stuart: we have a sharp drop for the market, we get down 170 points, back at 6 teen-1 as we start out of brand new quarter. last one was rotten. this one starting at the too. >> it is we're, watching a concurrent development, what you are mentioning. coast-to-coast, confusion over the syrian air strikes by the russians and it comes from that country's foreign minister, he was speaking awhile ago talking at the united nations where you see the greek prime ministers speaking if we could show that. we are waiting to hear from benjamin netanyahu. to each his own, i digress. one of the things we did for the russian foreign mission that might not jibe with we are hearing from the white house is we are all presumably on the same page, he says the u.s. and russia do see eye to eye on

targets in syria, russia is targeting depots and sites of isis recruits and guerrillas. we said that is not the case so these two have not compared notes. we are told the foreign minister is going to be meeting presumably with american counterparts, not sure if that will include secretary of state john kerry, but it is usually dangerous in the uncertainty people sell stock and guys who watch this closely, peter brooke start getting confused. i am confused, it is clear wall street is confused. what is going on here? >> we have a chaotic moments. the russians are saying one thing, the pentagon saying the russians are doing something else, there is supposed to the military to military talks between the pentagon and the kremlin in coming hours at the assistant secretary level on our end to try to they conflict and

better understanding of russian intent and what they're doing in the future. we are in the second day of bombing. is not surprising there is additional instability in an already unstable region. >> smart guys like you remind me, smart foreign policy guys get together, they try to make public statements that appeared to be on the same page. here you have the russian foreign minister saying oh yes, we are into whatever russia is on these strikes we are conducting against so-called isis sports in syria, the white house has said they're not going after isis force is. if anything they're going after the folks we are trying to help overthrow bashar al-assad. you have confusion. how is that resolved in one meeting we are minutes away from between the russian foreign minister and his u.s. counterpart? >> i don't think it does get resolved.

we are not in there to prop up the bashar al-assad regime, the russians are. that is, they are not saying that, they are not being honest and admitting that they are there to prop up the bashar al-assad regime is that is their wing to into the middle east, their power and influence in the middle east, goes back to the cold war, it is an arms market for them. they are going to prop up the regime and say they are working with the international community on the islamic state and change the channel from ukraine. look at the united nations, everyone thought when russia woods coming wrong they would talk to crimea and ukraine, but vladimir putin changed the conversation and moved it over to see area. i don't know if they will get on the same page in the next couple hours, the russians have different interests although they have an interest in getting rid of the islamic state, there may be 2500 russians fighting with them and they can return home and the islamic state has declared a province in the russian caucasus region. there's region to cooperate in some ways but the russians have

different interests than we do. >> thank you very much. quick look on wall street, we redound but this escalated because of this confusion. i hasten to add these developments, don't make a big deal out of the moment but when you don't get clarity or a sign of what is going on, the better part of valor and traders is to sell. and as it was to avoid a government touchdown, 50 days worth of clarity. this we don't know. former u.s. army pilot amber smith, what john mccain was telling me yesterday, very easy for accidents to happen when you have u.s. pilots in the area, russian pilots in the area, turkish pilots in the arianna and there's no air traffic controller. >> highly interesting in the u.s. response, john mccain was the only one, who spoke with any

authority for understanding for russia's in tensions inside syria. russian dominance requires survival of the bashar al-assad regime which is what they are after, russian dominance inside the middle east, when we see the secretary of defense yesterday have a press conference, the future of women in budget cuts, it was embarrassing in terms of the u.s. response for russian three star general walking into a u.s. embassy in baghdad barking orders so i think russia was absolutely laughing at our response on military action inside syria. stuart: at the united nations so much we are focusing on including ministers meeting and talking to each other, benjamin netanyahu, the man in the middle with all of this speaking before the united nations, take a peek down there and see what is going on. he has referred to this iran agreement as a disaster, just a matter of time before iran has

nuclear capability and now you have this added to the mix. you talk about how decayed. >> what i think is important to remember year it is the obama administration was completely basically taken off guard yesterday's with what happened with increase in the russian military action inside syria. when it goes back to the iran deal, it is unfortunate that they are taking russia out their word when they say we are here to bomb isis targets. actions speak louder than words especially when it comes to military action it would be who of the united states to believe actions over russian words and they are bombing and ty bashar al-assad forces, not isis force is. neil: is weird and we hope to get some clarity in the next few minutes or half hour, the meeting could be delayed between the russian foreign minister and u.s. officials, i am assuming

that includes john kerry. we are keeping an eye on joaquin, the storm that has already gotten chris christie to declare a state of emergency in new jersey. what could be many days ahead of time. this thing is not expected to affect the east coast until at least monday of next week. however given the sandy experience the governor already saying the storm is serious and threatening enough and risky enough to declare a state of emergency. not yet telling what the state of emergency will include. sometimes when you get closer to that you can't drive on public highways unless it is an absolute emergency, vital personnel only, if it gets like a was around sandy lot of people stay in their homes but we are not at that point but with the experience of katrina and sandy who better -- you do want to appreciate the gravity of the

situation, as you discovered with hurricane katrina can quickly go from bad to worse. do you think that is a good move on the part of chris christie to already declare a state of emergency? is a long way from his state. >> if he seemed to be days ahead, this might be meaning a little far forward, but we don't know what is going through the governor's mind, a part of the state of emergency will activate. one part of it is activate the national guard. and others restricting travel. and other parties evacuate in coastal areas. we will see in the days to come but i think he has got three to four days by all predictions before anything starts to have a direct impact. on the other hand he is taking a lot of water. they have taken inches of water in new jersey and his infrastructure will start to back up, so let's see what happens in the next 24 hours and what the governor starts tng

people expect them to do. neil: you never liked taking compliments but i do, i thrive on it. i remember you said someone has to be in charge, someone has to give the appearance of being in charge and at a time when politicians all sites, the mayor of new orleans, the governor of louisiana, the president and his people at the time, at least after you came on board at a central figure to go through. at this point we don't have that. should we? are we getting ahead of ourselves? >> i think with reasonable precautions, you know if you just look at what is happening with the storm varies news going on in all directions, but a storm could affect the majority of the eastern seaboard population, and heavy rains, this could have meant

significant economic, saved the impact on a lot of people on the eastern seaboard, on the international front we have a flash point in syria that is distracting members of the government and the u.n. is in session. we have multiple lanes to look for when all directions there are problems. we need strong leadership to solve these problems. stuart: not only whether there is money to address this but whether it will be spent wisely. after hurricane sandy there was a big push to get all that $60 billion right away, chris christie at the time personally fingered john boehner for being slow in that and john boehner, republican, ruffled by that, as they wanted to make sure money wasn't wasted and went to the right place and we find a lot of that money was not being used on non sandy related items like putting a new roof on the

smithsonian and how do you balance that? between money, which you need for a crisis, and politicians who beat on it and wasted for things having nothing to do with the crisis at hand? >> we have seen for at least a decade plus, hurricane recovery money coming in mississippi they build a fort for economic development, money that was supposed to go toward helping people get back in homes and build more affordable homes, all that was approved, this is a congressional hand all over this allowing that money to be targeted towards economic development and at the end of the day working people trying to get back and get into their homes get stiffed. the situation in new jersey you need to take into account there was not sufficient see walls in new jersey to protect the jersey shore.

