he rose to being director of the fsb, the successor of the kgb, so, the irony that the president of russia is himself a product of the russian deep state, and that is something that in american politics has become a curse word, to the sort of trump movement and to trump himself, he's very wary of the deep state. i think for vladimir putin, those two things go hand in hand. he knows he's in a conflict with the united states. he knows he's in a conflict with american intelligence. and the idea that, you know, he may actually have, you know, some argument that can persuade the american president that he shouldn't trust his own intelligence is probably very attractive to vladimir putin. >> matthew, can i get your reaction to this report that the president had a private discussion with vladimir putin at the g20, no aides or u.s. translator present at that meeting? does that give the russians and upper hand in our dealings with them? >> you know, that's where i'm very skeptical.