>> that is her studio. my father built her that. >> we'll be talking about this a lot more. >> we are doing a piece on her. >> what time is it? >> time for "morning joe"? >> i think it is time -- chuck is still -- >> is he drunk? >> i think he is recovering. he just narrowly escaped the secret service there. >> let's have luke do it. >> here is luke. live this hour president obama speaks to the press in europe but the majorer headlines hammering here at home this morning center on reports of another health care signup deadline delay. and another embarrassing episode for the secret service. rescue teams continue to search through the devastating and deadly mudslide in washington state. we will hear from the state's lieutenant governor on the

dangerous situation. new reports of a large potential debris area search for the missing malaysia airlines plane. good morning from washington. a very busy morning. this is the daily run down. i'm in for the great chuck todd. we will go live to chuck in brussels as we wait for a live news conference with president obama and european leaders. however, we begin with more grim news from northern washington state. the rescue and recovery effort in the massive mudslide. the water logged hill side collapse and officially 16 people are now confirmed dead. crews say they have located eight more victims but haven't been able to recover their bodies. >> unfortunately, we didn't find any signs of life. we didn't locate anybody alive. >> there are 176 reports of missing people but that number is expected to go down as the

recovery effort continues and duplicate reports are dropped. the weather is wet. the work is miserable and the community, they are still in shock. >> yeah, man, i got a big emergency. there is a house on 530 and a big slide. it is covering the road. >> my neighbor's house and their neighbor's house completely taken out and collapsed on several of them and they are trapped. >> there is no house here anymore. >> are there injuries? >> yes. there are people yelling for help. >> nbc's joe frier covering the rescue effort. obviously the 911 calls are absolutely horrific. what is the latest on the ground. how is the community coping? >> good morning. search is expected to resume this morning. it is a massive search. with all of the rain in the last

24 hours it has certainly slowed things down and made search conditions very difficult. people in the debris area say it is like walking on quick sand or like walking on ice which is making things very difficult. about 200 people are helping out with the search right now. that includes teams from fema and from the national guard. also, a small group of local volunteers, people who are well trained are helping out. they have expertise with chainsaws and know the area well. many of them are helping look for their own friends and relatives. we know in at least one case one of the victims who was found was actually found by his own family members. there are questions being asked about whether this could have been predicted. this is an area that has seen a few slides over the years. most recently in 2006 a smaller mudslide took place. because of that there have also been a few reports over the years. a couple of reports that deem the area dangerous when it came to mudslides.

earlier this week a county emergency official was asked about that. he said there were mitigation efforts following the 2006 mudslide. he thought the area was very safe but in the wake of the reports some people are questioning whether more could have been done. >> thank you so much. lieutenant governor brad owen has declared a state of emergency. he joins us live with more on the search and rescue efforts. lieutenant governor, what is the latest on the search and rescue efforts? has it returned to more of a recovery effort? >> we always hold out hope we find something. you have heard of miracle cases in the past. they are not too confident of that. it is looking more and more like recovery effort all the time. we always hold out hope. the important thing that we do right now is make sure the services are there for the people, that we provide the help that they need whether it be financial help, food, housing, mental health, even people have

lost their driver's license. so the department of licensing is setting up an ex pedited process to help these people. there are a lot of things we are trying to do to make things a little better for those people that are suffering right now. >> there has been some speculation that perhaps this could have been prevented, that this area was unstable. are there plans from your office for a statewide review to make sure this type of tragedy never happens again, that folks who live in areas that is susceptible to these types of mudslides could perhaps be warned that they are living in harm's way? >> you know, these things when you have a disaster like this it spurs a lot of review and questions. there is no doubt in my mind that there will be, you know, a lot of investigation into this. there will be a lot of talk about what you are asking about what we do about other areas. right now the focus is on the recovery. the focus is on helping the

people and providing the services to those folks and just getting in there and try to bring some closure and answer some questions about the missing folks. that is the most important thing right now. it is hard to speculate. i can tell you from the years i have been involved in this business that there is no question that there will be investigations. there will be research into what went on in the past and what we might do in the future. >> and to elaborate for folks who are not familiar with this type of event, if you are from the east coast and you are not used to this type of thing, how does something like this happen to this scale so quickly? >> well, there was a lot of rain from what i understand. i'm no expert in this area at all by any means. but when we have seen it it has usually been a situation where there has been a lot of rain or the ground gets saturated.

