i understand the point, but it's not putin's russia. it's russians' russia. russia is not vladimir putin. russia is an ancient proud culture and tradition embedded in its people. vladimir putin just happens to be a tyrant that today controls its government, but i thank you for inviting me to participate in this event. and i'm incredibly proud to be here with vladimir kara-murza. when we talk about people around the world who risk their lives in the name of freedom, vladimir is an example of just how true this is. and his brave fight for democracy and freedom in his country is truly an inspiration. we have an award in america called the profiles in courage, and it is large lly given to someone who took political risks because you might have lost an election or took nasty criticism in the press for doing so. a real incredible level of courage is knowing that your position on politics can yhave you killed or exiled or both. the state of human rights under vladimir putin and russia has long been on a severe decline. this deterioration has only accelerated in rece

-russia relation shape. there's also a question of are there things that the administration can do to change the narrative that would allow the administration to -- greater flexibility in dealing with russian than has now. and like the cruise missile attack that mike kofman talked about it change third dynamic of the conversation between the trump administration takes an action like that. there's great public and congressional support for that here in the united states. the russian leadership is visibly angry about it, and opposed to it. so, i wouldn't rule out further progress in the relationship without the election issue being resolved, because i think at a certain point there will be -- the election interference was a major issue at a time when there was no policy toward russia and everybody was trying to guess what the administration residents policy toward russia was them more that there is a russia policy and that there are intervening events, like the cruise missile strike, i think the more that the

because russia will not go with russia. because russia will not go away, it'll our biggest neighbour. then we have to find ways to avoid a new cold war and new arms race. that is exactly why i'm very much in favour of what we call the jewel track approach to russia. as a former norwegian politician i have the experience to work with russians because norway is bordering russia. norway was able even during the cold war to develop a pragmatic working relationship with russia. cooperating with them on energy, an border issues, environment, fishery. also in military affairs. that was not despite our membership in nato, it was because of membership in nato, because nato provided the strength, predictability, the platform for a small country to have 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 an

he was in russia recently. he was there, traveling to several russian cities, to present a documentary on boris nemtsov. he abruptly became ill, was hospitalized. his friends, families, those of us in the room, feared he was targeted with poison. and i have to say, for all of us who know him and have worked with him, he is a man of courage. he is a person who has strength of convictions -- deep convictions -- and a very fervent desire to see a democratic russia. re fundamental freedoms are protected. is vice chair of open russia movement and chairman of the boris nemtsov foundation for freedom. and we are very honored that he is able to be here with us. i also want to recognize his evgenia, who is also here, who is also truly a person of courage as well in this fight. please join me in a vigorous applause for these very three distinguished speakers. senator cardin. [applause] -- distinguished speakers. >> madam ambassador, thank you very much for that very generous and kind introduction. it's a pleasure to be b

russia put their name on the line. at what point do they recognize that they are now getting on the wrong side of history in a really bad way will he quickly? look at the country's standing with them. iran, syria, north korea. this is not 18 you want to be on. team you want to be on. the lines that have been crossed are those that no country should ever want to see another country cross. >> [indiscernible] the quote that hitler's did not think to the level of using chemical weapons. what to do mean by that? thehat he was not using chemical gas on his own people the same way. i appreciate that. he brought them -- into the holocaust center, i appreciate that. did,he same way that assad where he brought them into the middle of town. i appreciate the clarification. >> following the briefing, the white house put out a statement from sean spicer. "in no way was i trying to lessen the holocaust. was trying to explain the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on population centers. any attack on innocent people is

russia in a corner. secretary tillerson saying clearly russia has to make a choice. its current position means it is supporting iran, assad, hezbollah, and it needs to come across the table, if you will, and support the international community in getting a cease-fire and bringing a political transition in syria. tillerson saying that you believe now, russia has been falling short on its obligations. >> it is also clear russia has failed to uphold the agreements that have been entered into under multiple u.n. security council resolutions. it is unclear whether russia failed to take this obligation seriously or russia has been incompetent but this distinction doesn't much matter to the dead. >> the bigger picture right now if you look at this collectively is that the trump administration is caught up with the obama position on assad, transition to get him out of power. they have now the added heft they are willing to use military strikes and it's all in tillerson's hands as he heads to moscow. alisyn. >> t