a big fight going on, they know what to do to protect this the shore but they want to be able to have it just like florida beaches where you can walk straight out into the water without having to go through anything to protect the coastline. stuart: i know i live in new jersey lot of communities didn't want to build sand dunes or block their ocean views, lot of homeowners along the way, some thought how messy it looked, lot of these homes are still very -- three years after sandy, it raises the question whether just the flooding alone will do a lot of harm. you look back, katrina as the storm wasn't the killer, it was all the green and wind that hung which it for so long, did no say in the sellout wonder if we are ready for that. >> we are in better shape than we were because you have a whole population of people who understand the gravity of the situation but we still have much work to do. when you look at the area where

the amusement parks were, you have six montel stretch, five different mayors, we are organized like we were 150 years ago. all these little towns, all with separate fire departments and police departments and first responders, all that has been reconstituted with federal dollars. the question is is that the way we want to move into the 21st century and protect our people against natural disasters? neil: i was looking -- know when did you oversight of you are the diet that you did take charge and become the guy. i wonder whether you did that on your own because you realize a lot of people were running around like chickens without their heads or you had it with double speaking politicians of any party and your primary responsibility was to protect people? >> at the end of the day we got

our mission from the governor of lindsay and and working with support of the governor of louisiana and the governor of mississippi, we filled the gap and the void in making sure people understood what was happening and what we were doing to save lives and protect people and we worked through the elected officials, we gave an impression we burn not doing that we were only out on the street engaging with people and telling what we bring doing. neil: we need more of you then and now, thank you very much, good talking to you. i don't think they make them like that anymore. we have a sell-off going on. i don't want to attach it to any single development today, twitter falling out of bed even after its founder announces he is the permanent ceo, very little of any stock here so starting the fourth quarter on a negative note and this mess in

syria, you couldn't gloss over it and assumed two superpowers are not on the same page in a dangerous neck of the woods. wouldn't be a little bit unnerving. today it is unnerving and i don't need 140 characters or less to pass that along. we have more after this.

we're cracking down on medicare fraud. the health care law gives us powerful tools to fight it. to investigate it. prosecute it. and stop criminals. our senior medicare patrol volunteers are teaching seniors across the country to stop, spot and report fraud. you can help. guard your medicare card. don't give out your card number over the phone. call to report any suspected fraud. we're cracking down on medicare fraud. let's make medicare stronger for all of us.

is it keeps the food out. for me before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. just a few dabs is clinically proven to seal out more food particles. super poligrip is part of my life now.

>> they are in his neighborhood and he is not happy, the iran quagmire, benjamin netanyahu, working on syria, responding forcefully to any attacks from syria. also saying israel will respond to any outside developments, on the iran deal, that once

sanctions are lifted he fears iran will unleash things to a dangerous extent, will go on the prowl to quote him. we are keeping a close eye on that. the white house and press conference, what we will get about what the white house knows about this in syria and whether it is true the foreign minister of russia said for the united nations that we both agree because the white house has been an entirely different story. they had better cease and desist because they're going after the wrong guys, the russians going after our guys who are the guys to topple the bashar al-assad regime. in the meantime chris christie at the state of new jersey has wrapped up a press conference in which he announced a state of emergency conditions in effect because of joaquin. the thing is joaquin is four or five days at least from hitting the united states if it does at

all. does this make sense? >> i think it is better safe than sorry. we have to remember just 48 hours ago the official forecasts that joaquin would never become a hurricane, it would be 100 miles further north and these computer models to initialize under a category 3 hurricane now there's really not much reliable data coming in the last couple days. stuart: in a state of emergency what do you do? >> basically you have to prepare. everyone should prepare regardless of what the governor declares, get your generators ready, some pumps, clear away dead or broken branches because there can be stormy conditions especially around the shoreline, coastal flooding which is not necessarily rain but the ocean coming ashore can have impacts to people even if the storm is out to see. stuart: neil: reminded me the rains associated with it compound away and this is a slow-moving storm so they can pound away.

>> we are not tracking at got. it is a disk. the diameter, periphery of the storm is quite wide. separate from joaquin we have normal fronts bringing rain the next four days anyway so it is good to be prepared for autumn storminess regardless what joaquin does. neil: they start policing travel, those who really need to be on the roads should be on roads and they hand out tickets if you dare try. are we at that stage? should we be at that stage? the governor means well but this is putting the fear of you know what in to people. >> that is an administrative and political decision. i don't see conditions where if joaquin stays off shore -- >> is he the only governor who has done it? >> more of a personal decision what they see as to how their state can handle certain things, you had i mean and sandy in the area the last few years, don't see conditions were the roads

are impassable. but better safe than sorry. neil: they will update the trajectory of the storm in about an hour. by the end of that time we should also know from the white house how much this russian foreign minister said about the intent of the russian air strikes on so-called isis positions and how much we are in sync with the russians because we hear the russians tell it we are seeing eye to eye. the white house telling us what? that is why wall street sells in the middle of something like that. we don't know which end is up or who is who. they just zoom and then they sell.

>> syria is a mess and get different lives, russians tried to explain why their military

strength against isis positions in, they are in sync with us, the white house is going to clarify its earlier statements that these russian attacks had nothing to do with isis forces and they are not in sync with us, and madeleine albright, a washington forum acknowledges we should have been on top of this syrian issue, and getting a transitions that. i am paraphrasing it. we were caught off guard. the prime minister is joining us. what a mess. what do you make of it? >> it will take time. president obama was right in

indicating, besides the military solution is concerted effort including for sure also russian -- stuart: russia is unfair and hitting, what itthere and hitting, what it says are isis positions. >> this backfires and a process like this, let's say not surprising as far as concerted action. neil: you spoke before the united nations, you know the president met with vladimir putin nephew days ago. do you think vladimir putin raised this, that he was going to do this at that time? >> i cannot say what vladimir putin said to the president but for sure i strongly believe the

president is right when he indicates concerted action is needed because the consequences are showing to be very grave, and refugees are telling a big part of the story. the other part of the story is further organization that can hit everywhere and every one. rob: were secretary madeleine are bright said we were caught off guard, that we should have acted and gotten our positions, our wherewithal together earlier and we didn't and now we have this? >> she might be right. she might be right. at the same time what has been done has been done and now it is time to react promptly and concerns the efforts. neil: do you find it weird that it is possible if it hasn't happened already, u.s. warplanes

