you go to moscow. the proof is in the peace process has been relocated to -- hasto cause asked on been rolling -- has been relegated to geneva. motift is the one sort of of russian involvement in the region is now we are back in charge. putin is doing is he is guaranteeing power to populists. dogan thatnteeing erg he will back his regime in turkey. that is a kind of organization that i think putin is setting up against nato, against the u.s.. he is saying each of these populists, your homes with the kremlin. >> europeans may not like you print the are raising an eyebrow of what you are doing. it is a human rights issue. >> here nato ally is backing a proxy that you have been in work with for 40 years. >> here's a question for you -- in the shakeup of the grand gop political shakeup have been playing for the last 40 minutes, the suspicion in circle surrounding donald trump is the great fred strategically might fret -- the great strategically might be china. if they pull back, there has to be somebody wh

the russians themselves are reporting from moscow that they are getting a little unnerved by some of the push back now from president trump, some of the signals are not as friendly as they might have wished. as some of the language is moderated. they want to know what is really going on here and what kind of relationship they can predict with president trump. what they are hearing from mattis and pence is different from what they heard from the president himself. you make of the theory that the russian government has something on president trump and has somehow or another during the campaign sent word and that has shaped his public policy toward moscow? andrea: i just don't know. it's inextricable why donald trump has said so many -- inextricable why donald trump has said so many positive things about vladimir putin, given all the public records, the killing and jailing of other opposition , thers and journalists invasion and holding of eastern ukraine, the fact that the world rose up in condemnation of russia for incident after incident. the kgb/fsb background of this leader. friend

you know, the fact that we were not paying attention to moscow here was part of the problem. whenember i was in moscow mitt romney, who was running for president in 2012, said russia was america's number one geopolitical foe. he was laughed off the stage here, and i remember laughing it off in moscow, and i remember liberal russians being offended by that, because they have always shows that covered -- all with whole hours dedicated to unpacking what we say about them. they want to know what we think about them. to be told that we do not think about the much at all was really insulting, you know? especially, people still remember the soviet union when it was, you know, they were going blow for blow with the the fact the fact that they were ignored, and kind of disrespected and treated -- they were constantly hearing russians,om the and putin would go on forever with you guys are disrespectful, you do not treat us with the respect we feel we deserve. there is a lot of stuff there. ian: one thing that came across from this piece is that putin and the kremlin seems to be monoman

. >> i know that you are in moscow. view do you see america's of islam moving, given the presidential election? muslimve witnessed the ban and i thought it was interesting. i think that this is a set of values that is embodied in a constitutional system that seems to be working. >> we are testing it. >> isn't that where we prove that it is existing? we have told the world for a geniushat america is and this demonstrates the practical outcomes of that genius and i think it is important for us to observe. i do not take it personal approach of the seven countries, but it surprised me and a number of others that there was an expectation that we could get v was an easily and that element of surprise. >> where do you see the trump with moscow?n are you puzzled? view is that the relationship has been exaggerated and has become a political football. >> to you mean that the tensions have been exaggerated question mark >> the supposedly relationship between trump and the russians. yes. much inability to see where the administrati

she is visiting her godmother in moscow and being introduced to moscow society while she is waiting for her beyond say. while she is waiting she meets a notorious young rope. -- rogue. then hijinks in sue's. pierre -- tell me about here? there is war outside the gates. everybody is concerned that high society. he is searching for meaning in his life. he is a little bit of a depressive. he is searching for some kind of meaning after having been thrust into wealth. he has an unexpected money. he is married somebody who he is attracted to but knows he does not love them very much. while everybody is at war with napoleon or society, he is at war with himself. there is a wonderful art and songs that are so gratifying to saying. we all see little bit of ourselves in these characters. guessing that you have been offered broadway roles before. given your success in a singer. >> i have been. >> we saw this in a smaller incarnation. what makes you realize this is the one that i'm going to make the leap? >> i was a fan of the show off-broadway. i came to see it downtown in the meatpacking district

moscow picked out those that were vulnerable to seduction. searchingalent scouts for people who seemed somewhat alienated and idealistic, and yet positioned her big careers. charlie: what happened to this man? kati: absolutely crushed by this man who never told them he was working for stalin, and in fact tried to lure them into the graft -- craft of espionage. saga who i of this loved writing about, writing a book is like a marriage, you have to like the subject. noel field is not the most lovable guy. he is complex and interesting. but his daughter, erika, was a force of nature. her children were very helpful to me. i could not have done this because this is very much a human drama, i could not have done this -- and yes, of the cost of total belief and sort of abdicating reason. i thought the comparison would be made to isis, the recruitment of vulnerable young people to isis. but then along came all of this news of moscow again manipulating our affairs. one of the cast of characters in "true believer" is alger hiss who was a close field --