russia vetoed it. russia and bolivia voted no. but china did abstain for the vote, an effective win for united states diplomacy on foreign relations. not much agreement with russia. but tillerson did get a meeting with putin and did agree relations are at historic lows. where do we go from here? >> i think we could have come to that assessment without the travel of secretary of state tillerson to russia. two weeks ago vladimir putin invited the president of iran and they had two days of talks. i watched the c-span debate at the u.n. security council. whawhat you saw was a a belliget minister from russia. i know we are talking about opening up lines of communication and die losing. but you have to look at the actions of russia. their actions with the ukraine and the baltic states. they were well aware of what bashar al-assad is doing in syria to his own people, and in many ways they have been complicit. liz: over half of americans support president trump's action in syria. trump again said no plans for ground troops in syria. the m

but at the same time, we have to find ways to engage with russia, to talk with russia because russia will not go away. russia will be our biggest neighbor and we have to find ways to live with them and try to avoid a new cold war and new arms race. that's exactly why i am very much in favor of what we call the dual-track approach to rush ha. as a former norwegian politician, i have the experience of working with russians because norway is bordering russia and norway was able to even during the cold war to develop i call a pragmatic working relationship with russia. cooperating with them on energy, border issues, on environment, on fishery and also in military affairs and that was not despite our membership in nato, 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 the only way to avoid a new cold war, avoid a new arms race and avoid increasing tensions is to coinue tengage russia in

on that, we can talk to russia because russia is our neighbor, russia is a states, so -- russia is here to stay, so we must find ways to manage that. i have certain the united states supports this approach, partly because the united states is contributing with forces to enhance our presence in the eastern alliance and also the southeast in romania, and the president expects they will not fight with russia, but based on unity and strength in the alliance. the next question? >> thank you very much. secretary-general, how long do you think it will take you to persuade the other european countries to burden share, and what are you going to do to persuade them? mr. president, can i ask you -- i am here to help. >> i like that question. [laughter] >> i'm here to help. and mr. president, do you think it is conceivable with your instinct, is it possible syrian forces could have launched the attack in idlib last week without the russians knowing, and have you been disappointed, surprised by vladimir putin's reaction since then? thank you very much. donald trump: i think it is certainly possible.

what comes next as russia, iran, the syrian regime -- we heard just last hour, russia has already said it's going to stop d conflicting over the skies of syria. the next couple of hours and days are going to say a lot about where this potential conflict comes. >> a lot of questions remain, president trump is taking action, making it very clear to the rest of the world that were not going to stand for this. we've got live fox news coverag. live from washington, d.c., at the state department, kristin fisher is at merrill lago with the president. conor powell is live on the ground. connor, what is the latest for you are? >> good morning, overnight that u.s. fired 60 tomahawk missiles. the aircraft took off to deliver that deadly chemical attack, the aircraft also turn there. syrian media and russian media say that there is extensive damage done to the space. the question is what type of damage was done? we've heard conflicting reports, a lot of damage done to the base. the u.s. also gave warning to russia to get their people out of there before these strikes were carried out, so syrian me

we want to work together with russia. russia is a threat. russia intervened in our election -- just about everything you can imagine. you could chart this and say there has been a progression over time, a movement, and you have had a lot of interaction with the president. i know you have been on the phone with him and you had a meeting here with him in washington. you met with secretary mattice at the defense minister meeting. you met with rex tillerson and you met the vice president on the security council. i want you, in your own words, where do you see the u.s. administration on nato today? how do you characterize u.s. policy, u.s. support, u.s. interest and concern? mr. stoltenberg: the message underneath nato has been consistent. in all my interactions, in all our conversations and also with the president and rex tillerson and his whole team. the message has been all the time that they are strongly committed to nato. that they see the value, and they want to make sure that nato continues to adapt. and both the strong commitment to nato,

russia foreign policy. >> very accomplished quite ,nowledgeable experts on russia a variety of institutional perspectives. the second question which we are asked in -- asking, what does america need? conversation this what america needs rumpefined by the winning t team. if we look at what the president is saying today, his secretary of state and security advisor, we would give a different answer. the russian behavior has changed completely. another possibility that president assad -- they did not pass the test, that is also a disability. another disability is that the president has discovered something new and incriminating about russian conflict or discover something important that we he was not aware of regarding and american anyway, this is a very important, interesting and difficult topic and i am looking forward to the conversation. we will start with -- director of the center for european russia and european and professor -- of georgetown university, who has written numerous books and articles on russia. she has a background as a scholar and a practitioner. she has also traveled to rus

