so nato is adapting. nato is changing. there will be a strong focus from other organizations on the need to continue. >> very good. do you believe that allies are responding to this call to spend more on defense? in case you didn't hear the answer, he said absolutely, they are going to 2% and beyond. articulated the u.s. support for nato. but part of the question for the u.s. is are the allies ready to support nato? >> what we have seen is that after many years of cuts in defense spending, we actually we suffer the first time a significant increase in defense spending across europe and canada. that is an increase of 3.8%. and that is a significant increase to the amount of money for defense. we do still have a long way to go. but the europeans have started to move in the right direction. and some allies already meet the 2% guidelines. so what we discussed with the how went yesterday was need to keep up the momentum so .hat we are able to continue . they would stop the cuts with gradual increases and move towards the increa

membership in nato but because of norway's membership with nato because our membership in nato provides the strength, the platform to engage with russia. so i strongly believe that we should not be afraid of talking to russians. they are there to stay. they are our biggest neighbor, and it will be a all of us -- it will help all of us if we are able to improve the relationship with russia. >> and a final question for me and then we're going to pull from the audience and students in particular. did you and the president discussed ukraine and how does ukraine fit in that scenario of west russia relations and giving ukraine a feeling of security so they can get with russia? >> we discussed ukraine. and, of course, we are concerned about the situation and especially eastern ukraine and the fact that russia illegally annexed a part of ukraine, crimea, and that is a first time since the end of the second world war that one country annexed a part of another country in europe by force. so this is of course serious for ukraine but it is also undermining the whole idea of a rules-based order in e

benitez, explain how the funding commitment work nato, what do the countries agree to when they nato?p with guest: thank you, pleasure to be not -- alliance, this agreement was made years later. spending nt defense level was made in 2007 at the regus summit, ip formal agreement to spend at least 2% gdp on defense spending. this was a decrease, pack in been 3%, because of end of the cold war, they downht the threat his gone and the alliance could have less defense spending. 2% of their own defense spending? guest: absolutely. establishes the criteria and nato secretary general produces a report and tabalate what the country members spend on different parts of military spending, and things pension like that and give a report. host: how much money dot itself tosend to nato fund nato, how does that compare o what they are expected to spend on the military? guest: that is a separate budget, common funding pays for evere infrastructure, integrated command, there are three funds for that, one thing least well known is that about that funding for the alliance itself comes from european allies

fear among nato alliance among nato allies of russia right now. is that fear justified? >> we don't see any imminent threat against any nato ally country. but we see more in russia which has used military force against the european neighbor, ukraine. and which is using hybrid warfare, cyberattacks, to intimidate also nato ally countries. and therefore we are stepping up our collective defense and we have the biggest reinforcement collective defense in the cold war and at least we are working on, for instance, cyber owe fens. >> the whole alliance is built under the assumption you know, secretary-general, if one nato ally is attacked, it is an attack on all nato allies. is that still applicable now if russians for example were to take steps against one of the nato allies closest to russia with all of the other nato allies including u.s. and canada and britain and everyone else respond immediately? >> yes. that's the core responsibility. based on one for all and all for one. >> so what's your message it putin? there is a lot of fear on the alliances closer to russia and pu

nato countries.response to syria. syria is a very difficult. very dangerous and very complex situation, which affects nato very much. because syria is bordering nato. syria is bordering turkey, which is a nato ally. we participate and support the fight against isil. nato's not on the ground in syria, but we provide surveillance planes, we help them with an air picture. but when it comes to the use of chemical weapons. that's totally unacceptable. it's horrendous and it's violating international law. and those who are responsible must be held accountable for any use of chemical weapons. there, the air strikes against the syrian air base some days ago was a u.s. operation, military operation, based on u.s. intelligence, but it has received great understanding among nato allies. because they understand that it has to have a consequence when someone is using chemical weapons. >> what's next for nato and syria? >> there has been no call for any nato presence on the ground in syria. some nato allies are pr

