he was sentenced to life without parole plus five years. that's all for this edition of "dateline extra," i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. it was a whirlwind romance. >> he professed his love in a poem. >> the wonderful life, the mansion in chicago, the yacht in the mediterranean and vacations anywhere they wanted to go. >> you look beautiful, michelle. really, really beautiful. >> a successful surgeon. his practice pulled in a staggering $1 million a month. >> he would go on spending sprees. he had three drivers on call. >> but then on one of those exotic trips together, the doctor disappeared. >> was there a note of any kind? >> nothing. >> leaving behind his wife, his yacht, and some very angry

people. >> he is a very evil person. >> what had he done? >> that was the worst night of my life. >> and what could his wife do now? >> i think he bought about maybe $500,000 worth of diamonds before he left. >> where did the diamonds go? >> with him i suppose. >> and who was this wealthy man of mystery, now living in the italian alps? >> i don't think they have any idea what's going to happen. >> "the great escape." captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. welcome to "dateline." i'm ann curry. tonight's story started with something that wasn't a crime but helped launch an investigation that made headlines across the country. while on a cruise, a wealthy doctor disappeared. while his wife searched for him, she found out the man she married was a man she never knew. here's rob stafford. >> it had all the makings of a perfect fantasy, the perfect husband away with his perfect wife for her 30th birthday in the picture-perfect greek islands. the weather was perfect, the accommodations aboard their private fully-staffed 80-foot yacht perfect. it was late september 2004, and with her mother and a few close girlfriends along to help the couple celebrate, michelle weinberger had every reason to believe she was living a

perfectly charmed life with the man of her dreams. then, as if suddenly doused with cold water, her dream ended. >> when i woke up in the morning at 7:00 a.m. with a horrible feeling in my stomach, he wasn't there next to me. and i put my hand on his side of the bed and i remember feeling it empty. >> michelle says she darted from the bed and ran around the boat calling for her husband mark. no answer. >> the captain told me that he went jogging. so i started jogging all up and down the beach looking for him. and i just had this horrible feeling, which continued for the rest of that day. >> there was plenty of time to think in those anxious hours. was he dead? injured? kidnapped? was their gilded lifestyle about to end in tragedy? >> i really believe that he was my soul mate and he believed that, too. and he was just the kindest, most gentle man i had ever met. >> really a prince charming. >> absolutely. >> the night before he vanished, mark had seemed so happy, posing

for a dinner time picture with michelle and a friend. now he was gone. by midafternoon michelle was a frantic ball of nerves, clearly mark was not out jogging, as the yacht's captain had told her earlier that morning. so she demanded answers. >> the captain finally said, well, i'm just going to tell you where he is now because you're on the brink of having a nervous breakdown. soy want you to know that he bought some kind of a present in town and he took a jet to paris to finish the present and he's going to come back by the end of the day, before the sun goes down. >> that story didn't surprise michelle. for the past few days, mark had been acting like a man who was planning something big. >> he was always running and doing something and i was kind of, like, this is our vacation. this is our time to spend

together. i would rather not have some big fabulous present and just have you lay with me by the pool and not be sneaking around. >> and what did he say? >> he said, you never want to trust me about surprises. you really need to trust me. this is going to be huge. >> if michelle knew anything about her husband, it was that he was a born romantic who went all out for special occasions. it had only been five years since fate had brought mark weinberger into her life. changing it in ways unimaginable at the time. it all began with a ladies' night out at a chicago bar. >> i saw him at a bar. he was out with his friend who had recently gotten divorced. and we just started talking and we hit it off. i thought he was really intriguing. >> she was michelle kramer back then, a 25-year-old college student from a blue collar family still living with her folks.

mark weinberger, 11 years older, was already a very successful ear nose and throat doctor. >> we were bonding about medicine because i had just gotten through doing a stint in neuroscience at the university of chicago. we were just making jokes about the medical milieu. he was very funny. >> so you hit it off right off the bat? >> we went out to dinner. it was thursday. i spent all weekend with him and by monday i was enamored and smitten. >> within months michelle had moved out of her parents' home and into mark's townhouse in chicago. the whirlwind was on, athens, miami, caribbean sunsets and french champagne. >> michelle, you look beautiful. >> for a southwest chicago girl whose father was a pipe fitter, this was head-turning stuff. >> just want to say this is the best vacation ever. i love you, baby. >> her new love was a philosophy quoting poetry writing renaissance man. >> he professed his love in a

poem. he just swept me off my feet. >> you had an unbelievable life. >> it really was, yeah. like it was just so romantic when i first met him, it was awesome. and then things just got, like, exponentially more outrageous as time went on. >> outrageously good. >> yeah. >> for instance, instead of simply popping the question to michelle, mark flew her to rome. he had a driver bring her to meet him. mark dropped to one knee and presented her with an enormous ring while a group of minstrels he had hired serenaded them. >> i was crying and everybody in the piazza was clapping. it was a beautiful moment. >> their wedding in 2001 was actually a three-act extravaganza. first a small wedding in chicago's botanic garden held solely for the purpose of allowing michelle's father, who

was dying of cancer, to walk her down the aisle. next, there was a lavish blessing ceremony in a 12th century villa on italy's coast. mark flew in a dozen gifts from the states. then mark topped it all off by renting chicago's field museum and inviting 110 guests for another formal reception there. those were the memories that kept running through michelle's mind as she and her mother waited for mark to return. but when the sun set that night and mark had not returned, as the captain had promised, michelle knew something was horribly wrong. but what? there were no reports of an accident involving mark, no signs of foul play, no ransom notes. only questions. was there a note of any kind? >> nothing. >> no message, nothing.