something that may have been brewing for a while just breaks loose and down it goes. it is nothing -- as far as the mudslide you couldn't say tomorrow it is going to happen. it just happens. and the weather seems to play a big role in that. >> lieutenant governor, we appreciate your time this morning. our prayers to your state. thank you so much. >> we appreciate that. thank you very much. there is new evidence and new pictures in the search for flight 370 this morning. malaysian officials released these satellite images overnight. experts say these photos show more than 100 possible objects floating in the debris field in the southern indian ocean. overnight a half dozen countries launched the biggest search deployment since flight 370 vanished 19 days ago. >> reporter: good morning, luke. another lead today, this time in

the form of new french satellite images appearing to show 120 objects floating over a 150-square mile area down there in the southern indian ocean. these images have been passed on to the australian authorities who are managing this search and will be factored into the planning over the next day. today was the biggest deployment yet, 12 aircraft, five ships scouring an area the size of alaska. the latest information we have is that they did come across some objects, three objects were identified, two which looked like rope and a third described as a blue object but they don't believe that these are related to flight 370. the weather was better. the seas were rough but the visibility was good although bad weather is forecast to return tomorrow. we should have more information a little later about additional sightings out there. clearly we now have four sets of

leads in the form of these satellite go on and this search now being stepped up. >> nbc's ian williams in australia. chuck todd? he himself will join us next live. he is with the president in belgium. we are expecting to hear from president obama in a few minutes with eu officials. the president will give a big speech later this afternoon. it is about european security in this day and age. we want to see that happen in crimea. you are watching "daily rundown". why? because selling their funds makes them more money. which makes you wonder. isn't that a conflict? search "proprietary mutual funds". yikes!! then go to e*trade. we've got over 8,000 mutual funds and not one of them has our name on it. we're in the business of finding the right investments for you. e*trade. less for us, more for you. the fund's prospectus contains its investment objectives,

risks, charges, expenses and other important information and should be read and considered carefully before investing. for a current prospectus visit www.etrade.com/mutualfunds. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains... you can't help but see the good. hey kevin...still eating chalk for hearburn? yea. try alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heart burn and taste awesome.

these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. alka-seltzer fruit chews. enjoy the relief! in fact, they depend on a unique set of nutrients. [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help protect your eye health. as you age, your eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite is a vitamin made just for your eyes from the eye care experts at bausch + lomb. ocuvite has a unique formula that's just not found in any leading multivitamin. your eyes are unique, so help protect your eye health with ocuvite.

the president is holding his

first-ever summit in brussels. today's talks being leaded by the subject of ukraine. president obama will hold a press conference. you are looking live at the pictures. later today the president will meet with the commander of nato and deliver his only planned speech. on tuesday president obama acknowledged that russia's annexation of crimea would be difficult to reverse but he dismissed russia's strategic importance and shrugged off criticismt that he has under estimated president vladimir putin. >> america has a whole lot of challenges. russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors, not out of strength but out of weakness.

>> this morning the president stopped at flanders field cemetery in brussels laying a wreath to honor the american dead on the centennial of world war i. >> our nations are part of the international effort to destroy syria's chemical weapons, the same kinds of weapons used to such devastating effect on these very fields. this visit, this hallowed ground reminds us we must never, ever take our progress for granted. we must commit perennially to peace which binds us across oceans. >> also, on the agenda today a u.s. europe trade deal called the transatlantic trade and investment partnership which faces resistance in the u.s. congress. meanwhile, though, the secret service which is already under scrutiny after a scandalal two

years ago in columbia is dealing with another embarrassing episode. three agents have been sent home and put on administrative leave after a night of drinking, allegedly passed out in the hallway of the president's hotel. chuck todd is traveling with the president. he joins me from brussels. a lot to get to in europe. there is a little bit of domestic news. you, like me, inboxes starting to blow up from republicans saying there is another delay pertaining to the health care law. the president's folks saying march 31t that enrollment deadline being pushed back into april if you had trouble signing up originally when the website was found. >> right. exactly. if you have been following the various ways that the president, the administration have made delays or done fixes to quote/unquote fixes to the health care law this shouldn't come as a surprise.

