Officials. It comes just hours away from that highly anticipated high stakes first face to face first President Trump and president putin. Trump speaking in poland today used some of his strongest language get to urge russia to stop its destabilizing activity and support for hostile regimes. But the big question is will trump confront putin about the election . Earlier today, trump talked about it. He broke with americas intelligence agencies, casting doubt on whether russia actually meddled. I think it was russia, but i think it was probably other people and or countries and i see nothing wrong with that statement. Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure. Nobody really knows for sure. Well, the u. S. Intelligence Community Says it knows for sure. In fact, just moments ago right here on cnn the former director of National Intelligence jim clapper responded directly to trump. Well, thats news to me. We saw no evidence whatsoever that was anyone involved in this other than the russians. Couldnt be more clear. The question is whether the president of the United States will turn a blind eye to the newest charges of russian espionage in the United States. Evan perez along with pamela brown broke this story of more russian spies and an embolden russia after the election and, evan, what are you learning . Were learning that russian spies are ramping up their intelligence gathering efforts in the United States according to current and former u. S. Intelligence officials who say they have noticed an increase since the election. The russians have not been slowed by retaliatory efforts after it meddled in the u. S. Election according to u. S. Intelligence community. Since the election u. S. Authorities have detected an uptick in suspected russian Intelligence Officers entering the country. They have been replenishing their ranks apparently since the u. S. Expelled those 35 Russian Diplomats suspected of spying. They have tried to gain employment. The fbi would not comment for the story and the Russian Embassy in washington didnt respond, erin, to our request for comment. So if u. S. Intelligence knows this, right, evan, they know this is happening, they believe these are suspected spies. They are saying out of 150 of them, they seem to know a whole lot, why arent they stopping it . Thats a great question. Even after the meddling in the u. S. Elections in november, both the obama and Trump Administrations have been kind of slow to take measures to respond to the intelligence threat, according to current and former u. S. Officials that we have talked to. Partisan political agreements over the russian activity and president Donald Trumps reluctance to accept intelligence conclusions about russias meddling in the election have slowed the efforts to counter the threat. We are told that they are seeking to keep an eye on this activity. In some cases the fbi uses surveillance to track the officers as part of their Counter Intelligence efforts but thats how the u. S. Was able to identify and expel the Russian Diplomats in december in response to the russian meddling. Were told some have actually violated protocol by leaving the washington, d. C. Area without notifying first the state department. Now, russia has similar rules in place for u. S. Diplomats over there. Another issue is this ongoing frustration with the state department over granting of visas that the u. S. Intelligence committee suspects are Intelligence Officers. An official we spoke to would not comment specifically on those visas. Thank you very much. We will have more on that that in a moment. I want to go to jeff zeleny where trump is preparing for that meeting tomorrow with the russian president putin. And, jeff, any response from the administration yet on evan, pam and simones new reporting . Erin, there is no direct response from the white house on this reporting, but it certainly puts it in a starker context. When we were listening to the president earlier today in warsaw, poland declining again the chance to say that russia did indeed interfere in the 2016 election. This is all but a stipulated fact across the government. Republicans on capitol hill, democrats of course, the Intelligence Community. The president not only said he believes that it could have been russia. But he said nobody really knows for sure. No one is sure about this. He sort of leaves it hanging like that. He went on to deliver a sharper message against his predecessor and the u. S. Intelligence community than Vladimir Putin. But this all could come to a head on friday in germany. Friday afternoon here, 9 45 eastern time hell be meeting oneonone for the first time the two president s here. And we do not expect this interference in the 2016 election to be a centerpiece of this conversation. It is more its being described as a get to know you session. They are going to talk about syria, other matters. But impossible to believe that this is, a, a sub text of course and this is hanging over this meeting. We are learning new details. It is going to be a very, very small meeting. Sometimes these bilateral meetings have a lot of advisors on either side. That is not the case. Secretary of state, Rex Tillerson will be at the president s side and he has a longstanding relationship with the Vladimir Putin. He is a counter part will also be in the room and translators only. Now, the meeting is only scheduled to be some 35 to 45 minutes long. If you factor in translation time on either of that, that cuts that about in half, erin. So this is not going to be a meeting to discuss everything that must be discussed. But the optics of this meeting so important. The president has been planning for it. His advisors, some of them, are a bit worried about this. Vladimir putin has met with a lot of leaders. This is President Trumps first time on it. Not always the best off the cuff here. But no acknowledgment that russia playing a central role in this election. All right. Thank you very much. I want to go straight now to the democratic senator who sits on the Foreign Relations committee. The breaking news at this hour, russia stepping up its spying efforts inside the United States. They have done this since the election. There is now about 150 spies. What do you know about this . Well, i only know what cnn is reporting, but its very consistent with who Vladimir Putin is. He ordered a hacking, an interference with an american president ial election last year and, again, donald trump is the only citizen of the United States who refuses to make that concession that it did happen. And now there is a dramatic increase in the number of spies in our country. Well, in russia, the number one spy is Vladimir Putin. He started as a kgb agent, and he worked his way all the way up to the top of that organization. Its what he does. And, so, the test for President Trump is going to be, is he going to be commander in chief of the United States . Is he going to stand up to the top spy in russia in his meeting . And that will ultimately determine whether or not he is there to represent and protect the interests of our country or hes just shying away from this central question which putin is going to continue to present to our country until we start to do something about it, meaning donald trump. All right. So so, look, you have a point on him not coming out and directly admitting the russian hacking. You just