>> i went through the boat like a crazy person just tearing everything up looking for something. and the only two things i found was 1,000 euros and my passport in a drawer. >> after 24 hours of watching a hysterical michelle suffer, the yacht's captain gave her the number for a greek cell phone that mark had been secretly using ever since they had been on the yacht. michelle had no idea what would happen when she dialed that number, but she was desperate to hear her husband's voice. >> he answered rather happily, like 5:00 a.m., he said, hello? i was in shock. i said, hello? then he fumbled with the phone and he hung up. >> did he know it was you on the phone? >> oh, yeah. >> how did that feel? >> i was devastated. i felt like somebody punched me in the stomach. i couldn't understand why he would do that. >> as it turned out, michelle's husband had, as promised, given her a huge surprise, all right. he deserted her. for reasons she did not yet understand, michelle would have to return home alone.

she knew her life as she had been living it was over. what she didn't know was that the devastation her husband had left behind went deeper than her own personal agony. and that the twisted tale of the runaway doctor would eventually lead to one of the unlikeliest places on earth. where was the doctor, and why had he abandons his incredibly profitable medical practice? >> in a good week, how much money did he take in? >> he was bringing in about $1 million a month. >> when "the great escape" continues. to emerge your best every day,

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the picturesque greek isles where dr. mark weinberger the picturesque greek isles where dr. mark weinberger deserted his wife in september 2004 are half a world away from the rust belt region of indiana where he made his fortune. mark weinberger was not from indiana. he didn't grow up on hoop dreams or the hope of a union job. in fact, he didn't even live here. according to pulitzer prize winning writer buzz who wrote this article for "vanity fair" and consulted with us on this story, mark weinberger was a

nerdy kid from a wealthy new york suburb who was driven by sibling rivalry to outshine his brothers. >> mark figured, the way to be the apple of my parents' eye is to do well in school. he went to the university of pennsylvania, then went to ucla medical school where he thrived. >> he could have established his ear nose and throat medical practice anywhere, but in 1996 he chose merrillville, indiana. it was close enough to chicago that he could live there and have chauffeurs drive him to his office every day. but most important, he could count on the air pollution in northwest indiana to provide a steady stream of patients with sinus problems. >> in northwest indiana where you're breathing in the pollution, you've got high pollen and extreme changes in temperature, it's not unusual to see a high degree of patients who suffer from sinus problems. >> suzette dennington, weinberger's top medical assistant worked closely with him day in and day out. >> he was an excellent

physician. >> what do you think motivated him? >> his desire to be the best at what he did. >> in 2000, weinberger began aggressively advertising himself as a sinus specialist. he billed himself as dr. nose and his practice grew rapidly. >> we could see 40 to 50 patients on an office day. out of those, 10 to 16 would be new patients. >> how many surgeries was he performing? >> on an average, within 15 to 22 a week. >> 15 to 22 surgeries, one man, every week. >> yes. >> and you've worked in this business a long time. i mean, how busy is that compared to your average surgeon? >> huge. >> dennington said patients who walked into the clinic with anything from breathing problems to bad headaches were told that his sinus surgeries were an alternative to taking

medications every day and had a 95% success rate. >> his technique was incredible. i've done sinus surgeries for 18 years. never saw the technique that he used, and it was the benefit to the patients was amazing. >> weinberger's business model it seemed was based on the three-word slogan of salesmen everywhere -- volume, volume, volume. >> i think he measured a certain amount of his worth by how many procedures he was doing. >> of course, the fact that nearly all of weinberger's patients seemed to have the same problem and required the exact same surgery greatly simplified things. >> deviated septum and polyps. >> deviated septum and polyps. >> deviated septum and polyps. >> what did the doctor recommend? >> surgery immediately. >> surgery. >> surgery asap. >> as consistent as these former patients say weinberger was with his diagnoses, suzette denning

ton said he was quite flexible when billing insurance companies. >> it all depended on the amount the insurance company was willing to pay. it could be anywhere from $1500 to $16,000 per procedure. >> as much as $16,000 per procedure, 15 to 20 procedures a week. >> correct. >> in a good week, how much money do you think he took in? >> i do know that at one point for the entire business he was bringing in about $1 million a month. >> even a man with expensive taste, such as mark weinberger, could live large on a cash flow like that. and according to writer buzz bissinger, he did. at home, there were uniformed maids, a personal trainer and masseuse. >> he would go on these spending sprees. he lived in a $2.5 million condominium. he had three drivers on call by limo. >> who could have known in those first blissful days, as the music played and champagne

flowed, how it would all end. certainly not mark weinberger's new bride michelle. >> a northwest indiana doctor is apparently on the run tonight and he's left behind serious legal trouble. >> in the weeks and months after her husband left her in greece, michelle was bound and determined to find out why her husband had abandoned her. coming up -- lying low, living large. >> i think he bought about maybe $500,000 worth of diamonds before he left. >> 500,000. >> uh-huh. >> and where did the diamonds go? >> with him, i suppose. i didn't find out anything about diamonds until after he had left. i'm ray and i quit smoking with chantix. i tried cold turkey, i tried the patch. they didn't work for me. i didn't think anything was going to work for me

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tin the weeks after her husband had abandoned her in greece, in the weeks after her husband had abandoned her in greece, michelle examined every memory she had of mark weinberger. >> she's the hostess and she's the mostest. >> turning each unreliable fragment in her mind as if seeing scenes from her life for the first time. >> i have marky all to myself. >> none of it made sense to michelle.

hadn't they had it all? money, youth, happiness. what on earth caused him to chuck it all without as much as a note of explanation. >> november 1st was our three-year anniversary and a bit of a turning point for me. but prior to that i still believed wholeheartedly that he was going to send for me. and if he sent for me, i would have went with him. >> really? >> i would have, yes. and that day came and went with no phone call, no letter, nothing. and that made me realize that i needed to take care of myself and try to get back on my own two feet. >> mark was still alive. she knew that because, even though she hadn't heard from him since that brief phone call in greece, credit card statements were still coming in to their home in chicago.

>> he's going to the biggest fashion houses across france and buying clothing and he's at casinos. >> and you're back and you can't even pay the water bill. >> right. and i'm sitting there crying every night listening to our songs, you know, mourning his loss and he's in the south of france. >> his credit card tally in the south of france alone added up to more than $50,000. since there's no law against disappearing, michelle couldn't really go to the authorities. it seemed the only people even interested in finding mark weinberger were his creditors. but michelle wouldn't give up. on more than one occasion, michelle flew to europe in hopes of tracking down and confronting her husband. >> just me and a pair of handcuffs. i brought handcuffs because i figured if he saw me he might, like, be freaked out. i just wanted an explanation. >> she even came close once,

arriving at a paris hotel just a day after weinberger had checked out. but back home she still faced a growing pile of unpaid bills. mark had never allowed her to see the bills before or even have her own checking account. >> it's almost laughable in a way when i get faxes from banks saying i owe $3.5 million because i don't even have a concept in my head of what $3 million is. >> eventually, michelle learned that mark weinberger had left her $6 million in debt. we first met michelle in february 2005. five months after her husband had vanished. at that time, michelle's home was in foreclosure and she had realized she had no choice but to file for divorce. >> i don't know how ready to say i am filing for divorce, but financially it's a necessity right now so it's something that has to be done in order to try to separate myself from the debt that he's accrued. >> in october 2005, a little over a year after her husband literally jumped ship, michelle

