the rachel maddow show, transcript 4/3/2017 - best at home skin care devices

Show: Rachel Maddow ShowDate: Guest on April 3, 2017: Ali Watson LeiterRACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC anchor: Thank you for watching us.
The chin of "BuzzFeed News" reporter Ali Watkins
Tonight's exclusive report on the Trump campaign.
This story has been deleted for the last few hours tonight.
We have Ali Watkins here tonight to talk about this story.
She's our exclusive.
You will want to hear it.
Michael Wright will join us tonight as well.
Michael Leiter is a former director of the United States. S.
National Counter-Terrorism Center
So, there's a big show tonight.
There's a lot to do this hour.
In today's news, a more bizarre story is the revelation of President Jared Kushner, 36. year-old son-in-
Law in Baghdad todayThe U. S.
The secretary of state has not been to Baghdad since the new government was formed, but Jared is there.
That is to say, what the secretary of state has done in this new government is not entirely clear.
I mean, let's take the president's special envoy for Middle East peace.
It was a man appointed to the eyes of the Trump administration and a key figure in peace in the Middle East, who neither reported to the president nor to the secretary of state.
Jared, according to the report.
The New York Times and The Financial Times today detail preparations for this week's important meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which was also led by Jared.
Jared is also responsible for broader relations with China, including preparing for the presidential meeting.
He is responsible for the relationship between the United States and Canada and the United States. S.
Relations with Mexico, including the construction of the wall.
He is responsible for all trade transactions.
The Washington Post reported last week that he is now in charge of "Reimagining the VA ".
He is also responsible for addressing the opioid crisis, national broadband policy and criminal justice reform, and the reconstruction of national infrastructure. Young Mr.
Kushner also apparently attended the main meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the nuclear threat from North Korea.
Baghdad today. Busy young men.
Hopefully, through his rich life and work experience, he is fully prepared for all these great duties, which is entirely made up of his inheritance of his father's real estate business.
When his father was in prison, he had to run his own business for a while.
But he now has this remarkable, remarkable portfolio, perhaps an unprecedented portfolio of international and domestic responsibility within the government.
We now know that his wife, the president's daughter, will also get a senior White House job, making the portfolio even more compelling.
We don't know what her portfolio will look like, but we do know that she is already sitting in many of the highest positions
A visit by foreign leaders to the United States.
Between her and her husband Jared, their experience and expertise in the world lies in the field of real estate and jewelry marketing.
But the two of them will now be responsible for some of the most important and sensitive things in the governments of the richest and most powerful countries on Earth.
By the way, I should mention that we also learned a few days ago that the government has now also found a new job for Laura Trump. Who? Lara.
Lara is Eric's wife.
Trump's re-election campaign has existed as a formal political entity.
The company that runs the digital part of the campaign will now hire Eric Trump's wife, Laura.
I don't know what her work experience is, but I'm pretty sure she's the absolute most qualified person in the US for this job, no matter what the job is.
I mean, in the past, we were like a first lady you know who worked on health policy.
On one occasion, we had a president who hired his brother as the attorney general.
But we even see these things as exceptions to the rules.
We never thought we were a country like Udai and Kusai and could be ministers of any country, right?
We don't think we are a place to rule our families.
But now, that's how we are.
This is a fundamental consequence of our new ruling family.
This power has been significantly consolidated in the hands of several
Today, qualified family members are not only a remarkable story about the Uzbek nature of American politics.
Today, this-sorry, no intention of offending Uzbek-but beyond that, this is an amazing thing in itself, today, this new thing that we have as a nation, today, the consolidation of the US government's power in the presidential core family may begin to become the responsibility of the government and the government, as the new government faces the most serious scandal.
I'm FCI Elkton.
FIC represents the federal correctional service. It`s a low-
Safe federal prison in Lisbon, Ohio
This is a man's prison.
There are about 2,000 male prisoners there.
The FBI released a Russian spy this weekend.
Technically, his release date should be until the end of July, but they let him out on Friday because he has good behavior.
Still, the Russian spy was not released back to the entire community.
When he was released from federal prison on Friday, the federal prison system released him to immigration and customs authorities as part of a plea agreement when he was sentenced last year, he agreed to return him to Russia immediately after serving his sentence in a federal prison.
The guy who just came out of prison is now deported back to Russia.
His name is evengani Buryakov.
Evengani Buryakov.
