Headline for the epa chief and the white house as the 11th hour gets under way on a tuesday night. Good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Im ali velshi in for brian williams. We begin with a new bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence committee, which unequivocally backs up the findings of the u. S. Intel agencies that russia meddled in the 2016 president ial election with an eye toward helping donald trump win. Specifically the Committee Said it agrees with the conclusion that russian president Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign for the u. S. Election, that the kremlin had a clear preference for trump, that it discredited Hillary Clinton and contrasted her unfavorably to trump, and that by july 2015, russia had already obtained access to Democratic National committee networks. The Senate Committee also said the intelligence agencies overall findings were wellsupported and said there was no evidence of political motivation. This is very different than what weve been hearing from the house intelligence committee. That committee ended its inquiry in march saying the intel agencies had failed to prove their conclusions about putins attempts in favor of trump. Tonight president did not mention russia nor this new senate report. But hes not been silent about russia and the intelligence agencies on twitter. Just a few days ago he wrote, quote, russia continues to say they had nothing to do with meddling in our election. Just this morning he was back on twitter writing, wow, the nsa has deleted 685 million phone calls and text messages. Privacy violations . They blame technical irregularities. Such a disgrace. The witch hunt continues. Trump has also been adamant in person about his feelings regarding the allegations involving russia. I said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a madeup story. I have this witch hunt constantly going on for over 12 months now. There was no collusion. And thats been so found, as you know, by the house intelligence committee. All we hear about is this phone russia witch hunt. Thats all we hear about. Theres no collusion with me. Theres no russia with me. Theres no nothing. Honestly, its a disgrace. Now, this latest report from the Senate IntelligenceCommittee Comes just weeks before the president s summit with Vladimir Putin. They will meet in helsinki on july 16th. Its been reported that at least one of their meetings could be one on one, no aides at their side, no one in the room where it happens. Today, a team of republican senators led by alabama republican Richard Shelby were in moscow meeting with Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in an attempt to help set the tone for the upcoming trump putin sitdown. Also today, secretary of state mike pompeo spoke to lavrov by phone, according to the readout by the russian ministry. That conversation was another effort to make sure it all goes smoothly during the summit in finland. Trump has been seeking a formal meeting with putin for months now and has made it clear he believes it will benefit the United States. If we can get along with russia, thats a good thing, not a bad thing. A few years ago putin was in what was called the g8. I think its better to have russia in than to have russia out. Getting along with russia and china and with everything is a very good thing. Its good for the world, its good for us, its good for everybody. Now, trump and putin have met before at previous gatherings involving other world leaders. But the helsinki meeting will be their first summit. Putin is very much driving this. The president is an intelligence recruiters dream. Hes totally transparent with his tweets and public comments. His frustrations, his desires, his weaknesses, this vulnerabilities are all hanging out there. Putin of course is a trained kgb intelligence operator. Now, before trump talks to putin, hell meet with the leaders of nato countries in brussels. That alliance has been tested by the president s rhetoric about its cost and its usefulness to the United States. And most recently, its been reported that trump has written letters to several of the leaders of nato countries accusing them of spending too little on their own defense. Today, a former nato commander pointed out that such a move will likely heighten the tensions within the alliance. Well, its a terrible move tactically. Above all, we need our network of allies, partners, and friends around the world. To undermine it by sending out these letters, the nato heads of state must feel like theyre headed for a root canal with a dentist, going to this meeting. Okay. Lets bring in our leadoff panel for a tuesday night. Jeremy bash, former chief of staff at the cia and the pentagon. Also former counsel to house intel. Julia ainsley, National Security and justice reporter. Michael mcfaul, former u. S. Ambassador to russia. Also the author of a new book, from cold war to hot peace. Michael, i want to start with you. I think its important to realize that when Donald Trump Tells americans about what with regard to nato is good for the United States, i think its important to realize that only once in the history of the Nato Alliance was the socalled article v invoked, the idea that an attack on one is an attack on all, and all the 22 countries come to the aid there are now 22 countries