he will go to moscow. part of the white house's goal is to have this comprehensive review of the president's russia policy wrapped up or at least have the key elements in place before he goes there so the conversation can actually be substantive and they can try to move forward on some of the things they want to do. i think he will be coming there with specific messages on some of the concerns the white house has about what russia has been syria, in terms of its relationship with iran, and in terms of its use of cyberattacks. charlie: i assume they are hopeful because of the relationship between secretary tillerson is a corporate executive that there might be the possibility for better communication van has taken place. >> right. i think they are hopeful about that because they are not starting from two who are not familiar with each other. there is a familiarity there. that is something they feel like would work in their favor. i have talked to people about russia this week. they are very down on their ab

that is what you will have to test in moscow. charlie: do you think you will see president clinton -- the ,ussians are -- president putin the russians are sending a message this is between the secretaries. derek: sometimes be things happen where they don't announce it and i have a surprise meeting, but i think that will be the easy indicator whether he gets in a room with president putin. charlie: was it a mistake for president obama to believe the russians would do what they had promised to do in that agreement? do what they promised, and make sure all the chemical weapons were gotten out of syria? derek: i think president obama ended up achieving something none of us imagined was possible, a peaceful removal of 1300 tons of chemical weapons, materials, and weaponize to stuff from syria. that is a huge accomplishment that made us all safer. in many ways, the fact that that material is not in syria today, and the concern is not how that would proliferate in response to any u.s. strike, freed president trump up to take the strike

the charge of a cover-up comes as secretary of state rex tillerson is on a visit to moscow where his goal is to convince the russians to stop backing bashar al-assad. this has revised the update about president obama's legacy on syria and the trump administration moving forward. thispress conference afternoon, secretary mattis says isis remains the target. joining me is tony blinken, the former deputy national security adviser for president obama. joining me here is bret stephens, a columnist for "the wall street journal." i want to begin with a column that got a lot of attention. "the price of obama's mendacity." there's always this debate about the wisdom of barack obama's decision to forgo a similar strike in 2013. that's the beginning. mr. obama and his advisers will never run out of self justifications for their policy in syria. they can't out run responsibility for the consequences of their lies." after president obama, kerryent putin, and john went through the agreement for syria to ban the stockpile of chemical weapons, information began to emerge that the syrians were cheati

there's tremendous disappointment in moscow. president putin commit tillerson waiting until the end of the day. i think there's fall hope there but what do the russians expects given everything they've done in the middle east to undercut the united states, plus the interference with the election. i think president trump is bocked in on charges that make conclusion between the trump campaign and the russian government. we do know the russians interfered. interesting that tillerson raised that this week. interesting that president trump still won't criticize president putin. he was asked about his rhythm with president putin today and he pivoted away and said a lot ping. gs about president and david's points i think is central here. it looks as if the united states has flipped. now very open in praising china, very critical of russia. the opposite of where president-elect trump was during the transition. charlie: what do you guys both see as our options in north korea? the president has said in the last couple of day, i'm sending

there's tremendous disappointment in moscow. president putin kept secretary tillerson waiting until the end of the day. there was a whether or not he would see them -- see him. hopes there.shed there is fallen hope there. what do the russians expects given everything they've done in the middle east to undercut the united states, plus the interference with the election. i think president trump is locked in on charges. there may have been collusion between the trump campaign and the russian government. we do know the russians interfered. interesting that tillerson raised that this week. interesting that president trump still won't criticize president putin. he was asked today at the press conference, what is your relationship like with vladimir putin? he pivoted away from putin and said outlaw of nice things about xi jinping, that they had good talks at mar-a-lago and on the phone about north korea. and david's points i think is central here. it looks as if the united states has flipped. now very open in praising china, very criti

i was working on the snowden film in germany and i was traveling to moscow to see snowden who was helping us to make this movie. sometime in that period, i ran into mr. putin. i talked to him about the snowden affair any told me his version of it which is in the film. interesting. from that grew a warmer relationship. i think he knew my work of the untold history of the united states which was shown in russia. interesting. from that grew a warmer very successful. he knew some of my work as a filmmaker. we asked for a longer interview. it started like that. it was sort of a loosey-goosey arrangement. he liked it and wanted to continue, we would continue. charlie: there has been criticism to not challenging enough, all of those things. you must have a point of view on that because you chose a technique that you thought would be the most effective in accomplishing your goals. oliver: when you see somebody for 20 hours in front of a camera, you know, you do see character. you get the sense of the person. did overe questions i that time, you have to realize i am listening, i'm watching. i was

petersburg recently and moscow before of terrorism. republics, one of the on russia's southern border, the insurgency is not that hot. right next to chechnya. buts not that violent now, there's a huge amount of police and security services present. a lot of what critics call brutal tactics. that has led to an exit is -- fighters some of these to isis. russia is doing everything it can to make sure those people do not come back. that rightem tell us before the 2014 olympics, russian security services facilitated some of their travel to syria to get them out of russia. dagestan is safer. chechnya is safer. whether syria and iraq are safer is another question. >> where does vladimir putin want people in the west to believe he is on ice is now? >> i think it is relatively genuine when he says we are fighting a civilizational war and isis is the enemy. the technicalities in syria are another question. inre are a lot of people this administration who say russian jets are not attacking isis. russian jets are attacking whoever is russia's enem

