blackmail by russia. >> michael flynn, was a counter intelligence risk. >> reporter: the risk, vladmir putin knew what was said while the vice president did not. nbc learned flynn signalled to the russian ambassador, president trump might ease off on obama's russian sanctions. critics say that knowledge could give putin a special hold over president trump through his national security advisor raising big questions about flynn's advice to the president on russia and mr. trump's startling defense of putin. >> putin's a killer. >> a lot of killers. we got a lot of killers. you think our country is so innocent? >> reporter: all while the u.s. is investigating russia's hacking. >> flynn was secretly communicating with russian officials at the same time that russia was attacking >> reporter: was there a quid pro quo? >> there's so more questions we don't know about the russian involvement in our election and the possible coordination of that involvement with people in the trump administration or close to the trump campaign. >> reporter: european diplomats say all this is frightening u.s. allies no

about vladmir putin, i don'tda trust him at all, i mean, him and the president are, they sure seemed to get along. the way, they pushed nato around, and, president trump needs to step in, you know, look at, ukraine is not nato. they just took crimea, and. eastern ukraine, that is not right. i mean, that's, sovereign country.po >> host: we'll get a response, kevin. thank you. >> guest: i agree with the caller, crisis in ukraine triggered by russian actions by annexation of crimea and unleashing of the undeclared war in eastern ukraine. really something, upended not just the post-cold war security environment in europe but the entire post-world war ii security environment in europe because we haven't really seen a country in europe, annex. another, sense of, since the end of world war two. and, it is something violates some of the bayic principles an european security and something we held dear for a long, long time. >> host: go back to your essay also available on foreign polics website with regard to crimea you write the following, the apparent spur of the moment decision to annex cr

the popularity of vladmir putin is very high. the supporters of boris nemtsov and the opposition in general are a tiny minority. as boris nemtsov once said, supporters, fighters for freedom in russia are always in the minority. that is certainly the case in 21st century russia. we are expecting to see thousands of people here today. this is a country of 140 million people. >> matthew chance live in moscow. thank you so much for the reporting. we will stay in touch with you as the crowds continue to gather. >> u.s. president, donald trump, promised job growth. he has almost p 202,000 jobs to fill. >> another weekend of very angry town halls. some face people and others refuse to hold the meetings all together. it is 4:26 in atlanta, georgia. po (mic thuds) uh, sorry. it's unlimited without compromising reliability, on the largest, most advanced 4g lte network in america. (thud) uh... sorry, last thing. it's just $45 per line. forty. five. (cheering and applause) and that is all the microphones that i have. (vo) unlimited on verizo

vladmir putin has said he wit w violent, cynical act.cuse vladmir putin of proceeding over a country where political killings are common place. boris nemtsov is one in a line of kremlin critics who has met this untimely death. >> matthew chance, live in moscow. thank you for the reporting. we will stay in touch as the crowds there continue to gather. now, to france. tensions there are rising ahead of the nation's presidential election. riot police and protesters slash in the u.s. our paris correspondent, melissa bell, filed this report on saturday. >> the sign of the fact that this is a presidential race that is. >> heating up with just eight weeks to go. far left and anti-fascist organizations have gathered to show enter anger that the far right leader currently leading in the polls is to be in the city to hold a rally. they vowed to try to keep parts of the center closed ahead of the rally. fear gas was fired today. they said they will do all they can to prevent tomorrow's rally going ahead. they will do all that is necessary to insure