In 2015, when the FBI uncovered a spy gang he was involved in a few years ago, three spies were mentioned in the criminal indictment.
The indictment was filed by the prosecutor's office in the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, and it is interesting that his name has been appearing.
But in this circle, Evgeny Buryakov is one of three.
He's the one they caught.
They arrested him in January 2015 at a supermarket in Riverdale, New York.
But the other two spies mentioned in the indictment, who never caught them, because when they brought these charges, the other two of the spy gang had fled back to Russia.
One of them was hired as a trade representative of the Russian Federation in the United States.
The other is the military attache of the Russian delegation to the United Nations.
But they all went back to Moscow.
They both escaped the arrest of the FBI.
But this guy, the third guy caught, this guy in jail until this weekend, they actually caught the man-he didn't have official government cover work like the other two.
Their names were mentioned in the indictment.
The other two are working for the Russian government.
His job search is a non-official cover.
His job is to work in a bank.
He is an employee of a Russian bank called VEB.
He is the second officer of VEB's New York office.
When he was arrested and accused of spying and tried, his apparent employer, the Russian bank, paid for his legal defense.
This is not the whole cost they paid.
On the day he was reportedly arrested at Riverdale supermarket, his wife and two children fled their home and went to rezidentura.
They fled to the building where the Russian mission in New York was located.
Evgeny Buryakov's associates reportedly later ransacked the apartment where the family lived.
Evengani is under FBI custody.
His wife and children attended the Russian delegation.
Buryakov's colleagues took the apartment apart, sliced all the furniture, broke the wall panels and took the place apart.
Apparently they are looking for anything Evgeny Buryakov might have left behind, or any listening device that the FBI might have hidden in his apartment.
Apparently, the FBI installed cameras and microphones in the family apartment.
But it is reported that when his associates are dismantling the place to look for them, the FBI has brought them all back.
It's like a great spy movie, but think about its practicality.
What if you were the one who rented that apartment?
You can imagine what he thought about the condition of the apartment when Evgeny Buryakov's landlord found out that his tenant was going to jail and the rest of his tenant's family had fled, and now, he had a load of mess on his hand, and the furniture on the wall board and everything was broken and torn.
Well, the bank came to the rescue again.
In addition to funding Evgeny Buryakov's legal defense, it is reported that the bank reached a settlement with the landlord for about $45,000 to pay Evgeny's friend for being arrested by the FBI and charged with spying on him.
Evgeny Buryakov and all the stories about how he handed Intel over to other Russian spies in his circle, and the drama he was arrested and his family fled late at night into rezmentula FBI put a lot of bugs in his house all these things are amazing in the Russian spy scandal over the last few years the color.
But that bank and spy scandal proved to be a very annoying asterisk, and it has been posted on many things about the Trump new administration, because the bank that Evgeny Buryakov secretly works as a Russian spy is a state.
Bank of Russia
Russian Prime Minister Medvedev is a member of the Board of Supervisors of the bank.
The chairman of the bank started his career by going to the KGB school and went to the academy run by Russia for those who are about to join the KGB follow-up.
Last year, the chairman of the FSB-trained bank was personally selected by Putin as the chairman of the bank.
For millions of reasons, the bank should have a flashing red light in fear of Russian intelligence and Russian influence actions in the US, right?
After all, this is a matter of public record. The Silver behavior is high.
Work there as a cover, then pay for his defense, and even pay for cleaning up his apartment after they take apart bugs looking for the FBI.
That's why today, a week ago, when the New York Times reported that Jared-Jared Kushner-did not disclose his meeting with the president during the presidential transition, this is an amazing news. Putin's hand at the bank-
He picked the chairman of the spy bank that FSB trained, who apparently met with Jared Kushner in person on December.
Jared Kushner never revealed that meeting, even though their undisclosed contact with Russian officials caused all the other trouble for the young government.
For whatever reason, Jared Kushner did not disclose it until the New York Times a week ago reported on that meeting.
There's enough problem in itself, right? when it comes to people with this portfolio, there's a wide range
Jared's domestic and foreign portfolio assigned by his father-in-
The law of the new government.
It's disturbing that BuzzFeed News added their new scoop tonight.
As I mentioned, this spy gang that was broken by the FBI, three Russians.
Someone who owns what they call "non"
On the face of the official cover of the bank's work, two others, whose cover job is an official position of the Russian government.
