Transcripts For CNNW Smerconish 20180714 : vimarsana.com

The entire america spectrum. But did he go too far . Ill talk to one of the victims. Thats a first. Thats the first time ive ever signed a water but first, with regard to the 12 russian officers indicted for interfering in the 2016 election, i want to challenge one part of the conventional wisdom. Namely that the timing poses an awkward tdiplomatic disaster fo the president. To the contrary, it may have done him a naifr. That is, if hes willing to seize it. Think this through with me. The announcement came yesterday just three days before President Trump sits down in helsinki with russian president Vladimir Putin. To be sure the anticipation of the friday midday press conference by deputy ag rod rosen tine presented an unusual juxtaposition. On Television Screens the rosenstein presser was about to compete for attention with the president s formal arrival for a meeting with queen elizabeth. But tvs technical directors were spared. Rosenstein was curiously 30 minutes late to the announced start time of his announcement. Giving the president the time needed to complete his review of queens guard at windsor castle. Thats not all that seemed cover yo graphed. Rosenstein then relieved hed briefed the president in the days prior on the indictments. I briefed President Trump about the allegations earlier this week. The president is fully aware of the departments actions today. So that means that for the last few days during which time he continued to call the Mueller Probe a witch hunt the president knew that proof to the contrary was coming. Eve an few hours before rosen signs announcement at a joint press conference with theresa may, trump said that while he would raise the issue of russian meddling with putin, he cautioned that he didnt expect a perry mason moment to result. I dont think youll have any gee i did it, i did it, you got me. Rosenstein then spelled out his findings in an unusually specific 29page 11count indictment of 12 Russian Military officers. Immediately thereafter the deputy ag eas revelations call for some to call for the cancellation of the summit. One said glad handing with Vladimir Putin could be an insult to our democracy. Kans ration is not going to happen but maybe confrontation will. While the president has been loathed to hold putin accountable for russian meddling, hes just been handed the goods with which to do so and it will be embarrassing for him not to. In other words, rosenstein just gave trump the basis for a reset. In fact, you have to wonder if it was planned this way. I dont believe in coincidence. Are we really to assume that this indictment just happened to come on the last business day before trump meets with putin . No way. This was deliberately timed. At least by rosenstein to send putin a message right before the summit and in advance of the american midterm elections. Whether President Trump was part of that deliberation we may never know. Surely when rosenstein briefed him earlier in the week trump could have at least requested the announcement be delayed until after the summit. But we will learn on monday whether President Trump is finally prepared to stop the charade of crying witch hunt and use the tools that mueller and rosenstein just handed him, to be americas advocate. Maybe hell even demand the extradition of those just indicted for meddling in our election. One can hope. And that brings me to todays survey question at smerconish. Com. Will President Trump confront Vladimir Putin with the recent indictments . Vote yes or no and ill give you the result at the end of this hour. So whats the take away from the new special counsel indictment against a dozen russian intel officials and what more might be coming down the road . The new charges include conspiracy, hacking the Democratic National committee, the clinton president ial campaign and the Democratic Congressional campaign committee. As well as money launders and attempts to break into state election board and other government agencies. Theres also what it doesnt say as rosenstein also made sure to point out. Theres no allegation in this indictment that any american citizen committed a crime. Theres no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected election result. R roger stones attorney cite third down as proof of innocence. Joining me now the perfect guest to break it down, Michael Isikoff coauthor with david corn of russian roulette. Michael, lets drill down on roger stone for a moment. Paragraph 44 of the indictment had this language. Well put it on the screen. Ill read a sentence. On or about august 15, 2016, the conspirators wrote to a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the president ial campaign of donald j. Trump. Thank you for writing back. Do you find anything interesting in the docs i posted . Initially stone hesitated before saying that it was him. Last night he was with chris cuomo on cuomo prime time, and he said this. I have testified under oath to the House Intelligence Committee that i certainly had a 24word exchange with the persona guccifer 2. 0. Any objective person who will read that exchange which is included in the indictment will see based on content context and timing, its benign. Its innocuous. Its also you, though. I think i probably am the person referred to. Michael isikoff, whats the meaning of all that . Well, its pretty clear that roger stone is in Robert Muellers sights. He and his mueller and his prosecutors and agents have been asking a lot of questions about stone from various associates of his. There are still questions about the some of stones comments during that period in which he seemed to anticipate the release of documents from wikileaks. We now know and this is i felt one of the more significant revelations in the indictment yesterday, that it was that very same guccifer 2. 0 a Russian Military intelligence persona who provided the documents to wikileaks. That was one of the enduring mysteries about this whole story for the last two years. How did wikileaks get the documents that they dumped on the eve of the Democratic Convention that had been hacked by russian intelligence . We now know it was from wikileaks, wikileaks it was from guccifer 2. 