and russia. this is a half hour. >> the big topic of the day, the syria, russia, north korea, china. ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and secretary-general of the north atlantic treaty organization. president trump: thank you. secretary-general stoltenberg, it is a pleasure to welcome you to the white house, especially at such an important moment in our great alliance. i also want to acknowledge the great work being done by our secretary of state, rex tillerson, to strengthen this nato alliance as well as his trip to moscow to promote the security interest of the united states and its allies. he did a terrific job. i watched parts of it. he did an absolutely terrific job. 68 years ago this month not far , from where we are gathered today, president harry truman spoke at the signing of the north atlantic treaty. in the nearly seven decades since harry truman spoke those words, the nato alliance has been the bulwark of international peace and security. nato allies defeated c

, we can talk to russia because russia is our neighbor, russia is a states, so we must find ways to manage that . i have certain the united states supports this approach, partly because the united states is contributing with forces to enhance our presence in the eastern alliance and also the southeast and romania, -- in romania, and the president fight withy will not russia, but based on unity and strength in the alliance. the next question? thank you very much. secretary-general, how long do you think it will take you to persuade the other european countries to burden share, and what are you going to do to persuade them? mr. president, can i ask you -- i am here to help. and mr. president, do you think it is conceivable with your instinct, is it possible syrian forces could have launched the attack in italy -- in idlib last week without the russians knowing, and have you been disappointed, surprised by vladimir putin's reaction since then? thank you very much. donald trump: i think it is certainly possible. i think it is probably unlikely, and i know they are doing investigations into tha

-russia cooperation. so in other words despite all this tough talk, what they're trying to do behind the scenes is give mus cow room to maneuver to get on the same side as washington. and that's why while you had all these tough statements out of tillerson, out of lavrov, you don't have a two-hour meeting and not get anything done with the president of russia. this is in a sense to take your analogy of the bromance being over between russia and washington, d.c., this is -- >> listen, tillerson is in russia at the same time the russian investigating dominating the news here at home. just tonight the fbi director james comey said americans need to inoculate against russian attempts to undermine faith and democratic processes. when that is your backdrop, what can you really expect to accomplish here? >> i think you still have to represent the interests of your country. russia is going to represent the interests of its country. and our interests in some areas coincide, and others they don't. you have to under

anyone critical of russia. this is what happens there an abysmal human rights situation that becomes even worse. we have seen over the last number of years vladimir putin's critics mysteriously poised on, many occasions on multiple occasions thrown out of windows, murdered, all this just this year along and we're only in march. vladimir survived his second poisoning attempt. the government has implemented draconian laws. we watched this week predominantly young russians took to the streets to protest corruption within the putin government to make clear that the people of russia what they want is a transparent ghoofrmt respects their voice iz in shaping their future. what was the response of the putin government? they arrest and detained hundreds of people. this is only the latest incident that reminds us how critical it is that the united states stands with the russian people in their fight against a beautal, corrupt and repressives va jet stream. this behavior by the putin ra yeem is nothing new in the in twef

putin set leader of russia. russia is a strong country. we're a very, very strong country. >> president trump also very suspicious of putin, questioning if russia knew about syria's chemical attack before the slaughter of those innocents. >> they are doing investigations into that right now. i would like to think that they didn't know, but certainly they could have. that's a butcher. that's a butcher. so, i felt we had to do something about it. i have absolutely no doubt we did the right thing. >> the president's comments come in short time after secretary of state rex tillerson tour of moscow meeting with vladimir putin. after his boss president trump, secretary tillerson with the ominous news that there is a low level of trust with russia. and amid all the feuding, get this, president trump with a surprising message at his joint press conference with the head of nato. >> the secretary general and i had a productive discussion about what more nato can do in the fight against terrorists. i complained about that a long time ago, and they ma

is, so to speak, the and e between russia europe. if the united states gives up russia, it wouldn't make america great. would contrary, it strengthen and embolden putin, ho is challenging american global leadership. has strong strategic interests in keeping ukraine as western world. host: okay. form eformer nato ecretary general anders rasmussen. and as we talk about the u.s. relations, we have a line of 202-748-8003. if you're outside the united we encourage you to join the conversation as well. want to ask about a tweet you sent yesterday. you said the world hasn't become a more peaceful place after u.s. hesitation to act over eight years. we need a policeman and only play that role. what did you mean by that, and what was the reaction? guest: there was a lot of that tweet, i can you. because it is important to state that the united states shouldn't policeman. s but you can see that the world is on fire. wherever you look, there are problems, middle east, iraq, erbia, africa, even europe is sinking from the burden from refugees. n