it was inevitable they would try to find some way to extend enrollment without officially saying they extend enrollment. this is the loop hole they created which is if you are in line or started the process or felt as if you couldn't sign up because of some glitch or issue then they will have a grace period of sorts, a couple of weeks. as you know it adds to republicans trying very hard to paint the administration as sort of incompetent, making up the rules as they go along. if you look at the different ways, the delays and different things they have done since january 1 you see why the republicans can make that case. the white house will argue you are saying we shouldn't find a way to give people access to buy health insurance. they know it is a bad pr hit today and think in the long run it would have been worse if there were a group of tens of thousands of people who said they were trying to sign up by the deadline but somehow couldn't. they would rather avoidt that pr

embarrassment and take the hit today. think about the things that are sort of overshadowing what the initial agenda was for the president. three months ago this trip to brussels was all about pushing the trade deal with europe and figuring out ways to extend economic ties and try to get the trade agreement on a track so that then they could take it back and politicly fight it at home. now what the president is doing in his speech today is more about security, european security, the importance of the u.s. role in nato. look at today's headlines. we started with health care. the shiny metal object is the secret story. talking with sources on that front, luke, this is damned if you do or damned if you don't. the secret service acted faster than they would have in the pre-columbia days. this incident happened more

often than realized and swept under the rug quote/unquote back in the day. now there is a zero tolerance policy. secret service taking the hit but believing taking no action would have been worse than taking the action that they did. >> it's one of these things that almost looks like lack of institutional control to use a sports term for this to come so quickly after what happened in columbia. >> it takes a while for the culture to change. this is a reminder of that. there was a long culture here, sort of what goes on the road stays on the road mentality. it is clearly not done yet. >> chuck todd, we will come to you i believe later in the show. let's get a quick break in. today's trivia question includi including north dakota and south dakota how many states have the minimum possible of electoral

votes. the first person to tweet the answer will get an on-air shout out. i got the guy who won yesterday's name right. i hope i get your name right today. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone.

there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. how was prugh.ce? that bad? i dropped 2 balls, mom. eye on the ball! that's all it is. eye on the ball. that's a good tip. i'll try it. by the way, bill... this is delicious! so many grilled tastes and textures. and all the nutrition i need. go on. no really. top notch. (laughing) there it is - there ya go. new american grill from kibbles 'n bits... go together like... food 'n family. (music) defiance is in our bones. defiance never grows old. citracal maximum. calcium citrate plus d. highly soluble, easily absorbed.

♪ aflac, aflac, aflac! ♪ [ both sigh ] ♪ ugh! ♪ you told me he was good, dude. yeah he stinks at golf. but he was great at getting my claim paid fast. how fast? mine got paid in 4 days. wow. that's awesome. is that legal? big fat no. [ male announcer ] find out how fast aflac can pay you at aflac.com.

we're waiting for the president to speak. he is expected any minute in brussels where he is holding a press conference with top officials from the european union. we will bring that event to you live as soon as it begins. in the meantime let's get at a topic that will certainly be discussed at that event and that is ukraine and the back and forth with russia that has cast a cold war shadow over president obama's trip to europe. the president hinted at more sanctions. >> there is more expectation that they will be dislodged by force. and so what we can bring to bear

are the legal arguments, the diplomatic arguments, political pressure, economic sanctions in place to try to make sure that there is a cost to that process. >> international pressure may take a bite out of moscow's bottom line. today the world bank reported the russian economy may contract by 1.8% this year. that is sharper from the 2.2% growth as the kremlin deals with the consequences of its actions. there is concern inside ukraine that this is not over yet. >> reporter: good morning. tensions remain high bethese two countries russia and ukraine are russia with more accusations against kiev. russia put out a statement saying ukrainian government is

actually preventing airline pilots and cabin crews from disembarking off of the planes when they arrive at the airport in ukraine. they say this not only violates international law but is jeopardizing the safety of the crews and safety of international travel. russia is accusing ukraine of singling out russian men trying to cross the border from russia into ukraine. the ukrainian government has expressed concern about presence or increase of presence of pro-russian activists trying to stir up pro-russian demonstrations in cities along the eastern part. that can be used as a pretext by the russian government to forcibly enter ukraine to protect their russian citizens or perhaps protect ethnic russians in ukraine. keep in mind russia has about 30,000 soldiers on the border. it would not take much for them to cross the border and take over cities where we are in a

