the nasty ones. let it vent, let it all out. that is all the time we have tonight. shannon bream and the fantastic "fox news @ night" team are up next for the special encore presentation of chris wallace is exclusive sit down with a putin. >> shannon: it's always so quiet around here during the summer in the swamp. thank you so much. we begin with the fox news alert. president trump pushing back at his critics who hail from across the political spectrum and indeed the world in a fiery posh sean hannity he is doubling down. claiming a special counsel probe driving u.s. and russia parts. republican senator john barrasso is the fourth rigging member of the summer republican leadershie shortly. plus the exclusive history making interview with russian president vladimir putin. we will air this in its entirety this hour, inclusive interface with the two presidents at the center of a global firestorm of controversy, right here on "fox news @ night." welcome to washington. i'm shannon bream. let's get started with the latest from helsinki from our

chief white house correspondent john roberts. good morning to you, john. >> good morning to you from helsinki where it's just now turning 6:00 in the morning and another beautiful day here. president trump back in united states after his summit with vladimir putin. putin back in moscow of course. the president came here to try to really reset the russian relationship with the united states. the obama administration tried it come i didn't get too far. the president believes that he has at this relationship between the u.s. and russia on a new course. but the big headline of the day came when president trump compound after staying twice last week that he was going to be very direct, very frank, very tough with vladimir putin about allegations of meddling in the 2016 election, the president basically said that he didn't know if you believed u.s. intelligence or if he believed vladimir putin, who told him again today, that russia had nothing to do with meddling. listen here. >> dan coats came to me and some others, they said they think

it's russia. i have president putin. he just said it's not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. i have great confidence in my intelligence people, but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. >> the director of national intelligence, dan coats, said the president mentioned, must have cemented and had kittens becaust not long after that when she said, "the role of intelligence communities provide the best information and fact-based assessments possible for the president and policymakers. we have been clear in our assessment of russian meddling in the 2016 election and they are ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy and e unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security." some of the presidents closest advisors and most ardent supporters suggested it was a huge mistake for the president

to say that. newt gingrich tweeting out last night, "president trump must clarify his statements and helsinki on our intelligent system and prudent. it is the most serious mistake of his presidency and must be corrected immediately." just about the same time the former speaker of the house released that tweet, the president tweeted out from air force one, "rj said today it many times before, i have great confidence in my intelligence people. however, i also recognize that in order to build a brighter future work, we cannot exclusively focus on the past, as the world's two largest nuclear powers, we must get along. there was another statement of the president made on twitter earlier in the day that caught a lot of people's attention. it is when he blamed u.s. foolishness and stupidity for driving the u.s.-russian relations to new lows. the president was asked about that at the press conference. he did not appear to back off at all. listen here. >> i hold both countries responsible. i think that the united states has been foolish. i think we have all been

foolish. we should have had this dialogue a long time ago. a long time, frankly, before i got to office. i think we are all to blame. >> there were a lot of people who thought of the president to his being an apologist for the united states and much of the same way that he complained the obama administration was, from chuck schumer come the senate minority leader, for the president of united states troops and with president trump against american law enforcement, american defense officials, and american intelligence agencies is thoughtless, dangerous, and weak. the president is putting himself over our country." now the democratic criticism might be expected but look at this from a speaker of the house paul ryan. "the president must appreciate that russia is not our ally, there is no moral equivalence between the united states and russia, which remains hostile to our most basic values and ideas." one other surprise in the press conference this afternoon, shannon, president putin was asked if he wanted president trump to win the election. he said yes, he did, because the

president talked during the campaign about creating a new relationship with russia. so it does appear that the united states and russia are off on a different footing than they had been for the last few years after those putin but a lot of questions raised about where exactly president trump's priorities really lie. >> shannon: plenty of reaction come again. john, thank you very much. in just a few minutes, we will see the exclusive interview with chris wallace and russian president vladimir putin but first president trump sat down with sean hannity following the summit. kristin fisher has more in that interview. good evening. >> this interview took more nomadic place just minutes after the press conference was putin just ended. this is president trump's immediate reaction before all the criticism came out, before his director of national intelligence defended the u.s. intelligence community's assessment that russia did interfere in the 2016 election. here is the very first thing that president trump said about russian president vladimir putin. >> he said there was no collusion whatsoever.

