level. i'll ask dianne feinstein, chair of the senate intelligence committee, about the threat posed to the u.s. and whether the president's recent comments so weakness. >>> facing down an old adversary. ukraine says its country is near full scale war with russia. how far will vladimir putin go. and can president obama and the allies get him to back down? >>> plus a new era on "meet the press." a revealing look at chuck todd from those who know him best. >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, this is "meet the press." >> and good morning. two major military flash points this sunday, both with strong consequences for the u.s. after fierce fighting iraqi troops have reached a town in northern iraq that was under siege by isis militants. overnight, the u.s. launched strikes against isis fighters near the town and dropped humanitarian aid. an estimated 15,000 people had been trapped in the siege. >>> and in the ukraine crisis, european union giving russian an ultimatum. change course in one week or face tougher sanctions. this morning, a defiant president putin calling for talks on stat

this. dianne feinstein, co-author of the bill who allowed for these folks not from mexico or canada that brings minors into the country not be deported right away. there's circumstances and she believes as the co-author, that would allow them to immediately and responsibly get these children back to their home countries. that's where the president needs to start. he needs to reengage, get folks doing administrative work on the border. they need to make sure they send a clear signal. this is an interesting thing, a bipartisan issue. hillary clinton says if you want to stop this, send them back, let them know don't put in the criminal pipeline. certainly dianne feinstein thinks there's a way for the president -- >> the majority of them have to go back home is your point? >> think about what we're doing. this isn't a walk in the park to get from fl salvador, honduras into the united states. these are criminal gangs. these kids subject to sexual exploitation, drug exposure. some are being recruited or pressed into gangs along the way. we're losing these kids along the way. imagine the e

have the highest respect for dianne feinstein. there isn't a person in the senate who works harder to be fair with one of the toughest assignments as head of the committee. i read her statement she gave on the floor. it was a thoughtful, serious seniors effort to establish the role of congress and the senate and the oversight of the cia. >> did it illegal little spy? >> i can tell you this. we need to get to the bottom of it. i've called on the administration and the cia to release this report once and for all. so we know what happened. >> my question is, did the cia illegally spy on the senate? are you prepared to reach a conclusion. >> dianne feinstein believes that's the case. let's get the investigation underway. >> should brennan apologize. >> i'm not on the intel committee. i'll wait till they do their investigation. >> i'll leave it there. appreciate you being here. coming up here, our roundtable with with the country pessimistic and hostile toward both members of congress, they're now on notice november may be tough. we'll analyze the key themes you may be seeing in videos lik

ineffective. and so then the spy allegation resurrected itself again and unfortunately, dianne feinstein and mike rogers had a platform to smear the whistleblower with faceless innuendo without a scintilla of evidence to back up their allegation. moreover, mr. snowden went publicly chatted with the u.s. this week to deny being a spy. but if people don't want to take my word for it or mr. snowden's word for it, you can ask the fbi which decided and still believes that he acted alone. >> all right. jesselyn radack in moscow for us today. thank you very much for being here. i appreciate your time. michael chertoff is here, as well, former head of homeland security and also head of the criminal division under president bush which is particularly relevant here. welcome back. >> good to be back. >> how would you handle this question? you heard the attorney general. what do you do to get snowden back? >> well, you know, we have done deals in the past with spies but they've always been a deal with your take a very heavy prison sentence. when i was head of the criminal division, we made a deal with r