Transcripts For MSNBCW The Rachel Maddow Show 20180803 01:00

MSNBCW The Rachel Maddow Show August 3, 2018 01:00:00

Rachel Maddow takes a look at the days top political news stories. Summit was less than an hour and didnt have any follow through and that match is reporting the Trump Administration has no central policy for Election Security and no one is in charge. While were running through the facts, note that another appointee flagged that they dont have a key person minding the store in Cyber Security because the Trump Administration eliminated the job of Cyber Security coordinator. So thats a lot of facts. That is the current policy baseline. Experts noting the trump approach looks more like cyber lackadaisical than cyber secure. That is the framework for what happened today. A list of intelligence vips, marching into the White House Briefing room. And you can see it there. They were rolling deep. You see the leaders of intel announcing that contrary to what their boss says, the recent reports in the news of russian midterm meddling are true. That russian interference and u. S. Politics continues right 2016 election, of course, none of us were in office at that particular time. The president , the Vice President , i think everyone on this stage has acknowledged that the ica was a correct assessment of what happened in 2016. Our focus here today is simply to tell the American People, we acknowledge the threat. It is real. It is continuing and were doing everything we can to have a legitimate election that the American People can have trust in. So that was the answer. Thats the tension on the intelligence. Then there is a separate tension about how do you indict is that punish the people identified by very intelligence for attacking american democracy. We all know, there is a busy Special Counsel operation he has denigrated and lied about. So a question on that was posed to the fbi director who of course, lets not forget has this job because his predecessor was fired because of the same russia probe and that firing is to the constitution. And there are those who took their oaths to mean they had to stand up to criminal conduct when they discovered it among their peers or superiors but the directors statement could mean nothing because it is leaning on a cliche rather than stating unegive economy the fbi director has the president s back, isnt going to change his actions or words just because the president down the hall keeps running down the probe. Theres one more thing we can glean and it came from dan coats, the one who chose to tell everyone before that trump was hiding the putin meetings contents from him which is something he doesnt have to put on black in front of the nation. But he did it again today. This was not an issue of timing or delay. It has been three weeks and your nations top intelligence officials doesnt know what happened in helsinki. In the runup to the helsinki summit, the u. S. Officials, the nato ambassadors to russia said the president would raise the issue of activity. He didnt discuss it, at least at the press conference. Youre saying the president has directed you to make the issue of election meddling a priority. How do you explain the disconnect between what you are saying, his advisers, and what the president has. About this issue . Im not in a position to either understand fully or talk about what happened at helsinki. Hes not in a position. Meaning he still doesnt know. There is an old brooklyn saying about that moment of insight that hits you when you learn a truthful if you dont know, now you know. Under trump, dan coats has turned that upside down saying he didnt know and he still doesnt. He is the one person in charge of our u. S. National security secrets. If he still doesnt know, that sounds like a problem for all of us. We begin with ken dillanan. Theres been a great deal of reporting and schools. Thank you for joining me. Thank you. Good to be here. When you look at that united front, what do you see as the positive and what do you see as problematic that was clearly left unsaid . That was such a fascinating mixture of truth in fiction, of cynicism and earnestness. The fiction and the Sincynicisms John Bolten saying that from the moment donald trump took office, he has had a strong and forceful policy to do you meaner foreign enter sxrengs russian meddling. Thats just false. Weve reported that it is false. Anyone who has a twitter feed knows thats untrue. What he has done is, even tonight hours after this event, donald trump gave a speech and he again referred to the russian hoax. He said his relationship could be good but it is hindered by the russian hoax. So that was ridiculous. But chris wray, paul, the head of the National Security agency, and dan coats, i really believe do have an interest in trying to do something and they did want to communicate to the American People the government does recognize this is a problem. Theyre trying on flag that the russians still throughout intervening and there are some things that they are doing about it. The most interesting thing that i heard was paul, a general and who commands cyber command, the nations cyber war force. He was prepared to go after foreign meddlers. And he seemed to suggest that he had president ial authorization to do that. I think it is up in the air. We need to pin it down of he cant use the vast cyber arsenal at his disposal unless donald trump allows him to do that. But that was the biggest news. Other things them we already knew. Yes, the russians continue to meddle in our politics. Yes, dhs is receiving out to shore up Cyber Security. Yes, the fbi has a foreign task force and no, there is no president ial leadership. There is to central