coming up next, president trump and his changing story on syria. so, first he said that isis is defeated, and now it's not. first he said we are pulling out troops of syria within 30 days. now we're not. we're going to break down the contradictions and look at all the leaders who have left the administration over this debacle. you're watching "velshi and ruhle." we are back. it's 2019. for your heart... your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet? yes? great! then you're ready for power e*trade. the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. sweet! e*trade. the original place to invest online. if your moderate to severeor crohn's symptoms are holding you back, and your current treatment hasn't worked well enough it ma

look, we don't want syria. obama gave up syria years ago, when he didn't violate the red line. i did when i shot 59 missiles in. but that was a long time later. and when president obama decided not to violate his statement that never crossed the red line and then they didn't do anything about it. making a threat is okay, but you always have to follow through with the threat if you're going to make that threat. you can't make a threat and then do nothing. syria was lost long ago. it was lost long ago. and besides that, i don't want -- we're talking about sand and death. that's what we're talking about, we're not talking about vast wealth, we're talking about sand and death. >> so those comments and many more were made in front of acting defense secretary patrick shanahan on his first day on the job. let's delve into who patrick shanahan is. before that was an executive at boeing for over three decades, unlike james mattis, shanahan has no military experience. it was two weeks ago that mattis decided to resign in protest to the president's withdrawal of troops in syria. it's grea

nbc's richard engel is back in iraq from syria today. any new information on -- this was an area that was not considered to be particularly dangerous. i know people, including you but others of our colleagues, who have been in and out of manbij. that really did not prove to be safe. >> reporter: manbij is still considered to be a dangerous area. it is not a front line area. it is considered liberated. u.s. forces do patrol there. kurdish forces patrol. they patrol on foot. it is not an active battle zone. it appears in this case they went to a restaurant and may have established a pattern, because according to neighbors in the area, several witnesses, u.s. forces went to only two restaurants in manbij, this was one of them, and would go several times a week. perhaps they thought it was more safer than it turned out to be. this was an ambush attack, a hit and run attack. but in other parts of syria, there is still an active battle zone with thousands of isis fighters concentrated in a pocket of about three towns that they still control. >

we're getting out of syria -- look, we don't want syria. obama gave up syria years ago when he didn't violate the red line. i did when i shot 59 missiles but that was a long time later. when president obama decided not to violate his statement that never crossed the red line and then they did and he didn't do anything about it, making a threat is okay but you also have to follow through with the threat if you're going to make that threat. syria was lost long ago. we're talking about sand and death. we're not talking about vast wealth. we're talk about sand and death. the kurds, it's very interesting. turkey doesn't like them. other people do. i didn't like they are selling the small oil they had to iran. we asked them not to. we want to protect the kurds. i don't want to be in syria forever. it's sand and it's death. when we kill isis -- now every one says they will come to our country. that's possibly true, a small percentage. you know where else they are going. to iran who hates isis more than we do. they're going to russia who hates isis

president trump tweeted that isis in syria has been defeated. a claim which isn't true and he backtracked from in the following days. in fact, what he was ordering, actually, in the immediate withdrawal of troops was announced from the country, the administration then walked back afterwards. now it turns out it may not be happening in the foreseeable future at all. nbc's cara lee has more. >> reporter: good morning, the big headline so far, president trump is not withdrawing troops from syria unless conditions are met. it may not wind up being the compete withdrawal, and it's going to be the u.s. who's going to finish the job against isis in syria, not turkey. john bolton is trying to reassure allies about the president's plans, and outlining a different policy than the one the president put forward last month. bolton told us yesterday that no u.s. troops are leaving northern syria until turkey can guarantee it's not then going to go in and attack the kurds. he also told us quote there are objectives that we want to accomplish that condition the

military move out of syria. they're not moving them out. the very early process of beginning the withdrawal of troops from syria has begun. but we are not seeing -- u.s. troops are not streaming across the border out of syria today. >> got it. >> the military -- the military, they set in place these very detailed steps of a process to get these guys out of there, and they are moving along with that. it's at the very early stages of that process. >> so let me ask you this, then. it is an indication that this more along the lines of the time frame president trump was talking atal talking about than john bolton. >> right. people were talking about 30 days. that would be the end of this month we would see most of the u.s. troops gone from syria. that has really changed dramatically. there's been a series of things that have caused that, everything from the u.s. military had to begin their p n planning for it and get the plan approved by the white house. and everything. that slowed things down a little bit. a real safe withdrawal of many of the