0. Wikileaks solicited those documents, and there are Text Messages or email messages that are reduced in the documents, in the indictment from wikileaks to guccifer 2. 0. At the same time stone is in communication with the Russian Military intelligence persona, that guccifer 2. 0 is providing the documents to wikileaks. I think that raises further questions about stones comments during that period that he knew about the coming release by wikileaks, especially in that early october time period on the podesta emails. In response to the revelations yesterday, rudy giuliani, the president s counsel in this context, issued a tweet proclimbaimed victories sorts. The indictments rosenstein announced are good news for all americans. The russians are nailed. No americans involved. Time to end the pursuit of the president and say President Trump is completely innocent. Seemingly premature . Yes. Rod rosenstein also said the investigation by mueller is ongoing. And mueller does have a habit of doing things in rapid succession. Weve seen when he acts, he tends to follow up. We may well be seeing more from mueller in the coming weeks. We dont know. Certainly theres the trial of Paul Manafort coming up. Theres a lot of anticipation about whether were going to be finally seeing a report or mueller will be submitting his report on obstruction. So this could well be the opening act in what becomes a very busy summer. Michael, i want to show you the president as a candidate july 27th of 2016, and then i want to make a comment. Roll that footage. Ly tell you this. Russia, if youre listening, i hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. According to the indictment that date was of great significance. What happened . What began on that day . Quewell, as is laid out in t indictment, that very night the Russian Military intelligence hackers began penetrating a server that was used, that clintons own personal office used. They also targeted yet more members of the personal emails of yet more members of the Clinton Campaign so that certainly the indictment certainly raises the question of whether theres some connection there. I think we do have to be a little caution on this. Its clear the russians were targeting Clinton Campaign initials as early as march of the year. Thats when they got access to the podesta emails. So this may be coincidence or not. It certainly establishes a foundation for mueller to ask President Trump about what he may have known about this if President Trump submits for an interview which, of course, he has been resisting for quite some time. I mean, to your point, this was a very sophisticated, expensive, time consuming labor intensive process that the switch could not just have been thrown. They were ready to go. Yeah. And look, more importantly, and i think this is something that is especially significant on the eve of this summit. These gru guys werent operating on their own. They just didnt decide they were going to mount this Extensive Campaign to hack Democratic Political parties in the Clinton Campaign and then dump the emails, and lets remember the u. S. Intelligence community in its january, 2017 report said all of this was ordered by president Vladimir Putin himself. And good point. If you read the indictment closely. His name wasnt in the indictment. I thought that was odd. His name isnt in the indictment, but it does say when you read the fine print these 12 gru officers and others known and unknown to the grand jury. So who are those others known to the grand jury . It does raise the question of whether Vladimir Putin himself is an unindicted coconspirator in these charges. Great observation. Michael isikoff, thank you as always. Appreciate it. Thank you. What are your thoughts . Tweet me at smerconish. Go to my Facebook Page. Ill read responses throughout the course of the program. Will you hold obama accountable . You say you are fair. We will see. I mean, all this meddling happened under obama and no one cares. This is why the American People get so frustrated with the media. This is why trump will win again in the midterm, and you know what . The president tweeted today on exactly that point. That was his initial response. Heres what im looking for. Instead of this going on between liberals and skeconservatives, republicans and democrats, what happened to when we were united against a common enemy . This was terrorism. We were the victims of a Terror Strike. And will the commander in chief on monday hold accountable the presumed perpetrator of that Terror Strike . Stop all the liberal conservative red state blue state stuff . Our partisan differences used to end at the waters edge. Now, lets get back to those times. Sorry. I lost my place. Give me the part that says whats coming up. Oh. Thank you. Go vote at smerconish. Com and tell me whether you think the president is going to con front Vladimir Putin with the recent indictments and at the end of this hour, i will give you the result. Now were back on track. Still to come, what might happen monday when trump meets putin without advisers . Ill ask a former state department expert on the region. And oh, yeah, there was a Supreme Court nomination this week with a contentious confirmation process ahead. What will we be able to learn about Brett Kavanaughs views . And plus, why is dick cheney smiling . Because he just autographed a waterboard for a man he didnt realize was sasha barren cohen. You shouldnt be rushed into booking a hotel. With expedias addon advantage, booking a flight unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. Addon advantage. Only when you book with expedia. The chili pepper sweatout. Not cool. Freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting . Now thats cool coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. And no surgery. Results and Patient Experience may vary. Some common side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort,and swelling. Ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you and visit coolsculpting. Com today for your chance to win a free treatment. Thats confident. But its not kayak confident. Kayak searches hundreds of travel and Airline Sites to find the best flight for me. So im more than confident. Hows your family . Kayak. Search one and done. So whats going to happen at mondays one on one meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin with only translators in the room . Observers were already wondering whether trump would be tough with the russian leader about the russian hack of the u. S. Election since to date hes mostly down played it and mostly relied on his gut instinct in a hope to forge a personal relationship. Then rosenstein announced of indictment of a dozen russian internationals. Joining me now is a senior fellow in the vok love hovel program at Florida International university. Hes also the author of back to containment dealing with putins regime. David, thank you so much for being here. React to the timing issue. I find it so curious that this came on the friday before the monday summit. Well, it certainly is a coincidence at least. I know in your opening you suggested it may be more than that. It will make the situation for President Trump a little more difficult by forcing him to raise this, i hope. Although President Trump as you indicated knew about this. Rosenstein indicated he briefed the president on this before he left for his european trip, and yet the president was rather dismissive yesterday of the whole investigation. He said hell ask putin about it and get an answer he didnt expect a perry mason moment. I hope the president is more forceful than that. This should be viewed as an attack by russia and Vladimir Putin on the United States on its electoral system and democracy. It shouldnt be viewed in partisan terms. The president should be angry and pushing back and should make clear the United States is going to do something about it and not just sit back and ask questions. If you were in your old role and whispering in the ear of this president , would you not say to him, mr. President , demand the extradition of the 12 who were just indicted . Its hard to do that because as you know there is no extradition treaty between russia and the United States, but i think the president should make clear that we plan to pursue justice in this case. Hold those accountable for the hacking and for other trolling activities where russia tries so sew further divisions in this country and tries to tap into sensitive political issues whether its charlottesville or the shooting by Police Officers of blacks and other kinds of issues, the nfl protests. This is still going on, and the russians are gearing up to do this in our midterm elections. Theyre gearing up to do in the 2020 elections and the president needs to make clear to putin theres a cost to be paid for russia including, for example, exposing the wealth of various russian officials including the russian president , and see how the russian public reacts to those kinds of exposures. You have written on a very interesting dynamic, and that is that the president is an outlier in his own administration. Meaning that youve got pompeo and nikki haley and mike pence and general mattis who have all been, you correct me, but theyve all been very tough in the things theyve said and done relative to russia. But not him. Thats exactly right. And it isnt just rhetoric coming out of the officials you named. Weve seen the administration approve lethal military assistance to ukraine which the Obama Administration didnt do. President obama refused to provide that assistance. Weve seen stepped up, not a huge increase but a stepped up advance on sanctions of various russian individuals. Weve seen an increase presence of u. S. Military closer to russias borders in the Baltic States and poland. Weve seen positive reactions and actions on the part of the United States as well as the rhetoric that you describe from various senior officials. The outlier as you put it is the president who continues to talk about wanting to have a Good Relationship with russia and mr. Putin. I think what the president does is he asks the wrong question. When he says wouldnt it be great if russia and the United States gets along. The answer is obvious. Of course it would. Wed all like better relations between russia and the President Trump<\/a> sits down in helsinki with russian president Vladimir Putin<\/a>. To be sure the anticipation of the friday midday press conference by deputy ag rod rosen tine presented an unusual juxtaposition. On Television Screens<\/a> the rosenstein presser was about to compete for attention with the president s formal arrival for a meeting with queen elizabeth. But tvs technical directors were spared. Rosenstein was curiously 30 minutes late to the announced start time of his announcement. Giving the president the time needed to complete his review of queens guard at windsor castle. Thats not all that seemed cover yo graphed. Rosenstein then relieved hed briefed the president in the days prior on the indictments. I briefed President Trump<\/a> about the allegations earlier this week. The president is fully aware of the departments actions today. So that means that for the last few days during which time he continued to call the Mueller Probe<\/a> a witch hunt the president knew that proof to the contrary was coming. Eve an few hours before rosen signs announcement at a joint press conference with theresa may, trump said that while he would raise the issue of russian meddling with putin, he cautioned that he didnt expect a perry mason moment to result. I dont think youll have any gee i did it, i did it, you got me. Rosenstein then spelled out his findings in an unusually specific 29page 11count indictment of 12 Russian Military<\/a> officers. Immediately thereafter the deputy ag eas revelations call for some to call for the cancellation of the summit. One said glad handing with Vladimir Putin<\/a> could be an insult to our democracy. Kans ration is not going to happen but maybe confrontation will. While the president has been loathed to hold putin accountable for russian meddling, hes just been handed the goods with which to do so and it will be embarrassing for him not to. In other words, rosenstein just gave trump the basis for a reset. In fact, you have to wonder if it was planned this way. I dont believe in coincidence. Are we really to assume that this indictment just happened to come on the last business day before trump meets with