. >> vladmir putin's leading adversary. he has been found guilty of embezzling timber worth 250,000 euros. he insisted the move was politically motivated. what we see is a message from the kremlin. the guilty verdict is deja vu for him. he was found guilty on the same charges. his sentence was overturned after the european court for human rights called the proceedings unfair. this time the same outcome and the same punishment. whether he can still legally run is uncertain and. he says his lawyers will appeal the decision. anyone convicted of a serious offense cannot stand an election. he has a long way to go. he trails in opinion polls but having his name on the ballot may be enough of a thorn in the kremlin's side. >> donald trump's legal fine to ban travelers from southern countries continues on this wednesday. an appeals court is debating the legality of his plans but we understand they will not issue a ruling on the travel ban this wednesday. that has not stopped trump from putting his own pressure on the court. while s

what did vladmir putin know and when did he knew it?ow is it possible that the white house counsel knew this for three whole weeks and did nothing? the american people deserve answers and they're not receiving them from either the trump administration or from the republican congress. so we will do everything within our power to continue to get to the bottom of this very serious breach and trust and security. we have not heard back from our, our leadership today. and we have called, repeatedly to chairman goodlatte about this matter. now, why is it that the flynn resignation does not resolve this matter? we need to know and to find out who authorized flynn to speak to the russians. we need to know why he lied to the administration and the american people. and why the white house counsel's office sat on this information for three weeks. now, it would surprise me to find out that flynn was acting on his own. he seems to speak to the president of the united states almost every day. and so, we want everyone to know that this is just the begi

. >> why can't he say a negative thing about vladmir putin?> he has expressed himself in the campaign an election that he won that he was determined to go forward and see whether or not we might be able to start a new and a relationship with russia. the president said many times if we got along with russia better, that would be a good thing for the world. you have someone who is not going to look in the rear view mirror. he's also made it clear maybe not, maybe it's not going to work out but i think he's determined. he had a productive conversation with president putin. he's going to look as a way we can move forward. >> are you comfortable with using those same words to describe vladmir putin? >> using what words? >> yeah, he's a bad guy but we've done some bad things too. are you comfortable with that? >> i don't accept it's a moral equivalency. i really don't. >> do you think he misspoke? >> no. president trump has been critical of american policy in the past and i expect he's always going to continue to be candid with the american people.

[inaudible] david: that was president obama then, talking about when he was reelected, tell vladmir putinrything will be cool. i will get rid of all okay stab cycles. could it be message donald trump was trying to relay to putin before he was inaugurated? >> i don't know that and that is a course of action, david, you're speculating on it, just like everybody else is. the clear issue is all administrations talk to as they're coming in, talk to other nations coming in. they can do that the logan act is, no one has ever been tried for it. that is not the issue. i think sean spicer pointed that out. there were no illegal acts conducted. now there may have been some different versions of conversations obviously with the vice president and others that i have heard that are starting to leak out. we don't know yet. in any case, the president felt that he has lost his trust. and that's a big thing. david: that is a big thing. >> i'm surprised after 25 days this happened. we're all i think shocked by it. david: let's switch subjects although it might be related to the russian ship off the coast of

he says he can work with vladmir putin.use vladmir putin and russia to thwart isis and other terror groups around the world. peter brookes, former bush 43 defense official. what do you make of that theory and has been consistent and on it, and mitch mcconnell says, no, no, putin is thug and don't put your hopes in him? what do you think? >> it is fair to assess the diplomatic intention of any country. the united states is looking not looking for enemies and friends hoping to advance our national interests. depending on the country, i don't think there is anything wrong. the bush administration did it. the obama administration. depends how you go about it. i didn't have a problem with the reset policy which turned into regret in the obama administration. the way they did it. the obama administration decided to give a lot of things away, missile defense in eastern europe, new s.t.a.r.t. reductions and russians didn't take reductions. our involvement overseas which allowed russians to get involved in syria. there are a lot of

president trump has spoken frequently of wanting to have a better relationship with russia and vladmir putin. the two spoke last weekend and discussed the topics of ukraine. we don't know what happened and what the discussion was p ukraine. there was no official readout. nikki haley, who is the u.n. ambassador, came up very strongly at the united nations this week and said absolutely that there would nobody lifting of sanctions on russia unless russia left eastern ukraine and they are claiming crimea belongs to ukraine. it sort of contradicts what we have heard president trump muse about in the past. nikki haley seems to be saying that is not going to happen. president trump spoke and said that the sanctions would not be lifted unless russia left ukraine and their claim on crimea. you can hear the campaigning and governing of two different things. we are seeing nbc senior political editor. president trump is at his mar-a-lago estate in florida. protesters are nearby. ann thompson is there. >> there are a couple hundred of it. there are people here throughout the crowd. all the these people a

