his remarks were counter to the plan. everyone around trump was urging him to take a firm stance against putin said a second person familiar with the situation. it covered everything from russia s annex ation of crimea. trump handled it his own way. john brennan, a nbc news senior and national intelligence contributor had this to say. i was quite shocked and appalled at what i was hearing and what i was not hearing. today was a new low for donald trump. the way he cowered seemly in fear of mr. putin and failure to acknowledge the u.s. justice system, the intelligence is