strikes me joe biden s instincts to be bipartisan some in his party think too much covering him on the hill as i used to as a senator he was always working across the aisle and it seems as though this is kind of an indication that his skin might be a little thinner on this subject after infrastructure that you have been covering so intensely. andrea, it was, i think, a little bit surprising to me that he did go as far as he did in talking about republicans when he was on foreign soil despite, of course, the fact that, yes, president trump broke that norm when he was in office over and over again. but, you know, i also think that one of the things that he tried to focus on in his remarks, especially considering the timing of the putin meeting and how that is being set up is that, you know, vladimir putin spent 2016 trying to sew descent among the american public.
the fact is they could come out of that with something positive on arms control. there is also an indication that it could be an extended meeting that could go well beyond. there are hints that it could staid over. stay over it could be another night involved. even and of course it all depends on what happens. i m just saying they re preparing for nearly everything and they may be adding some things to the president s agenda in meetings that are taking place today. evelyn, let me bring you into the conversation here. evelyn, to andrea s point, people who know that the scenario is the best case scenario for the president is an
president putin continues some of his activity president biden says he is not going to hesitate to let him know that the u.s. will respond in kind. monica, thank you for that, andrea, let me bring you in here. when you look at how the white house is talking about expectations publicly, i think it is a fair thing to say that they re really downplaying them, what are sources telling you about the private expectations and what have you learned as you have been on assignment overseas. well, the fact is they re downplaying expectations, low balling, if you will, as they would do going into any such meeting. especially one of this importance. the truth is that is what their expectations are. they really think that putin may well be coming in to just play his persona of being whataboutism. his talking points, january 6th,
cooperate. and we are going to respond to actions that are inconsistent. reporter: tonight, the president arriving in brussels for a nato summit today. mr. biden saying today we do not view nato as a sort of a protection racket we believe that nato is vital to our ability to maintain american security. and andrea joins me from brussels, the site of that nato summit that comment we just heard from the president sounded like a swipe at his predecessor. reporter: exactly nothing but. nato, of course, is an alliance that former president trump threatened to quit, calling it obsolete president biden, instead, thinks it s critical for his efforts to stand up to russian aggression kate andrea mitchell, thank you so much as a reminder, keir simmons exclusive interview with vladimir putin airs tomorrow on today. now to more on president biden s visit with the queen today. he became the 13th u.s. president to have an audience
translator: but i do not remember this particular part of our conversation to be honest with you. probably has a good memory. and as in that weren t enough, secretary of state tony blinken sitting down with andrea for a preview of the biden administration s expectation for what happens in geneva in a brand-new interview. will the president demand that russia also do something about its own government hacking? if russia will continue to take reckless or aggressive actions against us or against our partners and allies, we ll respond forcefully, i don t think we ll get a clear and definitive answer for one meeting and it s starting the proposition whether russia seeks a more stable rip or not. it s a lot. so let s get it going on a monday morning. let s head to brussels with the chief foreign affairs correspondent and nbc news senior correspondent, keir simmons is in moscow.