matter of hours by some estimates. it would not give the ukrainian government or allies enough time to do anything to prevent it from happening. military forces continue to withdraw from crimea. in fact, the country's defense minister was sacked by the parliament. there are reports that he may have resigned in the wake of russia's rapid takeover of crimea and overtaking the military bases in that region. luke, back to you. thank you so much. and you're looking live at some pictures right now of the room where president obama and european leaders will hold a press conference any moment. we, of course, will bring that to you live here on msnbc. wonderful cast of characters to hear from. all of that coming up right after the break. okay, listen up! i'm re-workin' the menu. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure.

24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™. [ bottle ] ensure®. i jbut they blacked me out.ht these miles are useless! that's turrible. and all the other dates are triple the miles! triple the miles? that's as useless as chuck at a golf tournament. or you at the three point line. or you in a spelling bee. you gotta switch to the venture card from capital one. you can fly any airline. no blackouts. that's what i did. i don't say this often -- but listen to the ref. i can't believe i said that. don't get blacked out, get the capital one venture card. earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, every day. good on any airline or hotel. what's in your wallet?

we are expecting the president any minute now in brussels. he is having a press conference with european leaders. let's bring in andrea mitchell. and in new york bobby gauche. and chuck todd live with the president. chuck, let me go to you first. obviously this is a trade deal, supposed to be about a trade deal that president obama has wanted to complete with european leaders said to be worth billions for both sides. but ukraine was the focus of conversation. we spoke yesterday about the fact that european nations have said if russia were to go further into ukraine we could see sanctions regarding things like energy, arm sales and things that hit closer to home for european nations. do we still expect to hear that today? >> yes. let's keep in mind, there is a way that i wouldn't be surprised to hear the president really

interconnect the two things, having a more open trade relationship between the united states and the eu then decouples eu from reliance on the -- and its being intertwined with the russian economy and the need for russian energy and things like that. so i wouldn't be surprised to hear the president attempt to sort of connect the two just as europe which had been making its economic ties closer and closer to russia feels too tied to russia and tied their own hands making it much harder to punish the russians on the economic front. this is the president's way of saying have a more open economic relationship with the united states and perhaps united states can help fill in the gaps on the energy front in particular. i wouldn't be surprised to hear sort of a combination trying to get both agendas into the

forefront there. >> andrea mitchell, i will go to you, do you think our european allies are trusting in the united states' ability to try to help out with things like natural gas and help out with these products that they have been getting from russia for so long? >> it is a long-term play. take a look at the u.s. congress and the failure of the administration and congress to work out an agenda on trade. nothing has moved. not on the asia trade deal or european trade deal. the fact is they see stalemate in washington and i think they will put the bet on russia. >> stalemate from the president's party who have been very apprehensive. >> it is chiefly from the president's party and going into a mid term election there is no way to move the agenda. energy has political support in both parties. it's jobs, big business,

everything you want other than the people who object to some of the energy sector proposals because of climate change and because of environmental concerns. but broad based support for expanding the energy agenda in congress and in the white house, certainly. to get that moving given the grid lock in washington it is long term. short term they are looking towards russia. the pipeline comes through ukraine ironically unless russia does something unexpected and moves militarily and pushes every button so nato has to respond. >> bobby, i want to go to you in new york. some significant news such as g-8 became g-7. russia saying we don't need to be part of your stupid club anyway. it was always viewed as russia welcomed into industrialized western nations and now sort of being pushed out. do you think moving forward

europe and united states will be able to keep a united front keeping russia out of the prefry? >> as long as u.s. insists russia has to be outside the europeans will go along with that. it does effect russia's prestige and position in the world and gives putin one fewer international platform from which to wax eloquent. the europeans will be very cautious about what they hear from the president. andrea mitchell is exactly right. they are going to take all calculations into account. they are not going to be interested in drawing red lines if the president is not able to maintain his own. the stock of the united states becoming alternative producer or supplier in place of russia is just not going to happen. natural gas is not something you just pull out of the ground and transfer. you need special ports. those ports take years to build.

