michael carpenter is former us deputy assistant secretary of defence. ional security council wherejohn bolton will be taking charge. he's in washington for us. thanks forjoining us, michael. the first question i want to ask, from what i understand is you were hanging out with some of your national—security buddies when this news broke, what did they say to you? i think across-the-board there's incredible concern with the appointment. he did not want to be a pa rt appointment. he did not want to be a part of... he's been aggressive in terms of north korea and iran, in terms of north korea and iran, in terms of north korea and iran, in terms of saying the iraqi war, of which he was a champion, was absolutely worth it and the right thing to do. you're right, tonight i was with some friends who are currently serving with the national security council in senior positions, and there was a lot of consternation and anxiety about what it means and frankly a lot of them we re it means and frankly a lot of them were saying they forecast a lot of people stepping dow

michael carpenter, you were a former deputy assistant of the defense.th whom we try to have cordial relationships even if we don't think their elections were run well and some are dictators. should donald trump not have congratulated donald trump? or do you congratulate him for a victory that looks like a victory? >> you don't dcongratulate someone for this. the two prime contenders in this election, one was murdered on the steps of the kremlin. the other was barred from the election. so it is not just as if the kremlin was using administrative resources. this was an egregious cover-up for a dictatorship. and the u.s. is the moral lead er of the democratic world. you don't do this, especially when your staff advised not to do it. there's a rationale for this. >> we don't hear from mcmaster a lot, but we are wondering what effect this has on his tense relationship with the president. but the comments made by sarah huckabee sanders yesterday about this, let's play that. >> reporter: does the white house believe the election in russia was free and fair? >>

jane: michael carpenter, thanks for coming in. michael: thanks for having me. jane: russian investigators are trying to determine why the exits of a shopping mall in siberia were bcked and no alarm was activated when a blaze broke out on sunday. more than 60 people were killed, many of them children. others remain missing. the cause of the fire is not yet known. reporter: it was a children' as play area usy sunday afternoon. and then this. a security camera caught the moment fire tore through, and then smoke. there was no emergency alarm cre. on the floors beloonfused crowds made for the exits. d the woman filming descrihow wshe was up in the cinemahen the fire broke out. "there was panic," she says. "children screaming. it's a nightmare." rescuers battled the blaze for hours, but the fire was fierce and fast. and now officials say emergency exits inside were locked, trapping dozens. some fled to the roof. others jumped for their lives through the choking smok there were queues today to nate blood to the injured from locals who just wanted to help. this girl sa

michael carpenter, and analyst jeremy bash who's also former chief of staff at the u.s. rtment of defense and the cia. jeremy, it's been so long. michael, good to see you as well. i'll start with you because you're new to us here. how significant is this expulsion of this many diplomats coming after this poisoning in the u.k.? >> i think it's very strong messaging that the administration has decided to expel 60 diplomats, for more consequential is the closure of the consulate in seattle which was primary used for espionage purposes. so the message bhientsds is strong. in terms of reel consequences this doesn't amount to a whole lot. after all these sorts of diplomatic expulsions always result in a tat for tat response. >> you mentioned the consulate in sooelkts, the administration saying it was primary used for spying purposes, it was near a u.s. submarine base and a boeing facility. if the facility was used for spying purposes, why was it open in the first place? why is the response to a poisoning the reason they're closing it? >> frankly, it should have been closed a lo

jane: for more, i spoke a short time ago two michael carpenter. he served in thede u.snse department working on russia, ukraine, and eurasia, and was a former policy advisor to former ce president joe biden. thanks for coming in. what do these expulsions actually achieve? there has been some criticism that they won't actually hurt russia. michael: i think that criticism is valid.t i don'ink they achieve much on their own. it is good, strg messaging to see expulsions on both sides of the atlantic, but in terms of e lasting consequences, the none, because russia will always undertake a tit-for-tat response whery it will expel the same number of diplomats from the countries that expelled russian diplomats in their countries. at the end of the day this doesn't do much. jane: where does this end if this continues? chl: i think russia will continue with its aggressive behavior, both military behavior in places like syria and ukraine and georgia, but also subversive measures, attempted assassination of the ex-spy in the u.k. until it feels that the conse

dr michael carpenter is former deputy assistant secretary of defense with responsibility for russia andrector for russia at the national security council. he joins me from washington. the police here in the uk not giving many details, at an extraordinary set of circumstances. what is your reaction? this is chilling news. 0bviously, russia has violated international norms across the board over the last several years, both in ukraine and georgia and also in terms of its act of measures, and its toolkit has included, among other things, as fascinations. for example, the president in the ukraine has talked about political terrorism against a former member who was assassinated in broad daylight on the streets. we have seen russia undertake these actions before. we don't do exactly what happened in this case, we don't even know for sure if it was a poisoning. the message is certainly chilling in terms of the implications, the possible implications. people touring inevitably parallels with another case here. is that fair? again, it is early, they will have to bea again, it is early, they will

dr michael carpenter is a former us deputy assistant secretary of defence with responsibility for russia the national security council. i asked him what impact such expulsions can have. i think it's going to have very limited impact. a persona non grata declaration or expulsion of diplomats is largely a symbolic move and doesn't have many long—term consequences for russia. this is something we debated in the united states after we expelled 35 russian diplomats who we thought were spies from the embassy here. the lasting consequences were really nil. what can nationas like the uk and france and parts of europe that have been in the sights of russia, what can they do to have an impact, something which russia will feel? the most concrete thing is increased sanctions. you have to understand, so far, the sanctions that have been are rather weak. some limited debt equity restrictions on financial institutions. we have gone after upstream energy production and defence firms but we haven't applied the sanctions we have as we have in the case of iran in north korea, called full blocking sanctions