because russia is not -- russia will not go away. they will be our biggest neighbor. we have to find ways to live with them and avoid a new cold war and arms race. that's why i'm in favor of the duel-track approach to russia. as a former politics, i have the experience to work with the russians because norway borders russia. norway was able to develop a pragmatic working relationship with russia. cooperating with them on energy, border issues, environment and fishery and military affairs. and that was not despite our membership in nato. 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 believe the only way to deter russia is to be strong and the only way to avoid a new cold war, avoid a new arms race and increasing tensions is to continue to engage russia in a political dialogue and to make sure what we do is defensive and proportionate. now i give the floor to diego. >> thank you. i'm from norway. russia is our neighboring country. what

russia cannot escape responsibility. in fact, if russia had been fulfilling its responsibility, there wouldn't be any chemical weapons left for the syrian regime to use. there is one more thing we know. we know that if nothing is done, these attacks will continue. assad has no incentive to stop chemical weapons as long as rush -- russia continues to protect his regime from consequences. i implore my colleagues to look at their hard words in this council. we repeatedly repeat tired talking points that is regularly undermined by the assad regime. time and time again, russia uses the same false narrative to deflect attention from their allies in damascus. time and time again, without any factual basis, russia attempts to place blame on others. there's an obvious truth here that must be spoken. the truth is that assad, russia, and iran have no interest in peace. the illegitimate syrian government led by a man with no conscience has committed untold atrocities against his people for more than six years. assad has made it clea

what russia did. why are we really met with russia on the left, what is this really about? >> i don't think it's left or right, i think it's country before party. you have many republicans who believe these things, lindsey graham, john mccain, richard ibarra. have direct or comey who aggressively went after hillary clinton in the investigation, i don't think this is a partisan issue so much as we need to get the bottom of it. >> tucker: the permanent establishment in washington, my question is why would that be good for the united states? you saw democrats say that it was deeply troubling that the trump administration alerted the russian military before striking syria, would have been better to kill some of them with air strikes? >> i think what you have there is people weren't assured that the administration was put in the united states interests first. that's why they might have made a statement like that. what you saw today, however, was a very resolute administration, one which is not going to tak

they are russia. it used to be the area of the eastern bloc over which russia believes it should still have influence. are aality is that if you large country in a region, yes, you will probably have outsize influence on what happens in that region, but the reality also is that those are no longer part of the eastern bloc. the south caucasus, georgia, you have ukraine and the baltics and these are independent countries. if they decide to take a certain route, should that really be up to russia? i think with respect to crimea i think now when we are speaking about ukraine, the issue is much and the issue is eastern ukraine and the thousands of people have died there and whether or not the ukrainian government to make the forms necessary while they're still fighting with russia in part of its country. host: as far as the talks currently going on, described what to expect from the rest of these talks. do we see future meetings happening between the two countries? guest: yes, prudent and trump are excited

there's also an element of russia's agency, russia's conduct in this environment, and russia's conduct, i would have to agree with steve, has made it in some cases much bloodier and more violent than it had to be. >> thank you. with quite a few people raising their hands, we have 1 15 minuts so i will ask all of you to ask brief questions or comments, and brief answers. governor? [inaudible] thank you, dimitri. i apologize for being a few minutes late. rainstorm and interstate 95 traffic kept me from hearing and you and stephen, although i listen closely to paul and michael and its children to get to the edge of what to the russians want. you'll try to get to that and maybe that was explained by the first two speakers carefully, but paul, i read very closely your lavrov interview, very closely, and trying to understand what do the russians want by listening to the interview. what i came away with was an interview that expressed anger, resentment, a sense of inferiority, fear and that their actions would then be conducted as a result of that. what we are seeing right now is an invasion

maybe not attributed to russia. but we have a problem at large right now with our information sources. >> senator rubio -- >> i think you hit the nail on the head. i don't really have a lot to add to it. we are faced a strategic attack. it's not a kinetic attack usually. it's a political attack. another question comes. what sort of strategic response are we going to be able to develop to that? we could elaborate on that. >> senator warner. >> again, thank all the witnesses for their testimony. doctor, i'm going to start with you. we have heard a lot recently about the role of the head of russia's largest aluminum company and the role he may have played in helping to support the goals of president putin. can you characterize the role in this area, and then more broadly, are there any of the oligarchs in russia, at least those not in exile, that aren't somehow caught up in the kremlin's foreign policy activities? or are there any truly independent? >> thank you, senator warner. i can't add anything to the conversation