so a strong nato is good for europe, but a strong nato is also good for the united states. and therefore, i welcome the very strong commitment of the united states to the security of europe. we see this commitment not only in words, but also in deeds. over the past months, thousands of u.s. troops have been deploying to europe, a clear demonstration that america stands with allies to protect peace and the sense of our defend our freedom. and yesterday, you announced the completion of the ratification of montenegro's membership in nato. another expression of your strong commitment to europe. we thank you for that. in a more dangerous and more unpredictable world, it is important to have friends and allies, and in nato, america has the best friends and the best allies in the world. together, we represent half of the world's economic and military power. no other superpower has ever had such a strategic advantage. this makes the united states stronger and safer. we saw that after the 9/11 attacks on the united states. that was the first time nato invoked our article five, the c

nato secretary general. about exactly what we just witnessed. a rare opportunity to hear from the president, his eighth exchange with reporters. i won't call it a full blown news conference. he's only had one solo news conference as president but seven others have been because of and alongside visiting leaders. robert costa, reporter of "washington post" with us, michael who covers for politico is with us and hugh hewitt is with us. the robert, what about the quote we just opened with. i said it was objection leasole. are we possibly a wednesday in april seeing a change in thinking in world view, a change inside the west wing? >> brian, the president's remarks were infused with faith and an embrace of global institutions, the same ones like nato that he railed against during presidential campaign. and this change of tone, this change in commentary reflects what's happening inside the west wing. the move away in some parts from the national pitch has been championed by steve bannon and toward had more global

not despite our membership in nato, but because of our membership in nato. nato provided the strength for a small country, to have a political dialogue with russia. i believe the only way to deter russia is to be strong, but to avoid a new cold war, a new arms race and tensions is to continue to engage russia in political dialogue and make sure what we do is proportionate in response. >> thank you. mr. president, i am from norway. russia is our neighboring country. what do you think european countries have to fear from russia if tension continues. donald trump: i can't hear it. >> what do you think european countries have to fear from russia if the tension continues -- donald trump: i cannot hear you. >> what do you think european countries have to fear from russia if the tension continues to escalate, and the president has said the attack in syria was warranted. and was also an attack on allies. do you think this attack was warranted ndc nato playing in the roles and future actions in syria? to start trump: i want by saying hopefully they have nothing to fe

despite our membership in nato, but because of our membership in nato.provided strength, connect ability to have a strong dialogue russia. i believe that the only way to deter russia is to be strong. the only way to avoid a cold war, arms race is to engage russia in the political dialogue. floor to the reporter. >> thank you. i am from norway. russia is our neighboring country. think european countries have to fear if this tension continues. what do think european countries have to fear from russia if that tension continues to escalate? attack int that the syria last week was wanted and allies.ttack on do you think this attack was warranted? : hopefullyrump they will have to fear nothing. right now, there is a fear and there are problems, certainly problems. ultimately, i hope that will not be a fear, there will not be problems, and the world can get along. that would be the ideal situation. it is crazy what is going on. you lookat -- whatever at, there are problems, so many problems. ultimately, i believe that we will get rid of most of those problems a

former nato second general anders

, but it was because of our membership in nato because nato provided the strength, the predictability, the platform for a small country to have a political dialogue with russia so i strongly believe that the only way to deter russia is to be strong, but only way to avoid a new cold war, avoid an arms race and akrois increase tensions is to continue to engage russia in a political dialogue and make sure what we do is defensive and proportionate in response to russia. >> mr. president, i'm from norway. russia is our neighboring country. what do you think the european countries have to fear from russia if this tension continues to escalate, and for you, mr. secretary-general, the president has said the attack in syria last week was warranted and was also an attack on u.s. allies. do you think that this attack was warrant, and do you see nato playing any supporting role in future actions in syria? >> well, i want to just start by hopefully saying they are going to have to fear nothing ultimately. right now there is a fear. there are problems, certainly problems, but ultimately i hope that

in my opinion, nato is obsolete. here's the problem with nato. it's obsolete. >> reporter: asserting it was his criticism that prompted the alliance to start fighting terrorism. >> i complained about that a long time ago, and they made a change. and now they do fight terrorism. >> reporter: despite the fact that it's been a central focus of the military alliance for years. this about-face coming as trump seeks support from u.s. allies amid worsening relations with russia. >> right now we're not getting along with russia at all. >> reporter: a geopolitical foe, he has resisted criticizing in the past. >> i think i get along very well with vladimir putin. i just think so. >> reporter: putin says very nice things about me. i think that's very nice. >> reporter: the president now hardening his tone but again stopping short of going directly after the russian president. >> i'll also see about putin over a period of time. be a fantastic thing if we got along with putin. >> reporter: however, mr. trump made his feelings clear about syria's brutal dictat

