rick stengel, home field advantage on this one. i want to start off with your reaction to the first of the two "washington post" reports tonight. >> i just want to caveat it by saying it's true. but it gets curiouser and curiouser, as alice said. i guess my first reactions are it's somewhere between extreme naivety and ignorance and something much more dangerous. i mean if an intelligence officer had done what mr. kushner has done he would be looking at espionage charges. it's stunning. the other thing in terms of naivety and ignorance is anybody who has been in the usg knows that the intelligence community monitors all the calls of the russian ambassador. you can never have a quiet or innocent discussion with the russian ambassador. that's just disturbing that that was not known or realized. >> beiana, that also speaks to the second part of the story, and that is that they monitored kislyak, pressing surprise along the lines of -- expressing surprise along the lines of can you believe our good fortune, i befriended the young man w

hugh hewitt, host of the hugh hewitt show, and rick stengel remains with us. ayesha first tell us about the reuter's story that takes a slice of this tonight on the same general topic of jared kushner. and then something that may call for a judgment from you, how do you think the white house, which is tonight the traveling white house is going to react to tonight's wave? >> reuter's reported -- had a great scoop that there were contacts between the russians and jared kushner that have not been or that had not been disclosed. that there had been these contacts and that the fbi is looking into whether there was any sort of quid pro quo where you would have the russians saying look if you ease these sanctions maybe we could help out on some business transactions. but, that said, our story did report that there is at this point no evidence that these conversations were -- that there was anything inappropriate going on. but they are being looked at. so that's what we reported. as far as what the -- how the white house will respond, we were also reporting that they

ali velshi and rick stengel. >>> up next, when generals are pulled into politics on live television. how h.r. mcmaster became the first line of defense for this president, when we continue. >>> the question is simply a yes or no question here. did the president share classified information with the russians in that meeting? >> we don't say what's classified. what's not classified. what i will tell you again is what the president shared was wholly appropriate. >> national security adviser h.r. mcmaster defending president trump after reports the president had shared that classified intelligence with the russians in the oval office. mcmaster's carefully phrased defense prompted headlines containing tough words like tarnishing and corruption to criticize a three-star army general who when he replaced mike flynn was praised as an independent tough voice, one of the soldier scholars of his generation. with me a man who has known mcmaersk for years, retired four-star general barry mccaffrey, decorated combat veteran of vietnam, ground commander and commander in desert storm with government

and joining us rick stengel who will also happens to be the former managing editor of "time" magazine, extra germane because i'm going to show their cover. i know you don't run the place anymore. we also have an animated version this they put out today. the st. basil's cathedral in moscow overtaking the white house that cover has had a -- -- that plane means a lot when it lands in a place night does. >> what's ahead here. >> that's a sensational cover by the way. and people around the world read the american newspapers. the ambassadors of those newspapers are reporting back saying what the heck is going on there? it is a odd time to go. it should be a lay up in term of the kind of trip he is take. going to saudi arabia, a long time ally, israel, a long time ally, seeing the pope what could go wrong there. but it's happening an an odd time. there is $109 billion of arms sales that's going to be announced that saudi arabia is doing, and something i started at the state department, a possible u.s./suedy counter-isis messaging center is something that the president and the secretary of st

rick stengel is here with us again. former undersecretary for public diplomacy and deposit apairs in the state deputy the obama administration. also the former editingor of "time" magazine. and the host of deadline netw k network. nicole i'm going to begin with you, i'm going quote you back to you from your broadcast today. you had a moment where you u quoted the cell phone commercial "can you hear me now". essentially to your fellow republicans saying, let's remember what this conversation is about. >> right. i'm troubled by tray doubty who has had bright moments and has had low points. i mean we covered his stewardship of the benghazi hearing. and he has had highs and lows and in full view. but that he's making this such a narrow question to brennan about do you have evidence of a conspiracy? that's not the question. we know that russia set ott to meddle in our elections. we know they were successful in hacking the dnc and hacking hillary clinton's campaign advisors. it is really beyond my ability to come prehence and

stengel. yesterday steve mnuchin said to our colleague, john harwood, there needs to be some revisement or tweaking, but larry summers has said this is double counting. >> yeah, so it's very confusing what's gone in the budget in the first place because of the things that aren't there. there are no details about the tax plan, which is really one of the big centerpieces of the overall budget in this budget submission. so what we do know is that the administration is relying on very, very high growth numbers to help get to their overall fiscal goal of balancing the budget. they're assuming 3% growth. they then show that there is a dividend, a savings that comes from those higher growth numbers that's going to be $2 trillion. again, that's based on high growth numbers. and they use it to help get the budget to balance. but what they have been saying for months now is that they're going to use those growth effects to help make their tax plan not explode the debt. so suddenly you've got the $2 tril

rick stengel is here with us again. former undersecretary for public diplomacy and affairs in the state deputy, the obama administration. also the former editor of "time" magazine. and the host of deadline network. nicole i'm going to begin with you, i'm going quote you back to you from your broadcast today. you had a moment where you feared russia normalization. you quoted the cell phone commercial "can you hear me now" essentially to your fellow republics sang, let' remember what this conversation is about. >> right. i'm troubled by trey dowty who has had bright moments and has had low points. i mean we covered his stewardship of the benghazi hearing. and he has had highs and lows and in full view. but that he's making this such a narrow question to brennan about do you have evidence of a conspiracy? that's not the question. we know that russia set ott to meddle in our elections. we know they were successful in hacking the dnc and hacking hillary clinton's campaign advisors. it is really beyond my ability to comprehen

