nbc correspondent brinkristen wr joins me now. his actions are inexplicable. ignoring his own national security advisor s advice. reporter: that s right, andrea. this highlights this discrepancy here at the white house. on the one hand several days ago they announced they were enacting thoeenact ing those sanctions against russia for meddling in the election. yet critics say the president is being non-confrontational, as you pointed out, going against stern warnings of his national security team not to congratulate president putin, not raising the issue of russian meddling. senator john mccain had some very stern words about this saying an american president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections. senator marco rubio earlier today had some very strong words as well about this, but he said