in my opinion, nato is obsolete. here's the problem with nato, it's obsolete. it's 67 years, or over of 0 years old, what i said to wolf blitzer that nato was obsolete, i got attacked. people that study nato said trump is right. >> today's a different story, just before air time i spoke about it to our professionals. christian, i got to say it's hard not to have kind of a whiplash with all of this, obviously politicians say one thing when they're running for office, and something else entirely when they're actually president of the united states, but so many 180s in just a matter of days. >> yes, and i actually described his epiphany on syria as a complete 108 and that was exactly a week ago today. but this was a man who had no foreign policy experience and he is in office with all the major issues coming at him almost all at once, so of course he is grappling with the reality of what's in front of him. he has very good advisors v good national security advisor, very good secretary of state, the secretary of state doesn't have that much experience in that regar

in the trump ministrations policy on nato. with a former secretary general of nato. this is one half hour. >> joining us now we have rasmussen, the former nato secretary-general and also former prime minister of denmark. he is here to discuss the secretary of state, rex tillerson's speech today at the nato foreign ministers meeting and brussels as well as us relations with russia and the impact of brexit. thank you so much for joining us today. >> good morning. >> secretary tillerson is meeting with nato foreigná today. what are the top things in your opinion we should watch for in that speech? >> at the tomb messages are important. the first message should be the american commitment to defending all allies. there is a commitment -- secondly, i think european allies should commit to investing much more in defense. at my last summit as general we decided that in the next decade, all allies will reach a two percent, that is they will invest in defense of equivalent two percent of their total economic production. so these two messages should be delivered from today's me

the nato guy was here today, now nato is indispensable many when the nato guy leaves is that still going to be the position? >> obviously i cannot speak for the -- >> i don't know why i'm reacting like this. >> you know why? it's frustrating for those of us who are national security players who in the campaign had different positions than president trump. >> looking at where we are today. >> when you said to him, you can't take the oil, you -- i said to him in interviews, what do you mean take the oil. he would say you're an idiot, you don't understand. you can't take the oil, and you knows that, and he probably knew it then. anyway, sorry. >> i'll tell you where i'm concerned going-forward. he was masterful in touching the frustrations with a lot of americans about washington, d.c., and how broken it is and all of that. now i worry about this, because he did come in and was very distrustful of the state department. they haven't staffed it up in a way, where somebody knows where to call in a crisis, year, we're worried about russia and north korea. there's a lot of other issues out there

applause 0k, nato? applause ok, cani nato? applause ok, can ijust ask...what is your answer to your own question? i believe infringer between men but probably this isn't going to be a match made in heaven. let's see what the audience think? is french between these two egocentric leaders possible. show your hands if you think it is possible. -- is think it is possible. —— is friendship. i would say a very, very small minority. who thinks friendship between vladimir putin and donald trump is not possible? a very, very clear majority are very sceptical about the friendship between these two leaders. i think that point can end this edition of global questions. my thanks to our panel, and thank you to all of our audience here and to you, where ever you have been following this edition of global questions. from the capital of latvia, thank you very much and goodbye. thank you for tuning into our look at the weather for the week ahead. in the short term we have had some grey weather —— great weather and more great weather for the second half of the weekend. in so

so a strong nato is good for europe, but a strong nato is also good for the united states. and therefore, i will come the very strong commitment of the united states to the security of europe. we see this commitment not only in words but also in deeds. over the past months, thousands of u.s. troops have been deploying to europe, a clear demonstration that america stands with allies to protect peace and the sense of our freedom. and yesterday, you announced the completion of montenegro's membership in nato. we thank you for that. in a more dangerous and more unpredictable world, it is important to have friends and allies, and in nato, america has the best friends and the best allies in the world. together we represent half of the world's economic and military power. no other superpower has ever had such a strategic advantage. this makes the united states stronger and safer. we saw that after the 9/11 attacks on the united states. that was the first time nato invoked our article five, the collective defense clause. allies sent planes to help the american skies, and towards na

