President trump threatens nato. Takes on theresa may on brexit and praises her rival. I actually told theresa may how to do it but she didnt agree she didnt listen to me. And the gop versus the fbi. Republicans in congress charge fbi agent peter strzok with bias against President Trump in the russia investigation. That is bias. Agent strzok may not see it, but the rest of the country does. And strzok fights back. I strongly believe todays hearing is just another victory notch in putins belt and another milestone in our enemys campaign to tear america apart. Joining me for analysis, amy walter from the cook political report. Hugh hewitt, host on the salem radio network. Nbc news political analyst elise jordan. And Joshua Johnson host of 1a on npr. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. Nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. This is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. Well, it turns out it wasnt somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds. Even before fridays indictments of 12 russian intelligence operatives for hacking the democrats during the 2016 campaign, four u. S. Intelligence agencies had already weighed in. The fbi, the cia, the dni, and the nsa all of them had concluded that russians interfered in the 2016 election and they did so with the goal of helping donald trump. In fact, you can view the russian hacking of democratic emails, opposition research, turnout models as the watergate burglary of the 2016 election. The political crime of the 21st century. Now, as in 1972 its the central crime thats the penetration of the dnc by hostile actor then it was the nixon white house. Now its the russian government. And as in 1972 the white house this one was quick to distance itself from this crime. The Trump White House quickly put out a statement pointing out that there were quote, no allegations of knowing involvement by anyone on the trump campaign. Thats true. At least for now, in this indictment. What President Trump didnt do was express outrage over the russian hacking. What he did do was to reaffirm his claim that the Mueller Investigation is a witchhunt and tweet that the russian criminality took place during the Obama Administration and that it failed to respond. What the president didnt do was postpone a summit on monday with Vladimir Putin. What he did do was signal perhaps that he trusts putins denials over the findings of his intelligence agencies and his Justice Department leaving much of the world asking why. I think id have a very Good Relationship with president putin. If we spent time together. The indictment of 12 Mission Intelligence officers just three days before mondays oneonone meeting is the most detailed account yet of russians attack on americas democracy. I briefed President Trump about the allegations earlier this week. We need to Work Together to hold the penetrators accountable. But despite that briefing, mr. Trump spent the week praising putin. Hes not my enemy. Hopefully, some day maybe hell be a friend. Rattling the alliance established to contain soviet and now russian aggression, nato, insulting the british Prime Minister in her brexit strategy. In a british newspaper. I would have done it much differently. She didnt listen to me. And most notably, attacking his own Justice Department and the special council probe tasked with investigating russian interference in the 2016 election. I call it the rigged witchhunt. I think it hurts our country and our relationship with russia. The indictment fills in the gaps of several extraordinary moments in the summer of 2016. And raises questions about the trump campaigns role in the attack on the United States by a foreign power. First, theres the Infamous Trump tower meeting. June 3rd, donald trump jr. Is promised dirt on Hillary Clinton through a kremlin intermediary, replying if its what you say, i love it. Especially later in the summer. June 8th, the indictment says russian Intelligence Officers launched dc leaks. Com and begin to release stolen dnc emails. A day later, Jared Kushner and trump jr. And paul manafort, meet in trump tower with russians tied to the kremlin. Second, the indictment reveals on july 27th, russian tried for first time to hack into clintons servers and campaign office. Its the same day that mr. Trump said this about clintons emails. Russia, i hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. Mr. Trump is consistently questioned the conclusion of his own intelligence agencies. President putin really feels and he feels strongly that he did not meddle in our election. Hes denied the hacking of the dnc and Clintons Campaign occurred. She doesnt know if its the russians doing the hacking. Maybe theres no hacking. It could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds. Though mr. Trump says hell bring up hacking with putin in the monday meeting, he was demissive. You wont have gee, i did it, you got me. There wont be a perry mason here i dont think. You never know what happens right . And joining me now from helsinki the site of the trump putin summit is the u. S. Ambassador to russia huntsman. Welcome back to meet the press. Thank you. Let me start with a simple question is this summit still on and if so, why . Well, listen, it isnt a summit. I have heard it called a summit. This is a meeting. In fact, its the first meeting between the two president s. They have had some pull asides. They had one at the g20s and and the other in danang, vietnam. And this is the first time for them to sit across the table and have a conversation and i hope its a detailed conversation about where we might be able to find some overlapping and shared interests. This has not happened before so theres a lot on our agenda been built up over many years of a relationship thats terribly fraught. So yes, it will happen. And it should happen. You