CHRIS JANSING: I want to bring in Liz Wahl, former anchor for state owned TV network Russia Today, who famously quit on air because she said she didn't want to be “part of the Russian propaganda machine.” Thanks so much for joining us, and you know the way that they operate there in Russia. What do you expect to hear from there going forward on all of this?
LIZ WAHL: It was interesting to hear from your correspondent over there in Moscow because this is typical. Denial is kind of a, just the way that they handle news that is damning to them. And you hear this over and over again that there is no proof. We've heard this in terms of Ukraine where Russia became increasingly bold and aggressive in foreign policy. And denial is what they do, and there were little green men in Ukraine, occupying Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine, they said they didn't exist, and they were fueling the war in Eastern Ukraine, they said that that was not happening. And perhaps most disturbingly, the repeated targeting bombing of hospitals, humanitarian aid convoy, of the White Helmets, of civilian groups. These are all things that have been happening and simply, you just -- excuse me -- you just get denials.
So unfortunately, we're hearing a similar kind of response the Trump team, from the Trump campaign. We're getting this intelligence from US intelligence agencies, from the CIA, and this evidence is presented to him, and he's saying “nope, I simply don't believe it.” So there really isn't a better mouthpiece for the Kremlin right now. Another key messaging that works in Russian media is this idea, and the Trump campaign has really harnessed this, this idea to not trust US institutions, to not trust western institutions, to not trust the mainstream media and to create this kind of chaos and the idea that nobody can trust anybody, and creates this lack of trust in own institutions and this chaos.