One of them served as Russia's trade representative and one worked for the Russian delegation to the United States. N.
What happens when these guys feed back their secrets, stolen documents and intelligence from their spy circles to Moscow, the two men have official cover, they will deal with this part.
It's not that person, it's not the person who works in the bank, because he has a relationship with the Russian government on the surface.
But other people with official cover, other people with Russian government jobs, go to rezidentura whenever they have anything to teleport home.
They will go to Russia equivalent to SCIP, a secure facility where they can secretly encrypt the information to be transferred back to the Moscow center and back to the spy headquarters in Russia.
The way the FBI seized them and blew up the spy gang with these three people was absolutely genius.
The FBI arranged for someone to provide these people with so-called sensitive stolen documents, which they handed over to them in a binder.
These Russians, these spies, took the binder with this interesting intelligence.
They put the binder into rezidentura, into the SCIP in New York, and the FBI hid the microphone inside the binder.
So they have to listen to everything these people say, even if these people think they are in the safest environment and can't be monitored anyway.
Within the Russian delegation, they believed that they were essentially diplomatic on Russian territory.
Of course they have diplomatic immunity.
They're in a Russian place.
They thought they were in a secret environment, but the documents sitting in front of them, the documents themselves, were bugged.
There is a microphone in the binder.
So the FBI took out hours, hours of tape from these microphones and these guys's binder when they were sure no one could hear them.
One of the things the guys are talking about is the other guy in their spy circle who works in the bank and that's what they gave him.
Another thing these guys are talking about is their repeated efforts to recruit Americans for espionage, and when the case was made public in 2015, they published the indictment, many of the news reports at the time were about the fact that these spies apparently wanted to use college girls in New York as Russian assets, although the indictment did not show that they had achieved too much real success in the efforts of college girls, but it's a bit of a tabloid appeal.
The place where they succeeded was the first place for men.
Here is a quote from the indictment, citing "around April 8, 2013, the respondent discussed the efforts to recruit a male who served as a consultant in New York City as a source of intelligence.
"Now, what I'm going to quote here is the conversation between the two Russian spies.
Those accused but never jailed have fled back to Moscow when their fellow citizens were arrested in the supermarket.
So the two have now returned to Moscow and they have never been arrested, this is their speech at rezidentura and they don't know that they are being watched.
They talk to each other in Russian, and then this is-this is the translation of what the FBI said to them.
Spy one said, "male one," which is the name of the person they got in the indictment, "male one wrote that he was sorry.
He went to Moscow and forgot to check his inbox.
But he wanted to meet when he came back.
I thought he was an idiot and forgot who I was.
Also, he wrote me in Russian to practice the language.
He flew to Moscow more often than I did.
He is hooked on Gazprom, which thinks he might stand up if they have a project.
I don't know. maybe he can, but obviously he wants to make a lot of money.
Spy number two said, "there is no doubt.
Quoting the spy one, "he said they now have a new project, a new energy boom.
He said he was leaving.
I don't say anything now.
Then another spy said, "Yes, first of all, we'll borrow millions of dollars," and then the first spy smiled and then quoted the sentence, "I love that he takes on everything, this is worth it.
For now, his enthusiasm is useful to me.
I also promised him a lot, I have a connection in the trade representative, meaning you, you can push the contract.
I will give him an empty promise.
Then another spy who was actually the Russian trade representative swore, "bleep, no, then he would write to me and not even write to me, maybe he will write us clean.
He would write to the office of the trade representative and accidentally not speak to the spy.
He might talk to a real drag rep.
Isn't that terrible for their efforts to recruit for this guy?
"By then, the first one said, basically, don't worry.
Quote "I didn't say the trade representative, I didn't even indicate that it was related to government agencies, it was an intelligence method of deception, otherwise how to cooperate with foreigners.
"So, this is the conversation that the FBI is monitoring through there, and you know the magic microphone in the binder trick.
The conversation took place on April 2013.
They're talking about American citizens.
They are talking about recruiting US assets for their espionage activities.
This happened in April.
April may pass.
The FBI decided to take action on June.
In June 13 of the same year, the FBI visited the American and quoted "I interviewed a male with agent 2 about June 13, 2013.
A man said he first met the first Russian spy accused at an energy seminar in New York City on January 2013.
At the initial meeting, the defendant gave him a business card and two e-mail addresses.
