At least several suicide attackers. And we do early indications are that yes, some of them did detonate their vests, detonate themselves. They were immediately engaged by members of the iraqi army the seventh infan tri of the iraqi army. All were killed. But hes still downplaying the threat. I dont think we should make more out of this. Im not saying were dismissing the seriousness of the potential breach here, or of the increased activity by isil. But we ought not to make more than needs to be made of it. This is an enemy we still assess to be in defensive posture. Its one town. Its not all of iraq. We need to keep it in perspective. Just noting here, the president s been shooting selfie videos this week. And the commander in chief is now on his way to sunny california for much needed r r, golf and highpriced fundraisers. Yolo, bob. Yolo . You only live once, remember, the video from yesterday. I thought it was kind of appropriate backdrop for what hes doing this weekend. Hes getting
Bbc anchor katty kay. From the Washington Post euGene Robinson, New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters and in new york veteran columnist and msnbc contributor mike barnicle. Good to have everyone with us this morning. We begin with this, former state department speaking out the Trump Administration planning to roll back punitive measures against russia almost as soon as he took office. Dan frooed who served until late february said colleagues asked them to appeal to congress after they were directed to develop a sanctions lifting package and to arrange a summit between trump and russian president Vladimir Putin as part of a grand bargain with moscows. To these officials it felt like a winwin for putin who said they were unclear what america got out of the deal. Quote, weve ben reviewing all the sanctions and this is not exclusive to russia. The administration backed down after senators made clear they would pass a law to enforce obamas punitive measures. But a Washington Post report we
Senate investigators after revelations that he met with members of fusion gps. Reaction to those stories in just a second. But, first, Congress Avoids a government shut down by passing a spending bill. But it is setting up major legislative battle in january. Ed henry is in washington tonight with all the details. Ed . Kimberly great to see. The key here passing temporary budget doesnt just keep the government open it paves the way for President Trump to sign the tax cut into law with a senior official telling us tonight there is a very good chance that will happen tomorrow. The way the tax package was written signing it this year would initially have meant that it triggered some automatic spending cuts next year. But this continuing resolution, the stop gap budget just passed through the house and senate, includes waivers that enable the president to defer those cuts to entitlements until 2019. The president also made clear he did not want a messy shut down to overshadow the winning o