and russian warplanes operating over the same area hitting different groups, the u.s. says the group's the russians are hitting on not isis, they are rebel groups the we are sympathetic to and want to overthrow the t.a.r.p. -- the bashar al-assad regime. >> that can't be good but at the same time it is not good either to go deeper in speculations and predictions that may not be right. neil: do you trust assad? >> no one of a certain level of reason can trust assad. neil: vladimir putin does, says he is a legitimate leader. >> this is a problem with vladimir putin and his russia. again i strongly believe this

can be overcome by a concerted effort and that is why i again president obama was right in saying that russia and iran can be very important in this. neil: a lot of critics of the united states including a lot of the republicans running for to take his job have said that he is horribly mishandled this this >> they want his job. i think he is doing the right job for protecting the next generation. neil: you don't think he has been too -- doesn't bother you? >> i am not too foxy on this. i am very much confident that the negotiation and agreement with iran is what was good for the u.s. was good for the world. neil: on syriac, he drew a line in the sand a couple years back.

do you think he would regret that comment today? >> you should ask him. neil: i am asking you. >> i cannot comment on this but i strongly believe, a very important part of the effort that all of us should do. besides the military force and besidescombat when the heart and mind of the next generation i think barack obama is a very important point of reference. neil: thank you very much. thanks for the time. when we come back, the word from the white house, is the prime minister right? is the president doing the best pecan with the information he has? josh earnest next.

...as a combination of see products.. and customers. every on-time arrival is backed by thousands of od employees, ...who make sure the millions of products we ship arrive without damages. because od employees treat customer service... ...like our most important delivery. od. helping the world keep promises. you wouldn't take medicine without checking the side effects. hey honey. huh. the good news is my hypertension is gone. so why would you invest without checking brokercheck? check your broker with brokercheck. >>

neil: won't come back, everybody. we are awaiting word from the white house. regarding the serious last. twenty-four hours ago, we were not on the same page. the united states knows exactly where they are hitting. the united states coming back and saying their version of the five guys are not our definition of the five guys.

we get the russian prime minister today. we are very much in sync. no, we are not. we have to get this clarified. wall street does not like it. trying to pick this apart. waiting for the white house to say anything. john cochran joins us, charlie gasparino, charles payne and ashley webster. the bottom line is, we do not know. we do not know russia is targeting. >> look at the math to the north and the east. russia has been pinpointing areas to the west of damascus and north. the rebel forces are fighting against the aside regime. these are the troops that the u.s. is very complex and training to battle.

we are fighting against isis. they are bombing anyone in opposition to a solid. they are there to support the assad regime. neil: john mccain served this country honorably. we have got to get syria and start arming and helping these guys on the ground. i asked whether it was too late. he said no. he said that it would be much more difficult. >> these are revels that we are training. they are not going after isis. places where the united states has been blocking them. we have a force they are. a presence. we still have our air out going along with this coalition. these forces are using to further the civil war. neil: i know charles payne has

donald trump on tonight. he was left to go ahead and go after these bad guys. fine, let him. >> they are not, unfortunately. listen, it would be nice if they wiped out isis where president obama did not. why help us out in any way? they like the assad regime. >> we can tell by what ashley just said geographically. look at the words they're using. they use words like terrorists. that could mean a number of different things. for every one of those, you can hit seven or eight of the other guys. >> making this a market story or an economic story. they like mass confusion.

here is the other thing. it went up. to not forget, we have a hurricane heading towards the east coast as well. >> defense stocks went up initially. it helped drive the dive up. the initial headline was, i think the market was interpreting both u.s. and russia together. the headline now, which came out later yesterday, we may be at war. >> you know, john, one thing that came up is whether you sit down and talk to vladimir putin. the time to talk is over. donald trump told charles payne this. >> we have a president who is not respected by other countries. certainly not respected by the leaders of some of the countries. putin, i guess, would either leader of the packed.

i would guess that i would probably get along with putin. two people that just do not get along. it is not good. neil: apparently, putin lied to him. you look at hezbollah. building up their airstrips. their transports were in. they are bringing and missiles. all of these flights. right now, i think we have to show the force. we have to continue on with our air operations. we have to make sure that our remote predators checking what bad guys are doing. we continue to have. we do not back down. >> i asked john mccain this question yesterday. if you see the russians striking and killing the people we are

helping, do you shoot down those planes? >> that is the danger, neil. they can agree about who they are actually targeting, maybe we can at least be escalate that situation. >> i do not know. >> to your point, i think the u.s. has to go in and say, here is what we are doing, like it or not. >> maybe john can speak to this better than we could. the consequence of getting in there and shooting down russian planes. >> there is no dow that these planes are here. >> he seems to think that that is not going to happen. we asserted authority there. we have good communication. >> he did say service and are missiles. shoot down those russian planes.

>> power. you have to match them. >> what is his goal? uncertainty and chaos. screwing up our stock market. >> guys, stick around. we have a lot more coming up on all of this and how to respond to it. what we look for in a foreign leader, in a u.s. leader. the foreign-policy becomes front and center. who benefits and doesn't hurt donald trump was some of the stuff he has had over the last few days? who knows, it is still early.

neil: all right. the united nations. something is going on there. this latest development going on in syria. does not want anyone in syria to feel emboldened. it would be met with severe and full israeli response. he is still talking. we will be hearing more. he is in sync with his u.s. counterparts. including john kerry. he will be meeting this hour. i also know and i should stress think that josh earnest will be having a press conference on this and other matters. they are attacking the bad guys. we say that the guys have nothing to do with isis. we are hoping to overthrow the assad government. it is a mess. we have a regular panel here.

we also have marks around oh. in that mix of characters, you have donald trump who has said, you know, the first thing was, let putin go after isis. if he is doing it, why should i care? paraphrasing. >> i would talk to vladimir putin. i am not afraid to talk to him. has this whole episode hurt him? >> i do not think so. there was the assumption that the attack would be on isis. really what he has talked about is the entire formal policy and the entire approach to it. now witnessing the results to it. clearly, trump would lead with relationship building. i think it will not have any impact on him.

i think people see him as strong. they see him as unapologetic. they would first and foremost build up our military. putin and other leaders across the world would be held in check. neil: c, what do you think of that? among that crop of republican candidates. >> lindsey graham would be the strongest on this. because of his background on various committees. neil: as lindsey graham holds right now -- >> that is the whole thing. americans do care about wars. they do not want to get involved in another one, obviously. first and foremost is the economy. why donald is still slipping in polls. he is still number one.