Over the next few months, male one and the defendant exchanged emails on the energy business, sometimes meeting in person, and the male provided the defendant with a male outlook on the current situation and future of the energy industry.
Male 1 also provided the defendant with documentation on the energy business.
"So, forget about college girls who don't work for them.
That's what Russian spies want, right?
This is the beginning of how they cultivate Americans to betray America, right?
Friendly start.
Start with a business relationship or academic relationship.
First of all, you know, can you tell us your own thoughts about specific industries or specific things in the United StatesS. government.
Maybe you can show us some documents from these industries to help us.
Let's keep in touch.
Let's start a business relationship.
Can I see what you have?
Yes, I 'd like to have a look at those files.
What else do you have?
I would like to see more such documents.
I mean, that's what they did, right?
Maybe it becomes something, maybe it doesn't, but you nurture the assets.
That's what they did.
That's why they work here instead of at home in Moscow.
Tonight, BuzzFeed News reported on men, and the indictment of the spy gang was Carter Page, Trump's foreign policy adviser to the campaign.
In 2013, he was recruited as an American asset by Russian spies in New York.
He was successfully recruited.
He gave them the documents and information to help them solve the problem and was passionate about their relationship.
The consultant, Carter Page, met with a Russian intelligence officer named Victor podebuni who was later charged by the United StatesS.
Governments that are unregistered agents of foreign governments and two other governments.
Quoting the story of Ali Watkins on "BuzzFeed" tonight, "a former campaign adviser to Donald Trump met with a Russian intelligence officer in New York City on 2013 and will file
Consultant Carter Page met with a Russian intelligence officer named Victor poduboni, who was later charged by the United States. S.
The government, which is an unregistered agent of a foreign government, is with others.
Quote "a document submitted by the US courtS.
The government contains a recorded record of the conversation in which Podobnyy talks with Igor spishev, another man arrested in the spy gang, about trying to recruit
BuzzFeed News has confirmed that the male is Carter Page.
This is my favorite part, "BuzzFeed News has confirmed ".
How does "BuzzFeed News" confirm that Carter Page is male?
Citing the story of Ali Watkins, "Carter Page confirmed to BuzzFeed News on Monday that he was male in court documents and said he had contacted podoni.
Therefore, at the invitation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Jared met with troops in Baghdad to visit the United StatesS.
Embassy staff
There is nothing too sensitive for Jared to participate in, let alone run in this new government. He is leading the United States. S.
Preparations for the China Conference.
Apparently, in addition to many civilians, he was involved in the decision to launch a raid in Yemen that killed a member of a Navy SEAL.
He is responsible for all trade transactions.
In terms of North Korea's nuclear power and intentions, at a very, very terrible moment, Jared was clearly at the main meeting of the National Security Council on North Korea.
But at some point in the next few days, he will have to take time out of his busy schedule to prove to the Senate Intelligence Committee why he met with FSB trained officials during the presidential transition, putin chose the official to lead a Russian national bank that is currently approved by the United States. S.
Just a few years ago, the government and the country's Russian spy network recruited a foreign policy adviser to Russia as an intelligence asset.
In all the concerns, concerns, scandals, and investigations about Russia's attacks on our election last year and the contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, in all these anger, jared Kushner, who met the man at the Russian bank in December, never said a word until there was a newspaper report.
BuzzFeed reporter Ali Watkins joined us as the man who opened the Trump foreign policy advisor mask at the center of this Russian spy story. (
Business break)(
Start audio clips)
Frederick Ryan, Jr.
Washington Post Publisher: We 've heard that you might announce your foreign policy advisory team soon if there's anything you want to say.
Candidate Donald Trump: We will do that soon.
We will do so soon.
What I'm trying to say is that we're going to announce some names this week and it's going to grow all the time.
Can you start with us this morning?
TRUMP: Well, you know, I didn't think about doing it, but I can give you some names if you want-Ryan: We'll be happy.
Trump: I don't mind.
Do you have a list?
I will use it a little more accurately. OK. Ready?
Dr. Walid Phares, who you may know, House caucus advisor and counter-terrorism expert;
Dr. Carter page. (END AUDIO CLIP)
Carter Page, who is he?
When there's no hint, everyone says that and then-
Candidate Donald Trump volunteered to list him as the second on the list of foreign policy advisers, the first time he listed foreign policy advisers for the campaign.
