>>> WELCOME BACK.
THIS PAST WEEK WE HEARD IN
MICROSOFT THAT HACKERS FROM
IRAN, CHINA AND ESPECIALLY
RUSSIA HAVE ESCALATED THEIR
ATTACKS ON OUR ELECTION SYSTEM
AND THERE WAS PRESIDENT TRUMPS
RUDY GIULIANI WHO FOUND HIMSELF
PLAYING DOWN HIS CONTACTS WITH
THE UKRAINIAN LAWMAKER WHO WAS
SAID TO BE A RUSSIAN AGENT AND
ENDED UP SANCTIONING.
ONE PERSON VERY FAMILIAR WITH
SHENANIGANS IS PETER STRZOK.
HE WAS REMOVED OVER PERSONAL
ANTI-TRUMP TEXT HE SENT TO A
COLLEAGUE WITH WHOM HE WAS
HAVING AN AFFAIR.
STRZOK HAS JUST WRITTEN A BOOK
"COMPROMISED,
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AND THE
THREAT OF DONALD J. TRUMP."
MR. STRZOK, WELCOME TO "MEET THE
PRESS" AND LET ME JUST
S.T.A.R.T. START
WITH YOUR THEORY OF THE CASE OF
WHY YOU BELIEVE PRESIDENT TRUMP
IS COMPROMISED.
>> AM GO, CHUCK.
ITS GREAT TO BE HERE.
I THINK IT IS CLEAR.
I BELIEVE AT THE TIME IN 2016
AND I CONTINUE TO BELIEVE THAT
DONALD TRUMP IS COMPROMISED BY
THE RUSSIANS AND WHEN I SAY THAT
I MEAN THAT THEY HOLD LEVERAGE
OVER HIM THAT MAKES HIM
INCAPABLE OF PLACING THE
NATIONAL INTEREST AND NATIONAL
SECURITY OVER HIM.
I RECRUITED SPIES DURING THAT
TIME AND I DEFENDED AGAINST
THOSE PEOPLE WHO WERE BEING
RECRUITED IN OUR GOVERNMENT.
ONE OF THE LARGEST WAYS THAT
FOREIGN GOVERN AMSMENTS GAINED
LEVERAGE IS THROUGH FINANCIAL
ENTANGLEMENTS AND IF YOU LOOK AT
THE FINANCIAL ENTERPRISE,
PARTICULARLY WITH RUSSIA, WITH
RUSSIAN MONOES AND THOSE RELATED
TO ORGANIZED CRIME AND OTHER
ELEMENTS THAT THOSE INTERACTIONS
HAVE PLACED HIM IN A POSITION
WHERE RUSSIANS HAVE LEVERAGE
OVER HIM AND ARE ABLE TO
INFLUENCE HIS ACTIONS.
>> IS YOUR JOB -- WAS YOUR JOB
THEN TO FIGURE OUT IF THE
RUSSIANS WERE USING THAT
LEVERAGE OR SIMPLY TO IDENTIFY
THE LEFF RAMVERAGE THEY COULD HA
>> BOTH.
WHEN WE OPENED THE CASES
COMMONLY KNOWN AS CROSS FIRE
HURRICANE IN THE SUMMER AND FALL
OF 2016 THOSE WERE NOT LOOKING
AT THE PRESIDENT.
THEY WERE NOT LOOKING AT HIS
CAMPAIGN.
THEY WERE LOOKING AT A DISCREET
SET OF INDIVIDUALS BASED ON AN
ALLEGATION WE HAD RECEIVED THAT
RUSSIA HAD OFFERED TO COORDINATE
THE RELEASE OF INFORMATION TO
HELP THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN.
WHEN WE LATER THEN AFTER
DIRECTOR COMEY WAS FIRED OPENED
THE CASE ON TO THE PRESIDENT
HIMSELF THAT WAS A VERY BROAD
INVESTIGATION.
ON THE ONE HAND IT INCORPORATED
A QUESTION OF WHETHER OR NOT THE
PRESIDENT HAD COMMITTED
OBSTRUCTION AND IT ALSO HAD A
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE ELEMENT TO
THAT AND THATS VERY BROAD IN
NATURE.
ITS LOOKING FIRST AND FOREMOST
WHAT THE RUSSIANS ARE TRYING TO
ACHIEVE AND THE WAY THEYRE
DOING IT, BUT THAT IS VERY BROAD
AND IT CERTAINLY WOULD INCLUDE
LOOKING AT THE PRESIDENTS
FINANCIAL ENTANGLE AMS.
>> THERES BEEN MULTIPLE
EXPLANATIONS, ONE IS HE WANTS TO
GET ALONG WITH HIM BETTER.