putin . No way. This was deliberately timed. At least by rosenstein to send putin a message right before the summit and in advance of the american midterm elections. Whether President Trump<\/a> was part of that deliberation we may never know. Surely when rosenstein briefed him earlier in the week trump could have at least requested the announcement be delayed until after the summit. But we will learn on monday whether President Trump<\/a> is finally prepared to stop the charade of crying witch hunt and use the tools that mueller and rosenstein just handed him, to be americas advocate. Maybe hell even demand the extradition of those just indicted for meddling in our election. One can hope. And that brings me to todays survey question at smerconish. Com. Will President Trump<\/a> confront Vladimir Putin<\/a> with the recent indictments . Vote yes or no and ill give you the result at the end of this hour. So whats the take away from the new special counsel indictment against a dozen russian intel officials and what more might be coming down the road . The new charges include conspiracy, hacking the Democratic National<\/a> committee, the clinton president ial campaign and the Democratic Congressional<\/a> campaign committee. As well as money launders and attempts to break into state election board and other government agencies. Theres also what it doesnt say as rosenstein also made sure to point out. Theres no allegation in this indictment that any american citizen committed a crime. Theres no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected election result. R roger stones attorney cite third down as proof of innocence. Joining me now the perfect guest to break it down, Michael Isikoff<\/a> coauthor with david corn of russian roulette. Michael, lets drill down on roger stone for a moment. Paragraph 44 of the indictment had this language. Well put it on the screen. Ill read a sentence. On or about august 15, 2016, the conspirators wrote to a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the president ial campaign of donald j. Trump. Thank you for writing back. Do you find anything interesting in the docs i posted . Initially stone hesitated before saying that it was him. Last night he was with chris cuomo on cuomo prime time, and he said this. I have testified under oath to the House Intelligence Committee<\/a> that i certainly had a 24word exchange with the persona guccifer 2. 0. Any objective person who will read that exchange which is included in the indictment will see based on content context and timing, its benign. Its innocuous. Its also you, though. I think i probably am the person referred to. Michael isikoff, whats the meaning of all that . Well, its pretty clear that roger stone is in Robert Muellers<\/a> sights. He and his mueller and his prosecutors and agents have been asking a lot of questions about stone from various associates of his. There are still questions about the some of stones comments during that period in which he seemed to anticipate the release of documents from wikileaks. We now know and this is i felt one of the more significant revelations in the indictment yesterday, that it was that very same guccifer 2. 0 a Russian Military<\/a> intelligence persona who provided the documents to wikileaks. That was one of the enduring mysteries about this whole story for the last two years. How did wikileaks get the documents that they dumped on the eve of the Democratic Convention<\/a> that had been hacked by russian intelligence . We now know it was from wikileaks, wikileaks it was from guccifer 2. 0. Wikileaks solicited those documents, and there are Text Messages<\/a> or email messages that are reduced in the documents, in the indictment from wikileaks to guccifer 2. 0. At the same time stone is in communication with the Russian Military<\/a> intelligence persona, that guccifer 2. 0 is providing the documents to wikileaks. I think that raises further questions about stones comments during that period that he knew about the coming release by wikileaks, especially in that early october time period on the podesta emails. In response to the revelations yesterday, rudy giuliani, the president s counsel in this context, issued a tweet proclimbaimed victories sorts. The indictments rosenstein announced are good news for all americans. The russians are nailed. No americans involved. Time to end the pursuit of the president and say President Trump<\/a> is completely innocent. Seemingly premature . Yes. Rod rosenstein also said the investigation by mueller is ongoing. And mueller does have a habit of doing things in rapid succession. Weve seen when he acts, he tends to follow up. We may well be seeing more from mueller in the coming weeks. We dont know. Certainly theres the trial of Paul Manafort<\/a> coming up. Theres a lot of anticipation about whether were going to be finally seeing a report or mueller will be submitting his report on obstruction. So this could well be the opening act in what becomes a very busy summer. Michael, i want to show you the president as a candidate july 27th of 2016, and then i want to make a comment. Roll that footage. Ly tell you this. Russia, if youre listening, i hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. According to the indictment that date was of great significance. What happened . What began on that day . Quewell, as is laid out in t indictment, that very night the Russian Military<\/a> intelligence hackers began penetrating a server that was used, that clintons own personal office used. They also targeted yet more members of the personal emails of yet more members of the Clinton Campaign<\/a> so that certainly the indictment certainly raises the question of whether theres some connection there. I think we do have to be a little caution on this. Its clear the russians were targeting Clinton Campaign<\/a> initials as early as march of the year. Thats when they got access to the podesta emails. So this may be coincidence or not. It certainly establishes a foundation for mueller to ask President Trump<\/a> about what he may have known about this if President Trump<\/a> submits for an interview which, of course, he has been resisting for quite some time. I mean, to your point, this was a very sophisticated, expensive, time