that's our broadcast on a tuesday evening. thank you very much for being with us, good night from

. good morning. we begin with breaking news out of austin, texas, where police say that the suspect believed to be responsible for the string of bombings in austin over the past several weeks has been neutralized following a confrontation and shooting with police. reports indicate that the suspect was in a vehicle when it occurred and that police are checki checking the vehicle to see if it has been booby-trapped. austin police are expected to hold a press conference. we will bring that to you as soon as we can. it follows a string of bombings which began march 2 in which officials say was the work of a serial bomber that left two people dead, several more woun >> he has been shot, wounded or

killed. it doesn't mean that he has controlled himself. if he engaged with austin s.w.a.t., he lost. we'll have to see what the news commanders say this morning. they have a big break when the package detonated in the sorting facility and it gave the agents and detectives a chance to go on offense. they had been playing defense the last two weeks. so that was a big shift when you have a package debt natu-- >> let me ask, j wouwhy would t package being recovered or before it was detonated at the fedex facility, what could it have led them to know that they may not have known in the previous explosions that were successful and that they were able to be charged and ultimately killing people? >> well, because the method of delivery that he used earlier on the three left parcels on the front porch and the greenway bomb via trip wire were all in areas that have low commercial activity, not a lot of cameras,

not a lot of witnesses. when he -- he was responding all along when the commanders were on defense, remember they were telling the public don't pick up a package, leave it. so the bomb boer saw his method being defeated, he progressed, he changed and he went to the trip wire device which would not require the victim to pick up the bomb, just to hit the invisible fishing line. but see, you have to remember, we all look at this from our standpoint, but the sxhanders ha commanders have to look at it from the bomber's standpoint. if we do that with our viewers, we have the smartest viewers i think anywhere, they know this stuff, we just have to talk about it out loud and they realize it. but when he changed his method to the trip wire, he had to change a lot of things he was

doing and he was trying to kill -- it did not work because with the trip wire, the device is farther away from the victim than when the partial is held next to your chest and opened. that is why he was getting the homicides early. but now when he has to put it away with the trip wire to hide it in a bush, he only wounds the two young men on the greenway. so he realizes that and so he changes yet again. >> does the fact that early on he had the detonations that were lethal and that they killed the individuals, i believe the first person that was killed was a 39-year-old man outside of his house and then a 17-year-old who picked up the package, brought it in his house and ultimately killed him and injured his mother, i think you and i were talking about this earlier over the past couple days, does the fact that he changed his tactics and accelerated from one

explosion, you know, a few days apart to then suddenly almost two in a single day indicate anything for police about his methodology and his state of mind? >> well, he was at his zenith i'd say after the second bomb that related in the homicide with the 17-year-old young man who was the musician. we've all seen his photograph. i think that was the see nzenit the bomber. but the next one where the 75-year-old woman was not killed, in the bomber's method, goal, which the goal is murder, that is a failure. he was not able to kill that victim. and the police are now pointing out don't pick up the package. he goes to the trip wire. another failure. he doesn't kill those two young men. so he changes yet again. he realizes i have to go black

to t back to the package but i can't leave it on the morning because the commanders are telling the public not to pick it up. so he changes yet again and goes to fedex. now, that then puts him in the view of cameras, puts him in the view of witnesses, puts him requiring to fill out a fed fex form in some manner, on line, by mand. a hand. and two park secels were sent. one was a device that detonated on a conveyor in schertz. the other device is sort of unclear. they said it is, it isn't a bomb. >> incendiary device is what i heard it referred to. >> but this second bomb -- or i'm sorry, not bomb, but second package in the fedex facility, fedex has confirmed that the person sent two parcels.