you obviously are making a distinction between a summit and meeting. Is this because we dont have an agenda or we dont have deliverables . One of the things you said before in preparation is if you have a summit you have to have an agenda and you have to have deliverables. Does that mean we wont have a deliverable out of this . Listen, you have been around for president ial summits and i have been around since reagans visit to china in the early 1980s. No state dinner, no joint statement, no deliverables that are going to be prepackaged. You dont know what will come out of this meeting but it will be is the first opportunity for these president s to actually sit down across the table alone and then with their teams to talk about everything from meddling in the elections to areas where we have shared interests. You have to remember that russia is a country of 11 time zones. It touches asia, middle east and western europe. Its inconceivable we can solve the issues without russia. At some level. Right now, theres no trust in the relationship. Because of the problem solving is practically impossible. This is an attempt to see if we can defuse and take some of the drama and quite frankly some of the danger out of the relationship right now. How did the indictments of 12 Russian Military officers on friday change the agenda . Well, i dont think the details are a surprise to folks who have followed this. That now makes probably almost 30 russians who have been rolled up by the mueller indictment. That Investigation Continues and i think the bigger pictures we need to hold the russians accountable for what they did. Their malign activity throughout europe as well. Thats a part of the conversation that needs to take place. Again, chuck, this is why its so important to get our Senior Leaders together because these conversations have happened at the local level. Im on the ground, im on the front lines in moscow. They happened at our level but they havent happened at the senior most levels in the detail that were likely to get tomorrow. Thats why this gathering is important for one reasons. Two things. Will the president ask putin to extradite the 12 military officers and have you formally requested that the russian government do this . We dont have an extradition treaty. So we have to make a formal request. Have you begun that paperwork . Well, the fbi office and the embassy no doubt will work on that. I cant disclose any details in that regard. Requests can be made, that doesnt necessarily mean that the russians are going to follow through with it. But well see if those steps will be taken. I cant make any announcement right now with you. Is the president going to make the ask or not . I dont know if hell make the ask. But it may be part of the agenda. May be part of their bilateral meeting together. Well have to see. It just came on to the agenda on friday. So its something brandnew. Why does it matter that the president have a warm relationship with putin whether you call it a friendship or not . Hes this is putins actions theyre pretty outrageous, annexing crimea. Intervening in syria to prop up a brutal dictator. Interfering in our elections and by the way, poisoning british citizens, just recently in the uk. And yet were bending over backwards it looks line. The appearance it looks like were bending over backwards in order to have a relationship with putin right now. Why . Well, chuck, you just started that long litany, that long list of grievances and it goes on much longer than that. You have to remember theres a reason why every president in the post cold war period has tried to engage china. Every president. It has started a boom and a bust cycle thats left both sides dejected. Angry at each other. Finger pointing. And its because we set expectations way too high. Ambassador, let me pause you there. You said china. I assume youre referring to russia. Im sorry, of course im referring to russia. Thats what i thought. Youre a former ambassador to china. Understandable. Go ahead. The im sorry, chuck. The redos and the resets, which have largely collapsed. So the objective here is to meet to put our cards on the table. There isnt a thought there would be a reset or a redo. We have looked at past history. We have interests, they have interests. And its a function of seeing where some of the interests overlap. Now, they will overlap in the area of strategic stability and arms control where we have a very important arms control agreement. Thats coming due in 2021. Russias in violation of the inf treaty. Thats got to be talked about. You have some overlapping interests in syria. Where we have come very close to confrontation. We have got some shared interests with respect to the Korean Peninsula where we both believe in a nuclear free Korean Peninsula. A strong northeast asia. Nonproliferation. These are areas where conceive where conceivably we can strike up a conversation. But we have to remember to let history be our guide. These redos and resets only get you so far. Usually end in failure. We have to put our cards on the table. We have to remember and recognize some of the malign activity we have been through. And approach this with our eyes wide open. Let me ask you this. Does the president buy into the National Security strategy assessment that was written in december of 2017 and it read as follows. China and russia are determined to make economies less free and less fair to grow their militaries and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence. Does the president buy into this . Well, its his teams document. I certainly assume so. With what you have just described i cant imagine anyone would disagree with that assessment. Either china or russia. On the issue of crimea, can you say in no Uncertain Terms that the president is going to stick to what to the piece of paper he signed in