consuming labor intensive process that the switch could not just have been thrown. They were ready to go. Yeah. And look, more importantly, and i think this is something that is especially significant on the eve of this summit. These gru guys werent operating on their own. They just didnt decide they were going to mount this Extensive Campaign<\/a> to hack Democratic Political<\/a> parties in the Clinton Campaign<\/a> and then dump the emails, and lets remember the u. S. Intelligence community in its january, 2017 report said all of this was ordered by president Vladimir Putin<\/a> himself. And good point. If you read the indictment closely. His name wasnt in the indictment. I thought that was odd. His name isnt in the indictment, but it does say when you read the fine print these 12 gru officers and others known and unknown to the grand jury. So who are those others known to the grand jury . It does raise the question of whether Vladimir Putin<\/a> himself is an unindicted coconspirator in these charges. Great observation. Michael isikoff, thank you as always. Appreciate it. Thank you. What are your thoughts . Tweet me at smerconish. Go to my Facebook Page<\/a>. Ill read responses throughout the course of the program. Will you hold obama accountable . You say you are fair. We will see. I mean, all this meddling happened under obama and no one cares. This is why the American People<\/a> get so frustrated with the media. This is why trump will win again in the midterm, and you know what . The president tweeted today on exactly that point. That was his initial response. Heres what im looking for. Instead of this going on between liberals and skeconservatives, republicans and democrats, what happened to when we were united against a common enemy . This was terrorism. We were the victims of a Terror Strike<\/a>. And will the commander in chief on monday hold accountable the presumed perpetrator of that Terror Strike<\/a> . Stop all the liberal conservative red state blue state stuff . Our partisan differences used to end at the waters edge. Now, lets get back to those times. Sorry. I lost my place. Give me the part that says whats coming up. Oh. Thank you. Go vote at smerconish. Com and tell me whether you think the president is going to con front Vladimir Putin<\/a> with the recent indictments and at the end of this hour, i will give you the result. Now were back on track. Still to come, what might happen monday when trump meets putin without advisers . Ill ask a former state department expert on the region. And oh, yeah, there was a Supreme Court<\/a> nomination this week with a contentious confirmation process ahead. What will we be able to learn about Brett Kavanaughs<\/a> views . And plus, why is dick cheney smiling . Because he just autographed a waterboard for a man he didnt realize was sasha barren cohen. You shouldnt be rushed into booking a hotel. With expedias addon advantage, booking a flight unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. Addon advantage. Only when you book with expedia. The chili pepper sweatout. Not cool. Freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting . Now thats cool coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. And no surgery. Results and Patient Experience<\/a> may vary. Some common side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort,and swelling. Ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you and visit coolsculpting. Com today for your chance to win a free treatment. Thats confident. But its not kayak confident. Kayak searches hundreds of travel and Airline Sites<\/a> to find the best flight for me. So im more than confident. Hows your family . Kayak. Search one and done. So whats going to happen at mondays one on one meeting between President Trump<\/a> and Vladimir Putin<\/a> with only translators in the room . Observers were already wondering whether trump would be tough with the russian leader about the russian hack of the u. S. Election since to date hes mostly down played it and mostly relied on his gut instinct in a hope to forge a personal relationship. Then rosenstein announced of indictment of a dozen russian internationals. Joining me now is a senior fellow in the vok love hovel program at Florida International<\/a> university. Hes also the author of back to containment dealing with putins regime. David, thank you so much for being here. React to the timing issue. I find it so curious that this came on the friday before the monday summit. Well, it certainly is a coincidence at least. I know in your opening you suggested it may be more than that. It will make the situation for President Trump<\/a> a little more difficult by forcing him to raise this, i hope. Although President Trump<\/a> as you indicated knew about this. Rosenstein indicated he briefed the president on this before he left for his european trip, and yet the president was rather dismissive yesterday of the whole investigation. He said hell ask putin about it and get an answer he didnt expect a perry mason moment. I hope the president is more forceful than that. This should be viewed as an attack by russia and Vladimir Putin<\/a> on the United States<\/a> on its electoral system and democracy. It shouldnt be viewed in partisan terms. The president should be angry and pushing back and should make clear the United States<\/a> is going to do something about it and not just sit back and ask questions. If you were in your old role and whispering in the ear of this president , would you not say to him, mr. President , demand the extradition of the 12 who were just indicted . Its hard to do that because as you know there is no extradition treaty between russia and the United States<\/a>, but i think the president should make clear that we plan to pursue justice in this case. Hold those accountable for the hacking and for other trolling activities where russia tries so sew further divisions in this country and tries to tap into sensitive political issues whether its charlottesville or the shooting by Police Officers<\/a> of blacks and other kinds of issues, the nfl protests. This is still going on, and the russians are gearing up to do this in our midterm elections. Theyre gearing up to do in the 2020 elections and