Well, now, "BuzzFeed News" reports that, among many other things about Carter Page, in 2013, he was also recruited, apparently an uninformed American intelligence officer, to provide intelligence for Russian spy gangs operating outside New York City.
Now we are joined by Ali Watkins.
She's a national security correspondent for BuzzFeed News, covering the story tonight.
Thank you for coming.
Congrats to the scoop
Ali Watkins, buzzfeed news: Thank you for inviting me.
Can I ask you a detail that makes me feel weird? WATKINS: OK.
So, when we find out that you have this scoop today, we're in a hurry.
We're like, oh, this is the case for VEB.
Let's go back and look at the indictment.
This must mean men-why do we put it together when we get this news from you guys.
Just out of curiosity, I was wondering if the guy was still in jail in Ohio?
I searched him on the federal prisoner record, the federal prisoner locator, and I was shocked to find that he had just been released on Friday.
Watkins: It's a complete coincidence.
Okay, it's a complete coincidence.
Watkins: Yes, I mean, I'm calling around to see where he ended up going, or what happened to him and trying to get an interview.
The law firm is like, he really went out, you know, 48 hours.
Wow, I think, it's really weird.
So, it's a bit strange to be completely coincidental.
We expect him to be back in Moscow by now.
This is a condition for his plea agreement.
Watkins: his terms of trading.
He came here on an expired visa and, you know, he had to go back to Moscow and leave the United States. S. soil.
So I-they haven't confirmed if he's gone yet, and I don't think they necessarily know, but he's going to go back.
MADDOW: in terms of Carter Page and his presence in this spy legend, do we know what he has handed over and what he has given these Russian spies who are trying to train him?
Watkins: Well, we know something.
Page was out of the government at the time and there was nothing to show that there was something sensitive, really-it was hard to imagine that he had a lot of opportunities to send some information at the time.
He's not on Trump's track.
As I said, he is an employee of the private sector.
It's 2013.
So, no one was on Trump's political track at the time, right?
Watkins: Yes, that's right, but he-I mean, he didn't have a chance to reach any sensitive government.
So he didn't seem to hand over anything sensitive.
MADDOW: as far as we know, it's not unusual, at least the way the prosecutor explained it at the time, and the way the FBI explained it at the time, in terms of the Russian trade cap on those matters.
When they cultivate assets, they start from an early age, right?
Even if people think they have access to sensitive information, they don't necessarily start with them.
They just started a relationship that led to the turnaround of the document and prepared for it, and then worked hard to develop people for the long term.
Yes, absolutely.
I mean, it's a long game if it's just a connection.
You know, you can check in with people for 5, 10 years and say, hey, what's going on with this?
This is of course a long game.
This is a good example of how it starts.
MADDOW: why did Carter Page confirm this to you and what was his inquiry about the disclosure of this information-what was his impact on this information?
Watkins: he's happy to accept it.
I mean, I 've done a lot of reports about it, so I know it's him in the file.
When I asked him about it, you said, yes, I am male and I am paraphrasing, but he confirmed that he is an anonymous male in the document.
MADDOW: So, you 've figured it out before you get his confirmation.
Obviously, the icing on the cake is what he said, yes, it's me. WATKINS: Uh-huh.
MADDOW: I think the reason for this is very clear is because we just heard-
Candidate Donald Trump called him one of the foreign policy advisers.
In fact, the roll call was the second person he put forward on the initial foreign policy advisor list.
Isn't that the kind of thing that should be in the review?
Watkins: I mean, this is the question of moving forward, right, what does the Trump administration know, and when do they basically know?
Again, you know, I really want to make it clear here-three years ago that Page had any connection to the campaign.
Again, there doesn't seem to be anything sensitive.
But this is a problem.
I mean, obviously, it's a well-known fact that in some corners of New York, as I said, page is more than happy to accept.
So, I think the question for tomorrow is, what does the Trump administration know and when do they know?
Mado: even if Page himself is an uninformed raised asset, we know he knows it happened to him because the FBI went to tell him that when they interviewed, what happened to him?
Yes, yes.
MADDOW: So, has he been reviewed or even just asked directly, have you ever been in contact with a foreign intelligence agency and he has to promise.
Watkins: this is probably the case if you want to answer the truth.
MADDOW: So, we're excited to be a senior foreign policy advisor to the presidential campaign. Ahh!