that was not despite our membership in nato, it was because of membership in nato, because nato providedave a political dialogue with russia. so i strongly believe the only way to deter russia is to be strong, but the only way to avoid new cold war, avoid a new arms race, avoid increasing tensions, is to continue to engage russia in political dialogue and make sure what we do is defensive and proportionate in the response to a more assertive russia. i give the floor to... i give the floor to. .. thank you, mr president i am from norway and russia is our neighbouring country, what do you think your pasty fear from russia if this tension continues? —— what do you think that europe has to fear from russia. continues? —— what do you think that europe has to fear from russialj europe has to fear from russia.” can't understand. what do you think european countries have too fear from russia if this tension continues to escalate. and though mr secretary general, the attack on syria last week, were said to be warranted, do you think so and you see nato playing a supporting role in any future acti

has an out size role in nato and nato will be an important alliance between the u.s.ween the u.s. and russia. so there will be questions. we expect a couple of questions from american media, a couple of questions from foreign media, and we will see what the exact content of those questions is, kelly, in a few moments. >> reporter: just entering the room behind you with steve bannon, of course the president telling the "new york post" today, it wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement of bannon who has been at odds with other parts of the white house like gary kohn. he could have picked that moment to say he fully was behind, you know, the man often seen as the economic nationalist on the team and he did not. that's why we'll have to see if he gets questions about a possible shakeup there, uncomfortably with the people in the room as well. >> yeah, that is definitely something that is brewing within this white house, kelly. for now we'll wrap it up and sit down and listen. >> all right. here is the president with the secretary general of nato, jens stoltenberg. >> thank yo

so a strong nato is good for europe, but the strong nato is also good for the united states. and therefore, i welcome the very strong commitment of the united states to the security of europe. we see this commitment not only in words, but also in deeds. over the past months, thousands of u.s. troops have been deploying to europe. a clear demonstration that america stands with allies to protect peace and defend our freedom. and yesterday you announced the completion of the montenegro's partnership and we thank you for that. in a more dangerous and more unpredictable world, it is important to have friends and allies. and in nato, america has the best friends and the best allies in the world. together we represent half of the world's economic and military power. no other super power has ever had such a strategic advantage. this makes the united states stronger and safer. we sold out of the 9-11 attacks of the united states. that was the first time nato invoked our article 5 collective defense goals. allies send awacs planes to help patrol american skies. and we launched nato's b

all nato allies are part of the global coalition to counter isil, and nato provides direct support to the coalition, retraining for iraqi forces in their fight against terrorists and more intelligence sharing. you are right we have established a vision which enhances our ability to fight terrorism, but we agree today, you and i, that nato can and must do more in the global fight against terrorism. in the fight against terrorism, training local forces is one of the best weapons we have. nato has the experience, the expertise, and the staying power to make a real difference, and fighting terror will be an important topic when nato leaders meet in brussels in may. the other major topic will be fair burden sharing in our alliance. we had a thorough discussion on this issue today. mr. president, i thank you for your attention to this issue. we're already seeing the effect of your strong orders on the importance of burden sharing. we agree that allies need to redouble their efforts to meet the pitch we all made in 2014 to invest more in our alliance. it is about spending more on defense. it

ambassador to nato at the time. and when we had suffered that catastrophic attack on new york and on washington d.c., i was in nato headquarters in brussels, and the canadian ambassador came to me and said, have you thought about invoking article five of the nato treaty. article five of the nato treaty is the article that is the heart of our commitment to each other in nato. an attack on one of us, is an attack on all of us. i was so overcome, both emotionally and politically, by the response that i received that night. every single one of our nato allies, and at that time we had 18 nato allies, said we will come to your defense. - i want to reiterate yet again today that the united states of america can rely on the full support of its 18 nato allies in the campaign against international terrorism. - [narrator] washington wants to leave afghanistan more stable than when us and nato forces arrived. - there's been an evolution. in the beginning the strategy in afghanistan was put forward by the bush administration was