the president needs to make clear to putin theres a cost to be paid for russia including, for example, exposing the wealth of various russian officials including the russian president , and see how the russian public reacts to those kinds of exposures. You have written on a very interesting dynamic, and that is that the president is an outlier in his own administration. Meaning that youve got pompeo and nikki haley and mike pence and general mattis who have all been, you correct me, but theyve all been very tough in the things theyve said and done relative to russia. But not him. Thats exactly right. And it isnt just rhetoric coming out of the officials you named. Weve seen the administration approve lethal military assistance to ukraine which the Obama Administration<\/a> didnt do. President obama refused to provide that assistance. Weve seen stepped up, not a huge increase but a stepped up advance on sanctions of various russian individuals. Weve seen an increase presence of u. S. Military closer to russias borders in the Baltic States<\/a> and poland. Weve seen positive reactions and actions on the part of the United States<\/a> as well as the rhetoric that you describe from various senior officials. The outlier as you put it is the president who continues to talk about wanting to have a Good Relationship<\/a> with russia and mr. Putin. I think what the president does is he asks the wrong question. When he says wouldnt it be great if russia and the United States<\/a> gets along. The answer is obvious. Of course it would. Wed all like better relations between russia and the United States<\/a>. The question is ask is can the United States<\/a> have better relations with russia as long as the regime of Vladimir Putin<\/a> is in place without sacrificing americas values, interests and the countries along russias borders. I think the answer is no. You prwrote an essay for the post you expressed concern the president was about to get rolled. Essentially because this was going to be too strong men getting together and you thought that putin with his kgb training would know how to push trumps buttons. Give me the take away from that. Sure. I think putins been watching how other foreign leaders interact with trump and realizes that flattery and praise of the president work well. Hes seen that in the case of saudi arabia and the chinese and others. Putin will also point to obama and say to President Trump<\/a> obama is responsible for the current state of relations. We know how you feel about obama. Lets undo what obama is responsible for. And then thirdly, i fear that putin will appeal to trumps instincts to look at nato and the eu and wto and g7 and say these institutions are obsolete. Lets create new ones and build a better foundation. Thank you for your expertise. Thank you. Lets see what youre say og on my twitter and facebook. Love you michael but what are you smoking this morning . Trump has the opportunity now to promote putin. Hes a traitor, plain and simple. Peter, he can no longer with a straight face regard this as a witch hunt. Not given the tremendous detail that was put forth in the 29page indictment. That will be a joke the next time it should come out of his lips and i am saying that now is an opportunity that hes been handed by rosenstein and mueller for a reset to really be the tough guy that he has sold us he is. And to say Vladimir Putin<\/a>, here it is. He should wave that indictment at putin and demand extradition treaty or not that those 12 individuals be handed over to the United States<\/a>. And in so doing, he can recoup so much of the credibility that i think he has lost with so Many Americans<\/a> by treating this as a joke. I want to remind you to answer the survey question at smerconish. Com. Will, will, not should, will he do it . Will President Trump<\/a> confront Vladimir Putin<\/a> with the recent indictments at the end of this hour ill give you the result. Up next, the creator of borat is back going under cover to lam ppoon politicians. Im going to talk to joe walsh about the look. There it is. The proisrael award that he thought he won. Your new brotherinlaw. You like him. Hes one of those guys who always smells good. His 5 oclock shadow is always at 5 oclock. You like him. Your mom says hes done really well for himself. He has stocks and bonds your dad wants to go fishing with him. Your dad doesnt even like fishing. You like your brotherinlaw. But youd like him better if you made more money than he does. Dont get mad at your brotherinlaw. Get e trade booking a flight doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. Does your Business Internet<\/a> provider promise a lot . Lets see who delivers more. Comcast business gives you gigspeed in more places. The others dont. We offer up to 6 hours of 4g Wireless Network<\/a> backup. Everyone else, no way. We let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. Them, not so much. We let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. The others . Nope get internet on our gigspeed network and add voice and tv for 34. 90 more per month. Call or go on line today. Thats a first. Thats the first time ive ever signed a waterboard. Even before his new tv show airs Sacha Baron Cohen<\/a> is pranking political people. Who is america is the title. Again, he wore disguises, conned his way into interviews. For obvious reasons the show was kept under wraps until recently. He offered dick cheney a waterboard for him to sign. Are his stunts exposing truth or just pushing an already polarized country farther apart . Many of the victims have been speaking out. So far they include dick cheney, Bernie Sanders<\/a>, david petraeus, and my next guest joe walsh, a radio coast and former congressman. What was the set up in your case . Michael, good to be with you. Look, let me say at the outset i think say Sacha Baron Cohen<\/a> is a funny guy. In my case like a lot of cases hes a funny guy because he gets people to say stupid things. He gets people to say stupid things because he lies to them. In my case, he flew me out to washington d. C. They knew i was a big supporter of israels, and they presented me with this award as one of israels greatest friends. Found out later the whole thing was a rus, and it was a