Congratulate you.
I really appreciate it.
Yes, absolutely.
Thank you for inviting me.
MADDOW: It's fun to follow your steps when we see you reporting here.
This is something incredible.
National security correspondent Ali Watkins, BuzzFeed News.
There's more tonight.
We will be back soon. (
Business break)
MADDOW: the president's meeting with the president of Egypt today is the deputy national security adviser K. T. McFarland.
As the second official of the National Security Council, K. T.
McFarlane attended the meeting, except for the news that she was going out. Reportedly, K. T.
McFarlane will not be a national deputy national security adviser for a long time.
She will be an ambassador to Singapore.
Ambassador to Singapore everywhere-you know, if you can get it, ambassador to Singapore is a great show, of course, unless the job you have to give up now is to serve as a deputy national security adviser.
I mean, there is no offense to Singapore, but it's like being promoted to chief operating officer in the suburban satellite office and being the deputy minister for pencil sharpening.
Quote, "said a source who did not want to be named.
McFarlane prefers to continue working in Washington in some capacity and as a government, such as in a possible role in the state government.
"Just like the U. S. State Department's fog in Washington. C.
Not like in a lovely city-
Singapore, 10, 000 miles away. C.
This is an exile.
Whether exile really comes or notT.
McFarlane, the staffing of the National Security Council is a real problem for this government.
In addition, Michael Flynn was dismissed as a national security adviser 24 days after taking office, and another deputy national security adviser position was canceled as soon as it was filled.
There were also reports last week that two National Security Council staff members were involved in sharing confidential intelligence reports with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes.
They reportedly shared the reports at the White House in the middle of the night for reasons still not explained, and the White House is now only talking to some but not actually.
A staff member of the National Security Council was appointed to 30year-old Ezra Cohen-Watnick.
He was promoted to a very good job.
While Michael Flynn was still there, he was promoted to the senior intelligence director of the National Security Council.
I have to tell you that we have now reviewed the resumes of the nine people we believe to have held the job before Ezra Cohen --
Watnick got the job in this administration and we found that none of the people who had previously held the job had less than 12 years of intelligence and military experience. Ezra Cohen-
Walter Nick graduated from college in 2008.
His experience is much less than everyone who has worked before on the National Security Council.
What is he doing there, what is he doing there?
When Mike Flynn was firedR.
McMaster succeeded him. H. R.
McMaster, a national security adviser, tried to fire Ezra Cohen.
That Watnick of intelligence.
But White House advisers Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon blocked his efforts.
National security adviserR.
McMaster was told that he had to keep this guy working. Why? Ezra Cohen-
The conservative news agency today quoted Watnick as the source of the charge, accusing former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice of asking the name of the United States. S.
Those associated with the Trump campaign will be revealed in the United States. S.
Intelligence Report.
Now, the national security adviser reveals that there is nothing illegal, inappropriate or even unexpected about the names.
Nor did she accuse Susan Rice of leaking the names, and if she did get them unmasked, nor did she accuse her of making the intelligence papers public.
But by making these allegations against Susan Rice, Trump and H. R.
McMaster now seems to operate on a political level in an attempt to shape a Conservative --
A friendly alternative to Trump
The Russian scandal is the main character of the Obama administration, not Putin.
No matter what you think of the story itself, what does that mean from a national security perspective?
There is a reason for the existence of the National Security Council.
Is that what the National Security Council is using now, strange?
Is it dangerous?
Stick to this idea. (
Business break)
MADDOW: Today, the New York Times reported that North Korea is trying to sell a lithium that will help make hydrogen bombs.
Today, the Financial Times reported that the meeting between the Chinese president and our president later this week is expected to be a very high-risk event, at this meeting, the Chinese government's diplomatic forces are playing a full role. the person preparing for this meeting on behalf of the United States is the president's 36-year-old son-in-law.
In terms of national security issues you may want to worry about, choose your adventure now.
But now, something strange has happened to national security and the way Washington handles it.
Now, the National Security Council in the new administration, among other things, is in the middle of managing and politically shaping the scandal that Russia attacked our election last year and the potential connection between the Trump campaign and Russia.
We all expect that there will be political efforts to shape the response to this scandal, and even to shape the way intelligence on these issues is received, disseminated and politicized.
I'm not sure, though, if anyone thinks the national security council will run out.
How strange is this?