so what we may have, we don't know for sure yet, but we may have the bomber went to the fedex dropoff with two packages. one, may not have been a bomb. one may have been a bomb. and that may have been his cover. oh, well, were you at the fedex facility? were you on camera, did you -- oh, i was sending something to johnny and it was an in-nnocuou piece of mail. but, you know, of course he's captured on fedex, he's captured that those two packages were sent together. so we're not dwight sure about the second package because it was unclear that -- >> we'll certainly be hearing more from officials as to what led them to this individual. we are expecting them to hold a news conference anymore. we'll try to bring that to you live, at least bring you all the information that comes out of it. jim cavanaugh, let me ask you really quickly, based on what we've seen over the

days, this will be a huge relief for the community. is there concern that this individual may not have been acting alone? are police this morning if in fact this individual was responsible breathing a sigh of relief at all, or still on a possible manhunt for accomplices or individuals that may have known about the bombings? >> all the officers will work that way. they will work that is he not alone, is but there is only a slight chance of that. most of these are individual attackers, male caucasians generally. we've seen cases, you know, the d.c. sniper, columbine high school, sometimes you have two attackers that go on a murder rampage. but more often than not it is one. and the reason is it is hard to get somebody into your grudge to kill people. usually that tends to be more of a terrorist -- you know, you can get like the boston marathon

bombing, these are terrorists work for a terrorist purpose, international cult ideology, a death cult. so you can get more people involved in that, but hard to do if it is just your personal grudge. and what happened, when they got that -- it was a real break to have that fedex sorting facility bomb detonate or partially detonate and they would get the fedex. once they would get a name, a video surveillance, they would really go heavy on that, heavy on surveillance. if this happened as you described in the first report, he might have moved and, you know, s.w.a.t. was on him when he moved and then they had a confrontation. >> and again we'll be learning lore certainly more certainly with that news conference. i'll ask you to stick around for us. obviously there is a breaking news story, so we'll need to touch base with you in a bit. we want to switch gears now to

politics where president trump is facing criticism for congratulating vladimir putin on an election in a much that much world sees as a sham. president trump on spoke with russia's leader two days after putin was reelected to a fourth term as president and amid rapidly escalating tensions with the west. watch. >> i had a call with president putin and congratulated him on the victory. the call had to do also with the fact that we will probably get together in the not too distant future so that we can discuss arms, we can discuss the arms race. as you know he made a statement that being in an arms race is not a great thing and that was right after the election, one of the first statements he made. we had a very good call and i suspect that we'll probably be meeting in the not too distant future to discuss the arms race which is getting out of control,

but we wiwill never allow anybo to have anything even close to what we have. and also to discuss ukraine and syria and north korea and various other things. so i think probably we'll be seeing president putin in the not too distant future. >> so the call came despite specific and stern warnings not to do so from top members of trump's national security team. officials familiar with the call tell the "washington post" that included in the briefing materials was in all capitals, quote, do not congratulate. also reportedly included talking points for how the president should condemn the poisoning in the united kingdom which trump also decided not to do about that russian election interference was also not discussed. but the white house says the call was, quote, very good. >> look, we're going to continue

to maintain the position that we've had and be tough when necessary. at the same time, we want to continue to have dialogue so that we can work on some of the issues that concern both countries. >> does the white house believer that the election in russia was free and fair? >> look, in terms of the election, we're focused on our elections. we don't get to dictate how other countries operate. what we do know is that putin has been laeblgaeeen elected in country and that is not something we ccan dictate how they plate. we can only focus on our elections. >> why doesn't the president believe that is something that should be discussed? >> i didn't say we couldn't. i said it didn't come up. >> so the press seblgts wcretar asked if he made similar calls to other world leaders.

watch. >> can did the president make a similar call to chancellor angela merkel who has just formed a new government and assumed her fourth mandate in berlin? >> i know he spoke with the chancellor i believe it was last week. i'd have to look back at the specific details of their conversation. but i know that they spoke within the last week. >> joining us now, sarah westwood. great to have you with us. let's begin with the president's call to vladimir putin. what is your reaction, what kind of reaction are you picking up from others in washington, d.c. to the white house's defense of why the president did not bring up russia's role in the poisoning of the ex-spy or interference in the election but did decide to congratulate the president when many people it was in fact a sham election? >> i think the congratulatory aspect of the call is not what has been controversial. remember in 2012, former