unifying lets dig into that point you raised. It is common to say this is better than nothing. It is a low bar for the administration. So while better than nothing, doesnt it still look like the Cyber Security plan is a headless body where the folks do what they can but we all know and see that the head of the government is undercutting them before and after. Yes. And the biggest evidence of that is that theyre having this news conference 100 days before the midterms. Bits a year and a half too late. None of this behavior by the russians stopped at all after the 2016 election. Particularly the intervention on facebook and twitter, the attempt to divide americans by creating false personas and stirring up trouble. Thats been going on. And dan coats gave a speech where he said the system is blinking red. So yes. Youre right. We can shore up our cyber defenses and we can do a lot of things on try to defend. But the russian intelligence hackers are always going to get in in some fashion. The way that you stop them is to deter them. And the only person who can do that is donald trump. And just briefly, to that final point. One of the issues with the Obama Administration and the perils that are posed, was, quote, obamas approach, the Washington Post noted, dont make things worse. Obamas advisers concern any pre election response could provoke an escalation from putin. Putting aside the trump piece of this, what is the problem for the pus as you put it, lives in a glass house when it comes to escalating a Cyber Global War . That was a reasonable concern by barack obama. We are the most vulnerable of any society. We are the most internet connected. And we are extremely vulnerable to russian cyber attack. And they are in our networks, including the critical infrastructure. Most intelligence officials and experts that i talked on feel like, what else can we do . There has to be a response to this. We are wide open to an attack on our democracy. And the russians have not been deterred in the least and there has to be something we can do to deter them. Thank you so much. All over the story. As we turn to our next guest, i want to look at March Of Next year. The Senate Intel Committee was looking at these issues and they heard testimony from a former fbi special agent. And he said something that has echoed in peoples heads ever since. This is not new for the russians. Theyve done this for a long time across europe. But he was much more engaging this time in our election. Why now . Mr. Watts . I think this answer is very simple and what no one is really saying in this room which is, part of the reason request active measures have worked in this u. S. Election is because theyve used active measures at times against his points. On 11 october, President Trump stood on a stage and cited what appeared to be a fake news story from Put Nick News that disappeared from the internet. He denies the intel from the boouts russia. He claims that the election could be rigged, that was the number one thing pushed by sputnik all the way until the election. I want to bring in clint watts. In a social media world, hackers and fake news, as a person involved in law enforcement, you dont get any personal pleasure. You go from being early and right about something that is such a massive problem. But the way you put it there in a serious setting to congress, that early on, was far ahead of where people were comfortable stating the problem that you said these russian active measures were put in place basically more effectively because of the way donald trump behaved. How does that context apply . It is a happy, sad moment. That is a briefing that should have happened in february 2017. President trump was briefed about this before the inauguration, we know now. And yet there was no response. And the person that should have been leading that press Conference Today is the commander in chief of this country. It is his job to defend all americans against enemies, foreign and domestic. And particularly when they come together. He should be trying to ensure the integrity of our electoral process or democratic institutions. So what was fascinating today was essentially, the leaders of these institutions, many of whom have been battered by the boss, are now moving around them to serve the American People. I thought director wrays yomts on target. He said in charge of our organization and this is what were going to do. The swam the nsa director. He said im willing to strike back against russia and i might do it. It is almost independent. It is shocking that were talking about this. This should be led by a task force, headed by the commander in chief. It should come from the National Security staff and it should be an integrated strategy. What if we launch the cyber attack but we come up against the adversary. What if they turn off the lights in one of our cities. This requires coordination. While im happy to see the advances being made, and ill sure this is a reaction to that helsinki summit and the fear th that Many Americans have, about interference in our election, im still really worried that the right hand and the left hand dont know what each is doing. And this is now. This is not litigating 2016. Helsinki is now. Whatever was secretly discussed is operative now. The midterm meddling is now. Do you have a view, given the great expertise, beyond what most of us Have Access To, what dan coats is doing there and repeatedly saying hes Out Of The Loop . Yeah. I think he is trying to make sure that he is honest with the congress which is oversight over him, and with the public. I find value in that. While im disappointed what his answer is, at least hes telling the truth saying this is my position