the first port we are building won't be ready for two years. even when it is ready it will take years before we can supply the amount of natural gas through the pipe lines. europe is not going to go through several harsh cold winters in order to satisfy the american president. there are lots of really practical problems at play here. this is a much more complex situation. this is not the cold war. this is far, far more difficult than the cold war. and the europeans, i have sympathy for them. they are caught between these two instincts. they support the democratic aspiration of the ukrainian people but the european leaders have to keep in mind the economic aspirations of their own people. that is very tightly tied to russia. >> that is a good point. it is not like a berlin air lift of energy that can happen right away. >> we are going to sneak in a quick back. 2010 as in the year duke won

ncaa national championship. footage of blue devils win was mistakenly placed in the campaign web ad. duke is in durham, north carolina carolina. the ad was taken down a second time after questions of whether the new version violated rules of usage of ncaa images. you never want to put anything related to christian laettner on tv in kentucky. the voting is open now for the first round of early-mid 20th century. tweet us your picks. we will unveil all the winners next week.

check it out. we'll be right back with that prauns. to vacation mode. ♪boots and pas and boots and pants♪ ♪and boots and pants and boots and pants♪ ♪and boots and pants... voice-enabled bill pay. just a tap away on the geico app. ♪ huh, 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. yup, everybody knows that. well, did you know that some owls aren't that wise. don't forget about i'm having brunch with meagan tomorrow. who? seriously, you met her like three times. who? geico. hey kevin...still eating chalk for hearburn? yea. try alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heart burn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. alka-seltzer fruit chews. enjoy the relief!

back now with more tvr. we are expecting the president any minute. we are expecting things to start very shortly. let's bring back chuck todd, andrea mitchell and ti"time" magazi magazine's bobby gauche. chuck, what do we expect to hear from the president regarding trade? there has been consternation from his own party. we know ukraine is a huge issue, but the trade itself. >> these remarks it will be interesting to see. i think he will intertwine it

with the current security crisis. the domestic politics. you have seen the white house is basically all but telegraphed they are not going to pursue either trade deals until after mid term elections and that it was essentially acknowledging the political reality that they don't want to deal with anything in an election year that will divide their own party. it will be hard enough for democrats to defend their situations. they don't want labor on the sidelines. they need every dollar and resource they can get from labor. i want to follow up on something that bobby said about the european economy and the pressure that various countries are feeling. look no further than what just happened in france over the weekend. hollande is not popular for a lot of reasons. one, you think the economy is sluggish in the united states,

ask france. his party took a beating. that also plays into why there is so much hesitance on the european nations to cut themselves off from russia. >> andrea, let's talk about that. it seems we have a lot of rhetoric here in the u.s. about being strong international allies and united with europe against the eemerging russian threat. however, when you get to the economics of it the recovery in the eu has been very slow. there is a worry that if we mess with the people who give us these trade deals that we trade a lot with and give us our gas we wake up a sleeping giant that we don't need to deal with in a time that we are under a great deal of stress. >> i want to make one small point. the president had one little dip lotmatic victory yesterday. he brought together leaders of korea and japan. he got them to have their first meeting. so that was the one good check

point thing. >> if those two allies of the u.s. remain in these types of skirmishes china can fill that. >> china has threatened with the air defense zone that it declared and north korea set off missile tests against yesterday. >> bobby -- >> andrea, in an odd way that north korean missile test helped the united states more in trying to re-establish relationships between south korea and japan. >> and we will go now to the press conference live. that is president obama with various european leaders talking about trade. we, of course, expect the situation in ukraine live thou. >> good afternoon. >> [ speaking foreign language ]. >> translator: the summit in

brussels. >> [ speaking foreign language ]. >> and before the president speaks because our vast array of audience doesn't understand french although everyone on this panel does. bobby, you brought up a point before when you said even if the u.s. tried to put forth energy resources that europe would no longer be dependent upon russia we are still years away. there is a deep-seeded fear that two years from now will the u.s. live up to the promise to become europe's new energy-dominant partner? >> that is not even counting for the uncertainty of whether he can come back to washington and persuade both parties in d.c. to deliver. what he can do in europe while he is there, the president can paint a picture of this trade