president barack obama called vladimir putin to congratulate him on that election. it is not something that is necessarily out of the ordinary for an american president do. what i think has been controversial and rubbed a lot of folks even republicans the wrong way is trump's refusal to bring up like you mentioned the poisoning of sergei skripal the ex-russian spy in the uk. that is something that the white house has used strong language to condemn supposedly promising to have britain's back when it comes to responding to that incident and yet president trump didn't bring it up in the first conversation he's had with putin since the attack took place. so i think there are a lot of questions as to why he couldn't find the time and what was probably a lengthy phone call to fit that in. >> yeah, certainly i mean the controversy of the call is the context of how it actually went down. so when you have national security vadvisors telling him don't con fwrat lagratulate him do the opposite, but you you're probably right. let's talk about the republican

leadership because they are continuing to state there is no need for legislation to protect robert mueller from being fired. they are also warning the president not to do it. talk about the careful path republicans are trying to walk between drawing a read line aa not instigating him into doing something against robert mueller? >> i think that you still do have a share of conservatives who probably at least privately agree with president trump's characterization of the investigation into collusion at least as something of a witch hunt, something politically motivated. and so it is not even clear that republicans would have the votes just amongst themselves to pass something like that, they would need democrats. president trump would probably keep tabs of everyone who voted for such a measure. and republicans and democrats have struggled to pass any other kind of legislation this year, whether that is immigration, right now they are struggling to get it together on a budget, even though we're facing a shutdown deadline on friday,

that to divert attention from those things to pass a largely symbolic piece of legislation dealing with mueller i think would be something leadership would never be interested in. >> all right. sarah westwood, we'll see you again in about 30 minutes. still ahead, more on the breaking news there austin, texas. police confirm the alleged serial bomber has been neutralized. officials will hold a news conference shortly. we'll have the latest on that. plus the big weather we're following, bill karins is tracking the fourth nor'easter this month alone. we'll lay out the time line over the next 24 hours.

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welcome back. a quick update on the breaking news out of austin, texas. sources tell nbc news that the suspect believed to be mind a wave of bombings in that city has in fact been killed. this again according to sources

speaking to nbc news saying a short while ago that the suspect believed to be behind the wave of bombings in austin that left two dead, several injured, has now been killed. we'll have more on this story throughout the course of the morning. certainly as the news develops and the press conference is held there by official, we'll bring that to you live and bring you as much information as we can as it develops. as we continue to follow that breaking news in austin, there is also a lot going on here in the northeast with the weather. let's go over to bill karins. what have you got for us? our fourth nor'easter of the season. >> yeah, one coast to the other, the story in california is going to be a huge or deal later tonight and tomorrow also. but let's start with the nor'easter. schools are canceled for a huge swathe of the mid-atlantic and northeast. a lot of people wondering can they get to work safely. a lot of planning to be made. storm overachieved last night areas of indiana, ohio, kentucky. and it is still snowing pretty

good here too. so shoveling needs to be done. pittsburgh 1 to 2 inches on the ground. also lighter snow happened overnight northern virginia and eastern pennsylvania. not much yet on i-95. temperatures are still a little too warm. and we have to wait until later this morning into early this afternoon for the heavier stuff. so 74 million people either a winter weather advisory or warning. warnings around cincinnati last night along the ohio river. so additional snowfall forecast, not much in the ohio valley. only another 1 to 2 inches. d.c. areas to boston is where the snow will fall the heaviest during the day today. i have d.c. right around 3 to 6 inches. we have lowered your total just a little bit. baltimore still 4 to 8. philly 8 to 12. new york city, the 6 to 10 inch range. hartford, 4 to 8. boston 3 to 6, but new indications are we may have to raise that number a little bit. independent withes do

winds don't look too bad. coastal flooding, jersey shore and delaware will be the worst of it. a lot of people will be able to get to their destinations fine, but the evening commute home will be the worst of it. >> and let's just key cap treca news, again, this is according to sources from the austin police department telling nbc that they believe the suspect behind the wave of bombings that ripped through city over the past couple of weeks is in fact dead. we will have more information as it becomes available from the austin police department and we are expecting a news conference to be held. the only information we have from them earlier this evening was in fact an officer-involved shooting according to the austin police department, sources are telling nbc news they believe the suspect is dead. we'll be back in a moment. a family of seven technology leaders working behind the scenes to make the impossible...