russia knows what's in russia's interests. we may not agree with it, but they have a port in the mediterranean in syria. they have air bases in syria. they srf a geo political view, as does iran, about what role they want syria to play in the power, the balance of power in the middle east. certainly nothing today indicated that tillerson and/or trump and/or the missile attack had changed russia's view of this position in the world, syria's position, in any way shape or form. >> melissa: no, but maybe in those details you just mentioned, there's a deal. if that is their interest, does that outweigh or is there some way to negotiate within that frame work i guess is what we'll see. some have suggested that. it's possible to maintain their interest but still you don't have assad in position there. it's somebody else. i don't know how hard that is to achieve. >> that is certainly one of the things that the white house has been talking about. the possibility that while the allowites, the sect that assad represents, that could remai

withis a replay of 2013 russia cooperating with the united states russia never , acknowledged syria's response -- responsibility for that attack and i'm not surprised , they refused again to do so today. what about other issues raised? north korea, for example. what did we learn about that and other aspects affecting both these countries? mr. crowley: i think both foreign ministers reviewed the scope of the agenda in relations between the united states and russia, and certainly north korea is among them. again, lavrov indicated a potential willingness to renew arms control negotiations. that is one area where there is a clear, common interest. the reality behind this meeting remains, that the areas of common interest between the 2 countries is shrinking, and the have found disagreement. tim: how do you think tillerson did against one of the world's best, most polished diplomats? mr. crowley: absolutely. on that dynamic tillerson held his own. i think that dynamic today was constructive. the fact that he did get to meet putin was constructive. the length of that meeting, two hours, doe

that's a great embarrassment to russia. >> was russia complicit in this syrian gas attack, the sarin gas attack against the civilians in one way or another? what's the latest information you're getting? >> well, from my standpoint, i'll give you my view of this, the man who ordered the attack was assad. and the one we're holding responsible for it is assad because he continues to do it. and i think for that reason the international community is sort of come to the conclusion, and this is why our secretary of state is there meeting with putin today in moscow, to try to reason with the russians and explain look, this -- the judgment of an individual who has killed 480,000 of his own people and driven 14 million people out of their homes, many of these dps are stretched across syria but many across the middle east and now in europe, someone with that inability to govern his country, someone with that streak of cruelty in him is not going to bring order out of the chaos that he's helped create. so i think at this point, that discussion, that political discussion has to happen in terms of

and russia. this is 30 minutes. >> secretary-general, it is a pleasure to welcome you to the white house it is an important moment in our great alliance. i want to it the great work being done by our secretary of state rex tillerson to strengthen the nato alliance, as well as the secretary's trip to moscow to promote the security interests of the united states and its allies. he did a terrific job. just watched parts of it and he did an absolutely part o terrifc job. not far from where we are gathered today, president harry truman spoke at the signing of the north atlantic treaty. in the nearly seven decades since harry truman spoke those words, the nato alliance has been the bulwark of international peace and security. nato allies defeated communism and liberated the captive nations of the cold war. they secured the longest period of unbroken peace that europe has ever known. this enduring partnership is rooted out of so many different things, but our common security is always number one. and ou

alaska back to russia appeared a public campaign to give alaska back to russia. satirical or nonsense appearing on the white house website are not out of the norm but this petition was different. it gained more than 30,000 signatures. it revealed an odd pattern. it appeared to be the work of bots. a closer look of the bots tied in with other social media campaigns we had objected pushing propaganda months before. >> that's clinton watts testifying at the senate intelligence committee about some of the more ham-handed russian influence operations he's noticed in his counterterrorism work -- counterintelligence work in the united states. noticing how even stupid stuff like that around a poorly spelled white house petition, even when it's dumb, it gives you a place to start in terms of seeing what tools they have, in terms of seeing how they operate. so basically getting 39,000 signatures instantly on this groovy, mistranslated petition, it gave away a little bit how they worked because they operate in lots of ways, serious and not, some of those signatures were cle