filed for bankruptcy. >> the person that i fell in love with, the person that i knew for five years, that person certainly was a soul mate and a best friend to me. this person who would leave behind such devastation in his wake, i don't know who he is. >> with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, michelle told us she should have seen the signs of trouble coming. mark was sometimes distant. he could be rude, even abusive to people he deemed his social inferiors. but the summer of 2004, a few months before mark disappeared, seemed to be the real turning point. michelle was pregnant. >> both of us could not have been happier at that moment. those good feelings lasted for a couple weeks. and then i had to go to hawaii for an apa conference that i was presenting at. >> presenting at the american

psychological association that july was a prestigious honor for a grad student like michelle. even though mark begged her not to go, she went anyway. >> and things started to change while i was in hawaii. he called me and said lawyers were claiming that he was doing unnecessary surgery and he was afraid it was going to become a class action suit, at which point he jumps ten steps ahead and assumes that his insurance company would settle, his license would be taken away, and everything would be destroyed. >> so his life is flashing before his eyes. >> uh-huh. >> one of those former patients

now had terminal cancer, and she was suing him for not diagnosing it sooner. michelle says that for mark the malpractice suit was more than just a blemish on his reputation. it was a blow to his vanity. and though michelle assured him of her love and support, she said she could feel her husband pulling away. >> i knew he was stressed out about the lawsuits, but i really believed in my heart it was something we could fight against. >> a few weeks later, it was michelle who was devastated and needed support when she suffered a miscarriage and had to be hospitalized. >> and he promised, he swore that he would be there before i went under anesthesia. and he insisted that he had to go into his office to take care of some things, and he didn't show up. and i was shocked. >> whatever mark weinberger was doing in the office those days was also a mystery to employees like suzette dennington, weinberger's top medical assistant at the sinus clinic. >> he started to be one of the first people in the office and last people to leave every day. >> what was he doing in his office? >> i don't know. the door was closed. it was very quiet. we would have to knock on the door and let him know that there was another patient ready to be seen. he definitely withdrew. >> suzette says that wasn't the

only strange thing going on that summer. suddenly, shipments of camping gear began arriving at the weinberger clinic. >> one of his treatment rooms in one wing of the building was full of camping equipment. i really didn't see him as being much of a camper. >> he's more four seasons hotel type. >> right. but he was almost frantically packing it up. >> what kinds of equipment did he have? >> there were several backpacks. there were just bags that were stuffed with things that you couldn't see. >> and then there were the strange men with thick european accents that some employees reported seeing coming into the offices with briefcases to meet privately with weinberger. michelle later learned those men were diamond dealers from new york. >> i think he bought about maybe $500,000 worth of diamonds before he left.

>> 500,000. >> uh-huh. >> and where did the diamonds go? >> with him, i suppose. i didn't find out anything about diamonds until after he had left. >> diamonds, light, untraceable. just the kind of tip that's found in a book michelle discovered among mark's things after he left. michelle came to see that her husband had been planning his vanishing act for months. >> he had apparently packed two huge suitcases full of water filtration systems, gps equipment, language tapes. all types of bizarre things, and he shipped one of the bags to kahn and another bag to athens. >> a meticulous plan, perfectly executed, though even in hindsight michelle now remembered how nervous he had been on the day they flew to greece. >> he was yelling at everybody and he's, like, i have to make this flight. i'm like, we're not going to miss the flight. we're not late. he was just completely uncontrollable in the airport. >> oddly enough, even knowing her husband had deliberately deceived, humiliated and

abandoned her, michelle continued to defend him. >> he was an excellent doctor. that's why it really infuriated me to see his name dragged through the mud. >> the real culprits, michelle felt, were former patients egged on by greedy lawyers who were suing him for malpractice. >> i think it's a big opportunistic, but that's the state of our legal system in this country. that's what doctors have to face every day. >> how can you stand up for him now? >> because i know how much he cared about his patients. in the end, i think that he was a very scared man. >> had it actually been one of those patients who caused mark weinberger to flee, forfeiting all he worked for? michelle was sure of it. she had often heard mark mention a former patient in the weeks and months before he left. a woman with terminal cancer.

>> she had a cough that wouldn't go away, sore throat, hoarseness. these are things that a first year medical student would recognize as signs and symptoms of throat cancer or laryngeal cancer. weinberger didn't pay attention. [ crash ] whoops! the moment you realize magnets can't keep your family together. the samsung family hub interacts with your calendar and favorite apps, all on a single appliance. that also, you know, keeps your food cold. hold on sam, i got to put you on the fridge. [ click ] [ laughter ] find thenah.ote yet? honey look, your old portable cd player. my high school rethainer. oh don't... it's early 90s sitcom star dave coulier...

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the winter over northwest indiana where dr. weinberger practiced medicine usually had

in winter, the skies over northwest indiana where the winter over northwest indiana where dr. weinberger practiced medicine usually had all the luster of -- but for weinberger and his wife michelle late december 2001 was just another caribbean holiday. >> it's a beautiful day here. >> it's perhaps good that the happy couple couldn't see the future on a day such as this because there was so much

unhappiness ahead. in three years, he would be on the run, somewhere in europe, and she would be alone, brokenhearted and bankrupt. of course, they had no way of seeing any of this coming. not here. not on this night. >> new year's eve 2002. i've never been so happy in my whole life. this is my dream. >> but far to the north in indiana, one of dr. weinberger's patients, phyllis barnes could clearly see her future was looking grim. >> my sister went through hell. >> phyllis' sister peggy hood says phyllis' road through hell began three months earlier when she went to see dr. weinberger. >> she had trouble catching her breath. she seemed to have sort of cold-like systems or bronchitis. she just seemed rundown. >> you thought it might be allergies or a cold. >> yeah.