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three women ramping up the legal pressure on donald trump. the former porn star, former playmate and apprentice oig c contestant. let's start with the former playboy. she sued the "national enquirer" for the right to share her story about an alleged afsh with donald trump. there is also the lawsuit brought by the former apprentice contestant. a judge rule that had it could move forward. she claims trump defamed her when he ridiculed the allegations she made against

him. and then the latest from stormy daniels and a lie detector test, this photo from a video of a may 2011 polygraph exam that indicates stephanie clifford was truthful when she said she had an affair with donald trump back in 2006. did you have have a guy natural intercourse with donald trump? did you have unprotected sex with donald trump? did trump say he would get you on the apprentice. she said yes to all three. the results found that she answered the first, second questions truthfully. the second by a 99% probability. no determination on her answer though to the third question. it was deemed inconclusive. stephanie clifford took the lie detector test as part of an agreement to seller story to life and style magazine. the story never ran. and people familiar with the matter tell the "wall street journal" that the former porn star was never paid. michael avenatti explains why he

paid $25,000 to buy the video from the poll graph exy paid $25,000 to buy the video from the poll graph exgraph exa. >> we caught wind of the fact that there were a number of third parties attempting to purchase the video and the file for use in what i will describe as nefarious activities. >> on top of all of this, stormy now tweeting about trump yesterday responding to a ran tom tweet she replied technically i didn't sleep with the potus 12 years ago. there was no sleeping. but people do care that he laid about it. had me bulliebullied, broke law cover it up and i'm not going anywhere. donald trump has repeatedly denied any and all of the allegations against him. and we want to now go back to the breaking news that we have from austin, texas. as we've been reporting, augu a police department telling us

that the suspect behind the wave of bombings is dead. we'll have more information as it becomes available. and we'll also check in with jim cavanau cavanaugh, our expert. for 100 years, heritage and innovation have made gillette the #1 shave in america. now get gillette quality at lower prices - every day. brought to you by more than a thousand workers in boston. we're proud of giving you our best. gillette - the best a man can get.

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still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. welcome back, everyone. it is the bolt ttom of the hourd we begin in austin, texas where police say that the suspect believed to be responsible for the string of deadly bombings in austin is dead following a confrontation and shooting with police. reports indicate the suspect was in a vehicle when it occurred and police are checking to see if the vehicle has in fact been

booby-trapped. at any moment austin police are expected to hold a press conference to address the officer-involved shooting. we'll bring you that as soon as we can. it follows a string of bombings which began back on march 2 in which officials say was the work of a serial bomber that left two people dead, several more wounded and a community on i think. joining us once again, retired atf special agent in charge, jim cavanau cavanaugh. jim, developments this morning very somewhat unexpected given the fact that police have not been public about identifying a suspect over the past several days. but certainly they had some clues or some intel that they were working off of. what do you gather happened given where it happened, the fact that he was in a vehicle and the fact that this was an officer-involved shooting? >> well, it all happened real fast after the bomb went off at the sorting facility because it allowed the commanders to go on offense to exploit those leads, video cameras, you know, labels,

names of a suspect. and then normally what we would do is put a real heavy surveillance on the person, electronic and physical. and you know, when you're dealing with a bomber are or active killer like that, when they move, you have to move with them. are they going to be deploying a device. in cases like this, we sometimes have multiple suspects under 24 hour surveillance. it is greatly manpower intensive to do this. i'm not sure people understand how difficult that can be. but it really is difficult. it takes a lot of people. >> jim rkt i'm sor, i'm sorry t. but we want to go down to austin and gabe gut retierezguttierez. gain gabe what are you hearing? >> reporter: we just arrived on the scene. a massive investigation. the suspect believed to be dead following a confrontation with police.