i guess he said as strongly as you can say it, they have no information on trump. i think it's a shame. we are talking about nuclear proliferation, we are talking about syrian and humanitarian aid, talking about all these different things and we get questions on the witch hunt. and i don't think the people out in the country buy it. but the reporters like to give it a shot. i thought that president putin was very, very strong. >> and this interview we also got a little more insight into what president trump thought about putin's idea that he would allow members of the special counsel's team to to russia and question those 12 intelligence officers just indicted if -- this is a very big if -- if russian agents are allowed to do the same here in the united states. >> i was fascinated by it. so they have a treaty where they work together with united states, because everyone

said we don't have an extradition treaty, but they have a treaty where they work together, and his prosecutors would prosecute it and he said that robert mueller's people could go with them. they probably won't want to. but he's willing to take those 12 people, there is no extradition, but he's willing to let robert mueller's people go over there and bring a big investigation of those people, working together with russian investigators. >> as for what went down in that one-on-one session before the press are, president trump did not go into details but he did say this. >> it was a very long meeting, it was a good beating. we discussed so many different things, including nuclear, including war and peace, including economic, syria, ukraine. we discussed many, many things. at the end of a long period of time -- it was really -- just the two of us -- and interpreters -- and at the end of this meeting, i think we really came to a lot of good

conclusions. >> but what exactly those conclusions are remain unclear. also unclear, will president trump continue to believe putin more than he believes his own intelligence community. he was not asked about it tonight and he didn't bring it up, shannon. >> shannon: kristin fisher, thank you very much. back at home, the president is facing harsh criticism for both parties following his talks with putin. chairman of the center public and policy committee, senator john barrasso from wyoming, joins us live with his reaction. great to have you with us. let me start with something from your side of the aisle, senator ben sasse, who has been tough on this president brady's let him know when he agrees or disagrees. here's what he said today. >> there is no moral equivalency between the u.s. intelligence community and vladimir putin. and there is no ambiguity about that. there is nothing gray, there's nothing confusing. there are just a couple of true things that need to be articulated. for some reason today the president decided to say things that are the opposite of truth. >> shannon: what do you think?

>> as i have some time and time again, vladimir putin is not our friend and i do trust united states intelligence groups. i have said time and again that the russians have tried to involve themselves ended in the election of 2016. it did not impact the outcome. i thought there should have been a punishing response at that time. direct and decisive. it wasn't done. i don't know exactly what the president has said in this long four hour meeting but in all of those items that the president just talked about at the end, the united states has been very strong and president trump has been very strong against russia on about six or seven different items, whether it comes to syria, the cruise missiles, ukraine, arming them, sanctions against russia, more money in nato, nato putting them to defend against russia, more money in our own military. getting rid of the russians in the united states, sending them back, as well as putting our own defense missiles in poland. the president's actions have been very tough against russia. >> shannon: with those actions

in mind, a lot of people will agree, they are tougher than previous administrations on yet the president publicly is a lot kinder to putin than a lot of people are comfortable with especially when he was painted with his intelligence community against putin. bible he not publicly say -- is it that he feels personally attacked for the intelligence community? why want to accept their assessment, what you and others across the political spectrum, except as facts? why won't he do that when he said, do you trust them or do you trust to putin? >> you will have a chance to ask the president that brady speaks for himself on that. when i look at vladimir putin, he someone who stated he wants to rebuild the former soviet union. he is someone who invades other countries, as he has done in ukraine, and as well as taking crimea, his involvement in syria, which we have been pushing back against. we know that he has involved himself in the elections of the united states and he's holding your apostates right now for energy and wants to go further. so there are more things that we can do i believe in a punishing