the reason why we hear so much out of candidates about tax policies is because that is what americans care about. we have unemployment that is under 6% now. we have massive under display. neil: i think that it could very well be the main issue if it continues. >> all the things that donald trump said in the campaign, the idea that we would allow putin to do our bidding for us. it was not the most logical. some people even said maybe president obama is sort of following that same policy without saying so publicly. >> yes, it was. if you know anything about vladimir putin, you know he would lie about the nearest chinese restaurant, essentially. he is like a mob boss. >> this is the guy we have to

talk to and you with. if you look at the presidential candidates, it is who will they hire as a retired military person. i want to see those people. we have great military planners right now. they give the right advice. putin can be handled. neil: americans are a little weary. it would take a lot. >> iran is just backing up hezbollah. >> i do not think that america knows. >> we do it to the afghan rebels. >> lindsey graham is only one i know. >> that does not hold well at all. >> i agree with charlie. [laughter]

>> americans are far more economically weary. the truth is, we have a president who has six and half years of foreign policies. look at where that has gotten us. i vaguely will be looking for strong economic plan. who will, the potential losers, anybody who is tied to or can be tied to the obama foreign-policy are going to lose. everyone else may just be neutral. >> in your dreams. i think that we are certainly economically driven. the economy was lousy when jimmy carter was running for reelection. >> that made us look weak. >> i understand.

>> you did not even mention your hero. always the americans. simply admire about. >> i am a big fan of it. neil: hearing from the white house. waiting to hear anything more. anything but that impression you totalled your brand new car.

nobody's hurt,but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do, drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. new car replacement is just one of the features that come standard with a base liberty mutual policy.

and for drivers with accident forgiveness,rates won't go up due to your first accident. learn more by calling switch to liberty mutual and you can save up to $509. for a free quote today,call liberty mutual insurance at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance.

neil: all right. where the white house stands on the russian prime minister. also taking a look at a big selloff going on. kicking off the fourth quarter. apple is staying on. the stock at one and a half percent. biotech taking it on. one of the worst performing

sectors last quarter taking off. hillary clinton and her rants against lower-priced drugs will spill into the entire sector. we still have about three hours of this trading day to go. stick around. you are watching fox business.

neil: i cannot hear during the break. [laughter] taken mcdowell. that is all you need to know. in the meantime, we have -- it is better to have that. i will not talk to you. talking with vladimir putin. you know, i do not know what the answer is.

not talking does not seem to be an answer. what do you think? >> i agree. not talking is definitely the wrong way to go. both sides have to do that. it has happened many times in our history. all of a sudden things fall apart. nothing gets resolved. even closer, they should do it in an open forum. the world can hear it. here is what my concern is and why. if somebody breaks their promise or does not do what they said, they should be accountable for it. there is no way things will be solved unless they do. >> you could say that once burned, twice shy and twice as reluctant to talk. taking american politicians at their word.

this issue of these planned russian attacks in syria never came up. obviously, he just sprung not on them. then, you have someone who is clearly lying to you. why do you consider talking to them? >> i think that what happens is, when you get burned, and i have burned again in my life, you have to continue to go on. you still have to continue. in fact, when he came out and said what he said, he said within 24 hours of the time that something took lace. something that they should keep on talking about. hey, we should have talked about this days ago. you are coming across as a flat out liar, mr. putin. if you do not care how you come across, you lose all credibility. let's give it another shot.

otherwise, when you present someone, hey, here's what you said something last time and you flat out lie. it is all part of the dialogue. maybe you get them the second time to say the truth. neil: a great biography. fred barnes who had said he had spoken it represented an age where people knew he was a conservative. that he would engage speaker chip oatmeal at the time and later jim wright at the time. just to keep the dialogue going. it was to get a lot of what you want. rather than standing by your principles. what do you make of that? >> the difference between successful people, whether it is in business, personal life and

debate, successful people do all the things that unsuccessful people do not want to do. like continue that dialogue. continue to talk. eventually, it you find little spots where you get closer. now, there is breathing room. all too often we are saying this person is lying. you lie to me over all of these years. the person really did not. you do not know that. neil: i am i telling in. half the time, i do not forget anything. i want to keep you in the mix, my friend. all right. i think peter ricci is with us as well. dagen, i do not know. they keep zooming past you hear it setting you up. do you keep talking? dagen: we are in a situation now where we do have to keep talking. watching us in retreat.

watching us retreat. creating a power vacuum in the middle east. with the need or the desire by the administration to pull out of afghanistan. we have seen how that is going. spreading the power throughout the region. this is what happens. vladimir putin knows how to use the price to his advantage. knocking the opponents back on their heels. that is what he is doing. >> i like to look at how oil reacts. they did is right. just two years ago, september 2013, orioles started running higher when, you know, secretary of state kerry said yes.

every conflict, we have seen oil go up. the outlines of it is seen. coming into the third quarter. earnings season. we will get a jobs report that may be kind of tepid. will this conflict in syria -- i do not think that it will have that much of an impact. we have to continue watching oil prices. this is heavy lifting. dagen: watch oil today. very flat. down just slightly right now. that may be a good sign. the markets are not fright and. neil: things can happen. pilots can attack another pilot. accidentally or deliberately. all of a sudden, weird things happen over airspace. you cannot prepare for the unknown. play this out. what are you worried about.

looking at syria. what is going on? >> it would not take much to put the united states and russia into a conventional conflict. the reality is they are attacking soldiers or fighters that we are training. we do have the capacity to take out those fighters. mr. obama will really be on the dime if, in the air, a conflict does emerge and a shot is fired. i do not think that it will be possible to contain it. i do not mean that we will have a full-fledged conventional war. it could cause a lot of panic in the markets. it should not because, think about it, we have been to the crimea and so much in the middle east. the crises on our economy are not very large. the hurricane does not really worry me. we have learned from hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, the rebuilding is better than

the storm. it will not have any consequence. what i need to see is some good profit numbers from the third and fourth quarter. i am not really expecting them until the fourth quarter. i do not really think that this economy takes off. neil: russian air force official says that the announcement says that the airstrikes only hit islamic state targets in syria. we have been saying that earlier on that they are the very folks we are hoping to topple assad. awkward. >> there is the dialogue we are talking about. you wait to hear the other side. sometimes, there is a big lad. >> to me, someone is lying. >> yes. of course. >> not us. >> we do not know yet.

