters act, most extreme case january 6. The most important thing joe biden needs to do to defend democracy is make sure that democracy survives here in the United States to make sure that we are guaranteeing basic rights like the right to vote in the United States to have the standing to talk about that around the world so its important to deliver the messages on The World Stage and the world is watching the democratic example and at the end of the day Ronald Reagan put it this way. We are a city on a hill. People are looking. The most important job to do to deal with Vladimir Putin is actually when the plane gets back to the United States not the Summit Meeting but that American Democracy thrives. Ambassador you talked about this being the most outrageous part of what putin said after the meeting. I just found this. Let me play this. This is putin on the insurrection. The list of political opponents jailed, imprisoned or dead is long. Navalny asked for an end to corruption and russia has outlawed that organization calling it extremist and prevented anyone who supports him to run for office. What are you so afraid of . Translator okay. Once more, let me reiterate what was already said about various socalled foreign agents. And about people who are positioning themselves as the nonsystemic opposition. You didnt answer my question, sir. If all the political opponents are dead, in prison, poisoned doesnt that send a message that you do not want a fair, political fight . Translator as for who is killing whom, throwing whom in jail, people came to the u. S. Congress with political demands. So ambassador, just illustrates your point but i think it cant be conveyed directly enough that he is saying what is being poured into the minds of millions of americans. There is a complete message alignment, the idea that their antifa or fbi plants. What do you do on The World Stage to sort of quell anxiety about that alignment in message . I want to give a shout out to the american journalists in the Press Conference. Me too ann simmons from the Wall Street Journal asking a tough question in russian takes bravery, believe me. By the way, on the really fundamental question but the idea of two Press Conferences and chatter of biden is not standing up to putin, i think it played to our advantage in that they got to ask direct questions to mr. Putin and if theyre up there they bat the back and forth. This was a much better form and praise the american journalists in the room for what they did today. On the point we talked about this. The battle between democracies and autocracies is not just between states. It is within states. It is a within russia. Yeah. It is within the United States. As you were just talking to ben about. Also within italy and france. And that is a serious struggle and it is striking to your point that the same Talking Points that autocratic forces in america use are exactly what Vladimir Putin was discussing today. Even black lives matter saying theyre insurrectionists. That is dangerous and im optimistic. I think as President Biden said the majority of the American People support Democratic Values and the majority of the people in the world looking at gallup and other Opinion Polls support democracy but remember in this fight the autocrats dont need a majority to win. They play by a different set of rules. Right. Yeah. Jeremy, you kicked this off. I think thats the point of all of this. Of course an american president stood up for america. The last guy didnt seem to do that ever. That makes it news. Our democracy is weakened by the fact that half the country is echoing the things that the other guy said after that meeting and i wonder if you share the ambassadors optimism. I do. We will be united again. This spasm of ideology in our country is temporary and aligned with putinism. The antitruth forces. Whenever an american president sits down with the russian president i root for team usa. In 2018 we took one on the chin and today was a Refreshing Change Marching Down The Field in a businesslike fashion and put some points on the board for democracy and the values. And thats what i think should give comfort to people around the world watching and hopefully continue to unify our country. Jeremy bash, ben rhodes, ambassador mcfall, thank you for starting us off. President bidens kritdings slamming the summit with putin before touching down. How that stacks up to where they were on relations over the last four years. Turning to other headlines today, nearly two dozen republicans voted gerps honoring Capitol Police officers saying january 6 wasnt an insurrectionist. The prosecutors are saying that the lies are still out there in the minds of the defendants. The Criminal Investigation into trump orks cfo appears to head into the final act. Will it lead to a sequel starring the former president . All those stories and more when we continue after a quick break. 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