>> it could have been a number of things. her voice was raspy. she had a sore throat. but perhaps the most troubling symptom for phyllis, a lifelong smoker, was that she had recently begun coughing up blood. >> i believe when she went to dr. weinberger she told him she was a smoker. i don't think she tried to hide that from anybody. >> how did she find out about mark weinberger? >> i believe one of her co-workers may have seen billboards. >> the nose dr. >> uh-huh. >> in hindsight, going to the self-proclaimed nose doctor may have been a mistake. but since phyllis had a long history of sinus problems,

seeking out a sinus specialist for her breathing problem seemed logical. >> the first time i heard about him was when she called me. she was going to have sinus surgery and she needed a ride to and from the surgery. >> dr. weinberger's diagnosis? sinusitis, nasal polyps, deviated septum, all problems he told phyllis that could be cure with surgery. >> did your sister get better after the surgery? >> no. she got progressively worse after the surgery. >> by thanksgiving, just six weeks after her surgery with weinberger, phyllis barnes was gasping for breath. repeated follow-up visits to the clinic brought no relief. her family feared she might have pneumonia. >> i had to call the ambulance one night to have her taken to the emergency room because she couldn't breathe. >> shawn barnes, phyllis' daughter, was only 16 at the time. >> she did end up pulling through, but it was a hard time to get through. >> within days of leaving the emergency room, phyllis was again gasping for breath. so in december 2001 she turned to another ear nose and throat doctor for relief. the new doctor immediately

suspected something serious. her breathing was ragged and a large lump was visible on the side of her neck. >> he called me on my cell phone and he said he had just seen my sister and he felt that she had possibly advanced cancer, and he had scheduled her for a biopsy. >> that biopsy quickly confirmed the doctor's hunch. at 47, phyllis barnes had stage four throat cancer. >> i hope you find something worthwhile to do today. >> a lifelong do-it-yourselfer, phyllis barnes was now facing the biggest recovery and rehab project of her life. >> daniel, do not say they're doing there to me. >> phyllis first came to northwest indiana from her native mississippi in the late '70s after college. >> i'm busy. >> but i love you, phyllis!

>> oh, good. >> her sister peggy was already here and it was here that she met her husband, daniel barnes, started a family, and began a career in social work, helping displaced steelworkers. >> it was a government agency that tried to help place people who had lost their jobs in this area. and she really liked that. >> a big part of that job involved public speaking. but by the time mark weinberger was popping champagne corks in the caribbean that new year's eve, that part of phyllis' career was over. surgeons had taken drastic action to fight the advanced cancer in her throat.

>> there may be nobody else in the room. what kind of deals for now or for the future might be cut is a matter of enormous concern. it's also for instance in the wake of the indictments of those 12 gru intelligence officers last friday, there's a real question about how much trump might give away about what he knows about american intelligence concerning those people. so there are a lot of worries here. >> we are watching now outside the president's residence in finland. we see mike pompeo the secretary of state there. john bolton, the national security advisor arrive as well.

there will be meetings alongside the main meeting here. the secretary of state will be meeting with his russian counterpart, sergey lavrov. he'll be having conversations as well, smiles there from mike pompeo, the secretary of state. and all of this takes place in a rather compressed geography. a few moments ago we saw that buttermilk colored palace there in helsinki. that is where this meeting is going to take place, inside that gothic room. why here, why finland? why was this place selected for this meeting? >> there's the geography, of course, the geographical reason. it is convenient for both the american president as he's wrapping up his european tour. and this is a country hat has hosted summits like this in the past. it's the fourth summit of its kind although it's unique for

all the reasons we have stated. there's no agenda and just this unpredictability of this american president. whenever those tv cameras are around and the microphones are on you don't know what to expect. but for helsinki's part, this is city that has brokered these kinds of meetings before, a country part of the european union but not part of nato. so it walks a fine line. >> affording itself some neutrality. kal perry talking about what might happen when the microphones are on. something else unprecedented about this meeting between president putin and president trump is there will be no microphones inside that meeting room. just him there with president putin, some interpreters there to help them communicate, but no note takers.

the secretary of state and the national security advisor will not be there with president trump. talk about that aspect of this, what we're not going to know about what takes place in that meeting? >> what we're not going to know is everything, but we do know the personalities of the two people involved. on the one hand you have a hugely eke tistical american president who loves to brag, who loves to appear he's in control. and interon the other hand you have a form kgb agent and come to a conclusion about who's going to dominate that meeting. >> perry, let me get you perspective on that as well. he talked about how president putin prefers these one-on-one meetings as well. you look at the similarities between these two leaders and how they approach things like this. we have seen the president attend a major international

summit in brussels, the nato summit. it's clear having watched a few of these unfold, that is not the venue he prefers. he likes these one-on-one meetings. >> putin has been doing this for decades and president trump for a year and a half. when you look how this normally works you would see much more involvement from the state department. you would see what are called working groups working out the details of this summit months if not years in advance. previous summits where gerald ford sat down in helsinki, ovg. there were years and years of negotiations leading into that. that's not how president trump operates. this is just a man who does not believe in either the traditions of how these things work or just the basic sort of way of doing things when it comes to these summits, which are normally so scripted. so in one sense he sort of has an advantage on vladimir putin

in the sense that he is just so unpredictable with these tv cameras. he loves these events which i think is to great concern for the state department because he seems to be giving up short-term concessions that the cost of long-term goals. one specific example of that is north korea where he calls off the military exercises, right, and he's giving up something long-term for just the short-term sort of here's the photo opportunity, here's the big summit, here's the international moment held on tv. at what cost? certainly the career state department officials when they look at this summit they worry what is going to be given away in that room, david. >> you see the beast there, that massive cadillac being parked there at the three res dnss iden

helsinki. as they prepare for the meeting with president putin, and i should say president putin has not arrived yet in helsinki. he was overseeing the final of the world cup yesterday. that has been a preoccupation of his over the course of the last month. we don't know what they're going to talk about. we don't know what that agenda is, but let's speculate what might be on the table during the course of that meeting. over the last meeting you saw the prime minister meeting with netanyahu. and president trump taking some time during his stay at his golf resort taking some time -- >> david, i think you set that up, perfectly, in fact one of

the number one items on the agenda in the expectations of lots of analysts is syria. we know that trump desperately wants to get out of syria. he's said it publicly many times. he says it privately. we know at the daily beast we've been reporting on people, top aides of his who are terribly worried he's just going to give syria to putin and say you do whatever you want with it, in fact betraying all the people who have been working with the united states to fight isis for the last few years. so that is one major concern. another major concern is ukraine. he has hinted that he thinks maybe russia didn't really break international law or if it did, maybe it had a right to in annexing crimea, ukraine's crimea. he doesn't talk much about the war being supported by russia and ukraine, but there's a sort of tacit acceptance of that in a lot of the trump rhetoric.

even though it has to be said that the u.s. under trump has supplied some lethal weapons to ukraine in order to fight. so those are two big items. another possibility is that trump will raise the issue of meddling in american elections, but in a context guided by putin in which they make a mutual deal to end interference in each other's political processes. that may sound good but it means basically the u.s. would sacrifice advocacy of democracy, human rights, press freedom in favor of a deal that almost certainly putin would not honor as he continues to meddle in american elections. >> i want to spend some more time here talking about those three issues. chris dickey and kal perry and jeff bennett.

