Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. We havent seen that in a while. So unlike this white house really. Any chance well get answers to any of these big russiagate stories making headlines today . Well, we got plenty of questions on those topics. Its likely Sarah Sanders, particularly as it relates to the personal opinions on the mueller investigation, whether he will do an interview that she will kick that over to his outside counsel, Rudy Giuliani who has spoken to nbc news in the last several hours. Giving us a sense of where things stand. Effectively saying there was a letter from muellers team to the legal team representing the president. And there will be some narrows of the course of the topics, but they will still focus on collusion and obstruction of justice. I think it was last in may when he said it, walking on the south lawn that hes open to talking about all of this with robert mueller. That new reporting for the new york times, insisting that the president really wants that
public why is it that if he did nothing wrong he does not feel comfortable answering questions about it. Well, we can already hear that answer. His answer would be in that case you cant trust these people. Yes, i guess i guess the counter to that would be the president has allowed and encouraged all of his white house officials, the folks closest to him, nearly all them, to go in and speak with mueller. He has encouraged that. He has told them to do that. He could have stopped it. He could have created impediments there. Why is it he allowed them but didnt do it himself . Jonathan, you also reported on negotiations today. Trump appeared to believe he is the guy who can sway bob mueller. Is this all about what you say is this rage he has over what he sees as both the government and the media trying to undermine him . Yes, i want to piggy back on michaels very good point there. The president believes that he can go in there and clear his
name. To lift this cloud that has been hovering over the west wing since he took office, since before he took office. What we saw, its all happening sort of at once here. His Tweet Storm Yesterday morning was remains rather striking here, 24 hours or so later. In which he called for Jeff Sessions to end this probe. Now, of course, we heard Sarah Sanders in yesterdays White House Briefing say that was just hemorrhagesterring an opinion. It wasnt an order. And of Course Sessions himself cant do it because he recused himself from this probe. But the timing of these negotiations come amid a backdrop of the president Growing Angrier and angrier with whats happening. I was struck by one of the things that you wrote that a confidant of his told you, hes in a dark place over all of this. Thats exactly right. Twofold. That hes watching the Manafort Trial develop live on tv. It is not just something it is something in his face. Hes seeing it on cable news. Hes upset by it. He believes those charges are trumped up. He believes technically theyre not about russia, he believes it is a means to try to get to him. Hes not that unselfconscious. He knows the distinction between a con and what happened. Do you think on air force one, he didnt know he was not telling the truth . Does anyone believe that . Is he that much in his own head. I dont believe that. Theres a certain infantalizing of trump okay, im going to interrupt you for just a second because we actually have breaking news on that meeting. I want to go to ken dilanian. With more on who he wants to speak to, meaning robert mueller, and why. What can you tell us . Hey, chris, well, the russian american pop star, russian pop star, sorry who helped set up this Trump Tower Meeting, and his lawyers telling our colleague that he is in talks to be interviewed by Special Counsel robert mueller. Thats fairly significant because the agalarov family, his father is a Russian Oligarch with close ties to vladimir
putin and they were partners with donald trump in the 2013 miss america pageant. He recently made a rather bizarre video that seemed to suggest he sort of had it with donald trump. The video portrayed, you know, Scantily Clad Women in a hotel room with that trump impersonator. If hes willing to talk about what he knows about how that Trump Tower Meeting was set up, thats significant. Just to recall, he sent a message to this music promoter Rob Goldstone to donald trump jr. Saying this russian lawyer wanted to meet and had incriminating information about hillary clinton. Thats according to emails and according to goldstone. Elizabeth, so you have somebody who was crucial in setting up this meeting thats at the center of a lot of these questions. Ayman agalarov. He puts out this video that seems to suggest hes had it
with donald trump and now hes in negotiations to talking with robert mueller. What do you make of it . Well, think what it shows is mueller is tightening thes into, slowly, slowly, brick by brick, building a very potentially devastating case against donald trump. I have to agree with bill. I happen to think donald trump has no intention whatsoever of going before the Special Prosecutor because donald trump happens to be be a coward. You saw him right next to putin. This is the great tough man . This is america . No, he was a wimp. Hes not going in there. He doesnt want to be prosecuted. Hes very concerned that he might not tell the truth because he hasnt and we know he falsified a statement about the Trump Tower Meeting. So i think that aga however you pronounce his name. Agalarov or others are likely to come forward here. Muellers not finished with this investigation. I think one of the really
