a charge the kremlin denies. but theresa may says 130 people could have been exposed to the chemical weapon that left a former spy and his daughter in a coma. so here s the impact of the retaliatory action on kremlin operations here in the u.s. 60 russians heading home from this country, 12 leaving the u.n. mission in new york city, another 48 in the russian embassy in washington, d.c. just under 400 russian diplomats will stay in the united states. the russians will now have diplomatic offices just in new york city, washington, d.c., and houston. the seattle consulate closed as part of this diplomatic fray. officials citing its proximity to boeing and a u.s. navy submarine yard. last year the consulate in san francisco was searched and seized by officials in retaliation for russian ordering u.s. diplomats out of that country. russian trade missions in washington and new york were also closed at that time. joining me, foreign correspondent richard engel and
behavior. we will hear from theresa may coming up in this hour. thanks to both of you. i want to get to that breaking news from washington, d.c., law enforcement officials telling nbc news one person now in custody after a series of suspicious packages, some containing bomb components, were sent to government addresses on the eastern seaboard, most of them in the washington area. the officials say the suspect was arrested in the pacific northwest and is likely to face charges later today. we re now told there were 12 devices in all sent to facility including the national defense university, mail sorting services for the cia and secret service. none exploded. officials are trying to determine if they actually were bombs. federal officials say they do not believe they came from the austin bombing suspect who killed himself last week after a confrontation with police. we ll keep you posted on that breaking news. civil rights groups are calling it racist and unconstitutional. the 2020
which has now unfortunately become washington s main tool in international affairs. and in washington, the russian ambassador echoed the warning. i am sure that time will come. they will understand what kind of grave mistake they did. so let s take a look at the diplomatic situation right now. across north america, europe and australia, scores of russian diplomats are being shown the exits by more than two dozen countries. the uk pushed 23 russians out, the second most after the u.s. expulsions, canada, australia, european nations, also standing in solidarity with ireland and the republic of macedonia, just the latest to join the list. just a short time ago, nato announced it withdrew the accreditation of the russian mission staff. this is all to punish russia for the military grade nerve agent attack on a small english town earlier this month.
building our new embassy in moscow. and it s now clear in retrospect that in that decision, we made what is now quite obviously, in retrospect, an absolutely ridiculous error as a country. right? and this was a high-level negotiated thing. you know, the highest levels of the administration were involved in ne fwoesh ygotiating this fa the russians get to build their embassy and we get to build our embassy and it s simultaneous and there s a big team of high-level people negotiating the exact terms that the construction will be managed. this is something the government worked really hard on for a number of years. but somehow at the end of that progress, the u.s. agreed to a deal that had a major flaw. see if you can figure out what it was. on the russia side of the equation, when they were building their embassy in washington, their part of the deal said that all building materials for their embassy could be constructed on-site. they had soviet officials on-site overseeing every aspect
rational choice but to resign. in tears. and as republicans deal with a not quite exact but weirdly similar situation on their hands now, now a republican candidate for senate, accused of sexual misconduct against teenagers, honestly, there s no one better suited in the united states senate to manage a crisis like this. to end a crisis like this, than mitch mcconnell. there s no one who has more apt experience for how you make a problem like this go away. i mean, calling for roy moore to drop out of the senate race in alabama is a thing. calling for alabama voters to reject him and vote for his opponent instead, that s a thing. but roy moore isn t just trying to win a random contest. he s trying to join something, he s trying to join the united states senate. and that body has considerable say over whether or not roy moore gets to do that. and, yes, they could wait until after the election, to start working then on expefling roy moore once he gets to washington but the senate could a