and rick stengel. i got to start with you, biana. he didn't push aside anyone, he pushed aside -- >> there's no bigger thorn at putin's side than nato obviously. this is once a again a big coup for vladimir putin who has been watching this very closely. the fact that the president as we mentioned the bar was very low and know the other countries there purposely didn't bring up the russia issue and their concern that much about ukraine because they didn't want to sort of appease the president, get to know him and be flattering -- >> how about who pushed aside? >> yes, the newest members of nato who the president voted for, montenegro, not a very welcoming gesture on the president's part. >> rick stengel, you've been in charge of public diplomacy. read the body language to me. what does this say? i thought it said -- you have the job of helping to sell america around the world. >> i think it's a high crime and misdemeanor. >> yeah, manye, too. >> when you go to the boughtics as i did at the state department, they tell you you have to s

that's a long-term conservative goal and we accomplish that goal. >> senator, rick stengel. quick question. where do you see the senate going from here? if you have to handicap your bill versus other bills, where do you see yourself coming out? >> couple of things about that, rick. first, it depends whether democrats get engaged. whenever they say, i wasn't called. don't be passive. come together. approach mitch mcconnell with an idea that will lower those premiums for the folks who need it. don't be passive, number one. number two, if we're going to fulfill president trump's contract to the american voter, i think the only way to get there is through a bill if not cassidy/collins, a bill a lot like cassidy/collins. i'd like to think we fulfill that contract. i think the president is serious. if we fulfill it it will look like cassidy/collins. >> just to be clear the house bill does not fulfill those promises, does it? >> no. if you look at the cbo score, you can dispute it, even if it's not as dramatic as it appears to be still does not fulfill those criteria. on the other

stengel, who also happens to be former managing editor of time magazine. and our friend historian presidential biographer and author, john meech ham comes back on the broadcast with us. john, i'll ginl with you. major garrett is a good guy and a solid journalist and was not being facetious when he said do we have to wait for the president's pro noumt. you and i have talked before about this president who lacks a baseline of history in the presidency that politicians with their eyes on this prize all their eyes on have. it's nobody's fault he came from a different world. is that also -- does that translate into not knowing that there are certain riles, moreas and laws that sometimes govern your comments? >> well, president trump is like all of us, to some extent, a prison of his own experience. this is a man who has been reported actually prethe ended to be his own spokesman in the tabloid years. >> john miller. >> john miller and john bare ron. so i think when the history of the trump administration is written, there are going to be a couple of really impo

joining our conversation is rick stengel. thank for being here with us. >> thank you. >> we were talking before we came on the air about something that struck me yesterday, too, and didn't get a lot of pick up in the discussion. it was comey's comment about how russia remains the biggest threat the world over. >> yes, i mean, i thought it was quite an extraordinary statement that didn't get enough attention. they are the most maligned actor on the world stage. not just affecting the united states but nations all around the world. they continue to undermine democracy, undermine democratic world organizations like the u.n., like nato. they are doing it in nefarious ways. they are using organized crime. they are using troll factories. they are -- all along a continuum they have been using for decades now. comey is aware of their role in world politics. i think it's fair that he talks about it. >> are you worried sort of in your former role, in our former life, are you watching what is happening in france. >> yes. >> with some al

joining our conversation is rick stengel. thank for being here with us. >> thank you. >> we were talking before we came on the air about something that struck me yesterday, too, and didn't get a lot of pick up in the discussion. it was comey's comment about how russia remains the biggest threat the world over. >> yes, i mean, i thought it was quite an extraordinary statement that didn't get enough attention. they are the most maligned actor on the world stage. not just affecting the united states but nations all around the world. they continue to undermine democracy, undermine democratic liberal organizations like the u.n., like nato. and they're doing it in nefarious ways. they're using organized crimes, they're using troll factories. they are -- all along a continuum they have been using for decades now. comey is aware of their role in the world stage. i think it's fair that he talks about it. >> are you worried sort of in your former role, in our former life, are you watching what is happening in france with some alarm, be

joining our conversation is rick stengel. thank for being here with us. >> thank you. >> we were talking before we came on the air about something that struck me yesterday, too, and didn't get a lot of pick up in the discussion. it was comey'somment autow russia remains the biggest threat the world over. >> yes, i mean, i thought it was quite an extraordinary statement that didn't get enough attention. they are the most maligned actor on the world stage. not just affecting the united states but nations all around the world. they continue to undermine democracy, undermine democratic world organizations like the u.n., like nato. they are doing it in nefarious ways. they are using organized crime. they are using troll factories. they are -- all along a continuum they have been using for decades now. comey is aware of their role in world politics. i think it's fair that he talks about it. >> are you worried sort of in your former role, in our former life, are you watching what is happening in france. >> yes. >> with some alarm, t