he's enumerated those three things, the issues of syria, of crimea and meddling in the election as well. we have seen the president of the united states talk about these issues over the course of the last few days. and in so doing he has been looking back, he's used the excuse these were all things that happened at least initially under the presidency of barack obama. that is his go to now as we've seen it over these last few days. >> it's fairly remarkable, david, that the president we've seen is condemning democrats, former president barack obama. however, not grappling with, not condemning president putin and russians by all accounts was a nefarious act, an attack on the heart of american democracy, meddling in and interfering with the 2016 election as we now know by both the senate intelligence committee to really tip the election in favor of donald trump. particularly listening to something chris dickey said that

one of the things the president and putin might try to arrive at is a deal -- >> the president of the united states is speaking at that breakfast at the president's house. let's take a listen. >> we'll do well we think finland is a great country it was a very successful meeting we were having a problem with not a lot of people paying nato has never been stronger than it is today

hospitality has been fantastic thank you comments there from trump at the president's breakfast here summit is scheduled to take place later today the finnish president and his delagation on the left it was the president on the right hand side there

he unbraided the issue of funding a pipline germany has been building he appreciates the hospitality of the finnish president reserved on the one hand when you compare it to the breakfast that kicked off the visit bordered on rude and lecturing so many of those comments were directed at trump's base

this is clearly must more reserved and scripted clearly not wanted to offend the hosts he did not take advantage and make any brash statements yet putin's goal has been to assert russia more across europe you live with that every day if you live there mentioning nato is clearly a sign of things to come starting off the nato senate brashly

the big change has been the indictment the president had been briefed on that before this trip well yes but his approach to it has not changed he wants to say this is a result of a deep state conspiracy so his game is to divert attention, deceive and create a cloud of lies around him

he usually blames obama trump says time and time again it is president obama's fault scheduled to sit down at helsinki

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to realize this stranger had a taste for the finer things and always paid in cash. colonel di vita: he had no job. he spent his time at the cafe with his computer, or he went shopping. what kinds of things did he buy? above all, the very, very expensive material for climbing. any sign of a bank account here in town? no. >> what kinds of things did he buy? >> very, very expensive material for climbing. >> any sign of a bank account here in town? >> no. yes, and very expensive, too. this is a place where he frequented? yes. rob stafford: an american with money is always welcome. buongiorno. rob stafford: but in a small town like courmayeur, it was inevitable that someone would pull up a chair, perhaps buy him a drink, and try to learn something about this solitary american and pass it along. did you ever see him here? his name, according to those who gained his confidence, was mark, mark something. it sounded quite like a german last name, stern.

rob stafford: mark stern. whenever he was in town, this mark stern seemed to be a fixture on the nearby slopes by day and a cafe presence by night. no one seemed to know where he slept exactly, until late 2008. here on the left, we have the agency. rob stafford: that's when he walked into this real estate office and signed a lease. this is where he rented his apartment. yes. rob stafford: it looked as though the rich american intended to stick around for a while. here in italy, it's not a very affordable price. rob stafford: the apartment he rented was in a convenient spot near the center of town. whatever you would need is right here. just a few steps from the lift at the bottom of the mouth that carries skiers up to the slopes, and just a few yards down the block from a local grocery. and he would shop in here? yes. rob stafford: handy enough for a single man just off the slopes to run in and grab a few supplies and something

simple to heat up at home. the stranger might well have lived on indefinitely as courmayeur's very own international man of mystery, had he not walked into that grocery store one night and struck up a conversation with the woman behind the register. that is where our story takes another fateful turn, because it was in that moment that the rich american proceeded to make a mistake that has proved the undoing of men ever since adam accepted that apple from eve. the man who called himself mark stern was about to fall in love. [music playing] for more than two years, mark weinberger walked the streets of europe safe in the anonymity of crowds. according to vanity fair writer, buzz bissinger, weinberger simply cut away people from his past to anyone who knew his real name with the cool detachment of a surgeon. buzz: i think part of it was, i'm rejecting everything

that i've known in the past. maybe you don't like your wife, or maybe you do. he leaves in september of 2004-- never, ever contacts her again. he's got a brother, neil, who he's very close to-- never, ever contacts him again. so that's what we're dealing with. rob stafford: it must have been exhilarating at first using fake names and covering your tracks like a character in some spy novel, but in all pulp fiction stories, there comes a time and place where a woman enters the story, and carefully wrought plans begin to crumble. for the man calling himself mark stern, the place was courmayeur, and the woman in question had a past as intriguing as his own. i saw him in my market. a customer? yeah. he came to bring milk, bananas, some cheese. rob stafford: he was buying milk, banana, cheese from you? yeah.

rob stafford: monica specogna, a transsexual, had recently had an operation to become female. she says the man who walked into her store bought groceries from her more than two dozen times in the winter of 2007-2008. sometimes he paused to make small talk. what name did he use? mark stern. mark stern? exactly. rob stafford: then she says she didn't see him for a while. in the springtime, boo, disappear. summertime, too. rob stafford: monica says that when mark stern returned at the end of november, 2008, he told her he'd been bicycling around europe. it was then, monica says, she and that outdoorsy american began skiing together practically every day, and he began telling her stories about his life. he told me to be married and to be divorced, and to have a strange wife, asking money, money, money, money, money, mercedes first.

he said his wife wanted all these things. exactly. he laughed about her. he laughed about her? yeah. rob stafford: monica says mark stern told her that he was a stockbroker from new york who'd made a lot of money, but now only wanted to live a peaceful life. monica: and he told me, my life was really, really, really, really, really stress. and now, so i'm here. i enjoy here, and so i found finally the quiet. and that was impressive for me, because i'm quiet. rob stafford: according to monica, her mark stern was a born romantic who knew how to sweep a girl off her feet. monica: so valentine's day, 2009, he arrived with this rose with a big smile. it was an amazing night. so there happen private things. you know, when-- - love.

