normal protocol. having been through some of this, there are the last-minute decisions and logistics get complicated but i did hear a clip from chief of staff reince priebus earlier who said nobody can speak for the president better than the president himself. i wonder if that s true internationally or if they d be better off to put other people out to tell the world what is going on. president trump is getting pretty defensive about those leaks and it seems to be that many are looking towards the intelligence community for those leaks. there s no word on there the leaks are specifically coming from the intelligence community but what do you make of the current relationship between donald trump and those that are tasked with essentially spying for him? you know, katy, the u.s. intelligence community or the usc is the single greatest asset that the united states and the president has in protecting u.s. national security. they re tasked with identifying what the emerging threats ar
the press, and defending his first month in office, and a call back to his sparring and free-wheeling campaign style. there s no person better to speak for president trump than president trump. and truth and consequences. top democrats are calling for a 9/11 style commiio to investigate the russian inteeren into the u.s. eltion, and whether anyone from team trump was involved. at least one republican is getting on board. will others join in? reporter: yesterday the president said in his press brief nobody knew he was in contact with russian officials. do you believe him? i have no idea. good day, i m katy tur in for andrea mitchell. president trump will tour a boeing facility in south carolina and deliver remarks. it s his first stop in what s
probability that trump won t drain the swamp in washington but the swamp will drag trump in and that will bees end of his revolution that hasn t even started yet, so some doubts creeping in here in moscow that president trump will actually be able to forge a new relationship with russia. katy? interesting reaction. i want to ask you about something the telegraph is reporting today that the kremlin has told its official newspaper a warning essentially that excessive trumpophilia is not going to be good for the kremlin, that it might end up harming the kremlin. is that why his press conference wasn t played on state tv yesterday? reporter: yes, actually the kremlin ordered state tv to ratchet back, to pull back from some of its constant coverage of trump. in january, katy, trump was on state tv more than putin. that s not a good idea in an authoritarian state like russia,
people necessarily knowing what way the boat is going to be steered today. those that like donald trump saw for instance that press conference yesterday and what they saw was a man who was in charge and in control pushing back against the dishonest media who really deserved it. there are those who don t like donald trump thought it was out of control and wild. what about the lawmakers who have to find a way to thread that needle? well lo, i think what we ve done so fa katy, we re not worried about what he says. we re worried about what he s does. the big thing in their mind nominating neil gorsuch as a member of the supreme court. donald trump didn t win just because and you know this better than anyone he didn t win because of the people who came out to his rallied. yes, enthusiastic support for him from his base was important, no question. but he won a lot from a lot of people who kind of hold their nose voted for him as the lesser two of evils. they really didn t want to vote
so the kremlin said to state tv, enough of this. russian people don t want to see trump on tv all the time especially when so far he hasn t actually delivered anything. all we re get something rhetoric and indeed i heard today that a lot of russians were just fed up listening about appointments, about mike flynn, and so on. so yes, it was a deliberate policy to keep that news conference off state tv, quite extraordinary, katy. donald trump on television in russia more than vladimir putin. remarkable. bill neely in moscow, thank you so much. joining me now is sean henry, the former executive assistant director for the fbi, who is now an msnbc contributor, and john finer, the former chief of staff for secretary of state john kerry. john, let s start with you because you re sitting next to me, number one. thanks. what did you make of that press conference and specifically that he would have directed general mike flynn to talk about sanctions with the russian ambassador while presi