if you were concerned about russia suddenly, you need a strong nato and you expand nato even and saywhere you are. >> governing unlike campaigning is about priorities. when you campaign you can make everybody happy. when you govern, you have to choose, have priorities and discipline. if your priority is china, even if hillary clinton had won, that would have been the most pressing national security threat facing the united states. you can't choose your inbox. north korea is front and center in your inbox. you can't then pick a trade war with china. you don't want to have the two-china issue become an issue, talking about taiwan. you don't want to pick a fight over the south china sea. you want to focus your relationship with china on getting them to use the leverage they say they don't have but do have over north korea. this is what you have to do. this is governing and a good sign. >> ambassadorbus, let's talk about the day the trump administration had in relation to russia. rex tillerson meeting with put sergey lavrov and vladimir putin. he said among other things we know for a fac

countries in nato are not paying their fair share. >> nato obsolete. here is the problem with nato, it's obsolete. >> it's over 60 years old. it is many countries, doesn't cover terrorism. >> i complained about that a long time ago and they made a change, and now they do fight terrorism. i said it was obsolete. it's no longer obsolete. >> nato has been fighting terrorism at least a tedecade. >> donald trump has changed but has nato change sd? >> reporter: you heard it. but standing next to president trump, he certainly let trump claim a victory rather than just admit it's a complete change in position, but if you listen to his opening remarks he talked about going to arlington cemetery to lay a memoriam, in a subtle way of saying we have been fighting this fight a very long time before your presidency so that was in there and it again when you take office when the president sees how much nato is actually essential to our military posture overseas it's impossible to not say it is no longer obsolete and now take this position. >> i want to talk a little

big changes including russia, nato, china. the president's new out look. welcome to early start i'm christine romans >> and i'm dave briggs. my body clock has flip flopped and so too has the president on virtually everything. >> good to be back. a stunning display of acrobatics. in matter of hours he performed at least three major back flips that formed the bedrock of his campaign. he took the most skeptical position yet on russia even though he left the door open for reconciliation with vladimir putin just hours after secretary of state tillerson met with the president. >> he proclaimed the relevance of nato, a body he claimed was obsolete and the president suddenly full of praise for president xi jinping. why is rapid change? >> reporter: sharp change in tone on the subject of russia at the white house with the nato secretary general, he described the relationship between the u.s. and russia at an all-time low and said they may have known about the attack in syria, but the president was not so quick to criticize vladimir putin who has been the biggest ba

and nato is supporting the u.s. in fighting isil in syria with our awacs surveillance planes helping to improve the air picture. so all nato allies are part of the coalition including some of them are active on the ground in syria. so nato and nato allies participate and contribute in many different ways to the international fight against terrorism. charles: now your original goal of course, the cold war fight, seems to be re-establishing itself with russia, and the grander ambitions of vladmir putin. bringing in montenegro certainly sends a serious message i would think to russia and their balkan ambitions. what do you see on the horizon with respect to a more tense and tense situation between the west and russia? >> so we have seen increased tensions between nato and russia and that is the result of the fact that russia has implemented a significant military buildup over several years, and they have used military force against neighbors. in georgia in 2008, and ukraine illegally annexing crimea, annexing part of a

support for nato.ut what they are saying is no different, really, than what other administrations have said before them. nato allies have got to spend more on defense. they've got to pull more of their share. and nato has to deal with modern threats and challenges such as terrorism, not just the old soviet threat that's gone. and the way that russia is prepting challenges, nato europe of today. >> yeah, all through the campaign when the president talked about it and then of course he was just a candidate but there was all this frustration. we talk about nato as if it's europe. but nato was the united states from what everybody could tell. >> exactly. >> it was all our weaponry. and it was their continent that russia could roll across if they wanted to. we've got a moat. so has europe increased its spending on its self-defense because of russia or because president trump finally said enough? >> it started before president trump was elected. in 2014, the nato leaders got together at a summit in wales and

and he believes that nato, and he thought that, nato should do more to fight terrorism, and it seemsassured donald trump on that front, and donald trump on that front, and donald trump on that front, and donald trump said today that he felt that nato was doing more to fight terrorism, and that is something the allies could do together. but during that press conference, there were also some extraordinary words to do with syria and russia. when it came to bashar al—assad, when asked about whether or not president trump was correct to send those 59 tomahawk missiles to hit that syrian air base last week, donald trump said he made the right decision, and described bashar al—assad as a butcher. and then he went on to describe relationships with russia, which he said at the moment are at an all—time low. said at the moment are at an all-time low. absolutely. and this kind of twisting and changing, these u—turns, the american press are calling this geopolitical whiplash. where do we go from here? when it comes to a relationship with nato, it seemsjens comes to a relationship with nato, it s