response to putin. i don't know what the president said to him privately but i hope he has said, we know you did this in 2016. better make sure you don't do it in 2018 because if you do, this is the punishing response, it's going to happen. i am not barack obama. i'm going to act and so if nothing happens in 2018, that my hats off to president trump for privately telling vladimir putin to stay out. >> shannon: i know a lot of americans hope that he was much darker privately that he was in his public conversation. he said that he has a relationship, they need to be able to negotiate things, the world is wrapped up in both of these top nuclear superpowers. senator, thank you for weighing in. glad to have you with us. the exclusive, unforgettable interview with chris wallace and russian president vladimir putin, it was tense, at times combative, that one-on-one, putin calls the election meddling charge "ridiculous." much more right after this break. stick around. ♪

and for the past 15 years i've been a navy federal member. thanks to their fast approval process, when it came time to buy a new car, we got everything we needed to transport my wife's little bundle of joy.... ... who i just adore. navy federal credit union. our members are the mission. with recurring constipation and belly pain if you feel like you spend too much time in the bathroom talk to your doctor and say yesss! to linzess. ♪ yesss! linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. linzess can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. linzess is not a laxative. it works differently to help you get ahead of your recurring constipation and belly pain. do not give linzess to children less than 6, and it should not be given to children 6 to less than 18. it may harm them. do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop

unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. so say yesss! to help for recurring constipation. yesss! to help for belly pain. talk to your doctor and say yesss! linzess. when the guy in frontd down the highway slams on his brakes out of nowhere. you do, too, but not in time.

hey, no big deal. you've got a good record and liberty mutual won't hold a grudge by raising your rates over one mistake. you hear that, karen? liberty mutual doesn't hold grudges... how mature of them. for drivers with accident forgiveness liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪

♪ >> shannon: shortly after president trump and vladimir putin wrap their summit in helsinki, "fox news sunday" anchor chris wallace sat down exclusively for a one-on-one interview with the russian president. here is that interview in its entirety. >> chris: president putin, thank you for speaking with us. i am going to get to some specifics about the summit in a moment, but let's begin with the

big picture. president trump said in his news conference that our relationship has never been worse, but that changed a few hours ago. how has the relationship, big picture, between the u.s. and russia changed today? >> president putin: primarily, i think we should be grateful to our staff and our aides who spent several months working with one another and not just in preparations of this summit. i'm referring to the effort of our agencies across the board who worked in even the very sensitive areas, sensitive both for russia and the united states. primarily i refer to the counterterrorism efforts. today talking with president trump, we agreed that terrorism is the greatest threat than it seems at first.

because god forbid if something happens, if there is a direct attack using the weapons of mass destruction, destruction, it may have a devastating ramifications so our military, our special agencies do establish cooperation in this particularly important area. a case in point would be cooperation in syria. although there are some misunderstandings, especially in terms of the broader picture but this cooperation is going on between the military and the special services. that is our counterterrorism effort in the general sense of the word. but then, in 2021, the treaty is about to expire, so what are we going to do next? i reassured president trump

that russia stands ready to extend this treaty, to prolong it, but we have to agree on the specifics at first because we have some questions to our american partners. we think that they are not fully compliant with the treaty, but this is for experts to decide. we also discussed the iranian nuclear program. we discussed what we can do to improve the situation with north korea. i pointed out and i will point out again that i think that president trump contributed a lot and he did a lot to settle this issue, but in order to achieve complete denuclearization of the peninsula, it will take international guarantees and russia stands ready to make its contribution to the extent it will be necessary. so we can say there are several

issues of crucial importance for us. we are starting to achieve some understanding, which gives us sufficient ground to say that a lot of things changed for the better during today's meeting. >> chris: do you see this summit as a turning point, and end of the effort by the west in recent years to isolate russia? >> president putin: i think you will see for yourself that this effort failed and they were never bound to succeed. take a look at the scale, the sheer size of it. the importance of it in terms of international security and the economy. the contribution to the global energy market. it's too big to be sanctioned and isolated. speaking of the things that do unite us, though, and the things that require our joint efforts, it brings us to the idea that

