The days biggest political and news stories, with interviews and reporting from around the nation. The days biggest political and news stories, with interviews and reporting from around the nation. The days biggest political and news stories, with interviews and reporting from around the nation. Thursday, a Sanctions Bill against russia. This will be a heck of a lot easier if there was a white house who actually carried and was willing to get in the fight. Clearly continuing, the russians are not going to slow down. The last point is the problem that hangs over this entire news tonight. It appears the fbi and facebook are acting in realtime, which indicates some learning compared to 2016. The president himself though hasnt only undercut past intelligence about russia attacking in 2016, he also says he doesnt think its happening now either. Is russia still targeting the u. S. , mr. President . Press, lets go, make your way out. You had a chance to speak with the president after his comments. The president was said thank you very much, and was saying no to answering questions. Im joined by msnbc terrorism analyst malcolm nance. And Harvard Law Professor johai
platform to stoke fears on the right. So if we dont stop it right now, its going to get worse. Im a longtime readeri er o your work. You are measured and precise. I bring to you some of the numbers which dont suggest a wide or large scale, but anytime you have Something Like this with an election it is important, in a democracy. Let me read to you what were getting from facebook. 290,000 accounts were following the pages. The events they caught were about 30 in america. And the spend quite low when you think about all the midterms going on, 11,000 on 150 ads. Thats whats been caught in realtime. Your analysis . Good to be with you again. And i think we should all be happy that facebook is responding, and that theyre actually cooperating, both with federal agencies and with independent researchers. The first strike of a larger effort . We dont know enough to know whether what facebook has done is enough or theyre just finding a little bit. What we do know is when we look at the data from the election itself, this is a very similar pattern. They seem to be jumping on bandwagons that are already there. Theyre trying to show some success. But largely theyre not driving the effect, just like they didnt drive the concerns with voter fraud that the republicans were pushing. Theyre not driving the resistance to i. C. E. Theyre not driving the rejection of the white house supremacists. So i think it just needs to be taken in context. They are trying to theyre trolling us. Theyre trying to make us feel like our democracy is not safe because of them when, in fact, its internal divisions with very long and deep roots. Let me press you on that. Really pushing us. Let me press you on that and
im going to natasha. Your claim you just made would suggest they want us to find this and be scared, facebook revealing they do this as whoever is doing it, trying even harder not to get caught. How do you square that . To yochai first. Oh, i have no doubt that they are trying to do it, and that what theyre trying to do, if americans were working with them, is illegal. Theyre trying to cover up. Right. They are professionals trying to do their work. Okay. The problem is that we need to not overstate how important they are. Right. Let me go to natasha then, your analysis . Yeah, i think that one of the things that worried me the most about this announcement was obviously not the scale of it, 30 is a relatively low number, but it was the fact that it seems like theyre getting more competent, that theyre learning how to cover their tracks more efficiently, that theyve really begun to adapt now that they know theyre in the cross hairs
million people. Thats another part of my concern, facebook may not know the full extent right now of how many accounts are operating on its platform, and whether many of these accounts are actually totally sleeper accounts that will become more active around the runup to the election. That goes through a time when a company has been hammered on stock prices spending more on security. The trump cam page, the digital director, has always been clear facebook is how they won. Take a look. I understood early that facebook was how donald trump was going to win. Twitter is how he talked to the people. Facebook was going to be how he won. And facebook is how he won. I think so. I mean, i think donald trump won. But i think facebook was the method. It was the highway in which his car drove on. Malcolm . Well, you know, i dont want to bring this down to a discussion as to whether
there. Yochai, brief rebuttal. Its important to be to look. But if you look at the data from the election, and you look at specific allegations, like the account that drove the voter fraud story, that account thats in the mueller indictment starts communicating seven days after donald trump as candidate is pushing voter fraud, after he goes on hannity and oreilly. Then to step back and say the russians shaped the elections as opposed to looking at the piece that you just showed about the importance of facebook and focusing on targeted advertising, on making sure that facebook targeted advertising is fully transparent and is available for the public to look at. If we focus on the russians, because we give them too much impact, first of all we accredit them. And second, we divert their attention from where facebook might be having mass effect,