of the attacked country. Only once in history has that actually happened. Thats right. And after it happened, many of those countries sent their soldiers to die in afghanistan next to american soldiers. And they were there for several years. I think up to 1,100 soldiers died from countries all throughout the Nato Alliance. So when we talk about what they have done for us, theyve given their ultimate sacrifice for us. Remember, we were attacked. Canada wasnt attacked. Germany was attacked. Estonia wasnt attacked. Yet they all had their soldiers die with us on the battlefield in afghanistan. They came to our defense. Jeremy, lets go back to the senate intel report. The house intel report was sort of unbelievable, they shut that investigation down before they had finished interviewing and hadnt really done a comprehensive report on this. The senate intel report is what most americans are hoping a congressional inquiry looks like. Yeah, ali, its a republicanled investigation conducted thoroughly and in a bipartisan way. And the conclusions were pretty striking, not really surprising, but striking in that they were a rebuke to the president s prevailing narrative. Number one, the Senate IntelligenceCommittee Found definitively that the Intelligence Communitys assessment was wellsupported by the evidence, wellfounded by intelligence, that not just there was meddling in the 2016 election, but that in fact putin directed it and he directed it to favor donald trump. And secondly, importantly, they concluded that the steele dossier played no role in the Intelligence Communitys assessment. The Intelligence Communitys assessment was based on a very large body of information that has been collected by the u. S. Government that has now been verified on a bipartisan basis. Julia ainsley, for those of us who dont follow this all that closely, how is it that a bipartisan Senate Committee investigating the same thing came to such a different conclusion than the house intel committees conclusion in march that President Trump touts as irrefutable . Ali, these two committees have been taking the same issue and looking at it in a completely different way. We know that the House Committee was very much about politics. Chairman devin nunes was taking some of his marching orders from the white house. He stepped down as chair of that investigation in the house, but he very much kept a hand in it. On the senate side they were seen as the adults in the room. Thats a term i remember hearing, richard burr, republican, leading this, along with senator mark warner, a democrat, really wanted to strike a serious tone because they knew the gravity of what they were doing. And if there were any flaws, political motivations toward the right or the left, they would be undermined. And in this case they also were able to use that bipartisan swing and to show that there was no political motivation in the investigation run by the Intelligence Community into russias interference in the 2016 election. And so they were able to do what the Inspector General did at the Justice Department just last month, where they also determined that there was no political motivation by the Justice Department looking into Hillary Clintons emails. What we have is many investigations, some are investigations of investigations, it can be really easy to get your head lost in all of this. But i think whats clear here is that we had a really serious, longdrawnout investigation into this narrow piece of what the Intelligence Community did. And they found no political motivation. And its probably where i would put my cards rather than the house. Ambassador mcfaul, the timing of this is inconvenient for the president as he heads to russia. He had a discussion with Maria Bartiromo from fox about what he would talk to Vladimir Putin about. Are you going to mention the meddleling when you meet with Vladimir Putin . Im going to mention why the fbi didnt take the server from the dnc. What about deleting 30,000 emails . At some point, mike mcfaul, this gets ridiculous. It does get ridiculous. The good news, all three of you used the word bipartisan, thats a word we dont get to hear very often. We should remember, thats in americas National Security interests when we do that. But to hear our president , hes going to ask putin about what the fbi is supposed to do with Hillary Clinton . Its really disappointing. When i hear other officials say, oh, theyre going to push back hard on this when they meet, its obvious that thats not what President Trump plans to talk about. Instead, you know, what is amazing is all the concessions that hes been floating lately, you know, why did putin want him to win . Because this is a president who said he would look into recognizing crimea. This is a president who wants to look into reducing our troops to nato. This is a president who is in a fight with our closest allies. Thats exactly the outcome that Vladimir Putin wanted in 2016. Jeremy bash, there are 22 countries in nato, but the most interesting part about nato expansion in recent years is that theyre around russia. They border russia, the Old Soviet Union countries, czechoslovakia, estonia, all these countries. These countries are living in remarkable fear now. The Nato Alliance has kept them safe for decades. If russia decides to get expansionist tendencies again, theyre