such attempts to fight one another should be ended and rather look for ways to address common differences -- to address common issues and challenges. how to overcome -- how to address this common concern. so i think this is the beginning of the path. this is a start. we did make a good start today. >> chris: mr. president, one of the issues that is standing in the way of more progress, as you know, are the allegations of russian interference in the u.s. election. you have repeatedly said, and you said again today, that this was not the action of the russian state, that if it was anything, it was patriotic russian individuals. i have here the indictment that was presented on friday from the special counsel robert mueller that says that 12 members of

russian military intelligence, the gru, and they talk specifically about units 26, 165 and 74-455. they say -- you smile, let me finish. >> president putin: [laughs] >> chris: they say that these units were specifically involved in hacking into democratic party computers, stealing information, and spreading it to the world to try to disrupt the american election. may i give this to you to look at, sir? here. >> translator: let me start answering your question with something a little bit different. let's have a look at it this way. people are talking about he

the purported interference of russia with the election process in the united states. i have mentioned this in 2016 and i want to say it now again and i really wish for your american listeners to listen to what i say. first of all, russia as a state, has never interfered with the internal affairs of the united states, let alone its elections. >> chris: but, sir, this is the indictment. i have 12 names here. it talks about specific units of the gru, russian military intelligence. is the gru not part of the russian state? >> translator: i will get to it. just have a little bit of patience and you will get a full answer to your question. interference with domestic affairs of the united states, do you really believe that someone acting from the russian territory could have influenced the united states and influenced the choice of millions of americans?

it's ridiculous. >> chris: i'm not asking if they influenced, i'm asking whether they tried. >> translator: i'm about to answer. this was the first point i was trying to make. if you have some patience, you will hear the entire response. i said this in 2016 and i say it now, the idea was about hacking an email account of a democratic candidate. was it rigging of facts? was it forgery of facts? that the important thing, the point that i'm trying to make. was there any false information planted? no, it wasn't. these hackers -- i will get back to it, just bear with me for a moment. as we are getting told, they hacked a certain email account and there was an information about manipulation conducted within the democratic party to incline the process in favor of one candidate and as

far as i know, the entire party leadership resigned. they admitted the fact of their manipulation, so that's one thing. manipulation of the public opinion should stop and an apology should be made to the public at large instead of looking for those responsible or the party at fault. and now to the mentioned things. as i said in the press conference -- >> chris: president, may i just say, you are indicating that they stole real money, not counterfeit money. are you saying it's okay because of the fact that they took from the dnc, from john podesta, it was their real emails, so it's okay to hack and spread this information out and interfere with the election? >> translator: listen to me, please. the information that i am aware

there is nothing false of it, every single grain if it is true. the democratic leadership admitted it. the first point. now to the second point, if you don't like my answer, you can give it to me straightaway, and if you want americans to listen to my opinions, could you just wait for a little bit? and now for the specific accusations. first of all, special counsel mueller has accused a certain private company in russia that is not even a very big enterprise. and now this company hired american lawyers and defending its integrity and reputation in american court. so far, american court has not discovered any trace of interference whatsoever. millions of americans know about it. and now to the individuals from the indictment act. we, with the united states, we have a treaty for assistance in

criminal cases. an existing treaty that exists from 1999. it is still in force and it works sufficiently. today i referred an example of it's sufficient work. >> chris: i'm not trying to interrupt or be disrespectful -- >> translator: let me finish. just let me finish. you are trying to interrupt but i will finish. why wouldn't special counsel mueller send us an official request within the framework of this agreement? our investigators will be acting in accordance with this treaty. they will question each individual that american partners are suspected of something. why was not a single request filed? nobody sent us a single formal letter. >> chris: let me just say, i don't want to interrupt, and i want to ask, i want to move on

to other subjects. why do you think robert mueller issued this indictment three days before you and president trump met here at the summit? >> translator: i'm not interested in this issue a single bit. it's the internal political games of the united states. don't make the relationship between russia and the united states, don't hold it hostage of this internal political struggle. it's quite clear to me that this is just an internal political struggle and it's nothing to be proud of for american democracy to use such dirty methods and political rivalry. >> chris: do you think that mr. mueller is trying to sabotage the relationship? >> translator: i don't want to make any assessments about his operation. it is for congress that appointed him to do this, to assess his performance, and i think court actually had some doubts about the due procedure