who you might see vladmir putin supporting the ring. >> the original is in russia with the presidentowed it to him and he put it on and sort of enjoyed it so he kept it on. >> a confrontation between two of president trump's allies. that would be a dicey situation for him to resolve. either way, enjoy the game. >> thanks for watching. rld befo, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me. so beautiful. what shall we call you? tom! name it tom! studies show that toms have the highest average earning potential over their professional lifetime. see? uh, it's a girl. congratulations! two of my girls are toms. i work for ally, finances are my thing. you know, i'm gonna go give birth real quick and then we'll talk, ok? nice baby. let's go. here comes tom #5! nothing, stops us from doing right by our customers. ally. do it right. whoo! look out. ...one of many pieces in my life. ally. do it right. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine. i talked to m

in fact, it turns out vladmir putin wasn't happy with the interview, because the kremlin told reporters"we consider such words from the fox tv company to be unacceptable and insulting and we would prefer to get an apology." if i were you, fox tv company, i would apologize. i don't know if you heard, but that guy's a killer! ( laughter ) ( cheers and applause ) and you know putin was watching, because he loves the super bowl. he loves it so much that, according to patriot's owner bob kraft, during a visit to russia in 2005, putin stole kraft's super bowl ring. wow. that's bad. not as bad as stealing our election but a close second. we'll get another election. can't get that ring back. ( applause ) now, bob kraft, who's a friend of trump's, wants him to get the ring back. maybe trump can get it when he's kissing it. next time. ( applause ) now that trump's been president for a couple weeks, and yesterday the new york times gave us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the trump white house. apparently, things are so disorganized that, after meetings, visitors wander around, testing doorknobs unt

president trump is dealing with more criticism over his latest defense of russian president vladmir putin. >>> highlights from the biggest super bowl comeback in history. also lady gaga fans who couldn't get enough of her halftime performance. have we got great news for you. >>> live look outside in eastern pennsylvania. sunny, blue skies. we're talking ups and downs for our temperatures. first a big warm and rain that comes with it. all of that coming up. >>> if you still doubted tom brady's tag as the greatest quarterback in history, look no further than last night's super bowl. >> it's killing me but it's hard to deny it. he brought them back from 25 points down. it was a championship comeback few sports fans will soon forget. now matt ryan never got a chance in overtime. tom brady got the ball first and drove the pats down the field for james white winning touchdown run. you can credit clutch catches and stingy defense in the first super bowl game ever to go to overtime. this morning brady said it was the perfect way to cap off a season filled with adversity for the pats. >> it's grea

vladmir putin said it was in the interest of u.s. and russia to restore communications. the russian president spoke during a meeting of security officials in moscow. putin's calling for a new level of cooperation with western intelligence agencies in order to fight terrorism. >>> the president's supreme court nominee will start the nomination process next month. he met with bob casey this morning. casey was measured in his response afterwards, saying he would thoroughly gorsuch's records during his confirmation hearing which begins march 20th. >>> delaware county, chester's mayor says fighting crime in inner cities is a war and should be treated the same way cities are fighting the opioid epidemic. more than a dozen city and state lawmakers and law enforcement officers are brainstorming, strategizing on ways to fight inner city crime. another meeting is being held tonight at 6:00 inside city hall's community room so you can weigh in if you wish. earlier this week the mayor announced extra patrols in high crime neighborhoods and $10,000 rewards for information that leads