>> i am reading the book about the spy for the united states. great history of the soviet union. vladimir putin project of the pay-tv. once they are moving -- >> we cannot even appreciate the russian media. the alternative universe that they live in and russia. the amount of information that goes out into the markets. they have a different reality that they are living there and russia. i think tina is right. >> here is what i am worried about. i have a feeling that this may be delaying the press conference. they will have to prove that the region that the russians are bombing is where our guys are helping, or residing, not where

we suspect isis forces are. i do not know whether we've pull out maps or do that sort of stuff. they are likely not going after isis. i could be wrong. then there gets to be a he said he said deal. then he gets to be what are we going to do about it here then it gets to be a discussion of you, mr. president, obama, is it time for you to draw another clear line? this time russia. what do you say? >> he knows that at the end of the day, you know, if he does not tell the truth, he will be called out for it. mr. putin does not have that constraint. he can lie. he does not have to produce photographs. he candidate nor the disclaimers.

>> we would have the photo. you know how that went. a little upsetting. >> i do not think that putin will let himself be drawn into a security council session. having that person caught to be facedown and proved to be a liar. he will keep doing what he did in crimea in the ukraine. the reason being no matter how much we nail him for lying, they will be able to handle it. >> in other words, when a crisis like this iraq, we have seen it with china hacking into the opm. we will do sanctions. we are going to crack down. then nothing really happens. we may not see anything in retaliation. >> the world press outside of russia. the world press outside of

russia could say to the whole world outside of russia, putin flat out lied. he bonded these people and said that he did it. i think the world has more press to talk to people. the press keeps on top of that and he lied, he will be exposed. dagen: russia has been building up very important allies in that region. a sort of nod to her head understanding. the exact opposite has happened. now, providing intelligence to those two. >> john mccain telling me yesterday that we do not need more troops on the ground. we have to arm these fighters

that we are supporting. >> you have to do more than that. >> fine. i am just saying what he said. that is as far as we need to go. targeting them. aren't all bets off. he just dismissed it. >> i am not sure he should dismiss it. i think that it is important what is happening right now. we are in a brand new world right now. overlaying this whole thing is iran nuke deal. how vile it was. how do we square that with what is going on in syria right now? >> now we are hearing from u.s. coalition. the russians have not attacked isis. we have seen them attacking the

very forces we are supporting to overthrow the assad regime. >> what we will see is in the next several hours that it is going back and forth back and forth. hopefully we will see what really did happen. sometimes you have to wait to really hear the whole story. >> you can spend it a variety way. >> back and forth, back and forth. clearly, there is aggression and surprise aggression. what are we going to do about it? now, it is even tougher. abrupt sudden action. what is our plan?

not just in syria, iran and iraq. >> those guys with russia. >> what i thought all along, too, because russia is in such dire conditions. >> necessarily flat today against point earlier. shaking things up enough. it starts moving up. that is his currency. >> this seems to be a big crisis. it does not change fundamental supply and demand. the stocks that are available will not change.

what is really more significant than all of this is whether he can use the events on the ground. he can use the foreign press. the free press, so to speak, to his advantage. fortifying his support. putin extending. as long as they do this, they will buy-in and putin's hand will be strengthened. another question you have to answer. is it really putin that is the mind behind all of this? is the russian military pushing? if that is the case, it is a more complicated equation.

>> he is a real strongman. they are all lined up. all oil-producing companies there in the middle east. not the military place. >> agree to disagree. the question is how long. >> yes. we were talking about this earlier. what is the endgame? what is the timeframe here. >> some people do. i do want to thank john paul very, very much. john paul has already offered. >> putin needs love and happiness. >> all the admission of global peace. thank you very much, my friend.

>> get them good. get him good. neil, one thing, though, some of the russian people do fear, is syria. things do not always necessarily go the right way. >> charles payne has just joined us. do you have any chance to talk to donald trump? he kind of got ripped apart. well, look, if putin wants to go after isis, again, i am simplifying this. indications that they may not be going after just about guys. what is your sense? first of all, i have to tell

you, he made an amazing point. the robles, who are they? we celebrated the arab spring in this country. the democracy. taking place where they have never had democracy before. maybe there is a big argument. if we let these dictators in place in iraq or libya or fox business network, we would be better off. this whole thing. we do not get an isis. think about what bankrupted the soviet union in the first place. donald trump made an amazing point. initially, russia attacking our outlays. a lot of people said, we got you. the last 18 hours or so, i have seen republicans and democrats

come around to the notion, hey, it's cool. if it is russia, syria and iran killing themselves, killing afghan, maybe it is better for us to take a step back. it is really interesting how that has turned back and forth here. >> we do not know what the truth is right now. if they are hitting our guys, man,. >> think about this for a second. >> 54 people. they give up their weapons. these are just the anti-assad forces. the enemy is my enemy. >> and a a lot of things impressed me about the speeches. when mr. obama said we will not hesitate, we want to act to

defend our allies, i said to myself, that is not a credible statement. the very same day when putin said, you know, moving people like assad does not promote stability. that is in fact the truth. we are trying to create an idyllic world. transplanting into the middle east. it simply does not work. >> i have a development here as we wait to hear from the white house. north carolina. the second state to declare a state of emergency. now i am hearing virginia. unique in all of these cases from these suspected governors.

i guess better safe than sorry. >> i always think you should be vigilant. i do not think that it will hit the united states. we have an interesting situation. you have basically a fork in the road, neil, where this thing can go. looking at the overall weather pattern in the western hemisphere and some of the unusual things that are going on, joaquin will take a path northeast. yesterday, i was not at that idea. this thing would come in. the third problem is governor christie knows this. you have a nor'easter first. here comes the storm right after

it. it is a disaster. >> maybe, you know. >> no. no. listen. here is what i think goes on. you have been hit by sandy. you know that storm. look, if i have to pull the state of emergency off because the storm is going out to see, are people going to get upset with me? >> better to be over prepared than shocked. i want to ask you this, is it a big issue here? i think that the governor hit on it. they have not patched things up in the three years since sandy. a lot of people did not like the way that it looked. vulnerable. maybe not entirely, but pretty close.

they set uto be really knocked down all over again. is that right? >> i am not so sure about that. neil: well, i just told you. why do you dow me? i just told you. >> i grew up in new jersey. here is what i found out. if you have a house on the beach, guess what, there will be trouble. march 1962 storm took out the entire coastline. that was not even a hurricane. the el niño that is coming this year -- neil: that is apart from whatever joaquin does. >> yes. look. the ground zero is south carolina. there will be over a foot of rain. it will be disastrous flooding there. you have a regular nor'easter.

devastating the bahamas. it will stay to the united states. i believe it will state east to the united states. >> i think that it becomes a crisis. showing a hurricane throughout your show. >> 15 minutes yesterday. >> 15, 18, 30. >> it is on your head. >> it does remind him, maybe to your point, we should be reminded. better to be a little over worried than under worried. some local law enforcement people say people are getting all crazy.