control of the message, to get it where they want it to be . Well, i think thats really been what Rudy Giuliani has accomplished. They brought him in to be the president s advocate. The president felt like there were not enough folks out there who were pushing his agenda on the mueller investigation. He thought he was the only voice. And what they have done is adopted a strategy where they do not think the president has any legal exposure. They do not think that mueller will indict him. So what theyre focused on is Public Opinion. The only thing they think is a threat is the House Of Representatives holding impeachment trials. The only way to impact that is to move the public sentiment. And thats what giuliani has tried to do. He has confused people. Hes pushed different theories not backed up by the facts in many instances. And it has helped muddy the waters on the investigation. And erode some of bob muellers standing. If you look at some of the polls
that have come out in the past few weeks or months, there has been, you know, some impact on mueller and on the way that the public purchase sieves this. And the longer the investigation goes on, the president believes, the more that giuliani can beat this, beat the drum on this, the more successful they will be at influencing peoples views. Rudy is a fascinating part of this, bill krystal. The president is going to be going to pennsylvania tonight. The last time he was in wilkesbarre was october of 2016. There you see Jeff Sessions. Rudy giuliani was there. Both of them adamant trump is this rule of law guy. And not, to quote rudy then, a serial liar like hillary clinton. Fast forward to today and trump says session needs to end the russia probe. Here is how rudy defended that tweet. We said immediately its an opinion. He used the media he uses for
opinions, twitter. Hes established a clear sort of practice now that he expresses his opinions on twitter. He used the word should. He didnt use the word must. There was no president ial directive. Didnt direct him to do it. Hes not going to direct him to do it. Bill, is Rudy Giuliani doing great with the president s base . Here we go. Are we going to the briefing . Not yet. Okay. She sometimes make these long statements at the top so well wait. Is he helpful just with the base . Is that offset by what he could potentially doing . I think serious lawyers are look, hes not going to be indicted. Trump personally, its a fight about Public Opinion im sorry, we have to interrupt. Sarah sanders is now taking questions. Critical infrastructure. Last week, the president chaired a meeting of his National Security counsel to address ongoing threats. He asked the officials standing
next to brief the American People on the work being done to protect the integrity of our elections. Efforts are under way to provide Cybersecurity Assistance to state and local authorities and actions to investigate, prosecute and hold accountable those who illegally attempt to interfere in the process. I want to welcome director of National Intelligence dan coats, fbi director christopher wray, secretary of Homeland Security kirstjen nielsen, director of the National Security agency, and National Security adviser ambassador john bolton, to make some comments and take questions on this topic. As you all know, weve addressed what occurred during the 2016 election numerous times and rather extensively. The purpose of todays briefing is about what were doing now and in the future to protect the integrity of elections, moving forward. We ask you stay on that topic. In order to help this run smoothly, we ask you direct the question a specific person. Ill turn it over to ambassador bolton to open up and make some comments. Well, thank you very much, sarah. What wed like to address today is Election Security and the 2018 election, and the future. The president has made it very clear what that is. Weve had a number of inquiries, including a letter to me the past couple of days from five senator, signed by Senator Schumer and others. Weve made Copies Available to you. It forms a kind of framework of the briefing the heads of age y agencies are going to give you today. There are other agencies involved. These are the four primary ones. I think its important that we address the question of the
president s involvement in there. His leadership, his determination, to prevent foreign influence in elections. We meet on this constantly. The senior staff and the white house. We meet with the heads of the different agencies. Weve already had two full National SecurityCouncil Meetings chaired by the president. As i say, countless other discussions as well. Since january 2017, the president has taken Decisive Action to defend our Elections Systems from meddling and interference. This includes measures to systems and processes, to confront russian and other foreign maligned influence in the United States. To confront such aggression through international action. And to reinforce a strong sanctions regime. As you know, elections are