yeah. yeah. first time with him, and after, i was-- always was good. rob stafford: but monica says even in their moments of intimacy, the man she knew as mark stern clammed up whenever she asked for details about his past. what he told me was, don't ask-- don't ask me my past, please. don't ask. exactly. rob stafford: still, monica says the relationship became serious enough that she introduced him to her parents, who were quite taken by this sophisticated american. with my parents, talked about economy, talked about experience, the mountain, philosophy. philosophy? philosophy, yeah. camus. rob stafford: camus? philosophy-- a tantalizing clue, perhaps, but only for someone familiar with the life story of a certain free-spending,

philosophy-loving fugitive doctor from america. philosophy, after all, had always been a pet passion of mark weinberger's, but that tidbit meant nothing to monica specogna. she'd never even heard of mark weinberger. all she knew was that this man, this mark stern loved her. monica: from the first day, was a really good man with me, with me, with my people, my family, with my friends, was a good man. for me, was a good man. rob stafford: in the spring of 2009, monica says she and mark took a grueling bike trip through alpine passes to switzerland. monica says it was in the swiss village of grindenwald at the foot of famed mount eiger that mark told her he wanted to spend one night on the mountain alone. monica: next morning, i bring my cycle and up the mountain to him. he come close to me with a big smile, screaming,

thank you, monica, thank you, monica, thank you, monica. why, mark? because i passed the best night of my life. rob stafford: after returning to courmayeur, monica says mark stern told her he'd been inspired by that night on the mountain and wanted to spend a whole year at a high altitude in a tent alone. monica: he wanted to write a book, how to survive above six-- 6,000 feet. exactly. for an entire year. rob stafford: that september, monica says, mark set up and equipped three separate campsites in the mountains above courmayeur. really beautiful, really beautiful. rob stafford: she says he told her that after publishing that book he was writing, they would move to switzerland together and, perhaps, adopt children. mark: this is my little city i started building. rob stafford: and so as the temperatures dropped in the fall of 2009, and the snow came, the man monica knew as mark stern set to make

a name for himself in the alps. to her, it seemed crazy, but writer, buzz bissinger, says monica's mark stern was actually behaving true to form. buzz: i think when he decided, i'm living this philosophical, ascetic monk-like life, i have to do it big time. i'm going to go to the mountain, and i'm going to live up to my butt in snow in 15-degree below weather and prove my manhood, unlike anyone else has ever proven it. it makes perfect sense to me, because that's exactly what a narcissist does. mark: so this is base camp. rob stafford: monica recorded this video of her boyfriend's mountain campsite on her cell phone. mark: so the city is growing a little rob stafford: though his taste for having the very best gear money could buy is evidence, the new and improved alpine mark demonstrates that he has learned the value of improvisation. these are $8 gardening gloves, and i got sick of getting

my hands wet with my expensive 100 euro high tech gore-tex gloves. rob stafford: in this clip, mark and monica have found an unoccupied shelter on the mountain. it's not as posh as that chicago townhouse he once owned, but after months of living alone in a tent, this shelter seems to suit him. if i owned this place, i would live here. i would live here. monica: why not? for sure. rob stafford: these were the happy times, the moments when past burdens seemed to melt away like spring snow. but monica says there were also days when her lover seemed to be cracking under the weight of something unseen, and yet undeniable. monica: november, 2009, he was a little depressed, because it was cold, and the tent was alone. and so it was difficult, really difficult. one day, he began to cry.

what's up, mark? what's up? stanco, i'm tired. i'm really tired. why, mark? forget, but i'm tired. rob stafford: was mark stern just tired of living in a tent or tired of living a lie? whichever it was, as he settled in for another cold and lonely night on the mountain, he had no idea of how close his past was to catching up to him. coming up, but how close were police to catching up to him? buzz: it's the alps. there are a lot of places to hide. rob stafford: he left a copy of his real passport? a copy of his real passport, yes. and he's a fugitive on the run. i received a strange call to my phone. it was a friend, and he told me, monica, mark is not what he claimed to be. what do you mean?

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for years after her husband abandoned her in the greek isles, michelle kramer fought back every way she could. she tried tracking him down herself, following leads to paris and cannes, and she never missed a chance to enlist the public's help.

and it was like peeling, like, the scars away from my heart telling the whole story each time. rob stafford: but once the trail went cold, and the media tired of her story, michelle resigned herself to the probability mark weinberger was gone forever. michelle: i had hoped that he would be caught, but i thought there was a really good chance that he would die on the run in europe, and nobody would know where he was. rob stafford: then in september, 2008, four years after mark weinberger left her with nothing but her passport and 1,000 euros, michelle kramer got a call from the fbi asking her to do one more interview, this one with the crime show, "america's most wanted." michelle: the fbi hoped that i would help them, because they weren't getting anywhere with the case. i had stopped doing a lot of media at that point. i was focusing on my career and trying to move forward, but i thought, ok, i'll help with the investigation. i felt like i really needed an answer from him. rob stafford: it was a long shot, michelle thought, another pointless appeal

broadcast into the ether. you know, he's probably living kind of the high life once again somewhere in the mediterranean. rob stafford: but this time was different. this time, the mark weinberger story found extended shelf life on the internet, where more than a year later, on december 9, 2009, the right pair of eyes finally found it. monica: so i received a strange call to my phone. it was a friend, and he told me, monica, mark is not what he claimed to be. what do you mean? trust me. rob stafford: the next day, that friend met with monica and showed her a picture of the man she knew as mark stern. it was a printout taken from the america's most wanted website. my entire world fall. my knees crack. what's up? it's not true.

and my friend-- you didn't believe it. yeah. i don't believe it. rob stafford: a quick internet search confirmed the dimensions of a lie that left her dazzled and undone. her lover, mark stern, was actually mark weinberger, an international fugitive, and he was apparently capable of anything. monica: first thing, ok, i go to the carabinieri, to the police. i know where he is. i'm sorry, mark, but-- you need to tell the truth. exactly. buzz: i think that was a very tortuous decision, but i think at the end of the day, she felt she had an obligation. i give her a tremendous amount of credit. she did the right thing. rob stafford: it was inside this carabinieri station that monica specogna told police her lover, perhaps her first since becoming a woman, was a wanted man. was she crying? um, not exactly. but she was very, very scared. who really was this mark she knew?

rob stafford: colonel di vita says soon after monica left the office, a local rental agent walked in, also complaining about a man named mark who hadn't paid his rent in three months. most important, the agency had a copy of mark weinberger's real passport. he left a copy of his real passport? colonel di vita: a copy of his real passport, yes. and he's a fugitive on the run? yes, you can't rent a flat if you don't leave a copy of your document. rob stafford: not only did police now know monica's boyfriend and the deadbeat renter were one and the same, thanks to monica, they also knew which of three camp sites he was currently using. colonel di vita: she also told us that mark was going to stay there for a week. he would be in this location for a week. for a week, yes. without her doing that, who knows if they ever would have found him? you know, it's the alps. there are a lot of places to hide. rob stafford: the next day, police put a helicopter in the air to search the area.