and this is what my job is and this is what i know. What makes me nervous, as we saw on that stage in aspen, he didnt even know that the white house would extend an invitation to Vladimir Putin to come to the united states. This is stunning for the head of our intelligence to be that Out Of The Loop. So while i like how a lot of these leaders, these institutions are moving around the president , im alarmed where our country is. A year and a half later, were just now saying well do something about the attack two years ago. You make such an important appointment. Something rachel has been all over in her reporting. If the head of intel doesnt know the decision is being made to give putin that benefit, that honor, then obviously theyre not even making a pretense of having consulted him which means that decision is not being made based on u. S. Intelligence some of the other thing. And questions whether theres anything nefarious. There clint watts, we really appreciate your time tonight. Thank you. We have a lot more coming including day three of Paul Manaforts trial. Stay with us. Say what . Trout. Trout. All right. You dont think i need both . Why does he have that axe . Make summer go right with ford americas best selling brand. Now get 0 financing for 72 months plus 1,000 ford credit bonus cash on a great selection of suvs. During the ford summer sales event, get our best offer of the season 0 financing for 72 months plus 1,000 ford credit bonus cash. 0 financing for 72 months plus no matter how much you clean, does your house still smell stuffy . Thats because your home is filled with soft surfaces that trap odors and release them back into the room. So, try febreze fabric refresher. Febreze finds odors trapped in fabrics and cleans them away as it dries. Use febreze every time you tidy up to keep your whole house smelling fresh air clean. Fabric refresher even works for clothes you want to wear another day. Make febreze part of your clean routine for whole home freshness. Crisp leaves of lettuce. Freshly made dressing. Clean food that looks this good. Delivered to your desk. Now delivering to home or office. Panera. Food as it should be. A hotel can make or break a trip. And at expedia, we dont think you should be rushed into booking one. Thats why we created expedias addon advantage. Now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. Addon advantage. Discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. Only when you book with expedia. 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. Today looked like a bad day for Paul Manafort and his trial. Before i report any other facts, the early days in trials often look bad for the defendant because we hear one side, the first best arguments. In this case thats muellers laser focus on manaforts finances which were presented as lavish, shady, sneaky, and in some cases bizarre. Even though the defense is here to come, heres why there was so much bad news for the defendant. Manaforts book deeper took stand, paymenting a picture on the boss breaking the law. Gates will take the stand we learned today. To be clear, the testimony could reverberate well beyond this trial. For all the talk of people flipping and the intrigue about what Mike Filppula or George Papadopoulos may have told mueller, when gates speaks under oath in public in this trial, it will be the first time we actually hear a Trump Campaign aide legally turn on another Trump Campaign aide. And the other Development Might be a little more melodramatic. We return to the ostrich jacket. There was an effort to keep the photos away of his sartorial taste. The suits and the 15,000 ostrich jacket. Prosecutors argued that through wire transfers, as he controlled to u. S. Vendors, that it is directly relevant to the elements of the offenses. Thats very lawyerly and well show you why. The judge responded, im well aware the evidence is relevant and thats why i permitted the government to introduce the amounts of money that he spent. The relevance being, okay, do you know the receipts. The judge goes on to say, what i have not permitted is to gild the lily. If he spent a lot of money on fancy clothes or watches, theyre not Mens Warehouse Clothes but it wouldnt matter if he spent money on Mens Warehouse Clothes. You want to introduce pictures of these suits. That meaning the picture aspect itself isnt relevant at this point and kind of besmirches the defendant. It engenders feelings against rich people gently. So thats how they get sue the details. They have a reason the want to have the jury see with their own eyes the fancy spending. Some of this sounds like an episode of the rich and famous. You almost dont need the pictures. Theyre talking about a 10,000 system put in the house with red and White Flowers shaped like an m and A Man Made Pond that was complete with a water fall feature. The receipts are, of course, who we mentioned from the bookkeeper, she said she dwelt the Income Expenses and the super rich consultant was living a lie. He was on his way to being broke. He laid to finance institutions to get loans. He couldnt pay his own familys health bills. The prosecution asked, did there come a time when manafort had trouble paying his bills . And she said yes. Heres where it comes together. That was part of what was presented today. That was part of 2016. Evidence showing manafort needed money. Instead of seeking a new consulting gig, his man was to take a demanding full time high stress job as a volunteer. We all know that because he had a Written Pitch to trump which offered his Campaign Services for free. No paid job. The worst news for manafort is that all of this written

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