deal of a partnership that results in prosperity for both sides of the atlantic and the unsaid part of that could be directed at the russians and crimens. this is what you are missing out. if your leader insists in behaving in this way you are missing out on this great opportunity of hundreds of billions of dollars of economic wealth being created by this trade pact. >> bobby, interestingly enough do you think that message can get through to the russian people? there have been sizable protests within moscow against the russian government's involvement in the ukraine, sort of taking the western side. do you think that message will get through to people? >> the message will get through. right this moment putin is riding on a wave of nationalist fervor. his personal approval ratings have shot up to 80% which is the

highest in a long time. you point d this out previously. this year he can get away with the halo effect of retaking crimea. next year when the economy continues to struggle and the year after that the russian people will get tired of listening to patriotic and nationalistic messages. they will wonder how come the europeans are enjoying this economic prosperity? how come the americans are? why don't we get a piece of that action? >> is that sort of the under reported story here, the idea of economic security and russian people? the number that came out of gdp growth not going up because of what happened in crimea but going down. that is sort of the wildcard the u.s. has to play to the russian people. >> putin has been appealing to the nationalism of the russian people and trying to perhaps

distract their attention from the economic problems. it is the typical political bait and switch where you promise one thing and give another. the economy is not in good shape. when the president spoke of them as a regional power some argue they didn't qualify as one of the world's great eight economic economies. >> it is fascinating to bring in a regional power. totally intentional andt that does not play well in a country with a lot of pride. >> what is obviously working for putin in terms of his own poll numbers is appealing to this basic nationalism of the russia expanding to what was historically part of it. >> wrestling the live grisly bears. we are going to take a quick break before president obama speaks. hopefully that will come up quite soon. don't go anywhere. president obama next on msnbc.

? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. when folks in the lower 48 think athey think salmon and energy.a, but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. thousands of people here in alaska are working to safely produce more energy. but that's just the start. to produce more from existing wells, we need advanced technology. that means hi-tech jobs in california and colorado. the oil moves through one of the world's largest pipelines. maintaining it means manufacturing jobs in the midwest. then we transport it with 4 state-of-the-art, double-hull tankers.

some of the safest, most advanced ships in the world: built in san diego with a $1 billion investment. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. and no energy company invests more in the u.s. than bp. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america.

back now with more tdr. press conference is underway in brussels. we are expecting the president any minute now. the european leaders are speaking. let's bring back chuck -- on a sort of dismissing russia as a regional power, almost saying that they were not worthy of all this attention, if you will. how deliberate was that on the part of the white house, and how thought out was that on the part of the white house? >> well, actually, if you've heard john kerry's comments, he's been making that point for some time as secretary of state. it hasn't risen to the presidential level, but kerry has been making that point that, hey, this is a moment of weakness. that they are fearing not even having regional influence in the whole decision to deal and to do what he did in crimea, so that,

i think, does bring that up. it is -- you do feel as if there is nothing that a president says that feels like it was off the cuff, and so that reminder, they know that that really stings putin. putin wants to be a player on the world stage, so trying to symbolically needle him when you're struggling to actually punish him with real sanctions and things like that, sometimes that's the best weapon you got right now, and for the president, that's the best he's got. >> and we're looking at portugal's leader right there. i want to go to bobby. bobby, on that point chuck just made in terms of president obama poking putin by dismissing him as a regional power, is that a smart play by the u.s.? >> no, i don't think so. i understand where it comes from, the frustration and desire to jab at the russians, but this is a guy who's capable of doing quite a lot of damage. the united states is in a little bit of a pickle with him.

he can do damage to american or international interests in syria, he can do damage in iran, and not to mention there's plenty more damage he can do in ukraine and in that neighborhood. jabbing at him with sort of verbal, you know, sticks and stones, it's the old sticks and stones thing, it's not going to hurt putin, but it's going to make the president seem a little lame if putin then sort of follows up with some more actual military action and the best the united states can do is to throw verbal stones at him. that doesn't seem to me to be a particularly constructive way to go about this. >> and let's go now live to president obama at that press conference in brussels. >> here today. over the years we've met in prague, we've met in london, or in lisbon, we've met at the white house, we've met in northern ireland, this week in the hague, so it's good to finally meet the presidents of the european union at the european union. as i've said before, europe is

america's closest partner. europe, including the european union, is the cornerstone of our engagement around the globe. we are more secure, and we are more prosperous. the world is safer and more just when europe and america stand as one. and later today, i look forward to speaking to the young people from across europe about how we can sustain the values and ideals that are at the heart of our partnership. as just mentioned, our work today touched on a full range of issues where we work together. we agreed to step up our efforts to boost growth and job creation on both sides of the atlantic, and that includes working to include a transatlantic trade partnership. let me add, once we have a trade agreement in place, export licenses for projects for