though they saw tracks in the snow near where monica said they would find weinberger's camp, bad weather forced them to abandon the aerial search. but even then, luck seemed to be with the police. hikers just down from the mountain reported seeing something strange. colonel di vita: on the same day, people coming down from mountain told us that there was a strange male leaving the tent. rob stafford: finally, on the morning of december 15th, 2009, three days after monica had first tipped them off, a team of police officers set out on a cross-country trek to a remote area near the swiss border. colonel di vita: in the distance, we could see a man working around a tent. did he seem startled to see you? yes. rob stafford: and what does he say? colonel di vita: they were not wearing their uniform, and they approached him asking, what are you doing here? he answered, i want to live a quiet life. i want to live a quiet life. a quiet life, yeah. and they asked the man, who are you?

and he answered, i'm-- my name is mark weinberger. rob stafford: and that was that. after five years on the run and four months on the mountain, the search for mark weinberger was over. no confrontation, no dash for freedom. instead, the fugitive doctor posed for pictures. inside the tent, police found euros worth about $3,000, top notch equipment, a stockpile of food and medicine. - cialis. - cialis? cialis. all ok, i think it is viagra. like viagra. like viagra, yes, and some survival medications. rob stafford: under italian law, weinberger could be held for 24 hours while police verified his identity. so mark weinberger was taken back down the mountain to the police barracks in courmayeur. he was in very good shape, very quiet. i asked him, are you married? i'm divorced. what's your job? i'm a surgeon. rob stafford: a surgeon? - surgeon. i'm a surgeon. did he say anything about the charges against--

no, no. rob stafford: while at the police station, weinberger was given a cursory pat-down and offered lunch. colonel di vita: he had food with us at our same table. rob stafford: was he hungry? i think yes. also, because our food here is very, very-- i'm want to say good. rob stafford: according to officers at the table, weinberger seemed to be enjoying himself, until the moment this bizarre story took an unexpected and desperate turn. what can you say about what happened next? we'd better talk about that, please. rob stafford: coming up, mark weinberger had not yet given up on escaping his past. he did not want to go back. there was too much a trail of devastation. i don't think they have any idea of what's going to happen. he pulls a knife out that he has concealed. rob stafford: when "dateline" continues.

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after five years on the run, the capture of mark weinberger in the italian alps was almost anti-climactic. no shootouts, car chases, or international intrigue-- just friendly cops chatting up an amiable american over pictures, pasta, and wine. you know, it's very italian, and everything seems cool. any sense of what was about to happen next? none. no, i think they were shocked. he says he has to go to the bathroom. as would be police procedure, you know, they follow him into the bathroom. i don't think they have any idea of what's going to happen. rob stafford: an italian cop stood in an open doorway as weinberger sat on the toilet. then, in a flash, the officer saw weinberger's hands jerk toward his own throat.

he pulls a knife out that he has concealed and attempts to kill himself. rob stafford: though weinberger managed to inflict a superficial cut on his neck, police officers were able to stop him before he did serious damage. buzz: some say he was trying to attempt suicide, so he would get placed in a prison hospital. i don't think he was thinking that far ahead. i think he was trying to kill himself. rob stafford: days later, while recovering in a hospital, he tried again, this time by putting a plastic bag over his head. buzz: he did not want to go back. there was too much a trail of devastation. rob stafford: within a week, news of mark weinberger's arrest was everywhere. in merrillville, indiana, former patients woke to find their nose doctor on the front page. in alabama, michelle kramer, the wife he'd abandoned, was just wrapping up another long day as a psychology intern when she heard the news.

tears started coming out of my eyes, and i didn't know if they were tears of joy or tears of sadness. i couldn't even identify what my emotions were. rob stafford: out in california, shawn barnes, a college student, was heading home for the holidays when her aunt called to tell her. i got that news, and you have all this time to think going across the country, and it was just like the strangest christmas present i ever could have imagined. rob stafford: shawn's mother, phyllis barnes, remember, had been a patient of weinberger's and had filed the first malpractice suit against him. shawn: i wasn't sure, at first, if it was a good or a bad thing or what. rob stafford: by february, 2010, arrangements for weinberger's extradition had been completed, and he was back in the united states and facing a world of legal trouble. first, there was a 22-count federal criminal insurance fraud indictment charging him with billing for surgeries he didn't do and overbilling for those he did do. then, there were hundreds of former patients who were suing him for malpractice.

what he has done to my daughter is horrific. rob stafford: remember valerie thomas's daughter, kayla? she's the adorable eight-year-old who got sinus surgery from mark weinberger back in 2004, when her real problem was a brain tumor. kayla: he knew what he was doing. he knew that the surgery, you know, could cause me problems. what kind of a man do you think would skip out on all this-- a coward. rob stafford: while weinberger was off chasing adventure in europe-- monica: are you happy? i'm happy, baby. rob stafford: --kayla thomas had been growing up with a benign tumor in her head. kayla's mom says doctors told her most of the tumor could not be removed, because extensive scar tissue from the weinberger surgery blocked their access to it. and she's had many spinal taps since, because the tumor caused increased intercranial pressure. a lot of things we're taking day by day. and that's the way you want to take it. there's no-- i guess, right now, there's no other way to take it. rob stafford: she wonders what life would have been like had she never met mark weinberger.

kayla: if they'd gotten more of the tumor out, maybe my life now could be a little bit better. rob stafford: patients and others hoping mark weinberger would be severely punished by the criminal justice system were soon disappointed. eight months after his return to the united states, federal prosecutors offered mark weinberger a plea deal, which he accepted. in exchange for agreeing to plead guilty to all of the federal insurance fraud charges, mark weinberger would get four years in prison. if he gets four years, a slap on the wrist in club fed, i guarantee you he will be out somewhere, whether it's in the united states or somewhere else, practicing medicine, doing the same kind of thing in some way, shape, or form. rob stafford: regardless of the punishment he'd ultimately received from the criminal justice system, it seems certain the malpractice suits would keep him tied up in civil courts for years, each of them with the potential to put mark weinberger

in a financial prison from which there is no parole. it really is not about the money. it's about getting a large judgment against this man so that he can't feel any freedom for the rest of his life. rob stafford: in march, 2011, six and 1/2 years after he disappeared into the greek night, the first malpractice case filed against mark weinberger was ready for trial in civil court. coming up. ken: weinberger-- and i hesitate to call him a doctor-- treated phyllis barnes as nothing more than an insurance paycheck. suzette: the look in the eyes is a look i've never seen from him, that i would have never expected to see on his face. and that-- when you care about somebody, and you see that kind of look, it can't help but touch you. ken: you look into somebody's eyes, and you expect some glimmer of humanity, some soul, something.

he has nothing. he is a very evil person. suzette: nothing is ever as cut and dry as you believe it is. rob stafford: when "dateline" continues.