against russia. obviously anything is possible. i think the likelihood of this leading to a conflict between russia and the united states in my own opinion is very, very low. of course anything is possible. but i think that's a very low probability. and i think, again, this action relative to the very small probability of that happening i think was the right answer. >> finally looking forward here between syria and congress' investigation into russia's involvement in the u.s. election, what should we expect when secretary of state rex tillerson meets with russian officials, possibly even with president putin in moscow next week? >> what i'm hoping is that secretary tillerson is very firm with putin about what outcomes we want in syria and to get him to stop supporting assad so we can figure out through a

and from the beginning russia wanted to be a part of it, russia wanted to join nato. i think we've lost the question. the question is about the security of this part of the world under donald trump — here's what worries me... that one of his closest advisers, newt gingrich, talked about their baltics as if they were a suburb of st petersburg. that's what he said of estonia. this part of the world, that's what i suggested. and that is a mentality that is existing in our white house, and when the time comes, this is all nice we've increased our forces, that defence spending is going to grow, and i'm all for that but this is about what happens in a crisis. this is about the fact that people are worried. vladimir putin has already intervened in estonia, by kidnapping people and removing them. he's invaded ukraine and the reason people are worried is what will the united states do in a crisis? if your president doesn't believe that nato is important, no matter what the vice president says, and the secretary of defence says, the president may not behave in a way that brin

and russia? >> it's not a new cold war but we have seen increased tensions and the relationship between nato and russia has been worse for many years. and for me, that just underlines the importance of what we call dual approach for nato. we need to have stronger fence credible deterrence combined with russia. russia is our biggest neighbor. russia is here to stay. we have to find a way to manage a relationship with them and how to avoid the new cold war and arms race and therefore what nato does is -- >> but the president, president trump says there is fear in europe. 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 c

and russia? the answer to that, i would go to the racetrack and redeemer a lot of the money i lost over the years. but i would say way too close, way too possible. the other new cold war fronts are heating up. that is the north wall to carry a, the small baltic states and poland were nato is building up beyond reason. ukraine, where the american supported the government and give is melting down. but of course, it is syria. we have a lot of troops there. we don't know how many. they is probably more than have told us. american pharoah planes are flying. the battle for raqqa, which is the symbolic, real islamic state capitol in syria is coming up. both sides want to take it. the american coalition, the russian-serine-coalition. ideally, they cooperate. if they can be to take the city, you're going to have american and russian aircraft flying in a very close area. do we have 30 seconds for final word? jonathan was right about the russian unwillingness to abandon assad, but i believe and the rurussia

sanctions against russia. and president trump hasn't thrown steve bannon under the bus, not yet, but he's certainly delivered a very blunt public warning to his white house chief strategist. the president telling the "new york post," and i'm quoting him now. i like steve, but going on to downplay bannon's role in the election campaign and his own relationship with bannon, and the president seemed to put the burden on bannon to end this feud with son-in-law jared kushner or else. i'll talk to democratic senator bob menendez of the foreign relations committee and our correspondents, analyst and guests are standing by with full coverage of the day's top stories. we have a lot of ground to cover from the president's news conference, so let's go straight to our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. jim, sum it all up for us. >> reporter: wolf, you heard president trump during the news conference with the nato secretary-general jens stoltenberg real elazig nal a shift in his attitude towards russia. he descri

russia. they have seller's remorse. i mean, they haven't been grinding their teeth about it for all 150 years, but they are sort of grinding their teeth about it now. this is a russian magazine called "military industrial courier" which i promises you do not read on the regular. this got picked up in "the new york times" yesterday. this article in ts called "the alaska we lost." darn you, william sue ard, for snookering us on that deal. yesterday vladimir putin was at an international forum in the arctic where he was not only complaining about alaska, he was complaining that the united states is unfairly using alaska as part of our plot for world domination. he said, quote, what we do is contained locally, while what the u.s. does in alaska it does on the global level. the united states is using our unfair toehold in alaska for purposes of global oppression. obviously. i mean, you would not expect this sort of thing if you weren't looking for it, but there is a bit of russian nationalistic fervor right now around the is

, to talk with russia because russia is not -- will not go away. russia will be our biggest neighbor, and we have to find ways to live with them and to try to avoid a new cold war and arms race and that's exactly why i am very much in favor of what we call the dual track approach to russia, and as a former norwegian politician i have the experience to work with russia because norway is bordering russia and norway was able even during the cold war to develop a pragmatic working relationship with russia, cooperating with them on energy, on boarder issues, on environment, on fishery, and also on military affairs, and that was not despite our membership in nato, 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 mak

