Many of the players and he knows them well. Mike rowe will be here. I put our lives at risk. At what democrats can learn from donald trump on how to win over working class voters. Joining me for insight and analysis are doris keargs goodwin, Kimberly Strasse whether and rick stengel. Welcome to sunday, its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. When the Washington Post story about russian involvement in our election was posted online friday night, it was nothing less than explosive. The cia counsincluded the run s interfered. Further, in september, the white house wanted congressional leaders to sign off on a statement supporting efforts to support the integrity of the election. Two republican lawmakers including Mitch Mcconnell ywas not persuaded and wouldnt sign on it it. This is not about the results of the election. Its about a hostile Foreign Government trying to influence our election. Just as the russians had been accused of doing in germany and italy just in the last two weeks. As stunning as the conclusion, equally remarkable was Donald Trumps decision to side with the Foreign Government over our own chief intelligence agency. Donald trump declared war on the Intelligence Community in a statement filled with hyperbole friday night. These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago in one of the Biggest Electoral College victories in history. Its time to move on and make America Great again. The New York Times is reporting that intelligence agencies have concluded with high confidence that russian hacked the Republican National committee Computer Systems but chose to leak only Democratic Party documents. And trump has consistently down played intelligence about russian hacking. It could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds. Okay . Meanwhile, he has publically flirted with putin numerous times. I was in russia. I was in moscow recently. And i spoke indirectly and directly with president putin who could not have been nicer. I think i would have a Good Relationship with putin. He has been a leader more than our president has been a leader. Inviting russia to conduct espionage against Hillary Clinton. Russia, if you are listening, i hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. Leading Senate Republicans are preparing to launch a probe into russias involvement. If the evidence is what i think it will be, then we will have a bipartisan effort to sanction putin and his inner circle for their interference not only in our election but destabilizing the world. Before he leaves office, president obama is looking into it, too. The president has directed the Intelligence Community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election. The man who appears to be trumps choice for secretary of state Rex Tillerson has deep ties to putin. In 2013, the kremlin awarded tillerson the order of friendship, one of the highest honors for civilians. My relationship with Vladimir Putin, which dates back almost 15 years now, ive known sim since 199, and i have a very close relationship with him. I believe that Vladimir Putin is a thug and a bully and murderer. And i believe that the relationship between mr. Tillerson and Vladimir Putin needs to be examined. The former u. S. Ambassador is mike mcfaul who was banned from russia for what he says are his close ties to president obama. Welcome back to meet the press. Thanks for having me. Tell us a little bit about why everyone is so convinced that what happened in the United States fits a pattern of what russia has been doing in other countries. Well, because russia has this capability. And theyre motivated for political purposes to do these kinds of things. What is really striking about the last 48 hours, of course, is that now the Intelligence Community is starting to directly give us news about the way these dots are connected. Remember, you and i have talked about this many times. We knew some things, like we were pretty certain about the dnc hacking by the russians. What we didnt have reported before was evidence that they gave that data to wikileaks. We also didnt have the data that you just described in your intro that they hacked the rnc, the republicans. Those are pretty big new facts. And i think they demand real attention in terms of some kind of investigation. In your determination as somebody who obviously with deep knowledge of the russian system, whats putins motivation . What does he get out of Donald Trumps election . You know, i think its two things. One is revenge against secretary clinton. Lets remember that Vladimir Putin thinks that she intervened in his election, the parliamentary election in december 2011. And has said as much publically. I heard him talk about it privately. Number two, president elect trump supports a lot of Foreign Policy positions that Vladimir Putin supports. You just played several of them in your clips. Right . So its very rational in my view that he would rather see president elect trump be the next president of the United States instead of secretary clinton. Now, i want to add one thing here. Sometimes people jump to the conclusion that this was somehow coordinated with president elect trump. I dont believe