about appointing special counsel mueller to the post that he now held. i think that american court now believes that it will stand with the infringement of the american legislation, but that's none of my business. >> chris: actually, congress didn't appoint him, the justice department did. may i move on, sir? i thought the news conference today, in my opinion, was a bit curious, because president trump spent more time criticizing the democrats and asking about the democratic server than he did in criticizing russia and asking about the gru. there are many theories in the united states about why president trump is so reluctant to criticize you, and i would like to ask you about a couple of them. one is that you have something on him.

kompromat. the other is that as a skilled politician and a former kgb officer, you know how to play him. you use phrases like "fake news" and "deep state." and my question is, do you find president trump easy to deal with? >> translator: the first point i'm about to make is, why do we talk about it like polite people? why should this come as a surprise? was it worth going all the way to helsinki, going through the atlantic, to just insult one another? it's not exactly the diplomatic standard in the world. there's no need to go and meet personally if you just want to insult another person. we met to try to find a way for improving our relationship and not aggravating it or destroying it completely. the second part of this answer

is whether we have something on him. we don't have anything on them and there can't be anything on them. i don't want to insult president trump when i say this, and i may come off as rude, but before he announced that he would run for presidency, he was of no interest for us. he was a rich person, but there is plenty of rich persons in the united states. he was on the construction business. he organized the beauty pageants, but it never occurred to anyone that he would think of running for president. he never mentioned his political ambitions. it sounds like nonsense. just mentioned this in the press conference, visited by 500 businessmen. pretty much every one of them them is a major industrialist tycoon. of greater scale than president trump.

do you think our special services would organize surveillance of each and every of them? like you and like the united states, we don't do this. we don't have enough resources, we don't have enough manpower to organize our total state of control. that's not part of our plan and it's clear that we did nothing of that kind against mr. trump. >> chris: i would like to ask you a couple of specific questions about nato. if nato were to move to add either ukraine or georgia to the alliance, how will you respond? >> translator: well, negatively. the situation around nato is going along those lines. i have a pretty clear understanding of how their decisions are made. i know about the consensus rule, but before the consensus-based decisions are made on the organization wide basis, there

is an opportunity for contact with the member states done with poland and romania, which now stationed and deploy elements of the strategic defense of the united states. for us, it's a direct and immediate threat for our national security. according to moving this nato infrastructure towards our borders would be a threat and the reaction would be extremely negative. >> chris: secondly, there are two major nato exercises later this year. anaconda and trident juncture. did you and president trump discuss those, and did he give any indication, as he did with chairman kim of north korea, would he agree to stop participating in war games, did he give any indication that the u.s. might not participate in these two nato operations? >> translator: no, we haven't brought this issue up.

although it is a concern for us since nato is expanding its infrastructure and facilities, the number of servicemen is on the rise in the regions where they shouldn't be. they increased the manpower to the tune of 10,000 people. this is incompliant to the treaties between russia and nato and this is a destabilizing factor, which we have to factor in, but we haven't mentioned this today with president trump. >> chris: i want to ask you about russia's involvement in syria. according to independent monitors, since the civil war began in 2011, more than a half a million people have been killed and russia has bombed civilians in aleppo and ghouda. no qualms about killing innocents? >> translator: you know, when there is warfare going on, and

this is the worst thing that can happen for humankind, victims are inevitable. there will always be a question who's to blame. i think it is the terrorist groups who are to blame, who destabilized the situation in the country. isis, jihad, and the like. those are the true culprits. and that's exactly the answer that american military give us when they hit military -- civilian objects in afghanistan or other countries. it might seem dubious to some people, but in fact it is true. in terms of syria, american aviation bombed the city of raqqa quite heavily and today we discussed the need for humanitarian operations to be put in place and i hope we

will make progress in this area. we would really like for the plans we discussed today to be carried into life. >> chris: but the u.n. commission that is investigating syria says, and i quote their words, "there was deliberate targeting of civilians by russian pilots flying su 24 and 34 military aircraft." >> translator: all of it can be verified and assessed -- but i just want to get back to raqqa. >> chris: about aleppo and ghouta? >> translator: we can discuss both, but should we also throw in raqqa for good measure? we shouldn't take things out of the context and completely forget about others, shall we? >> chris: i don't think that there has been the bloodshed in raqqa that there was to hundreds of thousands of people that were killed in aleppo and in ghouta.

