russian government to this gas chemical weapon attack is basically to challenge president trump as to whether he s going to be pushed back by a threat from the bullies in moscow or whether he s going to go ahead and punish assad, as he said he would do. i m encouraged incidentally, i think the president going back to the campaign has not been tough enough on putin as he should have been. but in recent weeks he s really called out putin for his behavior, including saying that putin, russia and iran that was in a tweet though. does he need to do something more than just tweet about it? well, in fairness, he has sanctioned russia for other misbehavior of theirs in recent weeks. but i think the most significant message to russia, which rushed in when president obama moved back from syria, and now occupy a pivotal role there, is for the president to make clear that threats from russia are not going to stop the united states
reporter: he sent out several tweets about this horrific attack in syria. he called out putin, as you mentioned for the first time, really pinning the blame on russia and putin for supporting bashar al assad. here s what he wrote, there s a big price to pay, he called for opening the area for medical help and verification. but he goes on to say if president obama had kroscrossed red line in the sand this would have ended years ago. president trump is now drawing another line, he says there is going to be a price to pay, the question is a what? and this comes after the president authorized air strikes in syria against assad for a
if your teenager comes home after breaking curfew and is drunk and has totaled the car and says it s not my fault, can you prove it? it s your fault then stomps off to their room. if you say i really want to have a good relationship with my teenager and don t take any action, i would argue you re not being a good parent. it s the same with russia. they have to understand the consequences. you don t just get to live in the international society and get the benefits of being part of the u.n. or wto and all those other great things without understanding there are certain behaviors and you need to hear it from the head of the family. donald trump needs to call o ut putin and say this behavior of yours, killing skripal, trying to kill skripal, is not good. of course, that s not what s happening, richard. the president who called putin and congratulated him on winning a rigged election when he was told in all bold letters not to do so. told to condemn him for the poisoning of the spy in th
relationship with vladimir putin can change the course of the united states relationship with russia. the president has made it clear he thinks maintaining and preserving that relationship is a top priority. as a result he has hardly called out putin for anything. i think we d have a hard time finding any individual instance where the president has specifically gone after putin. cause that change now that putin s administration expels dozen of americans? we ll have to wait and find out. it s anybody s guess. speaking of john bolton, the incoming national security adviser, he went to the pentagon a couple minutes ing a and met with secretary of defense mattis. and mattis can be heard saying to bolton, i presume this is in a cheeky way, i heard you re actually the devil incarnate and i wanted to meet you. according to the pool note, their backs were turned to the
how much harder is that going to be without subpoena power? we don t have subpoena power yet. if we can t complete our investigation by november or we don t see a complete investigation from the senate and we win the majority, then we will do what it takes to protect our democracy in the ballot box, even if that means having to do this investigation over. reporter: on capitol hill, questions continued over the president s warm words for putin, including his phone call congratulating the russian president for winning re-election in a campaign that was anything but free and fair. speaker paul ryan lashed out putin, but declined to say if trump made the right call. you know my thoughts about vladimir putin and russia. they re a menace. vladimir putin does not respect democracy. he s trying to do everything he can to undermine democracies. not just ours, but all of our allies. i would not have kind words to say if i were speaking to him. reporter: should the president have called h