relying on nato to protect them. Guess what, russia is get be expansionist tendencies again. This has to be a big problem that plays into the hands of Vladimir Putin. American Foreign Policy is completely inverted, ali. Instead of supporting the Transatlantic Alliance that has kept europe whole and free and democratic, the Nato Alliance, and instead of working to constrain an aggressive russian government effort across not just europe but indeed the middle east, in fact american Foreign Policy is now upside down. Were now supporting putin. Were supporting russias Foreign Policy. And were undermining the alliance that has kept american National Security interests protected. Julia, there are republican senators who are meeting with lavrov. Republican senators do not share Donald Trumps view that we should be giving russia a warm hug right now. Thats right. I mean, hes been cautioned not just on this. Hes been cautioned on what hes doing on trade policy. It seems its really difficult, though, to get inside the mind of donald trump, whether youre a republican senator or even an adviser very close to him, or especially if you have expertise. Hes really in the business of his own pr. He sees himself as the consummate business leader, someone who can strike a deal. And i think that might be why he wants to have this oneonone meeting. And he isnt being talked out of the idea of how damaging that can be to his public image and how many questions americans would have about that. Thats kind of the most common question i get, is why is he still going out of his way to defend russia, to talk about crimea, if he is trying to say that he won this election fair and square . Mike mcfaul, you said the idea of a meeting in which there is no one else in the room, given the shadow that donald trump is under, it just doesnt make sense. I agree. It doesnt make sense. I devoted my columns in the Washington Post this week, calling it the personalization of Foreign Policy. All president s do that, but trump has taken it to an extreme. And he doesnt think about Americas National interests. He thinks about his relationships with these people. And he thinks about getting along with a guy like putin and kim jongun as the objective of the meeting. And that is not traditionally the way we do things. And especially to do it with no notetaker in the room, thats really dangerous, because then putin gets to read out the meeting in the way he thinks is in russias national interests. Gentlemen, julia, thank you for joining us. Coming up, President Trump chats with three more potential Supreme Court nominees. And embattled epa chief scott pruitt pushes back on reports that he wanted Jeff Sessions job. Ahh. Summer is coming. And its time to get outside. Pack in even more adventure with audible. With the Largest Selection of audiobooks. Audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. Or discover magic when you hit the open road. With the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. And for just 14. 95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. If you dont like it exchange it any time. No questions asked. You can also roll your credits to the next month if you dont use them. So take audible with you this summer. On the road. On the trail. Or to the beach. Start a 30day trial and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. No matter where you go this summer make it better with audible. Text summer17 to 500500 to start listening today. I spent the last three days interviewing and thinking about Supreme Court justices. Such an important decision. And were going to give you a great one. Were going to announce it on monday. And i think youll be very impressed. These are very talented people, brilliant people. I think youre going to really love it, like justice gorsuch. We hit a home run there. And were going to hit a home run here. And step by step, we are making America Great again. President trump offering an update about his potential Supreme Court picks during his event in west virginia. Earlier this evening the president promised to reveal his choice next monday, july 9th. The white house says President Trump spoke to three potential picks today, a total of seven this week. We can assume senator mike lee was one of those seven people interviewed by the president. A spokesman for the republican senator confirmed to nbc news that the president spoke to lee by phone on monday and that the senator was in utah. Robert costa of the Washington Post reports President Trump interviewed cavanaugh, barrett, amul thapar on wednesday. Those four judges are indeed under consideration along with senator lee, Thomas Hardiman and joan larsen. Shannon pettypiece, robert costa, and Phillip Elliott join me. Welcome to you all. Shannon, lets start with you. You were with the president in west virginia. And he one of the first things he spoke about was the Supreme Court. You got a sense that hes happy with how this is playing out . We do. Hes still planning to make a decision by monday, any day now. Hes been really charging along on this. This is something he could have anticipated coming, its not one of those issues that came out of nowhere. For him, hes in a position where he can score a lot of points with his base. Can he get someone through congress . That will be congress problem. But if he can pick a solid