In terms of the opportunity cost of other types of things that the National Security Council should now worry about, how worried?
Michael Leiter is joining us now.
Under President Bush and Obama, he served as director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center.
He worked closely with the staff of the National Security Council.
Nice to meet you, Michael.
Thank you for coming.
Michael leiter, former president of the United StatesS. NATL.
Director of the counter-terrorism center: it's a pleasure to be here, Rachel.
Let me ask you a big question.
When I talk to other national security professionals, especially those like you who have a lot of work on national security, they don't seem to have broad vigilance about the Trump administration's national security capabilities.
Seems to have confidence in defense minister Mattis and national security adviser H. et al. R.
McMaster and others.
Is this your overall view?
LEITER: Well, I certainly think some people have a lot of confidence in certain positions.
Jim Mattis, as you saidR.
I think people have confidence too, McMaster, Mike Pompeii.
These people understand these issues, are mature and have worked in national security agencies, and generally people think they have good judgment and will seek expertise.
I think the biggest problem and the reason why I am not as confident or optimistic as others is that the struggle we see within the government shows that these people, although important to their departments and institutions, actually, it's not a central role in the White House's national security decisions.
Making policies, rather than making them, did not help the president set his priorities.
So it's great if you have a strong team, but if you don't talk to that team, if you don't use the expertise of that team, so it really doesn't matter who is on the bench.
MADDOW: General McMaster may want to fire the young man who has been appointed senior director of intelligence at the National Security Council-I find it unusual for him to do the job.
I don't know anything about him personally.
I don't want to talk about him personally.
I just compare his resume with his-his service and experience compared to other types of people.
I find it strange that he works there.
Strange to me, what worries me is that General McMaster wants to get rid of him and the White House tells him he can't.
What do you think of this?
LEITER: Well, I think if you run a business, you run a government organization, you run a performance.
You want to be able to choose your team.
If the boss says, "I don't have confidence in that person," and someone says, "I don't care, he will stay," it's worrying.
This is worrying when you point out H againR.
McMaster is one of the adults in the room, but he can't choose his own team, which makes me think that many of us question how much he has affected the president.
I don't think that person-I don't know him either.
He is of course a junior in this regard.
He has no extensive experience in many institutions in the field.
Plus years of intelligence experience, I am afraid that if I can use this sentence, the indiscretion of some young people is likely to put him on track with president Nunes, to be honest, this will only make it impossible for anyone to understand the real problems you find, and it will make us from the important national security issues we face around the globe.
MADDOW: There, the transfer factor, the most interesting thing for me is not the extent to which we are being transferred, whether we are able to re-focus on the important issues.
In fact, as someone who is interested in these things, what I am concerned about is that I have no expertise at all in this area, but I am concerned about the National Security Council, someone served as a senior intelligence director at the National Security Council, who was involved in political smoke --
Participate in the political transfer.
I mean, I'm concerned about other things that the National Security Council has to do.
I am also concerned about whether the National Security Council is a place where political mischief can be done.
Can they hold on? Can they hold on to the ongoing investigation?
Can they come into contact with something really harmful?
LEITER: First of all, I would say that the National Security Council has some history of putting the nose or hands where they shouldn't be, and I don't want to say that we 've gone so far.
But think about the operation of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North during the Iranian war, the National Security Council, without legal restrictions on the cooperation of other institutions.
Good point.
LEITER: there are some risks when staff members you have no experience in the National Security Council may not fully understand what they should and should not do, because this could involve an investigation by the FBI.
Still, the basic idea, the reason we ended up in this Alice in Wonderland world, is because it started with the president's tweet, saying that I just saw something on TV, there are illegal monitoring of political motives for violating the constitution.
Rachel, it's not a big deal.
This is a big charge.
This is a big charge.
In any other world, the president would turn to his national security adviser and say, I just saw this and it seems a bit crazy.
But give me the director of the FBI, the CIA, DNI and the National Security Agency, and I want to figure out if there is any truth about that.
This will start there and it will be handed over to a staff member of the National Security Council to check and investigate and they will know what is going on.
What we see here is a gift tweet.
He then asked Congress to investigate the administration, where he could find the answer within 10 minutes. minute meeting.
The National Security Council will then feed back the information to Congress.
It's outside the Mirror Hall.
It just confused the problem.
Again, it has diverted us from those real problems.
I think it's just as important that this concerns our allies.
