Park in Greenwich Village in the heart of downtown new york city. They have been promoting this for a while on facebook and otherwise to their supporters. It hasnt had any press pickup as far as i can tell, but its clear from their organizing effort that they expect this to be kind of a landmark event for the warren campaign. Its a kind of time and place and setting that could in fact result in a very, very big turnout but we think thats why shes here. That will be monday night in new york city. Elizabeth warren. We will have her here on the show the day after on tuesday. I wanted to make sure to remember to tell you that right at the top of the show. What were going to start tonights news here in kleiner tear garth ten park. Kleiner tiergarten park. It is in central berlin. Right by the looks like spree river. Its right by the river that runs right through that part of berlin. Kleiner tiergarten park. This is where Angela Merkel has her office. Its a nice spot. Very centrally located. And three weeks ago today on friday august 23rd it was very nice day to be out in the park in central berlin. Temps in the low 80s, nice, sunny day. Lots of people out and about and enjoying the summer weather, im sure. Just before noon that day three weeks ago two 17yearolds who were out in Kleiner Tiergarten park saw something strange happen. They saw a guy ride up on an ebike right up to the edge of the spree river and there he threw his ebike into the river. Then they say they thought they also saw him maybe throw some sort of a bag and maybe also a wig . I mean, if that was you, 17 years old in a random park at noon on a summer friday, i mean, when i was 17 i would think that was hilarious because i thought everything was hilarious. No matter what age you are, you would also think that was suspicious, right . They flagged down a cop and within minutes the guy was detained. Police eventually did pull an ebike out of the river, which he had thrown in there. They recovered the bike. They reportedly recovered the wig. They reportedly recovered a glock handgun with a silencer screwed onto it and a bag that among other things included reportedly a package of paprika which is theorized might have been planned to use to throw sniffer dogs off the scent had this suspect ultimately ended up being chased by police dogs. He did not end up getting chased by police dogs because just regular Police Officers caught him right away. When police later pieced together what had happened in the few minutes before those 17yearolds saw this guy throwing all of this junk into the river, the story was almost unbelievably dramatic because what had apparently happened just before this guy was seen throwing things into the river, what had happened just immediately before that is a that allegedly he had just killed a guy in the park in what was i guess youd call it a bikeby shooting. Heres how the wall street journal wrote it up. He road up to the victim using a bicycle which had been placed near the scene before the shooting. He sped towards his victim and shot the man twice in the head with a glock. 26 handgun fitted with a silencer. The New York Times account of this killing, after the two shots to the head the killer biked away a few hundred yards south to the river bank. Thats when he threw all of this stuff in the river. Then according to the times, quote, police found the suspect in nearby shrubs. He was in the bushes. What was he doing in the bushes . Well, he had changed his clothes and his appearance and seemed ready to travel by scooter. He had a large amount of money with him. When they say he had changed his appearance while he was hiding in the bushes. Heres how the Guardian Newspaper in london flushes that out. Quote, the alleged assassin changed his outfit to blend in as a tourist wearing a pink shirt, sandals and a neck pouch con take a passport and a large amount of cash. So he goes and allegedly kills the guy, races to the river, throws takes his wig off, throws his wig into the river, gets off his bike and throws it into the river. Throws the gun into the river, bag into the river. Rushes into the underbrush, changes his clothes and starts to get on a scooter that he stashed in the bushes to ride away. I mean, hes dressed up in the pink getup looking totally different than he did before when they find him in the bushes. We know the bit about the bike and then changing over into the scooter is definitely legit in part because German Police have since released these weird, very well lit modern art like photos of the actual bike that they pulled out of the river, thats on the left, and the escotter that he had with him in the bushes when they caught him there changing into his pink shirt and tourist sandals after he had taken off his wig. German police also released this photo of the suspect who they arrested although they did not release his name. According to multiple reports, they didnt release his name because they have actually no idea what his name is. And at this point in the detective story, if you read detective stories you know, that the good plot then shifts to the victim to try to figure out what the heck happened here with this crime. Now that weve gotten this far with the alleged pefrpetrator. The man that was walking across the park on a sunny day in a western european country, steps away from the seat of government, right . Hes walking through the park. His assassin approaches him from behind on an ebike, shoots him from behind at least twice in the head, perhaps additionally in the shoulder. He then rides off several hundred yards towards the river. The man who was killed, the man who died in the park that day was reportedly a 40yearold citizen of the nation of georgia. Ethnically he was chechian. He had been a midlevel commander who led chechen forces. But even after russia put down that uprising in the early 2000s, this young