Mankind. It is very bad for this world. Plus, several big new developments in the russia election meddling investigation. And all of them are bad for the trump white house. For starter, democratic and republican sources who know the intelligence say there is simply no evidence to back this. When you look at susan rice and what is going on, and so many people are coming up to me and apologizing. They say, you were right when you said that. Pran perhaps i didnt know how right i was because nobody knew the extent of it. As the 100day mark approaches for the president , he belittles susan rice and the secretary of state delivers a may maya copa. Theres no other way to say it. I got into a topic i shouldnt have and screwed up. With us to share reporting and insights, amy wall, jeff zeleny, perry bacon and jackie cosinich. Lets begin with the remarkably blunt and remarkably pointed language used by key players on both sides. As we set the table, were waiting to hear from Rex Tillerson and Sergey Lavrov. No word on what was discussed in the meeting, but we know the conversations throughout the day in moscow have been tense. Well take you live when the press conference starts. Its hard to overstate this. President trump says his russian counterpart is propping up a, quote, animal in syria. And he says the president needs to make better choices. And the ambassador to the United Nations says she knew syria planned to use chemical weapons. I think they are nervous. I think they very much feel as if they have been weakened by assads actions and their coverup. They realize that the International Community didnt buy it and is not buying it. And they now have to figure out how to save face. Senator haley says save face, but president pru tin is criticizing the United States and nato warning against further strikes in syria. And the foreign minister work in a dig at the Trump Administrations personnel troubles. Translator this is particularly important at a time when as far as we understand not all the key posts in the state department have been filled. And it is far from easy to get a quick, clear answer to many current and future issues. The ambassador follows the news back here in washington. Michelle co skkco kin kosins here with the latest. This is much more of a Salvage Mission . Reporter yeah, i mean, the state department had to frame this trip, the secretary of state, as a kind of exploratory trip. To see what he could get out of this, what kind of cooperation there might be in this relationship. What kind of foundation they can now relay. And how to work past some of the differences. Not that those were necessarily going to be worked out by any means on this trip, but always forge a path moving forward. Were waiting, again, for the press conference to get any more clarity on this. Because theres not much information coming out of the meetings. They certainly didnt start great as you saw with the Russian Foreign minister, really just launching into it. This is a period of time before a big meeting where it is generally a photo op and there is some pleasantries and welcomed exchanged. But the russians wanted to show themselves in a position of power here. They are hosting the u. S. Delegation. And they wanted to lay it out first stop, that they dont believe the u. S. Strikes were legal, for one thing, that they should not happen again. And yeah, the other criticisms as well. It was also a big mystery for days as to whether russian president vladimir putin, who just a few years ago, honored secretary of state tillerson with an order of friendship here in russia. Would even meet with him at all, breaking president. Now we know that meeting is still going on. They have been meeting for about 20 minutes. And that, too, will lend a little more into how Much Movement there could possibly be on these two very hardened stances that we have been hearing over and over again over the last couple of days. And rhetoric that the russian government today called primitive, john. Michelle kosinski in moscow. Thank you. We are waiting for the press conference from secretary tillerson and president lavrov. Even when things are tense, back in my days covering the white house, when you go to a big meeting like this, normally they try to turn the temperature down and saying, yes, we acknowledge differences, but well see if we can work together. Instead, putin says the United States violated international law. Donald trump says hes associated himself with an animal. The russians say theres a way to move forward here, stop launching military strikes. Both sides, forgive me, ladies, but this seems to be a testosterone moment. It seems like a changed tone for the president. Hes one of the really last officials left in this town in washington who is not conveying the obvious about russia here, but in his interview this morning, hes getting there. But look, this is a highstakes moment. But so interesting, every movement that this president has, every drama inside the white house, plays out on the world stage. And russia is watching the staffing issues. That was a fascinating reminder of we know all your key positions arent filled. Its a key source of tension between the secretary and his boss, Sergey Lavrov. This is fascinating in the history of the administration. And what comes out of the meeting today, fascinating. They seem to ignore the previous history before coming into this office. When donald trump was on the campaign trail saying, wouldnt it be nice to have a better relationship with russia . Sure, it would be great. But reality is a different set of circumstances. And they