The truth is, whether you're talking about North Korea or China being more aggressive, all these issues are issues that we have to focus on, and our allies need our attention.
If we focus on the inside, they don't believe we have the time and attention to do it.
MADDOW: It's one thing to have political hackers do this kind of work.
It is another matter to have the highest level of national security personnel in the US government do this.
Michael Leiter, former director of the national counter-terrorism center. -Thank you.
Nice to see you again.
Nice to meet you.
MADDOW: Thank you. All right.
More tonight. Stay with us. (
Business break)
Happy Monday.
Have a good weekend.
For some, this weekend is better than others. (
Start Video Editing)
Dave Bryan, TV anchor: if Turre congressman devonnes thinks he will find peace and contentment at home in California, then that's not exactly Fresno's for him
Until a national anthem that you may not know.
Reporter: The protesters mixed anger and humor and used the Russian national anthem to pay tribute to German Nunes, a member of the San Joaquin Valley Congress.
But Nunes slipped into the back door of the banquet hall, where he changed the subject and talked to an agricultural group about the water problem in the valley. (
Protesters shout)
Reporter: But outside, hundreds of demonstrators were upset about how their members of Congress handled the investigation that could collude with Russia to influence the results of the presidential election, some of them holding signs of Russian badges.
The unidentified woman: the entire congressional investigation is just a joke.
He needs to pick himself up again or take it seriously.
We want to know what happened in Russia. (SINGING)(END VIDEO CLIP)
Reporter: This weekend, Devon Nunes, a congressman from Fresno, California, went home like this.
His angry voters sang "Listen or we'll throw you out" and used the Russian national anthem as the soundtrack for his return home.
Voters are now having tough family gatherings for many members of Congress, including Democrats and Republicans, as it turns out, this is the surprising big and interesting factor in this very big fight that Democrats have just picked in Washington, and this story is next. (
Business break)
MADDOW: this weekend, in Denver, Colorado, people gathered to call on two senators in the state to vote against Judge Neil Gossage of the Supreme Court.
Democratic Senator Michael Bennett of Colorado said he would not support the obstruction against gorzage and Republican Senator Corey Gardner, who voted in favor of gorzage.
So, we're going to see if Michael Bennett or Corey Gardner is going to pay the price for this position in his hometown of Colorado.
But, you know, even without Michael Bennett, the Democrats have enough votes to block Neil Gossage and stop him from being confirmed by the court unless he gets 60.
The showdown will be held later this week.
It will be a huge drama as Republicans decide how to deal with it.
Today, every Democrat on the judicial council voted against Neil Gossage's nomination, but it's just a signal that there will be a bigger fight in the coming days.
In today's news, when you look forward to the rest of the week, there is one thing that needs to be put in the flag-and the Democrats on the judicial council oppose this unified position, Judge Gossage, they did something else today, and I get a lot less attention.
In addition to pushing forward the nomination of Judge Gossage today, the Judicial Committee also voted to promote the nomination of the man.
His name is Rod Rosenstein.
The White House nominated him as Justice Department 2 under Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Now, who is the number two of the Justice Department is now particularly important in terms of the skin bowl, as Attorney General Jeff Sessions has evaded any investigation into the Trump campaign's engagement with Russia.
This means that if Rod Rosenstein is confirmed, any investigation by the Department of Justice into such matters will be supervised by him unless he chooses to be outside the special prosecutor rather than in person.
It was his decision, too.
At the confirmation hearing of Rod Rosenstein last month, Senator Richard bloomingthal of Connecticut asked Rod Rosenstein what path he might take.
Will he supervise these investigations in person or will he appoint an external prosecutor?
Rosenstein refused to answer.
Today, Senator Blumenthal became the only member in the judicial committee to vote against this important work by Rod Rosenstein.
In addition to Blumenthal, every Democrat voted for his nomination.
Rosenstein voted 19. 1.
So, put a flag on this.
I mean, obviously the Democrats have to choose their fight.
If they can't come together, they can't win anything.
They mostly chose to fight on Gorsuch, but not exactly.
They did not choose a second job under the leadership of Jeff Sessions, who will be in charge of Russia's investigation.
We can see this as a major strategic decision of the Democratic Party.
Put a flag in this.
Record this.
That's what it is for us tonight.
See you tomorrow.
It's time for "The last word of Lawrence O'Donnell.
Good evening, Lawrence.
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