A SECOND IS SIMPLY HEY, PEOPLE
ARE CON FLIGHTING JUST BECAUSE
HE HAS SOME VIEWS OF THE WORLD
THAT ARE SIMILAR TO PUTIN PEOPLE
CONFLATE THAT AND THE OTHER
ARGUMENT IS HEY, THIS
ADMINISTRATION HAS BEEN TOUGH OR
RUSSIA.
THEYLL CITE THINGS LIKE SENDING
LETHAL DEFENSIVE AID TO UKRAINE,
TAKING ACTION AND SO ON.
DID ANY OF THAT GIVE YOU PAUSE
DURING THIS OPENING OF THIS
INVESTIGATION?
>> SURE, OF COURSE, IT DID.
LOOK, THE PRESIDENT IS IN CHARGE
OF UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY.
HE SETS THE FOREIGN POLICY
AGENDA OF THE UNITED STATES.
HE CAMPAIGNED ON WANTING TO
BRING RUSSIA AND THE U.S. CLOSER
TOGETHER.
THATS NOT THE ISSUE.
THE THINGS THAT ARE WHAT HE LEFT
UNSAID AND OUTRIGHT LIED ABOUT.
WHEN HE SAYS THAT HE HAS NO
FINANCIAL RELATIONSHIP AND
DEALINGS WITH RUSSIA AT THE SAME
MOMENT HIS ATTORNEY IS DEALING,
AND TRYING TO MAKE A DEAL FOR A
TRUMP TOWER IN MOSCOW, THAT LIE
IS KNOWN TO VLADIMIR PUTIN.
TRUMP OBVIOUSLY KNOWS HE DIDNT
TELL THE TRUTH, SO THINGS LIKE
THAT, AND ITS NOT THE OVERT
ACTIONS TOWARD WARNING ABOUT A
RELATIONSHIP WITH RUSSIA AND
ITS THE LIES THAT TIME AND TIME
AGAIN HE TELLS THAT RUSSIA CAN
USE OVER LEVERAGE WITH HIM AND
HE CONSIDERED DEEPLY WITH
ARGUMENT AFTER ARGUMENT AND SOUL
SEARCHING ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT
WE WERE DOING THE RIGHT THING,
BUT CONCLUSIVELY THE CONCERNS WE
HAD ABOUT RUSSIA ARE MERITED AND
IT WAS THE APPROPRIATE THING TO
DO TO LOOK INTO THEM.
>> IM CURIOUS, IF YOU WERE
STILL IN YOUR JOB TODAY AND
YOU -- IM GOING TO ISSUE TWO
SETS OF FACTS.
FOUR YEARS AGO THE LAWYERS WERE
WORKING WITH THE RUSSIANS IN
SECRET ON TRUMP TOWER MOSCOW.
FOUR YEARS AGO, RUDY GIULIANI
HAS BEEN WORKING WITH FOLKS IN
UKRAINE TRYING TO DRUM UP
INFORMATION TO HURT JOE BIDEN
AND HE WORKS WITH A KNOWN
RUSSIAN OPERATIVE THAT ENDS UP
BEING SANCTIONED BY THE U.S.
GOVERNMENT, WHAT DO THOSE TWO
FACTS TELL ME ABOUT THE
PRESIDENT? >> IT TELLS ME HE IS SURROUNDED
>> IT TELLS ME HE IS SURROUNDED
BY PEOPLE WO HAVEHO HAVE PERVASI
WITH THE RUSSIANS.
HIS FOREIGN ADVISER, AND HIS
FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER
WHO DIDNT TELL THE TRUTH TO ME
AND WHO PLED GUILTY TWICE TO NOT
TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS
CONTACT WITH THE RUSSIANS AND
NOW OBVIOUSLY WITH RUDY GIULIANI
DEALING WITH SOMEBODY THAT THE
DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY RECENTLY
SAID THIS LAST WEEK HAD BEEN AN
AGENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF
RUSSIA AND THEIR INTELLIGENCE
SERVICES FOR OVER TEN YEARS AND
LOOK AT THAT PERVASIVE PATTERN
OF CONTACT.
IT IS NOT WITHOUT EXAGGERATION
THAT THERE IS NO PRESIDENT IN
MODERN HISTORY WHO HAS THE SAME
BROAD AND DEEP CONNECTIONS TO
ANY FOREIGN INTEL SERVICE AND
LET ALONE A HOSTILE GOVERNMENT
LIKE RUSSIA.
>> WHEN YOU RDZ THE MUELLER
REPORT DID YOU CONCLUDE NO
COLLUSION?
>> ABSOLUTELY NOT.
I CONCLUDED THE OPPOSITE.