reports indicate that he was in a vehicle when he was apprehended and when the confrontation occurred. still waiting for more details. there is a news briefing we're expecting at any moment, but again this apparently brings to a conclusion as you have been reporting after five explosions in the last several weeks and thing a sixth package that had been intercepted previous to this, previous to tonight. and last night, there was all this confusion of what turned out to be a false alarm at this good glt will story, people here on edge wondering when this bomber might strike next. and just a short time ago, we received word that in fact the suspect is believed to be dead after a confrontation with police. so we're waiting on more information on how this happened. we do know that yesterday following the suspect dropping off two packages at this fedex

facility in austin, investigators were pouring over surveillance video, trying to nail down who their specific was. and what we understand that was a key break in the case in that they were finally able to track this suspect to get surveillance video from this fedex facility. and all the day yesterday, authorities were very tight lipped about where their investigation was going. you notice in the last several weeks after there was an incident, the austin police chief would come out and give a whole lot of information just trying to get as much information from the public as they can. it appeared yesterday that investigators finally had something to go on when it comes to surveillance video, when it comes to tracking down perhaps cellphone towers. and they really had a lot to do yesterday afternoon into the night. and apparently now in the overnight hours we're learning that believed to be dead. we're waiting on information

more, but as you can see behind me, a very active scene here on i-35 just north of austin. . >> and i don't know if you can tell us from the direction of the traffic, but was the vehicle moving away from austin or towards austin? i know you said you were north of austin. is it possible that the suspect was trying to leave austin? >> reporter: we don't know that for sure, but this is i-35 and the traffic you see moving northbound. the lane that is closed down is southbound that is actually towards austin. we're in a northern suburb of austin right now which is round rock texas, but certainly we don't know -- we have no indication that the suspect lives nearby here, whether he was traveling here or exactly how police managed to track him down. again, i think a key part of this investigation might end up being any surveillance video that they were able to get from that fedex facility in austin. we know there was a lot of federal investigators from the

fbi looking at that store, that fedex office for fin efingerpri and we can see that there were plenty of surveillance cameras around there so they were able to know when the suspect may have dropped off that package, those two packages rather, one that went to the facility just north of san antonio -- near san antonio that ended up exploding, and then the other package that was located and intercepted before it detonated at that fedex facility near the austin airport. certainly that could be key to the investigation. again, we're awaiting more de details from authorities. >> all right. we'll check back in with you in a few minutes. let's bring jim cavanaugh back into this conversation. we have obviously some information there there gabe guttierez about the fact that it happened in a car, it was southbound heading into austin from round rock, texas just north of that city in the suburbs there.

let me ask you one concern that i have, or at least one question that jumps out to me, and that is it possible that although he has been neutralized or now killed, or believed to be dead, is it responsible that he may have also sent some packages in the system that authorities still need to be concerned about? >> i think we have to be alert the next couple days and the carriers fed ex-u.p.s., all the major carriers, postal service have to be aware of that, everybody still has to be on their game, because that is a good point, he could have dropped something. but once they got his identity, he would have been on a real intensive visual surveillance, active human surveillance plus electronic surveillance. likely he started moving toward austin. this is north of austin in round rock on i-35. i used to be the assistant special agent in charge in the dallas division. i know that state. and he might have been moving back. if you have an active bomber moving back toward the city, you're going to have to do

something to stop him. so we know he's dead. we don't know in s.w.a.t. killed him, if he blew himself up. it could very well be that there is a post-blast investigation that must be worked right there on i-35. also wherever his residence is, his car if it is still intact, it will have to be swept for booby traps and wherever he was living will have to be swept for booby traps. if he was planning, you know, that the police would find him. he might have thought he'd never be found, but if he was traveling back to austin, the surveillance team, commanders would have to say we got to try to make stop on him. >> and it seems the big break possibly came with that visit to the fedex facility to drop off those two packages. stick around, we'll touch base with you in a bit. still made, the latest developing from austin as we continue to follow this morning's developments that the suspected serial bomber is dead following a confrontation with

