MICHAEL MCFAUL (FORMER US AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR): One of the things we know that was discussed in that meeting now, and it's come out in the Russian press, is this idea that [special counsel Robert] Mueller would send his team over to interrogate the 12 GRU military officers that were indicted. But there was a quid pro quo for that. [Russian president Vladimir] Putin floated the idea that he would send his investigators to interrogate alleged criminals, including me personally.
CHRIS JANSING (GUEST HOST): Yes. And can I read something that you wrote about this, because you tweeted about this. And can I say, just to put this in context, the president actually called this quid pro quo an “incredible offer.”
MCFAUL: Correct.
JANSING: That wasn't behind closed doors, he did that in public. “As I discuss in detail from in 'From Cold War to Hot Peace,'” which is your book, “Putin has been harassing me for a long time. That he now wants to arrest me, however, takes it to a new level. I expect my government to defend me and my colleagues in public and in private,” but I'm asking you in honestly, do you have any expectation your government will do that?
MCFAUL: I do. I don't expect President Trump to do it. But there's a lot of good people in the Trump administration. They know how crazy this is, and I hope they understand that by not responding to these outrageous claims -- somehow, some symmetry between an alleged cockamamie money laundering scheme, completely fabricated for political reasons, and the indictment that Mr. Mueller did last Friday, there is no symmetry to that. And they have to push back publicly, because if they don't, it's yet one more victory for Vladimir Putin.