commander continued to be, i guess, an annoyance to russia, at least somebody they might notice. After the uprising was put down he fled to georgia, nation of georgia. He made himself useful to the government of georgia. At one point hes report today have played a key role as a mediator. This guy was sent in as a trusted figure who the chechians would talk to to brianne end to the standoff on behalf of the george began government. He helped them against russia. So it will perhaps not surprise you to hear that while he was living in georgia he faced repeated attempts on his life and he and his associates blamed on russia. In 2009 he was reportedly poisoned. In 2015 he was driving in georgias capital city when he was ambushed. He was reportedly hit and injured in that attack but he survived. In the wake of that assassination attempt in 2015 he fled to germany. Now because of his past, because of the repeated attempts on his life he requested protection from the German Government. In 2017 the director of a Nonprofit Group that had supported this guys relocation to germany supported his asylum application in germany, the nonprofit chief wrote a letter on the mans behalf expressing concern for his safety. We know because the New York Times obtained that letter. They quote it in part saying he is so massively pursued by the russian side na his life is in danger and he needs special protection. Quote, i urge you to grant him special protection and not to send him back to where putins long arm can reach him. The idea being that you should keep him here in germany, putin cant reach him. Despite those requests the German Government had not yet provided him any special protection. The wall street journal interviews a former official in the george began government who had kept in touch with the man until recently. He tells the journal the man was still trying to obtain stateappointed body guards through the court system. He nevertheless felt somewhat safe. Quote, he felt even though he was not able to get the protection he asked for, he did feel relatively safe in germany. The man continued, quote, apparently he was not. Well this week u. S. Officials tell tthe wall street journal that the u. S. Intelligence believes the government of russia was behind this bicycle riding assassination in broad daylight in a park in central berlin three weeks ago today. Quote, u. S. Officials said on tuesday that russia was behind the murder of a former chechen rebel. The United States believes that russia is responsible for this assassination. One official said the suspect had recently come out of a russian prison after serving a murder sentence. Upon his release he was given a bona fide russian passport which u. S. Officials believed to be a cover. Now that is, as i mentioned, one Single Source talking to the wall street journal about the suspect here, about him allegedly just coming out of russian prison, about him being a convicted murderer, about him having this bona fide russian passport issued but that does jive with investigative reporting thats being done in a collaborative effort by german and news organizations along with the investigative freelance outif i had which has a very interesting track record on these sorts of things. They tracked the attempted assassins after they were almost killed in the u. K. They played a key role in chasing that back to russian intelligence mill harry officers, what they have found in the berlin case is that the passport of the alleged killer whos in german custody, the passport he was carrying is a real russian passport but it has been issued in a fake name. The address listed for that passport holder is an address that physically doesnt exist in st. Petersburg. Theres also no record of anyone by that name in databases of russian passport holders. Theres no trace of that person online or any known databases. As one u. S. Official explains to the wall street journal, quote, a fake identity with a real passport can only be provided by authorities in russia. Bellingcat and the insider also report in their investigation that just like with the attempted murder of sergei scripple, the passport of this alleged perpetrator is numbered in a way that links it to Russian Military intelligence. They were provided with sequentially numbered passports so you can trace them back to them in the event Something Like this thats crazy happens. This killing was three weeks ago today. German police picked this guy up within minutes of the killing thanks to the witnesses who saw him apparently allegedly both kill the guy and go into this crazy series of events and actions in which he tried to change his appearance and get away. Theyve released this picture of him. They dont believe they have a real name for him. Theyve released a picture of his bike that he allegedly committed the murder while riding and the scooter that he was allegedly going to use as his get away vehicle. Russian consular has been visiting him. But, you know, you would expect them to say that. A source from German Security agencies quoted a fine enough point on it. If it turns out that a state player like russia is behind this, we have a second skirpal case. When russia carried out that assassination in brittain, in salisbury, the u. K. , it was only last year. It was a year and a half ago. It was march of 2018. And in the investigations that have happened since then the suspiciously fit, sternfaced, very wellorganized supposed tourists that arrived in salisbury just before the killing and left salisbury right after, they turned out to be apparent whether i Russian Military officers. They apparently were carrying real passports. Sergei skripal was an exkgb officer. He and his daughter barely survived this attack with novachok, which is a russian nerve agent. The attack did end up killing a bye stander and including another attempted russian assassination