>> yeah, it's russia. >> russia's military buildup. okay, back further, the gentleman with the beard. >> thank you, your excellency. following the coup in turkey various staff on nato were part of the turkish military were targeted by president erdogan political purges. so how is this affected nato's day-to-day operations and how does nato plan to respond to future political peoples or even human rights abuses in its member states? >> great, thank you. and we will go in front of you, the women there with her hand up. >> thank you so much, mr. secretary-general. earlier in your remarks you mentioned that nato's greatest strength is that it is able to deter with credibility and given the actions of russia in crimea in 2014, which he referred to earlier, how will nato reassert their credibility in europe, and in what ways should the united states also take action to reassert their credibility within the nato organization? thank you so much. >> great. thank you very much over to you, secretary-general. russia's military buildup, restoring

what about russia? this is the first time russia strikes since the uprising, is this telling russia, listen, you are not the only player in the game, is it putting the regime on notice in a way that would perhaps make russia act differently towards this government that it has supported for so many years? . likely now the president donald trump is saying, look if i have to, if chemical weapons are used, i will make, even if its symbolic, i will intervene militarily. does this change how russia, itself, is intervening militarily inside syria in. >> reporter: well, the russians are hoping that it doesn't have to change, heather, intervening militarily. that's the thing. they are hoping this is short and sharp as i have been saying that it is done now and that the united states will noter fear any longer, russia maintaining you know that look what we we heard from barbara starr's reporting, they say it is simply not true, that the government had nothing to do with that attack that russia was nor complicit o

russia i don't think is reading my e-mails. russia's not intercepting my phone calls. russia's not listening to conversations. russia's not putting people in prison without indictment. >> russia is putting people in prison without indictment. >> i'm talking about americans. i'm talking about americans. >> we're talking about russia? what they're doing to their citizens or what they're doing to us? how about what we're doing to ourselves? >> i think we've got to get to the point where we let things like this whole russia thing settle down and move on and let the man be president. >> some powerful sentiments out of hartford, connecticut. >>> a teenager is dead and several children are sent to the hospital after the area surrounding a hotel pool apparently comes up with carbon monoxide. chilling new details from witnesses and first responders -- next. (vo) love. i got it. i gotcha baby. (vo) it's being there when you're needed most. love is knowing... he's the one. (vo)...it was meant to be. and love always keeps you safe. we're fine. (vo) love is why we built a car you c

attack, saying -- "either russia has been complicit or russia has beenen simply incompetent." in russia, meanwhile, lawmaker mikhail yemelyanov has accused the united states of provoking a nuclear war. >> this act goes far beyond just syria because clearly, russia supports the legal syrian government and takes part to a certain skill in this conflict. therefore, such a strikes are an act not just against syria, but also against russia. moreover, when americans were striking the airport, they did not know if our citizens were there or not. this situation may lead at least to a repetition of the cuban missile crisis, which almost push the world on the edge of a nuclear war. amy: the u.s. attack on the airbase appears to have caused little damage to the syrian regime's military capabilities. the government was able to largely evacuate the base before the attack, since the u.s. had warned russia before the missile strikes. on friday, only hours after the attack, the base was once again operational. on saturday, activists say at least one civilian was killed in airstrikes on a resi

it's welcome. >> reporter: blunt talk from the new secretary of state about russia while in russia on his first official trip there. would have been note worthy for any merge diplomat but more so since president trump has been so constick wsiously reluctant o criticize the russian dictator. during his campaign -- >> putin said great things about me. he said, trump is a genius. his candidates wanted me to disavow the statement. why would i disavow that statement? i agree with it. >> reporter: after after he became president. >> putin is a killer. >> a lot of killers. you think our country is so innocent? >> reporter: even today despite his administration's tough talk about russia's actions in syria, trump refused to condemn putin personally. >> putin is the leader of russia. russia is a strong country. we're a very, very strong country. we're going to see how that all works out. >> reporter: by way of comparison, this is how the senate's top republican sees putin. >> putin is a former kgb agent. he is a thug. >> reporter: veteran diplomats say president trump's reluctance to call-out p

russia is going to act in russia's interest, and syria is russia's interest. >> before we go, your reaction to the news tonight about the warrant on carter page? >> i think that's fascinating. i predicted in my book which i wrote last september, there had to be warrants out there. i know some people had projected there were warrants that were applied for and turned down, but this shows the fbi got it the minute they asked for it. which means that must have had some significant intelligence about carter page and his links to russian intelligence, which have been 100% high confidence, like a telephone call or some intelligence report which they could corroborate with other special intelligence or human intelligence. either that or carter page works for the fbi and he's just being dangled out there to look as if he's still part of the cabal. i don't know. i hope that's the case. it means we know a lot more about this plot than people are letting on, because if that was out there, that mean, i mean, dwsh when he did his interview with chris hayes, i said very early on, he essentially has no rig