and i'm not seeing it in syria. i hope the president will look long and hard about what we're doing in syria. >> remember it was last month that james mattis, seen by many as the last human guardrail on the trump presidency, resigned in protest over the decision to rapidly withdraw troops from syria. joining our conversation now, ron claim, former chief of staff to vice president's biden and gore. and here at the table, a.b. stoddard, associate editor and columnists for real clear politics. i have all of the baggage that comes with the other war that lindsey graham was talking about as well as all of the lessons learned and mistakes made. one of the fastest and easiest ways to betray the public trust and really to dishonor the military families is not be straight about where we are or not in these conflicts. >> absolutely, nicolle. first, let's give credit where credit is due, vice president pence has a son serving in the u.s. plmarine corps. we honor that service and we know how seriously he takes the troops around

it's not 150,000 troops occupying syria. it's special operators among others that are working with indigenous forces, with coalition partners to do the bulk of the fighting. we can do air strikes. most of the fighting on the ground is with our coalition partners. to walk away from that very successful model would be a massive mistake especially in light of today's news. >> congressman kinzinger, thank you very much, appreciate it. >>> meanwhile, kenya's president says today the gunmen responsible for a horrific attack on a luxury hotel complex killing 14 people, including one american citizen, have, quote, been eliminated. the extremist group al shabaab, responsible for an earlier attack in nairobi, is claiming responsibility for tuesday's deadly assault, sending hundreds of kenyans racing from the terrifying scene. cameras cause citizens escaping down ladders, hiding from gunmen during the incident. red cross officials in the country say there are still 50 people missing, we don't know what's happened to them. the mother of

troops in syria for quite a time. "the new york times" puts it this way, "mr. bolton making a visit to israel told reporters that american forces would remain in syria until the last remnants of the islamic state were defeated and turkey provided guarantees that it would not strike kurdish forces allied with the u.s. he and other top white house advisers have led a behind-the-scenes effort to slow mr. trump's order and reassure allies including israel." president trump was not happy with this report in "the new york times." we know that because of what he posted earlier today and we quote, "the failing "new york times" has knowingly written a very inaccurate story on my intentions on syria. no different from my original statements, we will be leaving at a proper pace while at the same time continuing to fight isis and doing all else that is prudent and necessary." so let's be careful here to review what the president has said about pulling american fighting men and women out of the fight against isis in syria. >> so our boys, our young women, >> well, let's tal

syria withdrawal was a lie. it's sad for the country, secretary mattis resigned over it but it was all a lie. the wall was too. some incredible reporting in "the new york times" over the wk, julia davis and pete baker write, as mr. trump began exploring a presidential run in 2014, his political advisers landed on the idea of a border wall as a pneumonic device of sorts, way to make sure their candidate would remember to talk about getting tough on immigration. how do we get him to continue to talk about immigration? sam nunnburg, one of mr. trump's early political advisers recalls telling roger stone, another adviser, we're going to get him to talk about he's going to build a wall. it was a device to help him through the campaign rallies. >> because he couldn't talk about immigration reform. so we're going to give you this line, build a wall, all about the wall. i think you were talking, nikol nicolle, about the crack. you're going have 800,000-plus federal employees who are not going to get a paycheck friday. t

and the islamic state wasn't completely eradicated in syria. numbers vary from analyst to analyst but there are probably multiple thousands of them still remaining in syria. and we should remember that this organization has the capacity to move very quickly along a spectrum of capabilities from individual suicide bombers to small units to not insignificant conventional forces. and as long as there are two or 3,000 or some number of these on the ground in nooert syria, they still constitute a threat and we need to keep our forces there to help our allies the kurds and the syrian allies on the ground to help them to deal with this to stabilize the population that has been liberate and create a stable environment in northeast syria for the long term. >> general, as one of our esteemed leaders in armed forces here in the united states and as you see the evolution not only of the secretary of defense resigning, as you know, the chief of staff also announcing the last 24 hours resignation from the department of defense, how would you react to that? >