that for a minute. But did the russians take some actions to try to help him . I think the evidence is circumstantial enough that we really do need this bipartisan, independent investigation that others are calling for. Set aside the hacking aspect of this. Any concerns you have about an administration, if Rex Tillerson is secretary of state, that wants to forth closer personal ties and closer ties with Vladimir Putins russia . Yes, to be honest, yes. Now, when i was in the government, i supported exxon mobiles work with the Largest Oil Company there. We thought it was in Americas National interest to strengthen economic ties. But then russia intervene ed in ukraine. They annexed crimea. And in my opinion, the Obama Administration rightly sanctioned russian companies, including the ceo of the oil company, exxon mobiles partner. We cant reverse those sanctions in the name of economic interest unless russia changes its behavior. So i want to learn more. I want to hear the hearings. I want to know what mr. Tillerson thinks about a broad set of issues, not just energy ones but initially this is disturbing to me. Mike mcfaul, former ambassador to russia under president obama and now from stanford university, thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. Joining me now is the outgoing chairman of the Republican National committee and the incoming chief of staff for the president elect, donald trump, its Reince Priebus. Welcome back to meet the press. Thank you, chuck. Let me start with apparently a big announcement that may be coming this week, and that has to do with secretary of state and outgoing exxon ceo Rex Tillerson. The early reaction, not very good, mr. Priebus. Alarming and absurd, says the top democrat on Senate Foreign relations. John mccain, a matter of concern to me, referring to mr. Tillersons close relationship with Vladimir Putin. Lindsey graham called the pick unnerving. Is he definitely going to be the pick number one . How do you respond to the criticism . Well, first of all, there is no announcement today on secretary of state. There wont be an announcement, i would assume, until maybe early to mid next week. And the president elect is making a decision. And so he has a lot of great choices. And a lot of accomplished people. He has talked to a variety of folks from as you know Rex Tillerson to mitt romney to Rudy Giuliani to david patraeus, bob corker and many others. You know, this sort of analysis is a little premature. But as to Rex Tillerson, he is one of the most preemmeant Business People in the world. So i think that poking this prematurely is something that just isnt, number one its not helpful, but its also not accurate. I mean, this is a guy who has business relationships in every continent in the entire world. Thats fine. But does that qualify him to be secretary of state . Immediately, everyone is jumping the shark on this. Does that qualify him to be secretary of state . Sure. I think he is qualified to be secretary of state. Absolutely. Just having business deals, that qualifies him . Its not just business deals. An Extensive Knowledge of our relationships across the globe and Extensive Knowledge of International Law and Extensive Knowledge of how deals are put together in places of the world that are very sensitive and intergovernmental relationships that are very unique to Rex Tillerson. So, yeah, i think he is not just qualified, i thinkpreeminent in world. The United States government lobbied Rex Tillerson not to attend an event in russia earlier this year, sort of a global expo event that Vladimir Putin was hosting. And the United States government was hoping Rex Tillerson wouldnt go. He could. They didnt prevent him from going. But he put exxons interests over and above the United States. Do you understand why that would unnerve some people about the idea of him as americas chief diplomat . Well, it might unnerve people who think the best route for our country to go is to ignore people and to have an enemy list and adhere to that list. I just dont believe and neither does the president elect that solving the worlds biggest problems are best done by ignoring people and having crummy relationships across the globe. We just dont believe that talking to people and having relationships is a bad thing. Should we expect that sanctions i would venture to guess that Rex Tillerson doesnt agree with that either. Should we expect regardless of who is secretary of state that one of the first orders president elect trump will do is lift sanctions against Vladimir Putin. Not at all. I wouldnt go to any conclusion. The only conclusion you should have is that talking to people is something that president elect trump is going to do. It doesnt mean that he is not going to be tough. It doesnt mean that were not going to make sure that the american position is always advocated for. The idea is to put America First, not just in the United States but America First across the globe. But these preconceived notions that how dare you cut a deal with the russian government because you need to have you need to go where the oil is at is absurd. Of course, he is going to cut that deal. Thats what Rex Tillerson did. But that