ruse probably just to get me to say some stupid things. So they give you the award, and then what . There was some aspect of this where it dealt with israel using kids to protect itself against terror . Yeah. Michael, it was just crazy. Look, they flew me out to d. C. They put me up in a hotel. They put me in a limo. They sent me off to this studio in virginia. Again, all under the lie that i was getting an award from some israeli tv station because im a great supporter of israel. So after they conducted an interview, they had me read off of a tell promeprompter talking some of the Innovative Products<\/a> israel has invented, and then they had me read about this fouryearold child in israel who when a terrorist entered his classroom, somehow he grabbed the terrorists gun and held the terrorist at bay and that was, i guess, an example of how israel trains and arms preschool kids on how to use firearms and boys shouldnt we do that in america . And so im reading this, michael, off of a teleprompter and thinking to myself, well, this is kind of crazy, but it is israel, and israel is strong on defense. We found out the whole thing was made up. There is no tv station. There was no award, and its pretty clear that Sacha Baron Cohen<\/a> wanted me to Say Something<\/a> pretty crazy about guns like in america we ought to arm preschool kids. Did an alarm go off in your head, congressman . Yeah. It did, but again, michael, it was too late, because i was in the middle of this 15minute thing talking about all the great things israel does. So the alarm went off, but the alarm really went off about 3 00 that next morning when i said oh, my god, ive been duped, and then we hired an attorney. We looked into it, and we found out pretty quickly that it was this new special on show time that he was producing, sacha was producing, and we found out i wasnt alone. A bunch of us were duped. So relative to governor palin, i feel like when i watch it i am going to have a laugh at your expense, and nobody seems to have gotten hurt. You will. But the palin thing is really troublesome to me. On her Facebook Page<\/a> she said sas Sacha Baron Cohen<\/a> disguised himself as a disabled u. S. Veteran, fake wheelchair and all. Come on. If theres a line, surely thats over it. Sacha baron cohen responded. He said Something Like<\/a> the only service i said i was in was the United Parcel<\/a> service. I guess were going to have to wait and see, but react to what youve heard about the palin episode. Good point. Thats part of why i came out this past week. I think he crossed a line with sarah palin. Hes a funny guy, and what he did to me was funny, and ill probably end up looking pretty stupid, but thats okay. Im a big boy, but you impersonate a disabled veteran, he did cross a line, and i think sarah palin, michael, was right to call him out. Again, he has a right to do it, but i like the fact that in this world now sarah palin and others like myself, were pushing back just so people when they go into it, and as you said, michael, there probably all have a good laugh tomorrow night, but people need to know the truth. So initially i heard that it was you and i heard it was cheney and palin, arpaio. I thought this politically will probably be to republican conservative benefit because it will be the hollywood elite making fools of people on the right. But apparently Bernie Sanders<\/a> is on that list and howard dean as well. Right. Again, im sure at the end of the day, michael, it will primarily be attack on us conservatives. He sprinkled in bernie and howard dean, probably to make it look balanced. But look, they were going after mitch mcconnell. They were trying to go after primarily republicans. And based on what happened to me, michael, i assume theyre going to go after us for our beliefs on guns and the flag and things like that. But, again, this is the world we live in, and michael, ill probably laugh at myself. Hey, thank you, congressman, i appreciate it. Thank you, michael. Lets check in on our tweets and Facebook Comments<\/a> from facebook i think. It shows how stupid the members of congress are if Sacha Baron Cohen<\/a> can dupe them. Congress members arent the sharpest tools in the shed. Its obviously more than just members of congress. I think the guy is unbelievably funny, and im prepared to watch, but if i see him, i got to say this. If i see him sitting there in a wheelchair impersonating a disabled vet, thats going to piss me off. That will be stolen valor. That will cross the line. If there is a line, thats going to cross it. Still to come, while many think Supreme Court<\/a> confirmation hearings are empty grand stand, the fight over Brett Kavanaugh<\/a>, what are we really going to find out about his views on roe v. Wade . Looks great, honey. Right . Sometimes you need an expert. I got it. And sometimes those experts need experts. On it. [ crash ] and sometimes the expert the expert needed Needs Insurance<\/a> expertise. Its all good. Steve, youre covered for general liability. And, paul, we got your back with workers comp. Wow, its like a party in here. Where are the hors doeuvres, right . [ clanking ] tartlets . We cover commercial vehicles, too. I think theres something wrong with your sink. It has been such an insane week of major news that the president s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh<\/a> to replace Anthony Kennedy<\/a> on the Supreme Court<\/a> seems like eons ago. The debate remains about his views. And since hes young enough to potentially help shape the court for several decades, its worth discussing what we can and cant learn about his views. Such as on roe v. Wade, once the confirmation hearings begin. Joining me now the perfect guest, Jeffrey Rosen<\/a>. Hes a professor at George Washington<\/a> law school and a contributing editor at the atlantic and author of the saturday essay todays wall street journal what we can learn from Supreme Court<\/a> confirmation hearings requests. Jeffrey, i have a short montage of recent hearings i want to show and then ask a question. Roll it. Do you see any erosion of precedent has to roe . Again, i think i should stay away from discussions of particular issues that are likely to come before the court again. It is a precedent that