which is in the targeted behavioral marketing thats not transparent enough. And we dont have targeted behavior i dont recaal marketi rundown. Its still a question of vigilance versus overreaction. I hope to get you both back on together. Natasha stays with me later in the show. Up next, the democrats top russian investigator in the house, congressman adam schiff is here live. And the breakdown of everything that happened in the Manafort Trial. Later, a legal breakdown on something you may be discussing a lot all week, yes, collusion is a crime. I will hear from a republican Cabinet Member under bush who now says it is clear donald trump is unfit for office. If thats not all, d. L. Hughley is back, on the show about his book how not to get shot and other advice from white people. Im ari melber, and youre watching the beat on msnbc. And its also a story about people. People who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams theyre handing us more than mail theyre handing us their business and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you sfx [cell phone dialing] no. No, no, no, no, no. Cancel. Cancel. Please. Aaagh being in the know is a good thing. Thats why discover will alert you if your Social Security number is found on any one of thousands of risky sites. New laptop with 24 7 tech support. Yep, thanks guys. I think he might need some support. Yes start them off right. With the School Supplies they need at low prices all summer long. Save 200 on this dell laptop at office depot officemax. Save 200 on this dell laptop you need a higher Standardigher Standard of craftsman. Hip, see for yourself at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. Lease the 2018 es 350 for 329 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi. . A more powerful way to stay connected. It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most Wifi Coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. Joining me live is congressman adam schiff, Ranking Member of the house intelligence committee, which has been quite busy today with face books revelation on new attacks with the midterm elections, thanks for being with me tonight. Good to be with you. People who are following this news as it breaks, or may have heard at the top of the show,
two qualified experts disagree on the level of intensity, what does this new revelation mean about this attack on the midterms tonight . We need to view this in combination of what we learned a week ago from microsoft. Two of the vectors the russians used in the last election they appear to be using again. In both of the mueller indictments, theyre using social media surreptitiously to divide americans, to accentuate the fault lines in our society. Theyre hacking or attempting to hack political campaigns, we saw Claire Mccaskill is one of the targets of this, and that she was a target the same week that donald trump was evidently saying publicly that she needed to be defeated. That has an echo of july of the Election Year in which donald trump said publicly, hey russians, if youre listening, hack Hillary Clintons emails. On that date they did try to hack the clinton campaign. Congressman, respectfully, to push you on that, he would probably be on record against the reelection of most any incumbent democrat. Thats certainly true. But it also looks like the russians may have been listening when he called for Claire Mccaskills ouster. The timing, again, is very suspicious. The timing of that attempted hack of her campaign took place not months after he mentioned Claire Mccaskill. And it wasnt like there was a tremendous volume of campaigns that were the subject of attack. According to to microsoft, there were only three, and that was one of them. So the timing is certainly suspicious. But it looks like, because theyve identified similar actors to the Russian Hackers of the dnc, that the russians are using using both of these modalities, hacking of campaigns, Surreptitious Social Media again to influence our elections. I also want to get your report card here on what is a giant and powerful corporation,
facebook. Because in ways that no one, i think, would have predicted, many years ago, they have become a key platform and utility, if you will, for how we do democracy and civic discussion in this country. You and others have been critical in the past. I want to read how Mark Zuckerberg is assessing this tonight. Security isnt a problem you completely solve, but were learning and quickly too. Were vesting heavily to keep people safe. What grade to you give them, and how true does that statement feel to you given how much more you know than most of us about the Back Room Pressure to get this company to act responsibly. Its a work in progress. Im pleased they came forward with this announcement today, even if they had to caveat it and say we cant definitively say this was the russian government, but there are links to this troll farm in st. Petersburg. Thats what we need them to do. We need this to be timely. They referred to events that it appears, again, that these russian trolls are trying to
organize in the United States and victimize real people and get real people involved in protests or count protests without knowing that they the impetus originates in russia. In the real world. What does it say to you that already the markings, or the overlap at least of russian operations, what does that say to you about this attack were learning about tonight . Just what we expect. The russians wont be so blatant than last time. Theyre not using the same ip addresses. Theyre going to hide their hand. And facebook clearly acknowledges that in their statement today. Which means facebook will have to do better sleuthing. Also, facebook acknowledges we need to make sure our Intelligence Community and cooperating and there are challenges, theres a free flow of information and im concerned that we learn from microsoft about this attempted hack of three campaigns. They would have informed the fbi