nato is a military alliance. nato is not a tea party. what was nato's purpose at the end of the first cold war? its purpose became expanding to russia's borders. but step aside. we are in an exceedingly dangerous moment, the syrian air strikes which don't seem to have any real coherence. the president has not stated any coherent outcome. has led dmitry medvedev the pro western leader in russia to say that we're on the verge of a military clash. i think we need some sobriety. because what you see with trump is incoherence, chaos, crudity, contradiction. and i think it's incumbent upon particularly progressives to lay out a common sense security foreign policy that is not an indispensable nation or policing the world. i think we can do better with nonmilitary solutions. look at the front page "the times" today. famine, drought, refugees. these are not going to be solve beside i military solution. >> we're going have to get a break in here. wesley clark, katrina vanden heuvel, thank you. >> thank you. >>> coming up, new developments in the

rasmussen: well, nato allies already decided. they did it while i was -- they will within the next decade reach the 2%. that also goes for the germans. tim: by 2024 come i think it was. >> yes, it is. tim but mattis has said that the : u.s. in the short term might moderate support for nato if that isn't met more quickly. >> yes. and he added that i will not elaborate on what moderate engagement will be because i expect nato allies to live up to their commitments. tim: yeah, but if america says it is unsustainable that we will take the lion's share of the 70% of this budget, and that needs to be addressed will that , be changed by nato members to fit in with what america is looking for? mr. rasmussen: i think it will, but i fully agree with the americans. this is not sustainable. in europe we have a peace , dividend, but now we must realize the security situation has changed after the russian attack on ukraine, and that is why we must pay 2%. tim: thank you very much indeed. mr. rasmussen: you're welcome. tim: you're watching "bbc

nato is a critical element. you know, i understand his desire to have them pay more of those countries that haven't been paying their fair share, that's a good thing, but at the end of the day to say nato was absolute was never a reality, and at least now i hope our european allies clearly understand that not only has the congress always believed that nato is critical but that the president does, too. >> the president says the relationship with russia right now in his words may be at an all-time low. is this a new cold war that's underway between theout and russia right now, and how dangerous is that? look the challenge with russia is that they continuously have violated the international order. they have violated when they came in and took over crimea. they violated when they send russian forces into eastern ukraine. i was there at the time, and invaded a country and its sovereignty, violated the international order when they armed the separatists there in ukraine and ultimately had one of their missiles struck

is 100% committed to nato. official would not comment on the things when trump was running for president. the two are set to have a news conference at the top of the hour when it happens. for now, doug mckelway at the while house. doug? >> president trump's meeting with nato secretary general is set to happen at the top of the hour. but it takes on added significant after what happened in moscow today when rex tillerson before his russian counter part, lavrov, said the relations between the two countries are at a low point because of what happened in syria. it's something that president trump echoed with maria bartiromo. >> frankly, putin is backing a person that is truly an evil person. i think it's very bad for russia. i think it's very bad for man kind. it's very bad for this world. but when you drop gas or bombs or barrel bombs, have these massive barrels with dynamite and drop them in a group of people. then you see kids no arms, no legs, no face. >> all of this highlights the importance of the nato allian

our nato general, our nato ismander, dylan nicholson one of our most experienced offers others in the field and most strategic thinkers. the teamwork that we enjoy here between the afghan government, our diplomats and international military contingency has reached very high levels of ownership and in a word, i have found it impressive. within the new american administration, our review is dialogue with secretary tillerson and staff at the white house. i would say we are under no illusions about the challenges associated with this mission. anothergoing to be tough year for the valiant afghan forces and international troops who have stood and will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with afghanistan against terrorism and against those who seek to undermine the legitimate, united nations recognized government of this nation. wish to join the political process and work honestly for a positive future with the afghan people who have suffered long and hard, they need only to renounce violence and reject terrorism. that's a pretty low standard to join the political process. that is my impr