in brittain. Over 100 Russian Diplomats were expelled from russian countries. That you might remember is what will apply the laugh till you cry and President Trump was very upset and almost panicked when he learned that the u. S. Was actually expelling more Russian Diplomats than others in response to the skripals investigation. The Trump Administration had done the math wrong and they thought they were only expelling a sort of average number of Russian Diplomats. When they learned that they were accidentally kicking out a lot more Russian Diplomats than other countries were, a new round of tough u. S. Sanctions against russia. The Trump Administration announced them but then didnt do it. They slow walked those sanctions for months. It was only after a round of critical reporting earlier this summer mate clear that although the Trump Administration had announced those sanctions as a result of the skripal work. It was almost a year and a half that the Trump Administration was finally shamed into implementing those sanctions, begrujdingly and belatedly. You know when they put those sanctions into effect . Last month, august of 2019 after announcings them the spring of last year. Russian parliament passioned a law in 2006 that nominally at least makes it legal for Vladimir Putin to order the murder of someone anywhere at any time. This is an exrussian spy who was killed by them dropping Radioactive Material into his tea m a london hotel. And, you know, with those assassinations and others in brittain, but its tempting. They have never feared what the International Consequences might be of them tracking down people and murdering them. But often this new guy in berlin in broad daylight literally down the street from Angela Merkels office, making sure he had a russian passport and trace it back when he was picking it up. This seems like theyre not afraid, theyre flaunting what they can do. I can do this in your house. Youre not going to do anything about it. And what is incredible for us as americans, is that as that story about the berlin assassination has unfolded, strange and scary story out of berlin. Weve also had this other story unfold and their own guy, own source inside the kremlin. The Washington Post in 2017, Bob Woodwards book fear and other news results all reported the existence of a force. It gave them Key Information about the russian government that they really couldnt have obtained any other way. Key information about the russian attack on the 2016 election, including specific documentation showing that putin had self had ordered it, signed off on it and that is not put continue specific information. So the fact that that source existed inside the russian government, inside the kremlin had been previously reported. But then apparently this week some sort of trip wire was tripped and in very big succession we got the reporting. Not only did that source exist but he had been exfiltrated in part because of concerns that President Trump might burn him, might identify him to the russians. We got the New York Times reporting that this source had been providing valuable intelligence from inside the kremlin for decades which, of course, means losing him inside the kremlin would be a priceless loss for u. S. Intelligence capabilities. We then in very quick succession got nbc news reporting. By monday night this week after that flurry of reporting that man had reportedly fled that house along with his family. By tuesday the russian government had published what they said was his name. Russian news organizations immediately started denigrating him saying he definitely wasnt important. He wouldnt have had access to any important information. At the same time though perhaps belying that they were sort of interested in tracking him down, russian authorities did take steps to alert interpol as of yesterday that they want interpol, International Assistance in tracking this guy down. And did i mention that u. S. Intelligence says russia was behind an assassination this week in berlin in the capital city of berlin right next to Angela Merkels office. I dont know why there was this flurry of reporting over the past four days that outed this unbelievably important source. I dont know why that all happened this week. We do know that the new attorney general, william barr, and the justice departments Inspector General have been pursuing an investigation into the origins of the russia investigation and the sources of intelligence that u. S. Intelligence agencies and the fbi used to make fisa warrants for the russia investigation. We know theyve been trying to track down all the ways that this russia investigation started and who were the sources for the initial information that set the investigation off. Is it possible that thats part of into the wind . We dont know. We dont know what the trip wire was that basically resulted in this flurry of him being reported. He is now in the way. He has now gone out of that address in virginia. Nobody knows where he is. If he is at risk from russia coming for him, well, if youre u. S. Intelligence, youre trying to protect him, how do you do that . How would you do it in normal times . How do you do it now . How much, for example, can you compartmentalize now and hes fled that house. Do you have to tell the white house where he is. What if they ask . Can you interrogate why theyre asking. Russia just killed a guy in central berlin. Is it impossible that they would try to get this guy here, too. If it was impossible in the past, is it still impossible now . I have just the person to ask. You are going to want to meet our next guest. Stay with us. Wayfairs got your perfect mattress. Whether youre looking for a topbrand at a great price. Ready to upgrade. Moving in. Moving on up. Or making big moves. Deliveries ship free and come with a 100night free trial. No matter your budget. Or your