are running into that fullon. And we saw it with the sudden turnaround on syria. It wasnt news to any of us that assad was using chemical weapons on his own people. Apparently it was news to the president. And so, were seeing this happen in live time. But its not like this is all new information. Its a key point. And the question is, if its not new information, do you think youre the one who can change it . President trump does think hes the great negotiator. But yesterday secretary tillerson said russia can make a choice, step away from assad and iran. Step away from supporting hezbollah. Thats what the administration asked of putin. Thats what the george w. Bush administration asked after trying a fresh page, thats what they said. This is not new. Well, to watch the internal dynamics of the white house, beyond just the issues on staffing, but that you seem to have players within the administration saying Different Things about what were doing at different times. So are you an ambassador, nikki haley, making pretty forceful sta statements about russia. Shes been doing it all along. The president is now following in the same path. Youre getting Rex Tillerson on the sunday shows saying this is a change in policy. Were still focused on isis first. Now it seems that were actually changing our policy. And nobody really knows who is leading the charge with the president who ran on and is still very proud of the fact hes an unpredictable character in an unpredictable world. Thats a very important point. A, who is leading the charge, who has the most influence. And b, the list of options is so bad. Thats why it was so hard for Obama Administration. The president is telling fox news, were not going into syria. By that he means boots on the ground, but the white house says we dont rule out military action if he uses chemical weapons again. Maybe if he uses barrel bombs and others against children. Its unclear at that pouchblt and then putin, this is about pride and power. And if the United Nations as we speak, about to be a Big Press Conference in moscow, president putin saying we are a power to be reckoned with. And nikki haley trying to pass a resolution at the United NationsSecurity Council condemning this action. Russia vetoed power. Nikki haley saying you should be embarrassed of yourselves. To my colleagues from russia, you are isolating yourselves from the International Community every time one of assads planes drop another barrelbomb on civilians. And every time assad tries to starve another community to death. People not just in the west but across the middle east and the world are speaking out against assads brutality. It is long past time for russia to stop covering for assad. This is cold warlike, new cold warlike rhetoric, the two sides against each other. The question is, a, does somebody blink . And if nobody blinks and the Trump Administration is new to this posture, the Putin Administration has been pretty strong in this posture. Nobody blinks, so what happens next . There cannot be a political solution unless assad comes to the table. Assad is not going to leave unless the russians say, sorry, bud, you lost our support. So unless theres a big change here, this is high drama and there are ripple effects. Russian progression in europe, russian steps elsewhere in the world. Other things happen. But if nobody blinks, this is just talk. It is such a huge shift. You think about november when tillerson was picked, we all thought, whoa, trump picked somebody close to putin, does that mean well have a proputin government in some ways. Now tillerson is talking there in aggressive language about the shift. So i do think someone has to blink here, be but it is in the clear what trumps policy needs to be. They are debating internally a lot. Putin will not blink. It sounds like trump will not either. The state department, jeff, they call them confidence building measures, when youre in a rut like this and they are in a rut, you look for something. You look for something, yes, we disagree about everything but agree to do this, to try to take a step forward. What is it . What does secretary tillerson look for at the meeting to come out to say, is it to go to geneva and start the political conversations again that frustrated the Obama Administration . Because the United States comes in with the goal of getting assad out of power. The russians come in with the goal of keeping assad in power so they dont get anywhere. And the talk of cleaning house in the Obama Administration and moving people out of the state department. The reality is the challenges are exactly where john kerry left them. Keep the bricks on the table and everything is exactly the same. Except this president did decide to use military power inside the border of syria against the regime. Without a doubt. They want to call it a oneoff, but he owns a bigger piece of this than president obama was willing to own. Without question. And he got some widely deserved, you know, that he was hailed as doing something by democrats and republicans alike. This policy, though, is a bit theres a bit of a vacuum about it. What is the administrations policy, but yesterday i noticed a change in washington in the trump washington in the last four or five days. They are really trying to put a lot more information out, the pentagon briefing yesterday, i was told the president was specifically, he was specifically wanting to hear from his defense secretary to put information out there, to show that were strong and say, we had a briefing at the white house yesterday by four Senior Administration officials in the very