you find the nato led force is a lot more than just nato here in afghanistan. you see what's going on against isis and syria. this fight is going to go on. we're in an era of frequent skirmishing. it is going to be far flung. and that's the nature of this fight. and concise, short definitions in one local area or another do not give sufficient credit to really defining the complexity of the issue. >> sir, that's all the time we have. we have to get you to your next thing. thank you very much. secretary mattis: thank you. >> thank you. xxx >> the center of armed services committee holds a hearing tomorrow on u.s. policy in the asia pacific region at 9:30 a.m. eastern on c-span 3. later in the day a hearing on u.s. aid to egypt. witnesses include former state department officials, they're testifying before the senate appropriations subcommittee on state and foreign operations. that's live at 2:15 eastern also on c-span3 and you can watch both of those hearings online at c-span.org or listen n the free c-span radio app. >> in case you missed it on c-span karen har

that's the next nato meeting.agreed to move toward the target of spending 2% of the size of their country's economies on defense. the u.s., united kingdom, poland, greece and astone i can't are the only five nato countries reaching that target. there are 28 nations in nato. as forever the u.s. response, if nato countries fail to spend more on defense, state department officials refused to say. the german foreign minister is already pushing back on the u.s. request. reuters reports foreign minister sigmoid gabriel would mean 70 billion euros. i don't know any german politician would claim that is reachable or desirable. before reprimanding nato allies on defense spending secretary tillerson opened his remarks to international counterparts expressing support for nato is strong and bedrock for trans-atlantic security. a message of relief for some. >> remember, at the beginning of the presidency, you know, nato is not so important anymore. it is not the key for security. now we see that the united states said, no it i

we should readjust nato. >> they asked me about -- tell me about nato. i'm saying, well, that's a question never asked to me before but i'll tell you about nato. it's obsolete and we're taking too much money. that's my instincts. >> the secretary-general and i had a productive discussion about what more nato can do in the fight against terrorism. i complained about that a long time ago and they made a change. and now they do fight terrorism. said it was ab sew let's. it's no longer obsolete. >> president trump seems to back away from another staple in his campaign, defending the legacy of vladimir putin. >> he's running this country and at least he's a leader, you know, unlike what we have in this country. >> again, he kills journalists that don't agree with him. >> well, i think our country does plenty of killing also, joe. >> putin's a killer. >> a lot of killers. we got a lot of killers. what you think our country's so innocent? you think our country's so innocent? >> i don't know of any government leaders that are killers. >> well, take a look at wha

and that was not despite our membership in nato but it was because of our membership in nato.ovided the >>> "action news" continues with meteorologist, adam joseph, sharrie williams and brian taff. >> hello again 4:30 now and "action news" continues with the reason that some in upper darby are calling the accused thief a peekaboo burglar. >>> and a cane in his hand and song in his heart that is how this chest eer nate of celebrat his 90th birthday. and you'll celebrate solomon johnson too. >>> and a dutch television program actually has panelist guests if women are fat or pregnant. and that is not the only segment that left people speechless. >> we begin 4:30 with the latest on the unsolved case that is crippling a delaware community with fear. it's nearly seven days since a 4-year-old girl was abducted from her neighborhood and sexually assaulted. police have come up with few leads, adding to the anxiety and tonight authorities are doing their part to calm the community. christie aleto filed this story ahead of the community meeting. >> reporter: it's almost a week since a go

involvement in nato?, because it's costing us too much money. >> we have all of these countries, and they're not paying. they're not paying. and we're protecting them. and the question is if such and such a country were attacked, are you willing to start world war iii because that's essentially what's happening, right? they don't pay. they said, but we have a treaty. so they have these articles. donald trump wants to give up nato. no, no. i want them to pay. >> it is against na backdrop that president trump tomorrow will host the nato secretary general. they will meet largely behind closed doors, but there will be a joint press conference, and we will bring you live coverage of that event tomorrow, 4:00 p.m. eastern time. that's going to do it for this edition of "the 11th hour" on a busy tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. good night from new york. >>> tonight on "all in." >> you had a, you >> communication breakdown. >> to draw any comparison to the hol oh cost was inappropriate. >> from fo

president donald trump is set to meet with nato secretary -- the nato secretary-general today. they say the president's commitment to nato was likely reinforced by the events of last couple of weeks. the issue of the fence spending in nato is likely to come up as well as relations with russia. is layingsident trump the groundwork for the reorganization of the entire federal government. the move could lead to a downsizing of the overall to thece and changes basic functions and responsibility of many federal agencies. as we have been reporting, united states secretary of state rex tillerson is meeting with russian president vladimir putin and the russian minister of foreign affairs. off will bed lever holding a news conference shortly which we will bring to you live. ours get the latest from bloomberg national security reporter who has been traveling with secretary tillerson. up to speed. what did we miss this morning? guest: we have just been told about three minutes ago that the meeting between putin and tillerson has finished, so he is expected to come over to the guesthouse w