>> i understand that. i was e-mailing you about sandy over a week before that. as someone who watch what happened with storms like that, if you have a little action of food on the shelves or whatever, it gives us an opportunity to use it. >> can i just make another point? the department of energy, within the last few months, oil rigs are dammed. the orioles, not even in the golf. they are mostly on land drilling. you may not see all that much reaction. >> what governor christie did, he is just trying to play it safe. you act early. you can warn people over and over and over again. if you scare them --

>> there are various definitions. >> you become more aware of this situation, so to speak. i do not know governor christie, personally. we had a nor'easter. it would be really bad. let's move on. when something happens to you, sandy is the benchmark storm now a category for hurricane. >> the other thing is, these guys were terribly criticized the last time around for not being prepared.

>> they have a different chance to fortify these communities. if nothing happens, nothing happens. >> they should have issued that warning. neil: we're getting word from the white house. i am so excited. how they are weighing on stocks right now. into this confusion -- >> yes. i think people tend to sell into confusion. it has kind of been a trend anyway. people are nervous. the fed is not out there pumping up the market much.

>> i do not think that that will happen. i still think that the fed is nervous about upsetting stockmarkets. raising rates this year. >> you are saying that the conditions are still set for december rate hike. how would the market respond to that? >> they will like it in a way. fundamentally, higher interest rates are not good for the economy. i think the conditions are set forth. if the fed has to come in and -- the interest hike is sort of irrelevant. >> i do not think that those yields are going up.

central banks around the world have been doing the same thing. they have been doing their own money printing. >> also, the imf. >> talking about the isn. you roundly mocked me. what is moving the market today. no. >> yesterday, we saw 15,000 jobs. today's number, we look like we may actually be crashing our core. manufacturing. >> though mortgage rates, the overseas investors are coming in to our stronger dollar. there were warnings about sandy. yes, there were.

>> i do not think i am the russian foreign minister. i think that there were warnings. this time, there really is not much to loose. you know, i think, at this point, the fed has to act. it is creating so much anxiety by not acting. >> there will be more to come. >> was scheduled to you lay out? in the past, they have raised -- >> consider it the neil: josh ernest now. >> my apologies for the late start today. we do one thing at top. we'll get to your questions. president received an update today from the his homeland security advisor, lisa monaco,

about the forecast for hurricane joaquin. he received additional details about the preparations underway at fema, in advance of the storm. a couple of those points. fema increased its staffing at our 24-hour national watch center in washington, d.c. to provide additional reporting and monitoring of the situation. other lead element either deployed or peeping to deploy to potentially affected area and to insure there are to unmet needs. fema staff have been activated to prepare for the establishment of potential incident support bases which prepositioned supplies like water, meals, blankets and other resources closer to potentially affected areas. of course fema maintains significant stockpiles of commodity, millions of liters of water, meals, blankets and other resources like that at distribution centers across the country.

final thing i will say here, particularly at this point we encourage all americans that live in areas that could potentially be affected by hurricane joaquin to monitor local radio, television, and official social media accounts for updated emergency information and as always, to follow the instructions of state, local and tribal officials. so this is obviously something that the president and his team are closely monitoring here. i anticipate we'll be doing that through the weekend. so, with that kevin, we can go to your questions. >> thank you, josh. the president and you had high praise for the secret service in recent days for the work they did last week but what is the white house reaction to the reports that agents widely access ad committee chairman's personnel file and aspects of that file eventually became public? are apologies enough in this case? >> well, kevin, as you point out, the director of the secret service and director of homeland

security -- neil: we're monitoring this right now. this is the secret service investigation whether they were up to snuff. we'll go in and out depending what he says about the russian situation in syria. denny strigle, former verizon ceo. communication, communication. we're not getting clarity where we stand. >> absolutely. a good leader has a vision. a booed leader is proactive and a good leader is accountable. we don't have any of that. neil: a good leader, he or she draw as line in the sand has to follow up. there are many reasons to suggest barack obama withdrew that line in retrospect but can he ignore this? can he ignore russian planes still in syria, maybe for indeterminant amount of time? >> depends what the meaning of the word ignore is and how he defines it. neil: that is very good. very good. >> i don't know what i said. neil: i don't either but it is

very good. >> basically said yes, we'll have reaction and speak very strongly as he has in the past and not act on it. we've seen that time and again especially with crisis in syria. neil: that is trump's criticism he raises with you, right? >> absolutely. last night we saw ash carter and of course john kerry, these guys are looking so inept. i think the gameplan they will play not ignore but always part of the plan. yeah, yeah, meant to do that kind of thing. neil: part of the plan to see russian fighters? >> sort of like we want russia to be there. we want them to be our partner. we're not quite sure who they killed last night but overall this is good stuff. neil: could be something to that, denny. right after this occurred john kerry was trying to finesse it a little bit with the russian foreign minister. taking out isis. >> charles may be exactly right here. neil: don't encourage him. >> when you're in predictment like this, how do you get yourself out?

you have to make yourself better. neil: like pee-wee herman? >> struggling in every way. >> lynchpin of our policy in syria. we want assad out. putin want assad to stay. that is kind of central at least verbal indication we need to bet from the administration, how are they going to change that policy? neil: this argument post-iraq that sometimes you're better with the devil you got? >> without a doubt. again we wouldn't have isis if there was saddam hussein. >> but, chars, saddam hussein committed so much chemical weapons warfare. russian gassed kurds in iran. here's the thing. the other part of this too, how the russian people are extremely disturbed and upset, and i know this because i have talked to a lot of people in the diplomatic area. they say they're worried about the syrian refugee crisis. they're worried about muslim unrest in their back door in russia. to testimony they think is great

thing with putin. neil: now they're discussing russia. can we lien, guys? >> -- activity over the past 48 hours as the u.s. sees it? >> as secretary of defense acknowledged yesterday in his news conference the early indications from the russian military operations is that despite their claims that they are focused on isil, they're actually carrying out military operations where there are few if any isil forces operating. certainly calls into question that declaration and it raises the concerns that you have heard us state previously about how if russia is genuinely focused on fighting isil, then they will make the kind of constructive contribution to the 65-member isil, anti-isil coalition, that the united states is leading. we have put forward a strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. and we are working with 65 other

countries to implement that strategy and we would welcome the constructive contribution of russia to that effort. okay? all right. jeff? >> following up on that, does president obama feel that president putin broke his word after their meeting this week with regard to their intentions in syria? >> well the conversation that the two presidents had focused on a range of things, about the shared interests that we have in stopping spread of isil extremists and the, and certainly to counter the safe haven that they're trying to establish for themselves inside of syria. there was also shared view when it came to the need for a political transition inside of syria. we have long made the case that the root of russia, of syria's problems are, is the political turmoil inside of syria and the only way to address, whether it

is the spread of isil or the significant humanitarian crisis that started in syria is to address the fundamental political problem there and you know the case that we have made, and the case that generally russia has acknowledged is the need for a political transition. now there are important differences of opinion what that political transition ultimately looks like but there was agreement about the need for some kind of political transition inside of syria. >> [inaudible] >> so when it comes to the airstrikes, we've indicated that we would welcome a contribute tiff contribution from russia to the anti-isil coalition and we haven't seen them be prepared to do that yet. >> you would agree there would be talks to deconflict operations? these russian airstrikes today happened before those talks. is that, does that indicate the talks are even worth having?