president of the u.s., donald trump, who has been so conciliatory and complimentary about russia and vladmir putinuch tougher rhetoric from his new secretary of defense, his vice-president and his new secretary of state. george? >> there are mixed messages, indeed, from the russian government, determining which way to go with these things. ivan watson, live for us in moscow. ivan, thank you for the report. >> talk about china now. that nation not happy about a u.s. deployment to the south china sea. the u.s. navy said saturday, a carrier strike group began routine operation ns ths in tha. >> it included this ship, the "uss carl vinson." it asked the u.s. not to challenge its sovereignty and security. it comes amid growing tensions between the u.s. and china over trade. currently in beijing, john, good to have you with us. the u.s. calls this a routine exercise. how often do we see this? >> not very often. the last time, in 201567. it is fair to say we see the u.s. sending a stronger message when is it comes to its participation in u.s. and the south china see. the "uss vinson" leading the charles

media or when it came to frankly stories of international importance like his relationship with vladmir putinat would my, some of my friends on the right have to say about that and should we not apply the same standards. we were all outraged when the obama administration attempted to bully and muscle out fox news from the pool. we should apply a similar standard when it comes to efforts to do the same by this right of center administration to cnn or other news outlets perceived to be left wing. we're all constitutionalists. i'm sure my friend on the screen is a constitutionalist. that means a real respect for the first amendment and for understanding just how important our founders attached to free and unfettered press. when you heard donald trump saying there should be no anonymous sources this is an effort to send a signal to people in government not to speak or otherwise to risk terrible penalties. we were critics of the obama administration for heavy handed use of the espionage act to go after sources of government and the media. we should apply the same standard for the trump administrat

the second the president hung up the phone with russia's vladmir putin on saturday.the call was cordial but shortly thereafter the russians stepped up their attacks on ukraine. 12 killed since the start of the week. houthi rebels backed by iran, striking a saudi warship with a ballistic missile on monday just one day after iran test ad ballistic missile of its own. that missile test prompted u.s. national security advisor lt. general michael flynn to formally address iran during a white house press briefing. we were telling you watch out, suddenly in the middle of sean spicer's news conference, sean spicer moved aside and general flynn me out and said iran was quote, put on notice. the world really heating up here. let's bring in fox news strategic analyst and retired army lieutenant colonel ralph peters joining us how you expect, colonel peters the growing tension with iran play out? i tacked iran first but you may think something else is important. we have real bubbling over between ukraine and russia. >> yeah. which is more important, plague, cholera, smallpox. we

mystifying but for whatever reason, mike bobbed in moscow at a banquet table with vladmir putin fundedtin's propaganda arm, rt, formerly russian television. that cast a pal, shadow, later phone calls with the am bass do here, the russian ambassador in washington and, a lot needs to be cleared up. i also have to say this i always have great respect for mike. when he went on putin's dime to moscow that really alarmed me. i'm old-fashioned under no circumstances should any retired officers take favor or funding from a hostile power, especially not if you're high-ranking intelligence officer. david: we have to move on. one final question. he has apologized to vice president pence for any misleading remark what he might have said to the russian ambassador. do you think that is enough. >> well, for me the issue, primary issue, salient issue isn't really mike pence. rather it is calls with the russian ambassador. we all got furious. we conservatives were furious when obama got caught on hot mic promising medvedev giving a strategic ice cream cone for putin after the election. we can't be hypo

is vladmir putin testing the new administration? lieutenant colonel oliver north is here to weigh in. melissa: the president says peace between israel and the palestinians may not come from a two-state solution after all. we'll get reaction from the former israeli ambassador who also served as israel's deputy foreign minister. >> and i think we're going to make a deal, that might be a bigger and better deal than people in this room even understand. that is a possibility. let's see what we do. look closely. hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. golfers like me have played these holes thousands of times, generating countless data points. the microsoft cloud helps me turn that data into insight that used to be invisible. here, intuition would tell me to lay up with a 3-iron, but the analysis from the cloud tells me to go for it, and use a driver for a 12 percent higher chance of birdie. there are countless points of data in the pga tour. the microsoft cloud m