rob stafford: perhaps it was always there in his eyes, a calculating gaze that could convince women to love him. i love you, baby. michelle: i love you, baby. rob stafford: persuade patients to trust him. i was very impressed with him. rob stafford: and make even seasoned cops believe he was harmless. he looked quite happy. rob stafford: whatever it was, the eyes that stared out from front pages after mark weinberger's capture still had the power to move even those he'd left behind. suzette: the look in the eyes is a look i've never seen from him, that i would have never expected to see on his face. and that-- when you care about somebody, and you see that kind of look, it can't help but touch you. rob stafford: suzette dennington, who was once mark weinberger's top medical assistant,

was one of the few willing to say a kind word about him as his legal troubles mounted. nothing is ever as cut and dry as you believe it is. rob stafford: according to dennington, weinberger was a fine doctor, who was simply being attacked by former patients and their lawyers, because the salacious tabloid aspects of his story had made him an easy target. suzette: i really don't think that he set out to scam the world and be guilty of the things that they are so easily saying that he's guilty of. rob stafford: attorney ken allen, however, sees it differently. ken: you look into somebody's eyes, and you expect some glimmer of humanity, some soul, something. he has nothing. he is a very evil person. rob stafford: in preparing to bring the phyllis barnes case to court, ken allen was able to question the runaway doctor in jail. ken: i saw a very sinister person, a very sinister person,

and a person who is very capable of pretending he has some measure of remorse. but i could see he was not changed or remorseful at all. rob stafford: in march, 2011, more than six years after her death, the family of phyllis barnes finally got their chance to present their malpractice case against mark weinberger in a civil trial. weinberger elected not to attend. ken allen's case hinged on convincing the jury weinberger could have caught phyllis's cancer, had he given her a thorough examination. allen told the jurors that phyllis barnes, a two-pack-a-day smoker, had gone to see weinberger complaining of trouble breathing, a sore throat, and hoarseness. she'd even been coughing up blood, but in spite of that history and those symptoms, allen told the jury weinberger violated the basic standard of care for an ent by focusing exclusively on her sinuses.

ken: mark weinberger, who was an ent doctor-- ear, nose and throat-- simply forgot about the e and the t and focused on the n. well, you can't do that. if you are an ent doctor, you're required to examine the patient's throat, and that was one of the reasons why phyllis came to see him. weinberger didn't even bother to look at her throat. rob stafford: as if calling his next witness from the grave, ken allen played a recording of phyllis barnes on a large tv monitor. he's told me that he only took whatever the insurance was willing to pay. and, you know, i felt like, you know, that was-- everybody seemed to be-- that was-- this was all good, that it was just sinuses. and no problem. so he did order a cat scan of the sinuses and scheduled surgery. rob stafford: this, ken allen told the jury, is the cat scan dr. weinberger did phyllis barnes's sinuses.

according to experts who testified at trial, the scan showed phyllis's sinuses were actually clear. ken: weinberger-- and i hesitate to call him a doctor-- treated phyllis barnes as nothing more than an insurance paycheck.

it's not clear that the president has really changed his apparent ambivalence on this specific issue. in the past, he's called the counterintelligence investigation a witch hunt. he's tried to discredit the mueller probe, all because we're told he believes it undermines his political standing and invai invalidates his electoral win. it's hard to tell if the president is taking this meeting because he wants to have a better personal relationship with vladimir putin or if he wants to have a diplomatic reset between the u.s. and russia. that entire issue has been muddied by the president's own statements leading up to this point. >> the trip began in brussels, the president going there for the nato summit. he had the opportunity to talk with other allied leaders during the course of that summit. he moved on to the uk, speaking with three iseresa may. the president has said in statement he's supported the

meeting they're going to have today. i'm sure a lot of these leaders are picking issues they hope the president of the united states will bring up. we've talked about these poisonings ha poisonings that have taken place. this is a domestic issue. i would venture to guess prime minister theresa may impressed upon the president he needs to bring that up with the russian president. >> without question. you have the united kingdom pointing the finger at russia, saying they're using chemical weapons in europe. i think one of the issues here, and this is what has to worry people at the state department, you have an american president who's acting with impunity inside of these meetings. he's not operating on any other agenda other than the trump agenda. when you put him in a room with vladimir putin, you would hope that he's going to bring up mh-17. you would hope he's going to bring up the use of this poisoning and the death of a british citizen. you would hope he's going to bring up the annexation of

crimea and syria. but again, he seems to be operating on a trump agenda, not even necessarily the america first agenda he sort of portrays he gives to his base. we keep hearing this red raw meat to his base when he lectures, for example, as you've said the secretary-general of nato at the beginning of a trip on the security of europe and who's not paying enough for nato and how america's paying too much. that is donald trump, president trump speaking to his base when he should be, really n a global scenario speaking to the world as a leader of the free world. >> christopher, what are the goals of vladimir putin here? is it to sow discord, to attack democracy? you look at that indictment, see what he was able to accomplish with the gru, with the intelligence staff that he has. one can only wonder how he's watched what's unfolded here over the last few days. that news conference in brussels. the media coverage of those

events, that extraordinary interview the president gave to "the sun" newspaper that really changed the course of that visit the president had to london. >> well, i think he's gleeful with all the results he's gotten. it was minimal investment in terms of money and manpower. he has helped to install a man in the presidency of the united states who is busily dismantling nato and the european union as best he can, which are goals that i think vladimir putin thought it would take years to achieve. so i think he's very pleased going into this meeting. in terms of the symbolism, he's being treated as an equal. that was his first objective, to go into this summit, it's me and the president, two leaders of the world, trump has almost phrased it that way, and putin definitely is pushing that line in the official media in moscow. that's his first objective.

for the rest, we better wait and see. >> there's going to be a news conference to follow this meeting as well. what are you going to be alonging for, looking at as those two leaders stand side by side and take questions from reporters? >> oh, david, i'm going to be paying close attention to the chemistry between these dtwo me. if vladimir putin dismisses the notion he attacked the 2016 elections, as we know he did, what will president trump do in response? will he defend the u.s. justice system? will he defend the integrity of the american electoral process? or will he agree with vladimir putin? >> a lot to watch as the day unfolds. our coverage of that meeting between president trump and president putin continues throughout the day.

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this morning history is being made in helsinki. in just a short time, president trump will meet with russian president vladimir putin. the tensions, as we know, quite high, but president trump insists he has no expectations. good morning, everybody. it is monday, july 16th. what a day it is. we have nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports," a andrea mitchell. also with us, christopher dickey. and in washington, former senior director at the national security council and former special assistant to president obama ned price. welcome to you all. thank you for joining us so