>> they are worth having, jeff, and they continue to be both a priority for president obama and president putin. i can tell you there was a call that was hosted today by u.s. defense officials and some of their russian counterparts. this is a telephone call that lasted about an hour today, via, took place via video teleconference. it was led by alyssa slotkin at the pentagon. she is active secretary of defense for security affairs. the discussion focused on ways the united states and russia can communicate and effectively deconflict our operations inside of syria. there were, and in some cases these were actually some basic aspects of our operations that we want to try to agree to avoid unintended consequences here. so there was a discussion about insuring that aircraft, military aircra inside of syria are

operating consistent with international rules and safety regulations. there sis discussion about insuring that military personnel operates inside of syria are communicating on internationally-recognized channels. all of this is an effort to deconflict our ongoing operations there. this was the first discussion of what i anticipate will be a series of additional discussions about, about decon anything our efforts. and -- deconflicting. in the context of that call i would be remiss in not pointing out, acting secretary of defense, melissa focused on efforts on a shared objective which is ultimately degrading and destroying isil and she pointed out that the russian military operations that we've seen so far raise some concerns because russia is targeting

areas where there are few if any isil forces operating. >> is there anything that the united states is doing or can do to protect the syrian opposition from these russian airstrikes? >> well, jeff, i think the challenge here is one, well, let me say it this way. i think the burden here is on russia and the fact is carrying out indiscriminate military operations against the syrian opposition is dangerous for russia. the reason i say that is that it is only going to prolong the sectarian conflict inside of syria, if not make that conflict indefinite. and it also risks russia being drawn even more deeply into that conflict. we've already seen, and i say this, knowing that, russia has

already acknowledged that there's no military solution for inside of syria. that a political solution will be required. russia has no desire to impose military solution on syria than the united states was imposing military solution on iraq or the soviet union was imposing a military solution on afghanistan. the way they carried out the indischrisnant strikes on syria, has isolated russia. we have concerns of statements from those of others in region but also those around the world raising concerns about russia's activities and, i think most tellingly we saw statements from both iran and saudi arabia on this matter and those who understand the nature of this sectarian conflict will not be surprised to hear that iran's

response to russia's military activityies was, was one that was filled with words of praise while the statement from saudi arabia was filled with words of criticism. and i think that is, that i think highlights the risk that russia is running here and i guess the two last things i will point out here that the effect of these kinds of indiscriminate airstrikes essentially drives what would otherwise be moderate elements of the sunni opposition to assad into the arms of extremists, creating an extremist problem or i guess i should say, exacerbating a extremist problem for russia inside of syria, but also exacerbating extremist problem that russia has inside of russia. that's why you heard me say when there were initial reports about russia moving military equipment to syria, that that it would be

counterproductive for russia to double down on the support of president assad. this is exactly what i was talking about. and this is going to have consequences for the efforts of everybody including russia, to counter extremism in the region and around the world. you know, the fact is, these grave consequences for russia are more dangerous than any diplomatic response that could be imposed on russia by the international community. >> is the president happy with what russia is doing? >> obviously we would prefer russia to make a contribute tiff contribution to our ongoing anti-isil effort and it certainly is not in the interest of the united states for russia to exacerbate this sectarian conflict, but ultimately it is russians that will pay the highest price for that.

gardner? >> josh, the russians seem to be particularly targeting groups funded and armed by cia how will president respond? is this renewal of the cold war-like war proxy? >> not at all and here's what is important to understand. i was making reference to indiscriminate -- >> it not indiscriminate. >> well i, i think it is indiscriminate and let me explain why because russia in justifying these actions suggest that they are carrying out operations against opponents to the assad regime. >> right. >> fact is there are extremists idealogically-driven, essentially terrorists who are opponents of the assad regime. these are groups like isil and nusra, have been the focus of our operations. there are also elements of the syrian opposition that are, could more accurately be described as moderate elements of the syrian opposition simply

arming themselves to try to defend their communities, their homes, and themselves. the assad regime has been carrying out terrible acts of violence against these, these civilians and so, that's the kind of indiscriminate activity that we've seen russia engaged in and the danger associated with that kind of indiscriminate military action is that it distracts from the organizations that should be the focal point of these kind of activities, mainly isil, and serves to drive away the kind of moderate opposition that ultimately the international community, including russia, is going to be counting on to be a part of the political transition that is long overdue inside of syria. >> josh, i mean the reason i'm

pushing back on the indiscriminate your own military analysts are saying these attacks are very well-thought out. they're going after the people now are the greatest threats to the assad regime and also are closest to russian military facilities. those people also happen to be people who are being funded by the cia on our, sort of on our side, so that it is, they're not doing this willy-nilly. they're going after the people who represent the worst threat to the assad regime and their own position in syria. >> well, let me just issue a clear disclaimer once again, which is i'm not going to engage in a specific discussion of any activities that the cia may be involved in or may not be involved in inside of syria. what i will say as a general matter, and this is something i said before, that there are opposition groups inside of syria that have benefited from u.s. support.

and there is a variety of ways that support has been provided. it includes and training and equiping operation we talked about in here that hasn't yielded kind of results we would like to see. but it also includes support in the form of things like medical equipment, and other rations, other supplies useful for fighting forces in a difficult environment. so there are also moderates here and opposition groups with whom we have no relationship. the fact is these kinds of groups that are operating against the assad regime are pretty fluid. the fact that these kinds of alliances are so fluid actually underscores the risk that russia is taking. that by taking strikes against these moderate syrian opposition groups, they only make it more likely what could currently be described as moderate syrian opposition groups seek to align themselves with the extremist

idealogues that russia claims to be fighting. you know, so that's the, that's the concern that we have. and that is the risks that russia is running when they wade knee deep into this sectarian conflict. >> what is your view, you're talking about all these risks that putin is taking on, he is not an idiot. what is the white house view of what putin is trying to achieve here? >> well, i certainly wouldn't use that word to describe a president putin, that's correct, but you know, i think for weeks now we have indicated a lack of clarity about what russia's true intentions are inside of syria. and that is to say not to leave anybody in the united states that russia was surprised using that military equipment that they moved into the syria within the last few weeks but rather to describe the choice that president putin faces about how

