A look at Breaking News, politics and reports from around the world. White house correspondent jim acosta. The white house wants to show the Administration TakesElection Interference very seriously despite doubt the president continues to cast. Update our viewers. Reporter thats right. The white house tried to show The World Today that its serious about stopping russian interference in u. S. Elections. But the Top Administration officials on display today insisting they are on the case had to grapple with one very key question, whether the president himself takes the threat to american democracy seriously. The president has made it clear reporter it was a show of force as the white house and Top Administration officials from the director of National Intelligence to the National Security advisor to the fbi director to assure the American People they are determined to combat russian interference in the u. S. Elections. We continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by russia to try to weaken and divide the United States. Reporter director of National Intelligence dan coats insisted the order is coming
from the top. The president has specifically directed us to make the matter of the Election Meddling and securing our election process a top priority. Reporter Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen described a grave threat. Democracy itself is in the cross hairs. Free and Fair Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy and it has become clear they are the target of our adversaries who seek to sow discord. Reporter all of this stood in stark contrast to the president s statements. In his meeting with Vice President he declined to confront Vladimir Putin about meddling. The president had often diminished the russian threat. I accept our intelligence communitys conclusion that russias meddling in the 2016
election took place. Could be other people also. Reporter the officials gathered in the Briefing Room for asked about the disconnect. Im not in the position to either understand fully or talk about what happened at helsinki. Reporter then there are the president s tweets accusing top fbi officials of being part of a witch hunt, a charge echoed by press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders. Hes certainly expressing the frustration he has with the level of corruption weve seen by people like james comey, peter strzok. Reporter fbi director chris wray pushed back with sanders in the room. I can assure the American People that the men and fwomen f the fbi are going to follow our oaths and do our job. Reporter the president s daughter ivanka trump told axios that members of the press are
not the enemy of the American People as her father often says. Ive certainly received my fair share of reporting on me personally i that know not to be fully accurate, but no, i do not feel that the press is the enemy of the American People. Reporter sanders refused to say the press is not the enemy. His own daughter acknowledges that. All im asking you to do is to acknowledge that right now and right here. I appreciate your passion. I share it. Ive addressed this question. Ive addressed my personal feelings. Im here to speak on behalf of the president. Hes made his comments clear. Reporter each of the top officials at the white house today laid out various task forces and initiatives that have been launched to defend against russian attacks in the upcoming election. The big question is whether any of those efforts will be successful. That answer may not come until well after the november elections are over. They like to say here at the white house theyre not responsible for 2016 because
they werent in power when 2016 happened. They cant say that about this fall. Good point. Lets get some more on the breaking nubreak ing news. Jim sciutto, how serious is this russian threat leading up to the midterm elections . Listen to the senior most intelligence officials for all the agencies responsible for protecting the elections today. Its hard to imagine a starker warning from them, from the fbi, the department of Homeland Security, the director of National Intelligence as well as the head of the nsa which is responsible for responding to Cyber Attacks. They use language like russia continues to have the willingness and capability to attack. They say the threat is real, its continuing. Listen to what dan coats said. He says russia is attacking the election not just in the social media sphere, but targeting particular candidates, stealing
their information as they did with Hillary Clinton in 2016. Have a listen. In regards to russian involvement in the midterm elections, we continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by russia to try to weaken and divide the United States. We also know the russians try to hack into and steal information from candidates and Government Officials alike. Thats of course what russians did with Hillary Clinton and other democrats during the 2016 campaign. What we have not seen yet, they say, are specific attacks on Election Systems, such as voter registration, certainly not Vote Counting yet. We do know in 2016 while there was no russian attack on Vote Counting, there were probing attacks that looked for vulnerabilities, et cetera. They havent seen that yet on these midterm elections, but they made it clear that could change at the drop of a hat. At least to date they Vice President seen that kind of interference. Did it sound to you like the fbi is currently pursuing specific investigations . That was frankly the biggest news from this Press Conference, because the fbi director Christopher Wray revealed something he hasnt revealed before. That is that there are current investigations involving all of the fbis more than 50 field offices around the country. Doesnt mean you have investigations in each district but that the field offices are involved looking at what they call foreign influence nexus. That would include individual trying to influence the Campaign Like with Maria Buttina who has been arrested and charges. The funneling of foreign money into the campaign which is not only illegal but raises hard questions about governments such as russia trying to influence this campaign. Also tonight cnn has learned that the special Counsel Robert Mueller has been trying to arrange an interview with a
out logistically . Does mueller have any leverage . Would u. S. Investigators be able to go to russia to conduct such an interview . This is why theyre having these negotiations that the lawyer told me today have been going on for nearly a year, because mueller does not have Subpoena Power or any authority to compel the family to sit for an interview. If they were to come to the u. S. The son has this new music video out in which hes sort of mocking the whole russian investigation. He has actors who look like donald trump, like michael cohen. He had video of michael cohen. He has someone who looks like ivanka trump in there. Hes being provocative and sort of having a little bit of fun with the investigation. If he were to come to the u. S. To perform, they could stop him at the airport. They have stopped a couple of oligarchs to question them as they come into the u. S. Other than that occurring, they
