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Thanks for being with us. i want to talk about the book in a moment. i want to ask you about the mueller investigation which started a year ago this week, regardless of what mueller does or doesn't find when it comes to russia, collusion or cooperation or coordination, did putin get exactly what he wanted? was his goal to sow discord in the u.s. and that's what he got? >> well, he didn't get exactly what he wanted. he most certainly preferred president trump over secretary clinton for obvious reasons because trump said pro-russian things he liked and secretary clinton, my former boss, said the...

Day haven they haven't had that. he hoped there would be more disarray in the nato alliance. he hasn't had that. candidate trump said he'd look into recognizing crimea. he hasn't done that. the disarray piece, of coursethy had that. we had the polarization well before the russians got involved but they have exacerbated that and the presidency of donald trump most certainly has exacerbating that as well. >> and you write a lot, obviously, about putin in the book. you dealt with him personally, dealt with him professionally. >> i have. >> based on everything you know about how he operates, how d...

Remember candidate trump said he was going to blow up nato and lift sanctions and look into recognizing crimea. he's done none of that. instead he's just kept the same basic policies that the obama administration had in place at the end of their administration. there has been two things that they have done aggressively. and they should get credit for that. one is lethal assistance to ukraine. that is a decision president obama did not make. the trump administration did make that and that is tougher on russia. and two the mueller indictment is tough on russia, that is something that had not hap...

True. literally, they cracked open bottles of champaign on the floor of the russian parliament because they believed this wasn't just a victory for donald trump and the republican party, a victory for them as well. as a candidate, donald trump voiced opinions that were very much in step with the opinions of kremlin like nato expansion and the war on terrorism. trump hinted at recognizing crimea, which russia annexed from ukraine in 2014. so, they thought this was going to be a transformational presidency when it came to the u.s./russia relationship. in fact, it didn't work out that way. what t...

>> reporter: i think we all are in the sense that donald trump spoke repeatedly during his campaign about building a better relationship with russia. he spoke about doing a deal with russia over syria, and in the fight against international terrorism. he spoke about the potential of recognizing crimea, which russia annexed from ukraine in 2014, as being a legitimate part of russia. he criticized nato, and nato expansion. and all of this was music to the ears of the kremlin. as i say, they were expecting or hoping that donald trump, when he became president, will be able to follow through some ...