administered by state and local governments. Well be addressing that through the comments, the heads of the operating agencies. Also to say by way of introduction that many federal government actions to protect elections in the United States such as those implemented by the Intelligence Community or Law Enforcement agencies are sensitive and highly classified. We do not witch to make efforts of our adversaries any easier through injudicious public disclosure. We have offered to do before and continue to offer briefings to members of congress in security facilities. Id like to turn this over to people whose agencies have the responsibility. Well start off with director of National Intelligence dan coats. Followed by kirstjen nielsen. Shell be followed by the
director of the federal bureau of investigation christopher wray. And the director of the National Security agency general paul nokosani. Dan. As director of National Intelligence, i would like the American People to know that the Intelligence Community and all agencies are postered to identify threats. The president has directed us to make the matter of the Election Meddling and securing our Election Process A top priority and we have done that and are doing that and will continue to do so. We have incorporated the Lessons Learned from the 2016 election and implemented a Broad Spectrum of actions to share more information across the federal government as well as with state and local governments and also with the public and the private
sector. The Intelligence Community continues to be concerned about the threats of upcoming elections. Both the midterms and the president ial elections of 2020. In records to russian involvement, we continue to see a progressive messaging campaign to try to weaken and divide the United States. These efforts are not exclusive to these elections but certainly cover issues relevant to the election. We are aware that russia is not the only country that has influenced our domestic political environment. As such, we will continue to
monitor and warn of any such efforts. I will make sure the Intelligence Community is working together and integrating across organizations and missions and seeking Greater Transparency with the public. Instituted a Broad Spectrum of actions covering election, analysis, reporting, education and partnerships. All designed to provide the best threat assessments to federal, state and local officials as well as to the public and private sector when necessary. For example, my office leads the Interagency Working Group now meeting weekly as a push towards november. With the department of justice, fbi, department of Homeland Security, cia and nsa, includive of regional cyber and counter lejs experts, all focused on
integration of our efforts. The Intelligence Communitys focus right now is persistent support to the fbi, to the department of Homeland Security and other agencies in their election responsibilities and my office is ensuring these organizations receive timely and proactive Intelligence Community support. Good afternoon. Thank you all for joining us. I want to start by briefly mentioning on tuesday dhs hosted the First National cybersecurity summit. This brought together Industry Leaders and academia to discuss opportunities to join forces to counter threats. I want to thank all of those who joined us. All who participated. And those who signed up to concrete actions to confront cybersecurity challenges. Across every Critical Infrastructure sector from
energy to Financial Services to transportation to communication and so many others, a single attack can have widespread and cascading consequences. I look forward to working with the nations leading minds in the digital realm as we stand up the National Risk management center. Its zblounot just risk we have worry about. Our democracy itself is in the cross hairs. Free and Fair Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy and it has become clear that theyre the target of our adversaries who seek as the dni just said to sew discord and undermine our way of life. I share the Intelligence Communitys assessments, past efforts, and those today to interfere with our election. Our adversaries have shown they have the willingness and capability to interfere in our elections. Dhs has and continues to work closely with state and local
election officials throughout the country by offering a range of services to help identify weaknesses in their Election Systems. Whether its offering no cost, voluntary technical assistance, or providing Technical Advice on ransom ware and destructive m malware, our department stands ready to provide tailored support. This is yet another example where one size does not fit all. Im pleased to inform you that to date all 50 states, the District Of Columbia and over 900 local governments have partnered with dhs in order to bolster the resilience of the nations Election Infrastructure. Various states also have organic capabilities and are engaging with the private