service members in syria. it's now somewhere we think around 2,000, although we do not have any clear transparent accounting of them. do you have a clear and transparent accounting of them of how many u.s. service members are in syria? >> we have no clear and transparent accounting, but also, we don't know what the timeline for reducing that accounting is. and the idea that isis or the caliphate has crumbled, that we have defeated isis smacks of a mission accomplished moment, and really naive at best, possibly delusional, dangerously so. >> i want to ask you, since i have you here about the other big vote or the big vote today on the deripaska sanctions. close, but no cigar. democrats missed by two votes. bernie sanders missed that vote. he was in a meeting with staffers who were voicing concern about sexual harassment on his campaign. so that was you were down a democratic vote, though probably weren't going to get over any way. what -- is there an argument on the other side? like is this a close call or not?

we just ceded syria to iran. they now have an active and open supply chain down to hezbollah and anybody else that wants to destroy the state of israel. >> statements about his fitness are better coming from you than me, but for the republicans who are criticizing mitt romney for the piece he wrote, head of the rnc, which is stunning, mitch mcconnell, attorney general whitaker who obviously took the loyalty oath -- >> acting attorney general. >> acting attorney general, among many actings. let me explain to you what mitt romney's piece was about. clearly, you don't get it. he's creating an opening for you. his piece was about character. his piece was about decency. his piece was about civility. his piece was about american moral character. no more than that. and he was asking for you to call this president out and hold him accountable on these issues and these issues alone. this is an opening for republicans. >> i think that's a great point you're making. i remember so many times when i was with a small group of

is out of syria. >> i want to ask you and this plays into the syria question, honestly, the russians and their potential influence over president trump. we saw the bombshell report from "the new york times" but i would like to ask you about "the washington post's" report that the president has been concealing his conversations with vladimir putin from top u.s. officials. as a member of congress, does that concern you? no one in the u.s. government is apparently able to access any records of these conversations? >> yeah, it does. i understand though 0 sometimes there's two sides to every story so i want to get more information but if what they're reporting is pretty much the story, it is concerning. does the president have a right to conceal these conversations? probably. but i don't think it's the right thing to do. vladimir putin is an enemy of the united states. this administration in many ways has been pretty aggressive against the russians but this is something i just don't quite understand there's this hesitancy to attack vladimir putin personally. i want to get all of the infor

>> a great way to frame that is look at syria. the president came out and said we're withdrawing and that policy has been walked by bit by bit by bit. there's definite tension there. >> the government shutdown, in new unchartered territory. >> record long. >> record long but also no end in sight. you have the speaker of the house nancy pelosi essentially selling the president please don't come to the state of the union, send it in writing. >> the white house wants to give the state of the union. the republicans on the hill are calling this a plolitical stunt. will the president did go there and nancy pelosi bar the door? we'll see to see what happens. >> one of the senators offered that the president could come to the senate. >> or they could write it like they did in the olden days. >> imagine that. >> could do it from the white house oval office, put it on youtube and facebook. >> tweet it. >> let me get your final thoughts on all these efforts that seem to be falling flat on their face, the bipartisan problem solvers trying to

troops from syria? and a look at how north korea brought in the new year. this is a dazzling fireworks show. onlookers packing a central square in pea yoyongyanpyongyan. kim warned the u.s. not to test patience with new sanctions in the new year. how will president trump respond in 2019? nd po in 2019? ♪ [ dog snoring ] baxter. it's bedtime. peace of mind should never be out of reach. [ voice command beep ] xfinity home. xfinity home connects you to total home security you can control from anywhere on any device. and it protects you with 24/7 professional monitoring. i guess we're sleeping here tonight. xfinity home. simple. easy. awesome. call, go online or demo in an xfinity store today. >> i never said we're going to rush out. we're bringing our young troops home. >> that's president trump now saying there's no rush to pull thousands of american troops out of syria. a very different message from just a couple of weeks ago. >> our boys, our young women, our men. they're all coming back. and they're coming back now. we won. >> now, and then no rush. that