leaders in the world and including vladmir putin. quite successfully. i.iz: everyone on the same page, you had rex tillerson saying u.s. will work with russia when mutually beneficial. general mattis secretary of defense say, outright rejecting any collaboration with russia on military issues, and then on top of all of that you continue to have a few questions about nato, secretary of defense mattis saying we will stand with our nato partners. mike pence is in europe and he is going to apparently reassure jittery europe. you also have others saying come on, start paying more for your defense or maybe we're going to retreat a bit on nato. >> right. i don't think those messages are necessarily inconsistent, liz. it all points toed need to get this very systemic where these guys from different agencies are getting together on weekly basis to coordinate not only strategy and policy options but messages that we're delivering to the world. when you get beyond all the turmoil of the past month look what the president has done, done a remarkably good job. the them

could the fighting there hit president trump against vladmir putin in trump's first foreign policy test. >>> and up in the air. a father trapped on a sinking

he has advised vladmir putin himself.ople reacting to the stories and the news that russian intelligent services were in constant contact with the trump campaign and to the reports about flynn and the russian ambassador? >> we see that with kind of dismay and sympathy. sympathy towards american who is have to retort to this kind of wild games in the internal affairs. of course, i'm not in any way connected with intelligence. i assume that general have never been anywhere close to connected to russian intelligence. >> do you think there are any connections that trump has with russia that we should know off? what do you make of those reports? >> to the extent i know, there were no serious connections. fortunately or unfortunately. now i will say fortunately because of the heat of the fight within your country. all connections which we could have had would have been to the detriment of russia and your president. >> do you think -- there's been reports that russia has gotten good at cyber warfare in general, in western europe

during the campaign and transition and even as president, donald trump said if i can get along with vladmir putin, that's a good thing. he's been very reluctant where he's criticized anything that happens by russia. his new u.n. secretary, nikki haley had her first experience at a security council meeting yesterday, quite tough. >> i must condemn the aggressive actions of russia. we do want to better our relations with russia. however, the dire situation in eastern ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of russian actions. the united states continues to condemn and call for an immediate end to the russian occupation of krimea. it is part of yukraine. our sanctions will remain in place until russia returns control over the peninsula to ukraine. >> if you go back to the campaign, candidate trump wjust kind of ignored this. he would say i don't think it happened. this is very tough. someone said don't watch what he tweets or what he says, watch what they do at the united nations. >> it's maize iamazing. what the president says is irrelevant. >> i wouldn't go that far. >> if he's o

perhaps he was channelling adele's hello when he called vladmir putin.ress secretary was thinking about beyonce's hit, formation. ♪ let's get in formation >> when he criticized state department official over the travel ban. >> they should get with the program or work. >> rihanna's song work might have been motivation for kel kellyanne conway. >> i've been on cnn over 1,000 times in my career. >> it is possible steve bannon is channelling demi lovato. ♪ i'm a boss right now >> think of our current white house drama using those beautiful songs and maybe it will be much easier to listen to. >> thanks for watching. gps is next. tom! name it tom! studies show that toms have the highest average earning potential over their professional lifetime. see? uh, it's a girl. congratulations! two of my girls are toms. i work for ally, finances are my thing. you know, i'm gonna go give birth real quick and then we'll talk, ok? nice baby. let's go. here comes tom #5! nothing, stops us from doing right by our customers. ally. do it right. whoo! look out. you know how pain

could the fighting there hit president trump against vladmir putin in trump's first foreign policy test. >>> and up in the air. a father trapped on a sinking to someone standing on the shore. a good catch that saved a little girl, today wednesday, february 1, 2017. >>> and good morning, everyone, welcome to today on a wednesday morning. i'm matt lauer. hoda is in while savannah is on maternity leave. >> the good news you know it's a great ending. i wonder how wilong we'll have wait to hear the entire story. >>> battle lines are being drawn over president trump's supreme court nominee. 49-year-old neil gorsuch. we've got full coverage on the pick, andhe andy carr, president george w. bush's former chief of staff and helped guide two former nominees through the process will weigh in. peter alexander is at the w house. peter take it away. >> for all of donald trump's controversies it may be the best thing that he does to unify republicans delivering on a campaign promise to nominate conservatives. he has impeccable credentials. a harvard law class mate of president obama's and a widely res