it has never happened in moscow. when he came back for the first time, you start to see his presidential ambitions. in 1988, he went to new hampshire as if to throw his hat in the ring for the new hampshire primary. backhave gone and looked at that. some of the themes are similar to what he is saying now. he took out full-page ads in the new york times in washington post that put forth the same kind of foreign policy he is articulating now. and and i--- very anti-nato anti-european. it could have come out of the mouth of vladimir putin. >> he said some interesting things about the russian leaders back then. this is the waning days of the soviet union. ronald reagan is of course president, and he goes back couple of times, but you quote him praising the soviet leaders in comparison to the american leaders. craig: right. it is interesting. he has watched russia become a mafia state, and rather than being appalled by it, it seems to me he is embracing it. and the mafia state that putin has put together -- it is an inter

to moscow. given the amount of attention this investigation is getting, the number of lawyers with serious capability on the financial and anticorruption side, they clearly believe these connections are meaningful. i expect we will learn something. whether that goes directly to president trump i don't have any , view. at this point, we can't look at all of this happening and say it is just smoke. it doesn't make sense. the good thing about our system is we will find out what it is. charlie: you just had a significant victory in mosul. we had a kind of encirclement over raqqa. the caliphate is being shrunk. already in iraq, that's one of the biggest issues there is, what is next? or as tom friedman likes to say, the day after the day after. ian: let's start with at least some positives, which is that people can now go back to mosul and start to rebuild. charlie: it is one of the most destructed places, it has been ripped down. ian: having said that, these people want to be in their homes, and hum

then they had put the system in place for next year's world cup, which is still being held in moscow next summer. this was not going to stop. this was going to continue. grigory had reached -- as he said -- its logical conclusion, and he wanted to bring the story to the world. charlie: take a look at this, clip number two. they discuss the growing concerns about russian knowledge. here it is. >> there is a top-level decision, you know who i mean, and the big boss, vladimir putin thinks, to show the best result in sochi. we must show others who we are. we could make him do one month. decided to use them during sochi. >> through the competition, so they could be at the very top level? >> right. >> vladimir putin? >> instead of using the science, the science you developed to get around the system, you abandoned the science? >> most important, yes. and gentlemen, let me be clear that 126 sessions with the international olympic committee is open. charlie: call to me about what you did in wanting to go through this expanding yourself. guest: i wanted to go through it for many reasons. as a

he is at the time running the third-largest anti-doping laboratory in the world, which is the moscow lab, which had overseen all the testing for the sochi olympics, but was also overseeing testing of all russian athletes across all sports and all international athletes coming to russia to compete. so i began working with gregory. shortly thereafter there is an investigation launched based on this television documentary. that is basically december 2014 to november 2015 and during this year, gregory is under investigation, but i keep going on with my film and gregory is helping to advise me. november 2015, a report comes out based on this investigation and it is now alleging that gregory is essentially the mastermind of the state-sponsored doping program. at the time, it is still only mandated -- the investigation is only onto track and field. this creates a series of events. the lab is shut down. gregory is forced to resign. russia is suspended from world track and field. gregory is basically telling me that he is going to be killed by the russian government, and i helped facilitate h

curtis stamm, moscow. samantha: that was always a part of it. charlie: was that a part of going in, or is it something you just thought of one day, let's go to russia? samantha: for the first few shows, i went to jordan. the big part of the thought process behind creating this show -- miles: we have to get her in the field. it is what she is good at. samantha: i do not feel like we are changing. everybody is getting better at their job. other things are flowing into the stream. samantha: we did a musical. charlie: tell me about the not the white house correspondents dinner. how did that come about? samantha: i was sitting in my office with jo and another one of our producers. we were having a fun conversation. newt gingrich said something about how the white house press corps was an anachronism and we should get rid of it. we were talking and riffing and having a nice conversation. we were wondering if the white house correspondents would exist. that was last november. charlie: what's amazing, we do the same thing. we see something in the paper

embassy in moscow and you grab it. -- grabbed it. participated in some diplomatic functions and khrushchev comes to one of those and meets you. one of the heroes of world war ii? marvin: yes. charlie: now you talk about a drinking thing them and making sure the person serving you is giving you water and he is getting popular and he's impressed you can hold your own. khrushchev is there and he takes you over to meet him. what happens? him when hed met came over to celebrate our july 4 party. there were four of us at the embassy which was woefully understaffed. said marvin,lin you will be in charge. i said that was ridiculous. i don't deal with marshall's. he said now you do. i read up on him and found out he really likes vodka so i worked with the ambassadors butler to work out a deal that on one end of the trade was locked up in the other end was water and whenever he was serving it he was to make sure -- he gott the water the market and i got the water. hour -- half hour or so, he was a bit tipsy. said he was about to marshallalked