has now been on the books for several decades. It has been challenged. It has been reaffirmed. But it is an issue that is involved in litigation now. Would it be legal in this country to terminate that childs life . I cant answer that hypothetical because i cant look at it as an abstract without knowing what state laws exist on this issue or not. I think you get it. So advise me as if i were at least for a moment a u. S. Senator. What is the most probing question i can ask about roe v. Wade . Well, i think you begin by just asking the question directly. You say in 1992 justice Anthony Kennedy<\/a> affirmed roe. First he said it was embedded in the fabric of society and men and women had come to rely on it. He said the test wasnt unworkable and he said there were no changed facts or social changes that called it into question. You say judge kavanaugh, do you agree with Justice Kennedy<\/a> or are any of the three kennedys different . If he demurs you say judge kavanaugh, conservative judges have said there are certain cases like roe that are super precedences because theyve been reaffirmed and extended in future cases and embodied in the fabric of american law. Judge kavanaugh, do you agree in the idea of superprecedence. You argue in the journal today, and i think effectively that these are not theater. Theres actually a lot of substance there to be gleaned. Its remarkable how educational these hearings are. I want listeners to go back and read the transcripts of con mare administration hearings. You can tell chief Justice Roberts<\/a> was likely to be a pragmatist. Justices gorsuch and thomas were likely to be origin niss. Kavanaugh hasnt used words like origin allism. He says he cares about structure. What he says in these hearings is likely very precisely to predict the kind of constitutional methodology hell adopt on the court. Given your knowledge of judge kavanaugh and his many opinions hes written, i think nearly 300, do you expect hell with in the mold of Justice Kennedy<\/a> should he be successful . Will he be the one where we know where four are going, it all comes down to kavanaugh . No. I think the real question is is he likely to be more like Justice Roberts<\/a> or gorsuch and thomas . Its hard to say based on his recent speech praising rehnquist. I guess if i had to bet, i think eventually he would be more like roberts. Its not an origin allist. He seems open to technical and pragmatic solutions. It would be different than if hes with the most conserve ty justices on the right. Interesting. I think i hear Jeffrey Rosen<\/a> saying its chief Justice Roberts<\/a> who is the new kennedy. Theres no question. He will be the new median justice. Hes going to be in the center of the court. This is going to be the Roberts Court<\/a> in every sense, and he cares a lot about consensus. He cares about bringing in liberal justices. Its going to have huge implications for whether the Roberts Court<\/a> overturns roe v. Wade. Or instead chips away at them. Critics would say guts them but preserves them so the court can proceed and preserve some degree of the bipartisan legitimacy in a highly polarized country. I highly recommend your essay in todays wall street journal. Thank you. Thank you as always. Still to come, your best and worst tweets and Facebook Comments<\/a> and the result. Youve got one last chance to go vote at smerconish. Com on this survey question. Will he . Will President Trump<\/a> confront Vladimir Putin<\/a> with the recent indictments . Vote yes or no. The results are a moment away. Truecar is great for finding new cars. Youre smart, you already knew that. But its also great for finding the perfect used car. Youll see what a fair price is and you can connect with a truecar certified dealer. Now youre even smarter. This is truecar. Okay, its time. Lets see how you responded to the survey question at smerconish. Com. Will President Trump<\/a> confront Vladimir Putin<\/a> with the recent indictments. Survey says oh, my gosh. 9,397 votes guess no. Boy i hope that everybody who voted no is wrong. For me, what gives me hope is the timing of this. As i said in my opening commentary, i just cant accept coincidence. I dont believe that on the last business day before this sitdown, rosenstein indicts the 12 military russian officers not already where he had briefed the at the. Because seemingly it puts the president in this very uncomfortable position. Maeb its by design. Am i naive to think this . Rosenstein said im going to give it to you while youre sitting with the queen so now you get to go while youre sitting with vlad and say, what the hell . I can no longer say witchhunt. So give me something. Like those 12 guys. Pie in the sky, perhaps. The president is angry about this. Im angry about this. Hes angry at all the wrong people. Hes angry at the intel community. Hes angry at the investigative community. Its time he turn that had anger toward mother russia. Ill see you next week. Introducing e trade personalized investments professionally managed portfolios customized to help meet your financial goals. Youll know what youre invested in and how its performing. So you can spend more Time Floating<\/a> about on your inflatable swan. [ding] you shouldnt be rushed into booking a hotel. With expedias addon advantage, booking a flight unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. Addon advantage. Only when you book with expedia. Addon advantage. You dont want to live with mom and dad forever, do you . Im making smoothies how do i check my credit score . Credit karma. Dont worry, its free. Credit karma. Give yourself some credit. 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 did you say you saved 120 dollars a night on a room . 120 a night on a hotel room. Thats a lot of savings i saved even more on my flight. Save up to 60 on hotels with priceline. Good evening. Im van jones. Welcome to the van jones show. This time in los angeles, california. Look, they actually rolled out the red carpet for us. We have the mayor himself, eric gar is in the building tonight. I cant believe it. Such a big honor. You guys know who he is because you live here. But if you have never heard of eric garcetti, get ready. 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