or the department of homeland security. I would have thought we would have been notified in congress about this. None of that happened. It didnt go up through the food chain. There wasnt the kind of whole of government response there should be, and that alarms me getting closer to the midterms. Does that relate to leadership or lack thereof from the Trump Administration . Unquestionably. There are, i think, people at the midbureaucracy level trying their best at the homeland of security, and at the top of the Intelligence Community. But theres no one at the top saying this is a priority of our administration, you need to work with each other, talk with oecheer. Instead we got the guy at the top saying this is all a hoax and a witch hunt. Which now tonight feels very real as undercutting something that is actually relevant to how we choose the body youre in, the congress. Weve gone several minutes, congressman schiff, without discussing Rudy Giuliani. I would like to rectify that by showing the comments he made that are both bizarre in how he
did it, but relevant in the sense hes the lawyer for the president talking about a potential meeting that might add culpability. Take a look. There was another meeting that had been leaked, but hasnt been public yet. There was an alleged meeting three days before. According to cohen, or according to the leak, he says there was a meeting with donald jr. , with jared kushner, with Paul Manafort, with gates, and possibly two others, in which they, out of the presence of the president , discussed the meeting with the russians. We checked with their lawyers, the ones we could check with, which was four of the six. That meeting never, ever took place. It didnt happen. Is this important in any way, and does your investigation look at whether there were such meetings that could suggest greater culpability about this potential collusion and
conspiracy . Well, we certainly tried to look into this. But all too often the majority on our committee was uninterested in getting the answers. So when witnesses stone walled us and refused to answer, the republicans were unwilling to subpoena them or compel them. We werent allowed to follow the evidence where it was leading. But here you have giuliani saying, okay, there was a premeeting, and then he quickly corrects himself, an alleged premeeting. Hes all over the map. But you can look at the statements hes been making, along with the president s confirmation of the new defense strategy, collusion is not a crime, and you can see that plainly they feel there is evidence that the president knew in advance that this is what theyre worried about, that evidence is going to come forward, that the president knew in advance of the trump tower meeting, so theyre shifting to a okay, even if there was collusion, even if the president was involved in collusion, its not a crime. But, of course, the crime is conspiracy. So theyre playing a word game. But nonetheless i think this kind of throw everything you can at the wall strategy of Rudy Giuliani doesnt really serve the president s interests very well. But it is telling. You know, the only other point i would make on this is that i think that theyre clearly spooked by Michael Cohen. And theyre making the leaks, not Michael Cohen, it seems, at least as far as the sum of it is concerned. And i have to imagine that they might have gotten this information if there had been a joint defense of some kind with Michael Cohen and these other counsel, that Michael Cohen has now opted out of because it seems to be theyre very specific about this premeeting that they are you know, six members or eight members, and theyve talked to four of the six or six of the eight. Theyre using a great many particulars, and they clearly, i think, want to try to get this out there, and minimize it before Michael Cohen does. But i just dont see that its going to be all that effective a
defense strategy. Well, thats the weird part. Rudy ju Rudy Giuliani is insisting this dinner never took place, but everyone had sushi. Congressman adam schiff, thanks for being here. Thanks, ari. Up ahead, i break down the Central Government on trumps idea that collusion is not a crime. Thats wrong. It is. Ill explain in 30 seconds. Edge of the box, willingham shoots. Goooooooaaaaaaaallllllll that. Was. Magic. Willingham tucks it in and puts the championship to bed. Sweet dreams, nighty night. As long as Soccer Players celebrate with a slide, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Pressure, what pressure . The players on the. The other top story tonight, after all the guilty pleas and
charges today is an unusual point in modern american history. The Campaign Chair for a sitting president facing trial for crimes that could give him life in prison. Muellers prosecutors throwing the book at Paul Manafort today, and thats a Bad Association for any white house at trial like this. Though prosecutors do say they do not expect russia to come up, meaning this trial is not expected to breakthrough answers on collusion. And that actually makes it quite odd that this is the week that trump and his allies are bringing up collusion, not to say it never happened, but to claim, as weve been reporting tonight, that its maybe okay even if it did. The argument is that collusion is not a crime. Even if more evidence comes out about it, thats okay. They also argue that those rookies in that meeting did no better, which doesnt really apply to a veteran operative like Paul Manafort. Colluding with foreigners to impact a u. S. Election is a crime. Lets go through it briefly. One, its a crime to get anything of value from foreigners. Two, its a crime to defraud theUnited States. Three, its a crime to steal things, whet