neil: and vladmir putin didn't follow do what they usually do, tit-for-tat, we'll get 35 of your guys intelligence guys said there is something up for that. did you think that was unusual or did you think, look this guy is on his way out. president obama saying why respond tit-for-tat when i have a new president to deal with in a few weeks? >> i think it was very unusual. most of us were very, very surprised the russians didn't retaliate tit-for-tat. neil: what did you read into that? >> one of two things. one, putin is very smart and he understood he had a new administration coming in and basically needed to be the better man. he played that very well in terms of pr perspective. the other possibility, i think this probably may be more the case than not, had a conversation with him, mr. flynn or others hold your powder, things will change. you can do what you want, give us space, breathing room to make some changes. neil: now there are indications that those kind of conversations might have taken place. >> right. neil: we just don't know when but certainly earlier than the administrat

and, number two, now, he has officially spent more time criticizing nordstrom and criticizing vladmir putin. >> i guess you are right. >> norm, i want to go over to you. you have been going after donald trump for quite a while on the issue of separating himself from his business. you do not believe that he has done so adequately. in fact, you have said that a full difficuvest yur from his business is not going on. she separated herself from her business at least in name. what do you make of the tweet that says this is an attack on her? is that an example of ivanka still being entangled in her own business? >> i agree with charlie. it is an example of why donald trump and his family needed to step away, make a more definitive break. i think it is an abuse of the office of the presidency. he is putting the bully in the bully pulpit to attack this company on dubius factual assertions to promote his daughter. >> we still don't know if donald trump is invested in these businesses. >> norm, what is the recourse here? >> is there any recourse for the federal government specially' republicans are d

president start calling them out and start crying and come up with absurd, insane, not to mention, vladmir putiny. i mean done like really seriously, nasty things to people and to compare what donald trump does, barking at these people with that, it is just insane. stuart: is there any suggestion that the, that they people know that they have gone too far? that the centrist democrats, if there is any left, are realizing that being led by the extreme left is not a winning proposition? is there any sign that they may realize that? >> no, stuart, and i think this is the problem that the democratic party finds itself in right now. you're talking mainstream democrats, talking about nancy pelosi, these people, they're all suffering from donald trump derangement syndrome. they don't know which way is up. they make wild accusation, crazy accusations constantly, and all of it reveals not only have they lost their mind, but they're also not doing serious hard work of examining what is wrong with the party what they're doing wrong, so they can again become a viable political party. at this rate, they're no

the point is his connections to russia and specifically vladmir putin and all investments and decisionse's made especially with russia now making incursions into ukraine and into that whole region again, make him a highly controversial pick and someone causes great unease not also in the state department where we have seen a wave of resignations but obviously in the senate where we point out large opposition. stuart: i think they would owe pose him for anything he may ever have done because it is oppose all things trump no matter what. that is surely -- >> you on the far right, you on the far right seat to be victims of everything. you're victimization. you need to stand on your own feet. by the way, i think tillerson did a great job there. he hit the right chord, this has been controversial election but everybody on this team in the state department has to stand together. i appreciate he spoke to the elephant in the room if you will. stuart: i think that was very generous of you, juan. i was surprised to hear that generosity from the extreme left to newly-installed state department guy

the next day vladmir putin said he wouldn't retaliate. president trump praising putin tweeting great move i always knew he was ve two weeks later vice president pence denied the call between flynn and the ambassador was about sanctions. >> it was coincidental that they had a conversation. >> reporter: two weeks after that the white house says the president's team was told by the justice department flynn may not have told the truth about the discussions. the president spent the next three weeks evaluating whether he could trust flynn. three weeks in which flynn sat in on meeting after meeting even delivering a stern warning to iran. >> we are officially putting iran on notice. >> reporter: as concerns grew, a senior administration official tells nbc news the white house started distancing itself from flynn by bringing in other top advisors to handle key duties. top staffers talking about who might replace flynn last week. now democrats are demanding to know more. >> the president learned weeks ago that his national security advisor, not a