and in the entire civil war, half a million people. by some estimates, 20,000 children have been killed by the assad regime and his supporters in moscow. are they terrorists? >> translator: you are completely deceived and i'm very sorry that you do not know the real situation about syria. a huge proportion of civilian population of raqqa died. it was erased from the face of the earth. it reminds stalingrad from the world war ii and there is nothing good about it. i reiterate, the blame is on those individuals, who take guidance from those terrorists and use it to take civilians hostage. >> chris: at the g7 summit, president trump reportedly told the other leaders that crimea might as well be russian

because everybody there speaks russian. did he give you any indication that at some point, not today, but at some point, he might recognize russia's annexation of crimea or lift sanctions, or move to bring russia back into the g7, now the g8, all of which happened as a result of the annexation of crimea? >> translator: first of all, i would like to make a correction. the joining of crimea to russia is not an annexation. in democratic governments, the free manifestation of a person's will is a referendum and the people of crimea went to referendum and voted for joining russia. if this is an annexation, what is democracy then?

secondly, we are aware of president trump's posture that crimea is part of ukraine. he told me this today. i responded with the words pretty much similar to what i said to you, and i think we should leave the discussion at that. >> chris: all right, we are running out of time anyway. let's move on. last year, defense secretary mattis said that russia is the greatest threat, russia is the greatest threat to the united states, and he has since made it clear, and even greater threat than terrorism. in march, you introduced a new generation of russian missiles, including what you called an invincible missile that could evade, defeat, all of our missile defenses, and you even released a video that showed the super missile flying over the united states and hitting florida very near where

president trump's estate is at mar-a-lago. aren't you escalating the arms race and are you being deliberately provocative? >> translator: as far as the footage is concerned, they did not specify that the missile is about to hit the united states. you have to look at it more carefully. secondly -- >> chris: it shows florida. >> translator: there was not florida. there was not a caption saying florida. take a more careful look at it. it was never caption to florida. >> chris: but you can see it on the map. >> translator: it was flying over the eastern coast -- no, no, no, it couldn't be seen on the map. just take a closer look. i'm pretty sure i can give

you -- now to the weapons. they were not born out of nowhere. they were born as a response to the unilateral withdrawal of the united states from the abm treaty, from the very beginning we've been warning our american counterparts that we are not going to join the global antimissile system, we see no purpose for it, but we will do everything to have means to overcome it. the response of our counterparts was that the united states designed this antimissile defense system because it is not designed to be guided against you. in 2003 or 2004, i think i mentioned one of those systems and there was no response from our american counterparts. so what we did now, we just demonstrated that we do have means to overcome the system and

it's just a negotiating item. i do hope that in terms of the stability, we will be able to find a mutually acceptable solution for both sides, and that applies to the imf treaty and the intermediate and shorter range missiles as well. >> chris: i have limited time, i would like to ask you about the alleged inf violation, but i want to move on and ask you three final questions about vladimir putin. when you were first elected in the year 2000, you were portrayed as a democratic reformer. you talked about the value of european culture, and you did not even rule out becoming a part of nato. what happened? >> translator: nothing changed about me. i am the way i am. i am the way i was. i was elected the president of

the russian federation as an adult man and in this age, your preferences, beliefs, and attitudes towards life does not change that much, but we have to react to what's going on around us. take the nato expansion to the east. when the soviet union was withdrawing troops from germany, russians should know -- we were told that russians should know one thing, that nato would never extend beyond the german borders. it happened. despite our principal posture. nobody gave a damn about our posture. we didn't want the united states to withdraw from the abm treaty, but they did, despite our request not to do it. all the requests were denied. and examples abound, take the

events in yugoslavia. you know that president yeltsin was completely against this conflict and the only legal way to use the force is through the sanction of the security council of the united nations. examples abound, examples of events that deteriorated the status of our relationship. or take the application of u.s. legislation extraterritorially beyond its borders. they were not us who made the steps. you asked me about crimea, you asked me about ukraine. it was not us who organized the military coup in the country that completely ignored the constitution. it was not us on the city squares. it is not the way to deal with such issues, and when it happened, it happened exactly by our border.