. >> first we have michael carpenter and, m-i-c-h-a-e-l and carpenter, c-a-r-p-e-n-t-e-r, the mayor off schertz. michael carpenter, the mayor, the city of schertz is the first speaker follow the chief of police, michael hanson, m-i-c-h-a-e-l, h-a-n-s-e-n, the chief of police. those two individuals will be the first to speak. after those two individuals i have an opening statement, we'll have questions answered by both the atf and fbi. for the atf, it will the acting special agent in charge frank ortega, f-r-a-n-k, o-r-t-e-g-a. frank, f-r-a-n-k, ortega, o-r-t-e-g-a. the assistant special agent in charge for atf. then from the fbi, federal bureau of investigation, the assistant special agent in charge, james smith, j-a-m-e-s, s-m-i-t-h for the fbi. michael knight, for the bureau of alcohol just to recap, the mayor will begin followed by the chief of police. the questions will be posed by and answered from the atf and fbi. there may be other individuals that are up, around the podium. those are representatives from various components and departments within the city. they're all part of th

joining me now, michael carpenter, former russia director and former associate counsel to george w. bush, who now teaches at george mason university. before we get to mueller what do you make of this expulsion of russian diplomats from our country? does it counter the talk that he's not tough on russia? >> no. this is not a smart move. whether the positions are backfilled or not, russia will mirror exactly what we do. we've seen it across the board with all the various countries that have expelled russian diplomats. russia simply expels their diplomats from the embassy in russia. the net effect is nil. >> floating a pardon for manafort and flynn. if there's no collusion, no crime, why talk pardons then? >> it's unclear what dowd was thinking. he said he hasn't done that. we'll see how this all plays out. it makes no sense. it plays into the ongoing narrative. it's just an odd play and, you know, it's good they didn't actually do it. >> michael, attorney general jeff sessions rejected calls for a second special counsel. let's remember, sessions failed to reveal his contacts with russ

. >> michael carpenter, thank you both so much. >>> coming up next, march madness.h spending and requests to meet prince harry. that's right. the royal prince. you are watching andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. ng, shooting pain in my feet. i hear you, sam. cedric, i couldn't sleep at night because of my diabetic nerve pain. i hear you, claire, because my dad struggled with this pain. folks, don't wait. step on up and talk to your doctor. because the one thing i keep hearing is... i'm glad i stepped on up. me too, buddy. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, step on up and talk to your doctor today. you or joints. something for your heart... step on up but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brain-health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. stay at la quinta. where we're changing with stylish make-overs. then at your next meeting, set your seat height to its maximum level. bravo, tall meeting man. start winning toda

in the order first we have michael carpenter. m-i-c-h-a-e-l c-a-r-p-e-n-t-e rewc-a-r-p-e-n-t-er. owed by michael hansen, the chief of police. those two individuals will be the first two speaking. after those two individuals have an opening statement, we'll have questions answered by both the atf and fbi. the atf will be the acting special agent in charge, frank ortega, o-r-t-e-g-a. frank, f-r-a-n-k. who is the acting assistant special agent in charge for atf. and then from the fbi, federal bureau of investigation, it will be the assistant special agent in charge, james smith j-a-m-e-s smith s-m-i-t-h. assistant special agent in charge for the fbi. >> what's your name? >> michael exciknight public information officer, atf. just to recap, the mayor will begin followed by the chief of police and then the questions will be posed by and answered from atf and fbi. there may be others individuals that are up around the podium and those are representatives from various components and departments within the city that are all part of this investigation. so we're about five minutes out. anyb

joining us, republican strategist amanda carpenter as well as paul callan, jackie kucinich, michael caputo, jennifer granholm, steve cortes, and paul begala. amanda carpenter, first of all, there's obviously legal, political implications perhaps for the president in this. just in terms of whether it's stormy daniels or mcdougal or zervos, do you think this actually impacts the president with his base? >> well, not if people just follow the day-to-day fights and the dueling lawyers, which was fascinating television. but here is the thread that i think nobody is really zoning in on, especially the democrats, which could really make a compelling political argument. it's that there are two examples of the president's close allies in michael cohen and the "national enquirer" paying hush money to women to deprive voters of having significant information before the election. if any of that behavior continued after trump became president, you could be talking about abuse of power. but no one's really making that argument. right now michael cohen wants people to believe unbelievable things, that so