high levels of the national Security Council talking directly about why they believe that russia was come poliplicitl of this. There are things going on, but there isnt a policy, necessarily. And we dont know what the president s view of putin is. Has that changed . At some point he has to come out to say that explicitly. The public is not enamored with the involvement in syria than it was during president obamas term. And you start asking in the abc News Washington post, okay, do you support it . A majority saying they support it. Should we do more of these . No. Its more than boots on the ground. The idea of doing the strikes over and over again, also not getting the support. If the policy is changing, well hear from the secretary of state. And the other thing the poll brought up, they dont think it is particularly effective. So if the president is going to change, the president has to explain what it is to pull the public with him. Were keeping our eyes on moscow, Rex Tillerson and his russian counterpart are scheduled to speak to reporters any minute. Up next, an apology from a Top White House aide after an inaccurate and insensitive holocaust comment. Customer we cant drive this car. Tech . They wanted it fixed right. So they scheduled with safelite. Our exclusive trueseal Technology Means a strong, reliable bond, every time. At safelite, we stand behind our work. Bye, bye. Because the ones you love, sit behind it. parents whisper jingle safelite repair, safelite replace. The following ad for your viewing convenience. I finally switched to geico. Oh yeah . 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Its the choices you make when managing blood sugar that are the real victories. Glucerna. Everyday progress. Z282uz zwtz y282uy ywty daily life a guessing game. And bloating made will i have pain and bloating today . My doctor recommended ibgard to manage my ibs. Take control. Ask your doctor about nonprescription ibgard. Welcome back. We are waiting for a big event for a press conference between Sergey Lavrov and Rex Tillerson. First, sean spicer is on an apology tour for a blunder that ignored history and defied common sense. You know, you had a person has despicable as hitler who didnt even sink to using chemical weapons. Quote, hitler didnt even sink to using chemical weapons. What did you mean by that . When you come to saran gas, he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that assad is doing. Uhhuh. Sean spicer spent much of tuesday afternoon on the telephone apologizing for that. There was more, we edited down. He made a public apology on cnn this morning and there was more. I made a mistake. Theres no other way to say it. I got into a topic that i shouldnt have. And i screwed up. Its a very holy week for both the jewish people and the christian people. And this is not to make a gaffe and a mistake like this is inexcusable and reprehensible. On a professional level its disappointing because i have let the president down. And so on both a person and professional level, that will definitely go down as not a very good day in my history. Lets start with it, thats not a very easy thing to do. He works in one of the highest profile and toughest positions in this town to go out there publicly to say im sorry, i messed up and let my boss, the president of the United States down. So it takes a lot for sean spicer to issue an apology. Number one, hes had credibility issues in the past from day one in the administration from things he said from the podium. Some people say, is this a domino effect . Number two, mostly democrats, but some Groups Associated with jewishamericans have called for his ousting. Is there any evidence, jeff, ill start with you, you covered the white house, any evidence hes lost the president s support . We dont know at this point, to be quite frank. Ive been working the phones and last evening as well, and to a person, everyone was saying well see how the president reacts to this, which means they are going to wait to see how the president reacts to the News Coverage of this. Well see if he still has the support. I do not think hes lost the support immediately on this, but there was definitely an issue or reason that sean spicer went out on the apology last night. He had no choice and was told by top advisers to the president , perhaps not the president himself, but he conveyed that as well to go out and do this right now. The interesting thing about this, though, sean spicer, i am told, was not completely making this up, pulling this out of the air. Theres been a lot of chatter on fox news and other places and other news map sites about the holocaust. About assad. So this has been out there in the ether, unclear if he was pulling from that or not. So has the resources of the entire u. S. Government at his did po sal looking for historical reference deciding to go to the altright internet where there are routinely antisemitic things said. Great. Exactly. The challenge for spicer is he had multiple times to clean this up yesterday in the briefing room, in a statement, and he finally did. Youre right, that was not easy for him. I was talking to him walking back into the white house after the interview with wolf blitzer, and it was a humble sean spicer, no question about it. He said, i came out here on my own. Im trying to set the record street. And now that i did, im trying to set the record straight. Tough thing for him to do. The other problem is, other than not comparing anything to hitler as a rule, is this is not the first time that this white house has said something or done something that is offensive