brussels with the nato with the fellow nato leaders when he said that was never you know, nothing changes when it comes to crimea. Is the president going to sort of stick to his belief that or stick to the belief of nato nations that crimea belongs to ukraine and not russia . The agenda is the president s. Everything will be his call. But i think its highly unlikely that hell see any change in crimea. This was a violation of international law. What we have seen in Eastern Ukraine is a violation of international law. An ongoing conflict and the two socalled break away republics. We have some real issues. But you didnt rule it out. Ambassador, i notice you didnt rule it out. You said its the president s call. So he could very well just of course you know what . Even though everybody else doesnt think this is a good idea . Of course its the president s call, but i think its highly unlikely thats going to emerge in their conversation as you suggest. Theres a lot more to talk about. Strategic stability, syria, ukraine, dprk, our bilateral relationship. We have got a fraught bilateral relationship, the collective Blood Pressure between the United States and russia is off the charts high. So its a good thing these president s are getting together. All right. Ambassador huntsman, i have to leave it there. I appreciate you doing this interview outside. I know that wasnt an easy thing in helsinki. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. And joining me now is democratic senator mark warner of virginia. The top democrat on the Senate Intelligence committee which is doing its own investigation into the russian interference. Senator warner, welcome back to meet the press. Thank you. You just heard from ambassador huntsman. You have signed on to the letter with a bunch of other Democratic Senators calling for the president to either cancel the summit or if he doesnt basically essentially make it a one issue summit. Ambassador huntsman number one, doesnt want to call it a summit, but a meeting. Have you been reassured from mr. Huntsman about what the president will do with putin . Well, chuck i would feel better if ambassador huntsman who i have a lot of confidence in was actually sitting in on the meeting. Im very concerned about a oneonone meeting between Vladimir Putin and donald trump. We know that trump doesnt do a lot of prep work for these meetings. He kind of goes in and wings it. We saw what happened when he did that with kim jongun. He ended up saying everything is okay with north korea and frankly we have found since that time thats not the case. In putin, you have got a trained kgb agent who does his homework. My fear is that putin could come in with maps of ukraine, maps of syria, and try to cut some deal and frankly take advantage of this president. So i really would feel much better if there were other americans in the room making sure that we make the point that the first and top point of this agenda should be no further russian interference in our elections. All right. I understand you dont want the president to do this oneonone. But let me ask you this. Shouldnt let me pick up on a point that ambassador huntsman kept making. Whos wrong with the two leaders meeting . Yes, we have some contentious issues to discuss, but regardless of your personal views of President Trump whats wrong with this meeting . Listen, the idea that two leaders of two great nations are meeting absolutely makes sense. But what we have now which was unprecedented is russian intervention in our elections where they hacked into democrats and democratic officials emails. Released them to benefit trump and hurt clinton. Where they intervened in over 20 states Electoral Systems. Where they used social media in ways that were unprecedented. And as an american leader and an american administration, wouldnt start a meeting with the head of the country that did that intervention and make that top priority then that meeting shouldnt take place. Remember, russia massively intervened, theyre an adversary and my fear is this president in particular has been really reluctant to call out that activity. Has been completely reluctant to call out putin as a bad actor. Thats why we need to make sure at least there are other people in the room. Let me ask you though about russia policy. The Trump Administration has been tough on russia. President trump rhetorically has not. Why does that matter . Chuck, the president rhetorically has not been tough on russia. As a matter of fact, congress had to take an unprecedented action basically and say, hey, when we say sanctions we mean youve got to actually put those sanctions in place. Trump drug his feet on imposing the sanctions. We had to pass legislation that frankly boxed the president in so he wouldnt so we would avoid taking that responsibility. I want to get into the indictment. Number one the timing of the indictment on friday, do you get the sense that the Justice Department was trying to send a message . You know, i had no idea when the indictment was going to come. Were still processing and first of all, we should say theres an awful lot of very good work done here to have this level of specificity in terms of these russian spies and how they acted and what they did specifically. We now have the Mueller Investigation with over 30 indictments with five guilty pleas. Who knows what next is to come because clearly, with the number of individuals that have said theyre cooperating with the Mueller Investigation, im sure hes got more to come. I want to know actually what youve learned new and what you said you learned a lot new in this and one of the things i want to ask you about is in the indictment we learned that on the same day on or about july 27th that these russian intelligence agents attempted after hours to spear fish for the first time emails associated with clint