heard former director clapper talk about how he feels about that. Not only was it russia, but there wasnt anybody else. But our report says russia feels embolden by the lack of significant retaliatory response. Okay . That makes sense. But we are reporting it was a failure, a lack of retaliation against the russians by both the trump and obama administrations. It sounds hike this is not just a failure by President Trump, doesnt it . Well, again, going back to the beginning of this in the summer of 2016, all the way through to today, putin has been waiting, waiting for the United States to stand up and begin to make it clear that there are consequences for interfering with our most sacred institution, our president ial elections. And it hasnt happened yet. Under either president. Now weve got trump there well, under either, but at least president obama did impose sanctions on the russian spies that were in our country back in december. At hes he did that. So far, there is no evidence at all to convict donald trump of doing anything about this intrusion into our elections or spies today. Senator, there is also this i want to ask you about. I dont know if you heard evan mention it. But basically the report we have is that russian spies are trying to gain employment to get classified information, places with sensitive information. Thats what theyre trying to do. Okay . But that has not stopped the state department from issuing the temporary duty visas to the suspected russian Intelligence Officers. How in the world can that be happening, that we in the United States are issuing visas to russians that are suspected of being Intelligence Officers . I think every american is asking themselves the same question right now. Why arent we cracking down on this russian intrusion into our country . Why are we continuing to operate as though its business as usual as putin continues to try to compromise our nation . So there is no excuses. This is the moment. This is the defining moment for the president. With this additional story, which cnn is breaking, we now have an additional pressure on trump to do the right thing in this meeting. Its going to be a brief meeting. So right. All of syria and north korea and ukraine, the inf Nuclear Weapons deployment, it all cant get dealt with in a short period of time. But one issue can be, and that is the compromise of our elections and the introduction of spies and if the president does not deal with that issue, then he has not dealt with the singularly most important issue which the American People expect him to deal with. Before we go, i want to play the reason he gave today when he wouldnt commit that russia wasnt the one that meddled and maybe there was somebody else. Heres the reason he said he wouldnt commit to blaming russia. I remember when i was sitting back listening about iraq, weapons of mass destruction, how everybody was 100 sure that iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Guess what . That led to one big mess. Look, that was faulty intelligence. You are among many who voted to authorize that war based on faulty intelligence. Is he right to say this could be equivalent . Thats why hes being cautious . At the time dig chany and george bush were lying. They knew there was no Nuclear Weapons program in iraq. But they wanted to have the war anyway. But the intelligence was there to say there was no evidence it existed before that war started. So that war was begun on a lie. Now in this instance, there is absolutely incontrovertible evidence of the hacking of our elections. The spies that are being sent to our country. There is no debate about this. So, yes, the intelligence back in 2002 was compromised, but by the white house in order to try to impose jefr syrian dmksy on iraq. It was a fools errand. Now we have a different situation, and the president knows it. He is the only person in our country who will not accept the intelligence agencies across the board who have come to the same conclusion, and it is only because he, himself, believes that an acceptance of that conclusion actually goes to the legitimacy of his own presidency. So hes shying away from an issue that goes right to the essence of the integrity of our election process in order to protect himself but not the American People. Senator, that mornink you fo time. Glad to be here. Next more of our breaking news. Russia stepping up spying efforts in t United States and the former director of National Intelligence says this could be just the beginning, talking about a battlefield. As north korea gets closer to a missile that could hit the mainland United States, is americas Defense System ready . We have new details raising serious concerns tonight. And one of the most famous missing persons in history in the headlines again. Is that her . Amelia air hart mania. My bargain detergent couldnt keep up. So, i switched to tide pods. Theyre super concentrated, so i get a better clean. Number one trusted. Number one awarded. Its got to be tide casper makes one perfect supportive and comfortable. Premium foam layers. Breathable for airflow. 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In a foreign country next to a foreign leader the day before he meets russia, the president of russia, did he just throw the u. S. Intelligence community under the bus . Well, its hard not to reach that conclusion, that exactly so. Exactly so. Well outfront now, chris cillizza, juliet and steve hall, steve with all of this breaking news at this hour, lets start with what James Clapper just said. Exactly so, he says. What do you think . You know, i heard jim clappers comments and i think his follow up comments were important, too, because i think one of the follow on questions was how does that impact morale and his answer was correct, which is, look, the Intelligence Community is a Resilient Group of people and thats certainly my experience, having worked there for 30 years. Theyre used to dealing with Different Administration and different political parties. They will do their jobs, and clapper indicated that. I am out of it so i can express my own personal outrage. It is unconscionable for the president to basically cast dispersions yet again on the Intelligence Community and on those men and women, the sacrifices are amazing to produce the type of intelligence specifically for the president to prepare him for where he is right now, at the g20. The significance that James Clapper was willing to say that i think is important for everyone to recognize. He was willing to say that he thought that this was essentially throwing the Intelligence Community under the bus, as jim and steve just pointed out, on foreign soil standing next to a foreign leader at a very important meeting. Yes. This is not a natural role for jim clapper. Anyone who has met him for five minutes, this is not a role that i think he wanted. But because he spent his lifetime protecting and defending the United States, he felt compelled to basically state the obvious, which is the russians continue to sort of press the battlefield for 2018 and 2020 and even though there is an investigation going on about potential collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia and that will be decided by lawyers, i think its safe to say now that President Trump is an enabler of russias interference. So his failure to do anything about it, you dont have to ca