to withdraw, but to do so from northeast syria in a way that makes sure that isis is defeated and is not able to revive itself. ♪ >>> good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington where no talks on the shutdown are scheduled. congress is not in session, and the president is not setting his intelligence briefing until 2:00 p.m. according to the white house schedule. hundreds of thousands of federal workers may be asking where is the sense of urgency in this third week of a partial government shutdown. neither side is budging after weekend talks hosted by the vice president negotiating not with house and senate leaders, but only with their staff members. the president telling reporters sunday he may take the controversial step of declaring a national emergency to build his border wall if the deal with the democrats does not develop in the next couple of days. joining me now nbc white house correspondent kristen welker, casey hunt, michael steel, former spokesman to john boehner and former counsel to president obama. breaking news at the moment. the president is going to the b

forces from syria. white house press secretary sarah sanders said the president has been fully believed and we will continue to monitor the ongoing situation in syria. >> nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in syria. he joins us live. richard, what can you tell us about this attack? >> reporter: so, we're learning more about what u.s. forces were doing when this explosion took place. multiple local residents and -- among them witnesses say that u.s. forces had been on a patrol in the area, and that they would routinely stop at this restaurant, either going in to eat or to pickup food that's correct they would go to this same restaurant, one of only two, a kurdish commander said, that u.s. forces in the area would go to, and that they were there today at 1:00 right around lunch time. that some u.s. forces were inside the restaurant, others were outside talking to locals, presumably guarding the door, when a man in civilian clothing walked in, got right into the doorway itself, and explo

from coming back from syria into iraq. and causing havoc with the piece that the iraqi government and iraqi people were trying to create for themselves. so territory mattered, but as you say, ideology matters. most of that ideology, as we know, happens over the internet. and the attacks that have happened in our own country here in the united states have been lone wolves who have been self radicalized over the internet for the most part. american citizens. not somebody who comes on an airplane or over a border, but home-grown, who really are embracing that ideology. in addition, there is no strategy to deal with iran, to deal with the ongoing war in yemen. to deal with russia in a large way, it's not just about syria and the president really did not think through what would happen in the circumstance, how turkey would react, what would happen to the kurds who have been helping us in syria. how turkey would deal with that. so there are a lot of issues here that needed to be considered. and at the end of the day, we've been

troops would be leaving syria. there was about 2,000 special forces in syria working with a british ally led force. president trump said they are leaving and they will be leaving within 30 days. a lot of people in the region including the u.s. military were deep lis disturbed by that and since then there has been a lot of back and forth, when will they will leaving, will they all be leaving? put in place to make sure the force is not wiped out by turkey, that isis will continue to be confronted. and the military came out with a vague statement saying our deliberate withdraw has begun, only equipment at this stage will be leaving. u.s. troops usually around 2,000 are still staying in the country. their numbers may inhave the very short term go up, but only going up so that the indication coming clearly from the military this morning, the only clear thing perhaps in all of this is that the process is now under way, it is now starting, with some nonessential equipment being taken out. >> so can you make sense of what

. >> isis is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters in iraq and syria. >> what happened in syria with respect to isis and the caliphate have grown tremendous in the past couple of weeks, at the same time we're consolidating a tremendous amount gf things are happening. >> north korea will seek to retain its wmd capabilities and unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons and capabilities. >> we made tremendous progress with north korea. when i came in, or let's say at the end of the last administration, we looked like we were going to war with north korea. now there's no missile testing, there's no rocket testing, there's no nuclear testing. >> this same former intelligence official adds, this is the same tactic he tried with the fbi. demean the people and undermine the credibility of the institution. and he warns there is no safety net when you have such total disregard for professional judgments. the danger of making faulty decisions, he says, is very real and very dangerous. the seriousness of the situation not lost on lawmakers, chuck schumer tweeting it's past t

today we saw four americans killed in syria. i know that you have criticized this administration for acting in syria without congressional authorization. i wonder if either today's bombing or the situation in syria more broadly has affected your overall view about whether or not we should have troops there at all. >> i don't believe the president has the authority to have the troops there. we don't have a aumf to have combat operations in syria. and i know the president will say oh, well they're not in combat operations, but people are dying. i think we should be drawing down our troops, not only in afghanistan but the remaineder in iraq and syria, and then give congress the opportunity that if they believe we should be in combat missions in any of these countries that we actually file a new authorization for the use of military force. what president trump has done is just create disarray because he's not working in combination with our allies and making a plan forehow we're going to create more stability in the region. because