so nothing happened to me, what happened to you, is what i want to know? what happened to the west? >> chris: you say nothing happened to you, but i need to ask you, domestically, not internationally, domestically, inside russia, why is it that so many of the people that oppose vladimir putin end up dead or close to it? former russian spy and double agent sergei skripal, the victim of a nerve agent attack in england. boris nemtsov, a political opponent gunned down near the kremlin. investigative reporter anna politskaya murdered in an apartment building. why is it that so many people who are political enemies of vladimir putin are attacked? >> translator: first of all, all of us have plenty of political rivals. i'm pretty sure president trump has plenty of political rivals. >> chris: but they don't end

up dead. he >> translator: not always? haven't presidents been killed in the united states? have you forgotten about it? has kennedy been killed in russia or in the united states? or mr. king. what happens with the clashes between police and civil society of several ethnic groups? that is something that happens on the u.s. soil. all of us have our own set of domestic problems, but going back to what happened in russia, yes, we do have crime, and unfortunately -- to some extent, russia's statehood is maturing. and there are some side effects and we persecute people responsible for these crimes,

but since you have mentioned the skirpal case, we would like to get at least some sort of a document and evidence about it, but nobody gives it to us. it's the same thing with the accusations with meddling in the election process in america. we've recently heard that two more people suffered from the same nerve agent but i have never even heard the last names of these persons. who are they? >> chris: supposedly they picked up the bottle that was used to attack skripal. may i ask you one last question, sir? >> translator: let us see this issue first. what kind of package, what kind of bottle, what is the chemical formula? who got it? or maybe there are other reasons, internal reasons within the united kingdom, but nobody wants to look into these. we just see the ungrounded accusations, why is it done this way?

why should our relationship be made worse by this? >> chris: finally, i know one of the reasons he wanted to do this interview was so that people in the united states and the west could get a better understanding of the real man. you are often portrayed as a strong man, an autocrat, a person who is a symbol of russia's strength. are those fair characterizations of you, sir? >> translator: i'm not laying claim to be this kind of a strong man that i am being portrayed, but from the point of view of legal symbols, flag, all of them symbolize the country and it's the same for any country. the anthem, the national flag, and the institute of the presidency. they portray russian values and

what it's ready to go for, what it's ready to stand for, to build a relationship with such a great country as the united states. i've mentioned economy before and i mentioned this fact to president trump. let's look at our market, for instance. europeans sell hundreds of billions of dollars worth and about 1500 billion euro of services. the number for china stands at $57 billion. what about the united states? 12. $12 billion for the united states and $5 billion worth for services. so that's the direct result of these policies, including the sanctions. in fact, the united states have driven off their companies from the russian market, so they left and this vacuum was filled by their rivals, by their competitors. some of them lost their

investments. what was that for? we are interested in developing our relationship in the area of security, of stability, economic challenges, strategic challenges, and any other challenges that we have. i think that today with president trump we made the first step in this direction. >> chris: mr. president, thank you. thank you for talking with us. >> translator: thank you. >> shannon: the paper is still sitting there on the table. breaking news next. the russian woman accused of conspiring to infiltrate american political organizations including the nra reportedly under the direction of the kremlin. those allegations next. ♪ restlessness, it's gas! gas-x relieves pressure, bloating and discomfort... fast! so we can all sleep easier tonight.

uhp. i didn't believe it. again. ♪ ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth? ♪ i want to believe it. [ claps hands ] ♪ ooh i'm not hearing the confidence. okay, hold the name your price tool. power of options based on your budget! and! ♪ we'll make heaven a place on earth ♪ yeah! oh, my angels! ♪ ooh, heaven is a place on earth ♪ [ sobs quietly ] ♪ ooh, heaven is a place on earth ♪ i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making america's #1 shave.

precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. now starting at $7.99. gillette. the best a man can get.