really have to try to negotiate something and see if they could go to perhaps another country to have an interview. I dont know if they would have it in russia, but they would have to negotiate Something Like that. Thats what we understand is still ongoing. Their lawyer today told me hes not sure theyre ever going to get to a place where they agree to sit for an interview. Lets get more on all of this. Democratic senator ben carden of maryland is joining us. Senator, thanks so much for joining us. I want to get to the Russia Investigation in a moment. But first can the United States effectively counter russian aggression if President Trump isnt necessarily on the same page as his National Security and intelligence officials . The report i issued six months ago in regards to the russians spelled out what we
important meeting . Its really shocking that the director of National Intelligence does not know what happened in helsinki in the meeting between the president and President Putin. Thats absolutely amazing. He need to have that intelligence information in order to do his job. Yet he doesnt know what happened in that room. Thats why as an Oversight Function of the United States senate, its absolutely essential that we have the information about what happened in the meeting between mr. Putin and President Trump. We have not been briefed as to what happened in that room. When Secretary Pompeo was president on our committee, he did not enlighten us at all about what happened in that meeting. Its interesting. What sort of Offensive Operations against russia would you support as a threat to them, you better stop what youre doing, otherwise youre going to pay a huge, huge price. The u. S. Of course has offensive cyber capabilities, probably the best in the world. Over a year ago Congress Passed mandatory sanctions against russia not just because of their attack against us in our elections but also their their activities in the ukraine. These are mandatory sanctions. The president hasnt even used all those mandatory sanctions. First and foremost, carry out the law, increase the sanctions against russia. Your National Security team told us today that russia is still actively engaged in the United States. Lets increase the sanctions. Secondly, work with us, mr. President. We filed legislation yesterday, Bipartisan Legislation with Senator Graham and menendez and mccain and gardener and shaheen. I joined them in strengthening the sanctions against russia, not just because of what theyre doing on Cyber Attacks on our Election System and the
propaganda but what theyve done in ukraine and continue to do in ukraine. Join us in strengthening the tools that you have so you can let mr. Putin know that unless he stops these activities, hes in for more sanctions. Beyond sanctions, senator, would you support offensive cyber operations, retaliation against the russians, hacking into their systems for example, disclosing their sensitive emails, showing details about putins wealth, that kind of operation, something the russians clearly dont want but might listen to . Six months ago i called upon the United States to work with our european allies as to what the Cyber Attacks mean under article five of nato. Yes, i do think these are attacks against us and we need to defend ourselves. And we defend ourselves with all the tools we have available. I wouldnt take anything off the table, but i do think we should
work with our nato allies and recognize that Cyber Attacks are attacks against our country and require us to defend ourselves and to take appropriate action. Would you want the president of the United States too te tel putin specifically, you continue these hacking activities, you continue to interfere in the u. S. Election process, youre going to pay a huge price yourself, youre not going to like it because were going to do exactly to you what youre doing to us. Would you want the president to issue a direct warning to putin along those lines . The answer is yes, i do want the president to issue a direct ultimatum to President Putin that he cannot continue to incur in our country and invade and interfere in our election, that thats illegal and we consider that a hostile act and well take appropriate steps. I wouldnt announce what steps they would be. I wouldnt say how we would
respond but i would make it known to mr. Putin that we will take aggressive action. I think we should take action today because of what has happened far more than weve already done. Lets get to another sensitive issue. Cnn has learned that the special Counsel Robert Mueller is offering to limit the questions he asks about possible Obstruction Of Justice, if theres a sitdown interview with the president. Hes open to having President Trump answer some questions in written form. What does that tell you . Well, first of all, i was disappointed i saw from President Trump this week additional tweets that he sent out to try to compromise the mueller investigation. The president has certainly done everything he can to prevent this investigation to reach its proper conclusion. I want mr. Mueller to have all the tools he needs, all the access that he needs, including the president of the United States in order to complete his investigation. The president said earlier that
he would cooperate. Well, cooperate means what mr. Mueller needs, whether its live interviews with the president , whether it can be handled through questions, thats a decision for mr. Mueller to make and i would hope the president would cooperate. Thanks so much for joining us. Theres more Breaking News ahead. A russian spy unmasked after working inside the United States embassy in moscow for more than a decade. Plus, Bombshell Testimony in the trial of former Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort. We have details. Fact is, every Insurance Company hopes you drive safely. But allstate helps you. With drivewise. Feedback that helps you drive safer. And that can lower your cost now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . Its a hightech revolution in sleep. The new sleep number 360 smart bed. It intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. And snoring . How smart is that . Smarter sleep. To help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the patience of a saint. The new sleep number 360 smart bed, from 999. Smarter sleep will change your life. Ayep, and my teeth are yellow. . Time for whitestrips. Crest glamorous White Whitestrips are the only adaaccepted whitening strips proven to be safe and effective. And they whiten 25x better than a leading whitening toothpaste. Crest. Healthy, beautiful smiles for life. Thats the same thing i want to do with you. Its an emotional thing to watch your child grow up and especially get behind the wheel. I want to keep you know, stacking up the memories and the miles and the years. Hes gonna get mine but im gonna get a new one oh yeah hes gonna get mine but im gonna get a new one when its time for your old chevy truck to become their new chevy truck, theres truck month. Get 10 or 14 percent below msrp on 2018 Silverado Pickups when you finance with gm financial. Plus, during truck month make no Monthly Payments for 90 days. Find new roads at your local chevy dealer. No Monthly Payments for 90 days. Wmust have cost a lot. A fancy hotel. Actually, i got a great deal. Priceline saves you up to 60 on hotels, but thats something the hotels dont really want other guests to know. I saved about 120 dollars a night
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