possibility that there have been diplomatic communications, warnings from others, there had been some sort of covert activity. so it's possible. we have to take their word for it. what i can tell you is it doesn't jive with donald trump's rhetoric. if the president -- if part of the job of the president is to sort of lead rhetorirhetoricall would be inconsistent with that. >> julie, one thing that's clear in our reporting, the white house would not say the president delivered this message himself, nor has the president said anything about this to vladimir putin. >> right. neither in his public rhetoric nor we're told in his private meetings with president putin has he raised this and pressed him on the point. it's a big contrast to what former president obama did when he met with putin which was to say to his face, you have to cut this out. this cannot continue. what we know from president trump's conversation with president putin, well, he told me he didn't do it.