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save 250 dollars when you test drive and buy a john deere residential z540r ztrak mower. the company at the center of the controversy over harvesting data from million of facebook users has taken action amid a series of new undercover recordings involving the company's ceo. cambridge analytica which is best known for its work on president's 2016 campaign has announced that ceo alexander nix has been suspended. the company cited nix's comments in a series of investigative reports by nbc new's uk partner. the company also said it had launched an independent investigation into nix. meanwhile channel 4 has released a new batch of clips from its hidden camera interviews in which he brags about the scale of cambridge analytica's work for the trump campaign. take a listen. >> have you met mr. trump? >> many times.

>> you have? >> all the data, all the analytics, all the top. >> now, in the wake of the latest channel 4 recordings, cambridge analytica has released a statement that reads in part cambridge analytica has never claimed it won the election for president trump. this is patently absurd. we are proud of the work we did on that campaign and have spoken in many public forums about what we consider to be our contribution to the campaign. as one of the companies that played a prominent role not 16 election campaign, cambridge analytica is committed to supporting and assisting the house intelligence committee investigation into russian interference in the election in any way that we can. back with us once again, sarah westwood. good to have you back with us. let's talk about congress' response to all of this news coming out involving cambridge analytica's misuse of facebook data. beyond the expected briefings

with facebook official, do you believe that we'll see more action from lawmakers to try to possibly regulate this entire industry involving facebook, social media, news, and the involvement of groups like cambridge analytica in the political process? >> you are seeing a growing bipartisan group of lawmakers turn their attention not just to cambridge analytica, which didn't really do much in a previous campaigns or companies have dub, but to the social media companies that make so much data about so many people available to these companies and don't necessarily disclose to people who use those platforms just how much of their personal information is being shared with these companies. and so i think that is where you are seeing a lot of the scrutiny being applied is notness necess just cambridge analytica, but i think cambridge analytica has misrepresented itself to facebook, but to the companies that are defending these

practices now exposed to be part of potentially how russia was able to manipulate opinion in 2016. >> at the risk of sounding like a broken record, i want to turn to the spending bill congress is now racing to finalize to possibly avoid yet another shutdown which is looming. what are the key sticking points and what are the chances that we'd see another short term bill to buy lawmakers more time to avoid a shutdown? >> the chances of a short term spending bill are going up every hour that we get closer to friday without an omnibus bill being put forward. we know that republicans and democrats are going back and forth over whether to include some sort of deal that extends protections for dreamers, whether president trump will get any money for his border wall in this bill, and massive infrastructure project in new york, unit he wills under the hudson river that would connect new york and new jersey that has become a major sticking point because it is the only issue trump has threatened to veto if funds for the project isn't

included. but lawmakers from new york and new jersey are fighting very hard to include that provision. so interesting to see if the white house wins that contest. >> as a resident new yorker, i would also support that measure with the traffic going in and out on from new jersey and new york. sarah westwood live for us in washington, d.c. this morning, than you you very much. still ahead, we'll have the very latest from austin as we continue to follow this morning's developments that the suspected serial bomber is dead following a confrontation with police. plus the other major story that we're following for you, a master nor'easter barrels down on the region here in the northeast. bill karins is tracking the very latest on the heavy snow, the winds and possibly the coastal flooding we're expecting. stay with us.