liquefied natural gas destined to europe would be much easier. something that's, obviously, relevant in today's geo political climate. we reviewed our negotiations with iran, which gave us the opportunity to peacefully resolve the concerns with the iranian nuclear program. we pledged to sustain our support for the effort to eliminate syria's chemical weapons, even as we work to deliver humanitarian relief to the syrian people, and we discussed a number of global challenges, including the desire to step up our cooperation with the asia pacific region and our commitment to a new global agreement to combat climate change. obviously, much of our focus today was on the situation in ukraine. russia's actions in ukraine aren't just about one country. they are about the kind of europe and the kind of world that we live in. the european project was born from the ashes of two world wars, and the united states has

long supported european integration as a force for peace and for prosperity. and europe's progress rests on basic principles, including respect for international law, as well as the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations. that's what russia violated when its military action against ukraine. the united states and europe stand united on this issue. we're united in our support for ukraine and for the need to provide economic assistance to help stabilize its economy. we're united in our commitment to europe's security. we're united in our determination to isolate russia and impose costs for russia's actions. every step of the way, i've coordinated closely with our allies and partners in europe, and i want to thank the presidents for the leadership they've shown during this time. i want to commend the e.u. for the important steps taken

already to make sure russia feels the costs of its behavior in ukraine, by implementing visa bans and freezing assets and designating individuals for sanctions. the consequences for the russian economy will continue to grow. of course, all this comes atop the measures and sanctions that the united states and others around the world are imposing on russia and taken together, they are the most significant sanctions russia's faced since the end of the cold war. moreover, russia stands alone, when defending actions at the u.n. security council. the 28 members of the european union are united, the members of nato are united. every member has imposed sanctions on russia, as we announced monday, and the g7 will meet here in brussels in june without russia.

so if anyone in russian leadership thought the world wouldn't care about their actions in ukraine, or they could drive a wedge between the european union and the united states, they clearly miscalculated. as i've said repeatedly and was mentioned by both presidents van rompoy, there is a way for russia to work with ukraine and the international community to escalate the situation through diplomacy. that's the only way the issue will be resolved. if russia continues on its current course, however, the isolation will deepen, sanctions will increase, and there will be growing consequences for the russian economy, and this reflects the enduring commitment that's brought europe and the united states together for decades, a europe that is whole and free and at peace. in closing, i want to say as you prepare to conclude your tenures later this year, thank you for

all the outstanding work that you've been able to do together. we have gone through some very rocky waters. we've persevered through very difficult economic times, but throughout this process, we've been able to deepen the ties between the european union and the united states, i'm personally grateful for your leadership, as well as your friendship, and most importantly, for the purposes of the countries we represent here today, your dedication to the transatlantic relationship, so thank you very much. >> thank you for your statement, president obama. >> and there you just heard from president obama, kicking off the press conference over there in brussels. and i want to go to nbc's andrea mitchell, who joins me on set. interesting point before we

heard from the president there talking about economic priorities, but that was that poking putin in regards to what happened in the ukraine by sort of dismissing him as a regional power, he still does have a lot of power with countries like syria, countries like iran. that could come back to haunt the u.s. >> the iran negotiations particularly, because that is something the administration hopes will be the real legacy of their foreign policy. syria, arguably, russia has not been cooperating, they've been rearming, but yes, we need russia in a lot of other ways and right now there's a capsule with an american astronaut and two cosmonauts trying to hook up with the space station. they missed the first pass, they are trying to link up with the space station. we rely on russia to get us to and from space. we don't have a space shuttle anymore. >> it's still very much a big-time partnership. in regards what we're going to hear today from -- are we going back to the president here?

>> i think on both sides of the atlantic there's recognition on the initial incursion into crimea, we had to take some very specific steps, and we did, identifying individuals that were in part responsible for those actions. when the russian government made the decision to annex crimea, after a referendum nobody outside of russia could take seriously, we then heightened those sanctions, again in coordination. what we're now doing is coordinating around the potential for additional deeper sanctions, should russia move forward and engage in further incursions into ukraine.