to protect russia's diminishing influence inside of syria. the fact that syria has been the client state of russia for years and russia made a significant investment in that client state and over the last five years russia has seen that client state essentially unravel and it has risks to the significant investment they have in that country and this significant military deployment is aimed at shoring it up and the question that president putin faces is, how exactly to shore that up. and continuing down a path of carrying out military operations in an indiscriminate fashion against the syrian opposition is actually going to run counter to the stated goals of russia because it only will prolong the sectarian conflict that has torn that country apart. >> one more. i want to put this gently but

there seems to be this view that putin keeps stealing your lunch money. he seems to -- >> i heard that before. >> yes, exactly. are you just have to sort of wait out view? there is this sense of, sort of playground battle that he is seems to be getting the best of the president on. how do you fight that or can you not or do you just leave that aside? >> well, let me take that on a couple different ways. i think the first is, that the, if you examine the interests of our countries in the region, that is not at all what's happening. the fact is russia is responding to a situation inside of the middle east from a position of weakness. their influence in that region of the world is waning. i've seen some media reports pointed out that the military base that russia operates inside of syria is actually the last military base that russia operates outside of the former soviet union and, that base is

located in the country that over the last five years has been torn apart and where the security situation there is highly unstable at best and russia is responding to that urgent situation, trying to shore up their investment. so this is not been a long-term benefit from russia. this is, this is russia trying to salvage what's left of a deteriorating situation inside of syria. now, the second thing is, careful consideration of u.s. interests. the president's been very clear from the beginning that the prolonged commitment of u.s. military personnel on the ground inside of syria is not something that the president was willing to consider. and, instead we have implemented

a strategy that has put the safety and security of the american people at the top of the list. and you know, i walked through yesterday some of the military actions that the united states has taken inside of syria, to take extremists off the battlefield there. this includes operations against individuals like abu sayyaf who was killed in a u.s. military raid inside of syria over the summer. an isil operative, who was a british national, who was recruiting western targets for lone wolf attacks. this includes also an isil leader in foreign fighter recruiter named alharsi. nothing to say of french national, extremist operating inside of syria. not with isil but focused on significant attacks against western targets including the united states.

so the president has worked aggressively to safeguard our interests in that way without making kind of commitment which draws the united states into another land war in the middle east. that is something that the president doesn't believe serves our interests well. again i made reference to the fact that is exactly what russia is getting drawn into. and will have to pay the significant price for it. mara? >> you said earlier you and russia have a shared objective which is to degrade and destroy isil. are you confident that is actually russia's objective? >> i do believe that russia is being forthright when they say that they are quite concerned about the threat that is posed by isil and are prepared to take military action to try to destroy isil. >> that is not exactly what they're doing right now. >> well, i think that is how we started this briefing which is,

that they are taking strikes in the country where there are few if any isil operatives in place. >> that doesn't make you question that is actually their objective? to destroy isil? i guess -- >> i think when i was walking through in response to jeff's question are some of our shared priorities. that is clearly a priority of the united states. it is stated priority of russians and i wouldn't have any reason to dispute that is one of their priorities. i certainly have ample reason to dispute that they're taking actions that are going to accomplish that goal. in fact i think they're actually taking actions that are counterproductive to that goal. justin? >> first wondering if you can give us a ticktock what the president has been up to on couple days on this, whether you had conversations with secretary kerry -- neil: this is remarkable development in this discussion here. essentially josh earnest walking a tightrope here saying russia and united states are on the same page when it comes to going

after isis, isil, whatever you want to call them but the russians are going about it at the wrong way, by targeting very groups we want to topple the president of that country assad but that we agree that isil mutual enemy we've got to get rid of. now, what's weird too, is that you have an administration that criticized the prior administration for focusing on removing saddam hussein as the deal of end all, echoing that theme in removing president assad as close to the deal of end all. only difference being the way we're going about it. but i don't know if there is any clarity here, dagen. doesn't sound like any clarity at all. >> no, even the questions from the white house press corps, people are incredulous because a lot of what he says doesn't really make much sense. he is talking about, they believe that russia's influence in the region is waning. they're operating from a place of weakness that russia is trying to shore up its

investment, salvage deteriorating situation. neil: doing sortie missions whatever you want to call them, why is their attack line a waste of time and when we do it's not? >> exactly. he never really answered the central question. neil: they say they're going, russians say they're going after, they being the bad guys. we say they're going after the good guys. we're going after the bad guys you we both agree isil is problem. someone is lying. >> someone is lying. we got zero clarity from josh earnest. >> one thing he said so key is russia's investment in syria and can not be ignored. here is what is happening. russia invested heavily -- neil: don't pretend we're on same page. >> in the port city to have nuclear arms shipped in that port of tart tis and syria. it is only base in the mediterranean. neil: don't say we have the same mutual interests at heart. >> no, they don't. very different. russia is expanding influence via its base, its naval base on

the port in syria. >> if you buy the white house narrative we were hearing i hear about a cornered bear which is extremely dangerous, which will act out and do anything in its best interests, not in our interests, not in our mutual interests but -- >> it is a cornered bear, because they start expanding the nail base after the georgian war and after we started putting our missile defense system into poland, that is when russia started to do go full bore to blow out the naval base in syria. neil: i'm simpler than you guys are, you're both much smarter, we criticized the prior administration for trying to topple a regime. we think we're focused on toppling a regime doing it differently. >> right. neil: the means by which you do it don't matter if you're still arguing that your way of going about it is better than the prior administration. your focus is on toppling a regime. russia can come back, say we're trying to topple the folks that

are toppling entire country. you can't have it both ways. >> you can't. do you think we get sucked into something much greater militarily because -- neil: russia is getting sucked into something that the administration says -- >> you're right, they want have it both ways. president is say quote we're looking for political solution to the crisis in syria which is toppling assad. neil: helping coalition efforts to go back at the -- not that that we're doing the same things russians have done. >> why is josh earnest talking about how we'll deal with the russian situation? nothing. neil: russia presumably going after bad guys, we're trying to say yeah, we know your heart is in the right place, we know you're trying to screw us, but we'll put the spin you're going after bad guys. >> we'll ignore the bad that you're doing and focus on good. neil: we're focusing on same things. >> that is like being half pregnant. >> continuing to attack russia

but they're they don't know what they're doing with indiscriminate bombing. neil: it is a mess, folks. paring losses that joaquin will not be as serious as we thought. who is right. with we know, situation on syria is not clear, it is a mess. now trish regan. trish: we have more coming, on the situation, neil. pentagon brief something about to happen. russian president vladmir putin telling us all, united states of america to stay out of his way. i'm trish regan. welcome to "the intelligence report." the administration really struggling to put together some kind of response in face of putin's surprise attack. we heard from josh earn e -- earnest. we will hear more from peter cook at pentagon. putin says he is attacking isis in syria but he's not. he is attacking anti-assad