troops from syria. at the time the president tweeted that mattis will be retiring with distinction while greatly thanking the general for his service. the purchase of new fighting equipment and helping get allies to pay for more defense. at yesterday's cabinet meeting, however, trump threw all that out the window. >> general mattis thanked me profusely for getting him $700 billion. he couldn't believe it. he thanked me the following year when i got him $716 billion. he couldn't believe it. but general mattis was so thrilled. but what's he done for me? how's he done in afghanistan? not too good. i'm not happy with what he's done in afghanistan and i shouldn't be happy. but he was very happy, he was very thankful when i got him $700 billion and the following year $716 billion. i wish him well. i hope he does well. as you know, president obama fired him and essentially so did i. >> okay. after sparking conversation with a scathing op-ed criticizing president trump, senator-elect mitt romney is weighing on

. >>> and how soon could troops be withdrawn from syria? ops be withdrawn from syria >> tech: at safelite autoglass we know that when you're spending time with the grandkids every minute counts. and you don't have time for a cracked windshield. that's why we show you exactly when we'll be there. saving you time, so you can keep saving the world. >> kids: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ >>> our boys, our women, they are all coming back, we won, that's the way we want it and the way they want it. >> that was president trump saying that u.s. troops would be coming home from syria now, as in now, now. that was then and this is now. >> we are pulling back in syria, we're going to be removing our troops, i never said we're doing it that quickly. does he know when she on tape? now doesn't mean now and the president's national security advisors saying there is conditions for any troop movement in syria. carol lee is traveling with john bolton in tushlgy. >> that's right, one of the conditions that john bolten told us was necessary to happ

elements on the ground in syria in serious personal danger. just a badly done operation. >> more broadly speaking, donald trump won't have a secretary of defense who has all that much experience. he's only going to have an acting secretary of defense. patrick shanahan was a boeing executive for many years. donald trump, when he was asked about him the other day while he was in iraq, said he's a good buyer of military equipment, and he wants a good buyer because he's giving a lot to the military. can you make sense of that statement and whether that's -- i just don't know how to interpret that. >> well, it's another impulsive act by the president of the united states to essentially fire mattis and then to tell him to get out of the pentagon in a week because he didn't like the positive press coverage coming from mattis' resignation letter. i think in the short run, we ought to be grateful that shanahan is where he is. look, he's an honest man. he's a smart guy. he's been an understudy to mattis for a couple years now. we don't need -- we meanin

when i became president, isis was out of control in syria and running rampant. since then tremendous progress made especially over the last five weeks. caliphate will soon be destroy, unthinkable two years ago, negotiations, i think he meant are proceeding well in afghanistan after 18 years of fighting. fighting continues but the people of afghanistan want peace in this never ending war. we will soon see if talks will be successful. no testing, getting remains, hostages returned. decent chance of denuclearization. at the end of the previous administration, relationships were horrendous and very bad things were about to happen. now, a whole different story. i look forward to seeing kim jong-un soon. progress being made. you don't have to be a nuclear physicist to figure this out, the president saw the intelligence leaders refuting his entire foreign policy and back making his case not on fact but his view of the world. >> how about the man who run on a position of strength is weak time and time again. >> noah, yes, things weren't going well with barack obama and

syria is far away. it doesn't really affect us. we had not just the attack yesterday in syria. we had the attack the day before in kenya. this is a dangerous ideology that is clearly right there and while in the house i couldn't see, if we hadn't have been there in the first place, then they wouldn't have been killed. i'm sure general mattis told them it's very different thing about talking to going in and once you are there you're putting yourself and your allies and risk and yesterday's attack, if this is isis wanting to show they are still present, this is exactly the kind of thing that comes about from something like michael's foreign policy by impulse. >> and i -- it's not the first time that isis is going to fill a power void that was created by the united states and the speedy retreat. it's happening again, mika, and when you actually have the vice president who good luck running in any -- any republican primary in the future ever again for the rest of his life, maybe he and rand paul can go out and golf in kentucky like in their old age, because that's about as close as