♪ >> shannon: this is a fox news alert. another russian being charged by the justice department tonight for allegedly attempting to create a back channel to moscow by infiltrating conservative groups like the nra. garrett tenney is here with this stunning story. you've got the latest. >> good to be with you. the fbi says this influenced operation as they call it goes back to at least 2015 and the goal according to the affidavit was to advance moscow's long-term strategic objectives in the united states. on sunday, fbi agents arrested a 29-year-old russian woman, maria butina, who is charged with

lobbying to advanced russian interests. under the direction of the influential russian targeted by u.s. sanctions, butina spent the last three years trying to develop relationships with u.s. politicians in order to establish back channel lines of communication. according to the affidavit, these lines could be used by the russian federation to penetrate u.s. national decision-making apparatus to advance the agenda of the russian federation. butina is a whole funder of the russian gun rights group, the right to bear arms, and she cultivated relationships with various special interest groups, including a an array, in order to gain access to politicians. to some degree, she was successful in reaching those in power. she allegedly met with at least several elected officials in 2015 and 2016 to have a camping event in los angeles in july of 2015, she was one of the handful of people who got to asn candidate donald trump a

question. >> if you would be there elected to the president, what would be your foreign politics especially in relationship with my country and do you want to continue the politics of sanctions that damage both economies? >> her attorneys say that allegations are overblown and that butina is not a russian agent. it's also interesting to note that vladimir putin told chris wallace that russia has never interviewed with the internal affairs of the united states. court documents reveal that maria butina wrote in an email that representative prudence administration had approved her mission to establish a back channel operation. >> shannon: very interesting. thank you for the details. tomorrow night, tucker carlson will be airing a full extended interview with president trump. if you watch tonight, you saw a preview. be sure to turn in for the full thing tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. tucker covers not only

trump-putin, immigration, page ivan strzok, and so much more. tomorrow, 8:00, don't mess it. most lots, most trusted. good night from washington. i'm shannon bream. call one today. are you in good hands? we carry flowers that signifyn why we want to end the disease. and we walk so that one day, there will be a white flower for alzheimer's first survivor. join the fight at alz.org/walk. man: it takes a lot of work to run this business, but i really love it. i'm on the move all day long, and sometimes i don't eat the way i should. so i drink boost to get the nutrition i'm missing. boost high protein now has 33% more protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals.

and it has a guaranteed great taste. man: boost gives me everything i need to be up for doing what i love. boost high protein. be up for it. who would have guessed? an energy company helping cars emit less. making cars lighter, it's a good place to start, advanced oils for those hard-working parts. fuels that go further so drivers pump less.

improving efficiency is what we do best. energy lives here. if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis,do best. little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months, ... with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. tell your doctor if these occur. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. other side effects include upper respiratory tract infection and headache.

tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ♪ otezla. show more of you. saynot todayis because of my bladder, thanks to tena intimates with proskin technology designed to absorb so fast, it helps to protect and maintain your skin's natural balance so you can feel fresh and free to get as close as you want all day, and now all night for a free sample visit tena.us forlike me, some ofned these dogs have seen many tours of duty. and for the past 15 years i've been a navy federal member. thanks to their fast approval process, when it came time to buy a new car, we got everything we needed to transport my wife's little bundle of joy....

... who i just adore. navy federal credit union. our members are the mission. ♪ >> tucker: good evening. welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." we are live tonight from helsinki, finland. north enough that the sign is still glowing. sun going up or down, not clear. president trump was of course here today with russian president vladimir putin. they concluded the first one-on-one summit meeting. we interviewed president after they finished and we will show you excerpts with the full extended interview with the president tomorrow on this show. in a press conference, the president hailed the meeting as a turning point in america-russia relations. here is part of it. >> president trump: our relationship has never been worse than it is now. however, tha