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weather now with bill karins. no snow on the ground here in new york, but i know it's coming. >> a lot of patience with this storm. it will be in the afternoon and early evening. i know there's snow on the ground in ohio valley. 74 million people impacted by the latest noreaster. so here we are at 7:00 a.m. still showing the light snow in ohio. we'll start getting the steadier snows as we go through the early afternoon. so here's at noon and we start to see the white showing up inside the blue. so starting at noon today that's in the d.c. area to baltimore, to philly. that's when you'll get your accumulations on the roads and new york city sometime in the

early afternoon is when we'll see the snow on the ground. by 5:00 p.m. a heavier snow ban. new york city getting to the city today, getting out for the evening commute is going to be the big issue and southern new england it looks like this is after sunset type event. it will accumulate more on the roads and boston still waking up to snow tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. so as far as the totals go we are going to be watching the highest totals in areas that will be between philadelphia and new york city. this little pocket right in here, possibly long island too and kocoastal connecticut could get nailed. southern connecticut right around 9 inches. i increased boston to 4 to 8. and providence could go up higher than that. impacting noreaster with snow because it's middle of the week

but winds shouldn't cause any damage and minor to moderate coastal flooding, not as bad as the second noreaster. >> bill, you mentioned all that, you didn't mention it was the first day of spring. >> no need to because it doesn't feel like it. >> so depressing. coming up, jonathan swan has a look at this morning's one big thing and a lot more on the breaking news out of austin, texas. the suspected serial bomber is dead after a confrontation with police there. we're awaiting a news conference. also the latest on the president's call congratulating vladimir putin on his win, despite not to do so from his team. morning joe is just moments away.

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what is the one big thing for this morning? >> well, president trump and some of his senior aides are stunned and in some cases generally rattled by that washington post story yesterday which was an incredible leak from what is really a small group of officials who see trump's briefing materials. his national security advisors told him not to congratulate vladimir putin on his electoral success. they also advised him to raise the issue of the nerve agent attack and russia's nefarious activity. he did none of that. he congratulated putin. there's a tense atmosphere, hostility among aides and this has just inflamed that situation inside the west wing. >> what has been the reaction to the leak in the west wing given what you just outlined? >> some of it is unprintable

because so many expletives were involved but there will be -- this is really one of the most shocking -- from their perspectives one of the most shocking leaks that's occurred for a long time certainly under the kelly era. this reminds me of some of the earlier leaks that came out from foreign leader phone calls. we've had bit of a hiatus of that and this just inflames all of that internally. it also reveals the level of which aides are concerned about the president because this is -- to leak something like this you are risking your job and it shows that there are at least some national security aides that believe what the president is doing in his personal relationship with putin is so bad in their minds that it's worth coming out and risking their jobs by doing this. >> yeah, especially when you're only one of a handful of people that may have been privy to that information. let me ask you this quickly though. could the way that trump so

nonchalantly disclosed his meeting with putin backfire on him? >> i think it is already backfiring on him that you do see extraordinary leaks like this happening. i'm told by senior aides that president trump, the one line he won't cross is his personal rapport with putin. even as the russians use nerve agents to terrorize a city in britain, even as they hack the elections and they penetrate the u.s. energy grid, president trump will allow sanctions to be approved in some cases he's even allowed lethal weapons to go to ukraine, but the one thing he will not do is confront vladimir putin directly because he still believes that there is this line to some, you know, better personal relationship that could improve the overall relationships to u.s. and russia. obviously a lot of his aides disagree with him on that. >> yeah, fascinating insight

into the west wing this morning. appreciate you getting that out to all of our readers in the newsletter, in their inboxes this morning. >> and we want to update you quickly before we let you go. the austin police department briefing reporters in austin, texas, on developments this morning that the serial bomber -- the suspected serial bomber behind a wave of deadly bombings in austin, texas, is dead this morning. that does it for us this morning. "morning joe" starts right now. >> i had a call with president putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory. the call had to do also with the fact that we will probably get together in the not too distant future so that we can discuss

arms, we can discuss the arms race. as you know he made a statement that being in an arms race is not a great thing and that was right after the election, one of the first statements he made. we had a very good call and i suspect that we'll probably be meeting in the not too distant future to discuss the arms race which is getting out of control, but we will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have and also to discuss ukraine and syria and north korea and various other things, so i think probably we'll be seeing president putin in the not too distant future. >> president trump facing bipartisan criticism for congratulating vladimir putin on an election that much of the world sees as a sham. perhaps he missed the specific and stern warnings from top members of trump's national security team not to do so. officials familiar with the call tell the washington post that included in the