will not withdraw from syria until turkey gives guarantees it won't attack the curds. two days later, turkey's president rejects the conditions and calls them a mistake and tells the parliament that america is on the wrong side and says he's not in agreement at all. lots of questions being raised around the globe about who is in charge. and now we see these signs of early withdrawal. is this just the advanced teams, is this the contractors, is is this an attempt to say the president really is is in charge and not being undercut by his national security adviser? >> these are actually the teams that will be there moving out before the advanced teams. so i keep comparing this to a move. when you're moving out of your house, you do all these things in advance. you have your plan in place, you bring in movers, they start packing up all the things. that hasn't even started yet. so what's happening is the people who will be moving the u.s. troops out, they are moving into places in the region, but they are not in syria yet to start moving the u.s. troops out. so what's true h

richard haas asking what was our policy in syria? this morning after the latest back and forth and i'm glad it going in the direction it going in because i don't want russia and iran to own more of the middle east, i don't want isis to be iran reconstituted but at the same time, as richard and gene are saying, we still don't know what america's foreign policy moves are going to be in syria. >> well, this whole process with the president blurting out one concept in the national security adviser and others having to walk it back and the defense secretary quitting, this is so damaging. it's so damaging and it's why certain leaders can jump in and take advantage of the situation because we are displaying weakness. coming up, we'll bring in the nbc news who broke the story that shows the trump administration was not telling the truth about thousands of potential terrorists trying to cross the southern border. >> plus, mika, steve rattner, wake up the children, jar little timmy from his deep slumber. steve rattner has charts. we'll be righ

troops in syria at least to push back against iran. and it's far from clear if the president has signed off on that. so bolton is going to be talking to the jordanians and israelis and get their position and they might be able to change the president's mind. >> can we get specific, was part of what you reported, john, was disturbing to read that the cabinet meeting during the time iran sad they can do what they want in syria, what was the fallout from that? >> that defies what so many of trump's top advisers going from bolton to pompeo have said. they said one of the keefe reas -- key reasons we are in syria was to push back against iran. those are questions that pompeo and bolton are both going to be getting on their separate middle east trips this coming few days. >> there was another controversial remark by the president about the cold war, v soviet invasion of afghanistan. >> russia used to be the soviet union. afghanistan made it russia. because they went bankrupt fighting in afghanistan. russia. but russia should be fighting. the

troops could stay in syria for months or even years. if you thought you understood that, you were wrong of the joining me now to continue this conversation is jane harman, president and ceo of the woodrow wilson center, former democrat from california. jane, our point here is not to alienate our allies who helped us around the world and the kurds and turks who would like to not necessarily do good things too, not to embeenolden iranians running amok in series. why now? >> i think you have to ask the president that but i think the policy is wrong. it's just wrong policy. pulling out of syria in a hurry leaves those fighting alongside of us, not just kurds but the 60,000 highly trained fighters with our help that have kept isis at bay, it's putting them at risk. it's also offering to eye ron a playgrou iran a playground to stay organized and attack into iraq and bother israel, which is right next door. and it is giving seating to russia, a dominant position. great power game is back in the middle east, and it is telling the assad governme

and more importantly, what actually the way forward for us is in syria. what is the secretary of state saying to our allies in the region to assure them about that withdrawal. >> well, what he is saying is that united states is withdrawing, so he's not contradicting the president's rapid withdrawal. the president said it would be one month and later in december he said it would be up to four months. we see the early signs of some equipment, perhaps contractors coming out, but not the troops themselves. but what he has not explained and what no u.s. official has explained is how they can meet their commitment to stay and make sure that iranian boots are out of syria without u.s. troops on the ground. and without protecting the best fighters in the field, the syrian kurds, whom we train, whom we assisted for our proxies there. so it does not add up. and he won't get a lot of arguments in parts of the region, because he's against -- so fiercely against iran, who is a common adversary, especially here in riyadh. but it does not make sense to a lot of other al

sacrifice of our armed forces, we're now actually able to begin to hand off the fight against isis in syria to our coalition partners. and we are bringing our troops home. the caliphate has crumbled and isis has been defeated.

year getting out of syria and year going to do it in a good way. isis was all over the place when i took over. it it was a total mess in syria. we've almost eradicated all of them. they've done more than i said because not only did i and am i able to get out but i've won. we've really largely eradicated isis. >> we're also following a new run-in with russia. a retired u.s. marine arrested on friday on espionage charges. the man's twin brother says he was not spying and only in russia for a wedding. >> reporter: for the former marine gone missing in moscow a mystery. russia has rested paul wheelan for spying but his family says >> he's your tourist who happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. it's inconceivable he took the actions the russians have alleged. they have asked for access to whelan. he was last seen giving a tour of the kremlin which he had visited at least once before. this seems to complicate the already fraught relationship with russia and washington. and tried to infiltrate conservative groups like the nra. asked about hei