>> MY SENSE WAS WHEN YOU LOOK AT
IT, MUELLER WAS FOCUSING ON
VIOLATIONS OF THE LAW AND THE
STANDARD TO BE ABLE TO ESTABLISH
IN A COURTROOM THIS SOMETHING OCCURRED IS VERY, VERY DIFFERENT
OCCURRED IS VERY, VERY DIFFERENT
FROM THE INTELLIGENCE PERSON AND
JUDGE WHETHER OR NOT THERE WAS A
CONCERN.
WHEN I READ THE INTEL COMMITTEE
REPORT ALMOST 1,000 PAGES LAYING
OUT ALL OF THESE AREAS OF
INTELLIGENCE
INTELLIGENCE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN
TRUMP AND HIS CAMPAIGN IN
RUSSIA, THATS EXTREMELY
CONCERNING FROM THE COUNTER
INTELLIGENCE CONCERN BECAUSE A
RELATIONSHIP IS A COMPLETELY
DIFFERENT FROM PROVING SOMETHING
IN A COURT OF LAW.
>> GIVEN WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU IN
THIS EPISODE, DO YOU LOOK AT
WHAT HAPPENED AND SAY TO
YOURSELF I PUT MYSELF IN A
COMPROMISING POSITION, I
SHOULDNT HAVE DONE THAT AND
THATS ON ME OR DO YOU BELIEVE
YOU WERE UNFAIRLY SINGLED OUT?
>> CHUCK, I UNDERSTAND THAT, YOU
KNOW, PEOPLE WOULD ASK THAT
QUESTION.
I CERTAINLY REGRET SENDING THE
TEXT MESSAGES THAT WERE
ABSOLUTELY WEAPONIZED AND USED
TO BLUDGEON THE WORK OF THE FBI
AND THE SPECIAL COUNSEL.
ILL ALWAYS REGRET THAT, BUT AT
THE SAME TIME THE WAY THAT THOSE
WERE WEAPONIZED WAS
UNPRECEDENTED AND ITS PART OF A
PATTERN OF ACTIVITY WHERE THIS
ADMINISTRATION HAS GONE TO
LENGTHS THAT NO OTHER
ADMINISTRATION HAS EVER DONE
THAT ANYBODY WHO DARE SPEAK THE TRUTH OR SPEAK OUT WHETHER IT IS
TRUTH OR SPEAK OUT WHETHER IT IS
IN THE IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS WITH
REGARD TO UKRAINE, THE
WHISTLE-BLOWER IF SOMEBODY DARE
SPEAK THE TRUTH OF THIS
ADMINISTRATION, THIS
ADMINISTRATION HAS SHOWN NO
BOUNDARIES IN GOING AFTER PEOPLE
IN WAYS THAT FRANKLY, IS
SHOCKING, ARE SHOCKING AND ARE
INAPPROPRIATE.
>> AND ARE YOU STILL CONFIDENT
THE FBI IS IMMUNE TO THIS, THAT
YOURE NOT USED AS THIS -- THAT
BASICALLY, OKAY, WE SENSE THE
MESSAGE, BACK OFF?
>> I THINK THE WOMEN AND MEN
THEY KNOW IN THE FBI, THEY ARE
BRAVE AND THEYRE FEARLESS AND
THEYRE DEDICATED TO DOING THE
JOB AND GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF
WHATEVER LIES IN FRONT OF THEM.
I CANT HELP, THOUGH, THAT UNDER
AN ATTORNEY GENERAL THAT IS
SITTING THERE DAY AFTER DAY
SAYING THERE WAS NO BASIS TO
LAUNCH THESE INVESTIGATIONS IN
2016 WHICH IS CLEARLY
DEMONSTRABLY LUDICROUS.
THERES NO WAY THAT DOESNT HAVE
A CHILLING EFFECT ON NOT ONLY
THE FBI, BUT ALL OF THE BRANCHES
AND DEPARTMENTS OF THE -- THE
EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF THE
GOVERNMENT.
I THINK THE FBI, THE PEOPLE THEY
KNOW AND KNEW ARE HOLDING.
I AM DEEPLY CONCERNED WHAT
ANOTHER FOUR YEARS OF PRESIDENT
TRUMP WILL DO TO DESTROY THE
TRADITIONAL INDEPENDENCE AND
OBJECTIVITY OF OUR GOVERNMENT.
>> PETER STRZOK, I HAVE TO ADMIT
I HAVE A TON MORE QUESTIONS.
THANKFULLY I HAVE A PODCAST AND
I WILL INVITE YOU TO GET
LENGTHIER.
IT WAS AN EASY READ, AS WELL.
>> GOOD.
>> KUDOS TO YOUR WRITING