doesnt mean that the positions of president elect trump are not going to be extremely tough in putting America First. Let me move to the reports in the Washington Post, New York Times, nbc news confirmed it the assessment from the cia is not only did russia interfere, make an attempt to interfere in the 2016 election to be disruptive but they actually were trying to be disruptive in order to help donald trump. The transition put out a statement that essentially he humiliated the cia in saying that donald trump didnt believe the assessment from the cia because these are the same people that said there were weapons that issaddam hussei had weapons of mass destruction. Does donald trump have confidence in americas intelligence . Of course he has confidence in americas intelligence. But we dont have confidence in the New York Times releasing a report of unnamed sources of some kind of study that itself and the Washington Post said was inconclusive to claim that because the cia had hacked emails of the dnc and rnc and only used rnc emails that meant russia was doing this. The rnc was not hacked. We had the fbi in the rnc. We have been working with the b fbi. Hang on. No, the rnc explain why you had the fbi there. The dnc was hacked. We called the fbi and they came in to help us. They came in to review what we were doing and went through every single thing that we did. We went through this for a month. We were not hacked. Wait a second. If we were not hacked that is absolutely not true then where does that story lie . Nobody with the let me ask you this. Not a Single Person connected to the rnc was hacked . No republican vendor who had interaction with the rnc was hacked . You had a specific denial that the network wasnt hacked. That doesnt mean Republicans Associated with the rnc werent hacked. Do you rule cat gegorically rul this out . I dont know why you are so hot about this. The fact of the matter its not about me. The rnc was not hacked. Number one, the rnc was not hacked. I dont know of any employee on any of the own gmail accounts that was hacked. Im trying to tell you, the rnc was not hacked. That was by the way, that was the specific allegation that was made in the actual New York Times article. The article didnt say affiliates. The article didnt say wait a second. The article said the rnc was hacked. Dont be defensive with me that im its not im refuting the specific fact that was made in the article to create this entire firestorm. The specific fact as we have been told by the fbi repeatedly, including two days ago when we checked back with them about this issue, repeated the fact that the rnc was not hacked. You tell me where this story is at. Why would the press run with something that wasnt true . Let me ask you though about the cias assessment. I understand you want a specific denial about the rnc. The cia made this assessment. Donald trump so ignored the assessment. Do you not believe russia was involved . Do you not believe anything that russia was attempting to infiltrate the u. S. Election system in any way, shape or form . Here is what im saying. Number one, you dont have a Single Source ive given you a source specifically, me, who runs the rnc to say that the rnc was not hacked. You tell me who the specific source on the other side of this that says the rnc was hacked. Okay. You say we covered that. My question is not about the rnc. Reince, no, no, no. My question is about whether or not russia tried to infiltrate the our election in some way, shape or form. The hacking of the dnc, the hacking of john podesta. You dont believe you and donald trump do not believe russia was involved in that at all . Thats what your statement said friday night. What im asking you, chuck, is tell me what the specific source that you have other than a New York Times article that claims that through unnape eunn sources who they say was inconclusive, what source are you using to be so adamant to get a response from me on something that doesnt have a source to it . Whats your source . What you are saying is, until the cia comes out and produces somebody on the record, you are going to dispute this the entire time . No, im not i dont know whether its true or not. If it is true you dont that means you do not believe the assessments of the u. S. Intelligence community. Wait a second. Now you are circuitous here. Im saying im asking you you guys have the sourcing. You are getting briefings on this. You have been briefed. The president elect was briefed on this. Its clear you done believe it. Im asking you why you dont believe it. Number one, i dont have im not in those briefings, first of all. Eventually, i will be. But the second thing im telling you is you have no source, no conclusive source that you are using other than a false article in the New York Times somehow claiming you keep falling to the New York Times. You are ignoring the Washington Post report because you want to deny the rnc aspect. I understand that. Im not. The conclusion had to do the cias assessment do you believe lets clear this up. Do you believe does the president elect believe that russia was trying to muddy up and get involved in the election in 2016 . Number one, you dont k