you're an expert on nato and all things nato. if you were in that room with president trump, what does he need to do to mend fences there? >> of course, the admiral is the real expert there but thank you for the question. i think you need to hope for and expect two very clear statements. the two that we've been watching. one, donald trump needs to could out and say i believe in article v. nato is robust. if any nato member is attacked, the united states will have their back, period, end of discussion. a lot of the top national security team has said that. he's chosen people who understand that clarity. so far he has not himself given that clarity. >> had pardon me, let's listen to this tape. >> thank you very much. see you in a little while. thank you very much. >> so that was just a brief photo op as they call it in the white house in the oval office. that's president trump meeting with the secretary general jens stoltenberg. now they'll have a bilateral meeting with some others in an expanded meeting. and then the joint press c

nato, syria? >> the president was never an ideological guy or principled when it was views of the world or governance. on major policy positions, he did not have that kind of experience. i think he played fast and loose with the campaign for effect. i think he believes a couple of things. one, unpredictability and flexibility are his strength in negotiation, but also in how people will evaluate him friend and foe alike. i think he finds advantage in that and finds a way with change in position to bring people around because they can't pin him down a little bit. i think there are dangers as well in terms of being that unpredictable with allies. with what can people expect? that is the big deal? i have a different view now i'm governing. there is something to that. okay. campaign is one thingme. you get in office and you deal with other things. he is getting credit for flips. he is flipping to a moderate direction. >> carol, you just had a wide ranging sit down with the president. 70 minutes long. y

in the case of nato, is the most illustrative. where he wanted to see nato in particular but it is moving exactly in the direction he said it was buried in increasing the participation of other countries and having a greater focus on terrorism. that was reinforced by the secretary-general himself when he was here. when you look at these issues and you look at the direction they are moving, they are moving in a direction where the president has stated very clearly. john. bomb -- gbu 433 bomb. why did you choose this do yoular location and think this will be used again? , i would refer you to the department of defense on specific. >> you mentioned what we see it as a win in the security council, i'm curious to believe why you think it is a win. the resolution did not pass. what is happening at the security council, which gave the ofen light, you had all five the members voted yes. why you think this is a win when not all five members of the security council voted yet. where russia was blocking it. china and cut expand our in terms o

nato is obsolete. in my opinion, nato is obsolete. here's the problem with nato, it was obsolete. it's 67 years old. when i said nato to wolf blitzer is obsolete, i got attacked. three days later people that study nato said trump is right. i said it was obsolete. it's no longer obsolete. >> tony, what do you think changed for the president? >> apparently the president fixed nato in the couple months he's been in office. no, look, in fairness, don, a couple things. one, any president coming in confronts a barrier and that barrier is called reality, and often the positions they take during a campaign just run right into that barrier and so they change and they adjust and they adapt. if that's what's happening, that's a good thing. i think what's unusual about president trump is the vigor with which he takes on a new position as if he never held the old one. and counting a little bit on our collective amnesia to forget he said something diametrically opposed to what he's saying now, but if the end result is a policy and an approach that better reflects reality, and better reflects ou

saying nope, nato isn't obsolete anymore. that could be why vladimir putin said yesterday, that relations with the u.s. had deteriorated even under donald trump. and why his spokesman said only, well very tepid things like the tone of the conversation between rex tillerson and vladimir putin was only fairly good. if you want an indication, ali, very little has changed here, the u.s. delegation has gone into moscow today, came the syrian foreign minister, there will be talks tomorrow between the syrian foreign minister, iran's foreign minister and sergey lavrov. the three countries fighting in a coalition in the syrian war, a coalition that is no friend to the united states. ali? >> real quick, you were on the story i don't know how many hours you worked yesterday, but sergey l sergey lavrov and rex tillerson worked for a long time and they said we don't agree on most things on our agenda we understand each other better. if they went into yesterday with the lowest point in decades did they improve slightly yesterday? >> well,