position as far as cooperation with russia that russia must -- that russia must admit or agree that syria was behind the chemical attack and that russia must disown assad? can cooperation happen if russia maintains the position that syria was not -- >> it's not just behind it. i think russia has joined an international agreement regarding the not just the use of but possession of. susan rice went out and said syria no longer had access to chemical weapons. we know that's not true. i think the united states, russia and others, signed an agreement that syria was part of that said they would not only use but possess chemical weapons. the first thing we need to make sure of is that russia is an agreement to. that's first and foremost. it's in the national interest of the united states to make sure the proliferation of chemical weapons spreads no further it's not just the deterrence of future use. >> at this point, the u.s. is not agreeing with the u.s. contingent that the syrian government carried out the attack. >> i understand that. secretary tillerson has just landed a few hours ago and i

take it one at a time. >> yes, all roads lead back to russia as you know. assad is russia's proxy. how does donald trump deal with putin and asaad and deal with syria and russia unless he gets russia on board and i doubt that happens. >> as long as assad is in power there will be a civil war in syria and you'll see islamic extremists fighting assad's government. he has to go as my former boss marco rubio says this weekend they're two sides of the same coin assad and isis. you need to go after both of them and a strategy to do it and the president needs to lay it out. >> bill: thank you, alex and mary anne. 21 past the hour. >> shannon: fox news alert. dozens are dead hundreds injured after suicide bombers devastate two churches in egypt. a chilling look inside the latest isis attack targeting christians. >> bill: police on a manhunt for this suspect calling him a national threat this morning. >> even more awkward that somebody that seemed so innocent could do something so terrifying and become a threat to the whole united states. >> bill: former president bill clinton paid a visit

relations with russia are atan government. relations with russia are at an all—time low. vladimir putin said this us attack was an act of aggression. but donald trump said it was in response to a suspected war crime. the us believes the syrian president was responsible for using chemical weapons against civilians. at a press conference alongside the nato secretary general, mr trump condemned bashar al—assad. general, mr trump condemned bashar al-assad. that's a butcher. that's a butcher. so i felt we had to do something about it. i have absolutely no doubt we did the right thing, and it was very, very successfully done, as you well know. earlier, russia vetoed a un security council resolution that would have compelled the syrian president to co—operate with an investigation into the attack, a response president trump described as disappointing. it would be wonderful, as we were discussing just a little while ago, if nato and oui’ just a little while ago, if nato and our country could get along with russia. right now we are not getting along with russia at all. we ma

is the us position one of cooperation with russia, that russia, russia must admit, or agree that syria was behind the chemical attacks and russia must dissolve assad, can cooperation happen if russia maintains the position syria was not behind that? >> not just behind it but russia has joined an international agreement regarding not just the use of, possession of, susan rice went out and said syria no longer had access to chemical weapons, we know that is not true. the united stes, russia and others signed an international agreement that syria wasart of that said syria would not only use but possess chemical weapons. the first thing we need to do is enforce the existing agreement russia is a partner to. we need to make sure we do that in the national interest of the united states to make sure the proliferation of chemical weapons spreads no further and that is something to be careful of, not just the deterrence of future use, but the proliferation of them. >> agreeing with us contention that the syrian government carried out the attacks. >> secretary tiller's and -- tillerson will have

it is unclear whether russia failed to take this obligation seriously want russia has been incompetence. this distinction does not much matter to the dead. we cannot let this happen again. our military action was a direct response to the assad regime barbarism. the united states priority in syria and iraq remains with the defeat of isis. g7are calling on our partners to sustain the fight against isis well after the liberation of most. , syria, on the ground in other countries, we must eliminate isis. support will be critical. to stabilize syria will need the direct precipitation -- participation to settle the conflict in syria and the civilian population. normalcy for a unified syria. i am happy to take a question or two. >> obviously over the last day or so -- conflict he must out of the administration. growing pains? can you settle some of those conflicts? do we want bashar al-assad out now or later? -- chemical weapons pressure -- strike undertaken was in direct response to the use of chemical weapons. as i indicated we do believe it is in the national interest because it is a threat