. >> move to syria. president trump, before the new year, sparked a huge backlash among allies on capitol hill after announcing withdrawaling troops from syria. he seemed to backtrack or meeting with lindsey graham. listen to an interview last night. >> i never said we are going rush out. we are bringing our young, great troops home after so many years. we were supposed to be in syria 3-4 months. that was four or five years ago. it's time. we have to bring them home. >> is this a walk back, kevin? >> i don't know where he got that from where the u.s. was only going to be in syria 3-4 months. that's ridiculous. he said he wanted them out in 30 days. he called for immediate withdrawal, that was his language. it was so unclear. this is so backward of the normal way to plan a military withdrawal. what i have read and what i am hearing in reporting is that secretary mattis and the pentagon asked for more time to have an organized withdrawal. it takes time to take down fire bases, load up equipment and roll it

he makes a ad hoc announcement we're withdrawing troops from syria. then his advisers go into the region, just as pompeo did. and they are speaking from a different playbook. i think that in theory, wi withdraws 1700 troops from syria and prosecuting the war against isis from iraq, i think it's feasible. am i confident this administration is going to take the practical steps necessary to implement a policy like that? no. >> what do you make of vice president trump's comments? my parents watch conservative media. when they watch vice president pence make a statement like that on conservative media, they'll believe it and it's not the zblu truth. >> it's shocking on so many levels. >> but it's not an accident. >> let's start with the fact he has a son in the marine corps and knows better. he p he knows this is the worst message to our men and women in uniform. he knows it's the worst message to the american voters. we all know that mission accomplish statements in the war on terror are dangerous. he still got up there and just said something that wasn't

they have lost terrain in syria. they do not occupy any more terrain except for a couple of small pockets out in the east. they went underground and they have become what we used to know as al qaeda. and so they are a clandestine organization which are going to carry out suicide bombing, terrorist attacks, step up assassination attacks, mortar and rocket attacks, wherever the americans are. with president trump making the announcement that we were withdrawing from syria and isis was defeated, he has unleashed a new way -- a new branch to a certain extent of isis that is isis's clandestine service and terrorist arm, which will harry us all the way out the door. >> as a deployed veteran of reecht wars no one needs to remind you that it's tougher to bomb an idea, it's tougher to root out a movement, and isn't that a factor here? >> it absolutely is a factor. i've written three books on al qaeda and isis ideology and how to kill it. it is an idea that you cannot kill using conventional methods. you can shoot a man, you c

he's trying to pull them back from syria, from afghanistan. bolton doesn't like that and he's trying to tell the president to do otherwise. >> mika o'yang, ken dilanian and jake sherman, everyone, thank you very much. >>> and next up, are democrats overreacting to howard schultz? with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a few years old or dinosaur old, we want to buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our techno-wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car and say hello to the new way... at carvana. >>> i wanted to clarify the word "independent," which i view

who is going to finish the job in syria, not turkey. john bolton is here trying to reassure allies like israel about the president's withdrawal plans. in doing so, he's outlining a very different policy than the one the president put forward last month. he told us yesterday that no u.s. troops are leaving northern syria until turkey can guarantee it won't then go in and attack the kurds, who have been a critical al lie for the u.s. in the fight against isis. he also told us, quote, there are objectives that we want to accomplish that condition the withdrawal. and he said that the u.s. may leave some troops in southern syria as a deterrent to iran. president trump responding to this yesterday said he never said this was going to be a quick withdrawal, which is not true, and he said that the u.s. is going to stay in syria until isis is gone, which is a shift from what he said last month. now, bolton seems to have accomplished his goals in reassuring israeli officials but he flies today to turkey where frankly he faces a much tougher audie

cohesive plan for syria. also all of the bolton stuff. this is a "new york times" op-ed that bolton writes. he writes the conclusion iran will not negotiate it's nuclear program nor will sanctions block its building to infrastructure. the title of the article was to stop iran, bomb iran. very subtle. bolton's position has been -- let's not be surprised. we got to keep an eye on it. what we're hearing from bolton and pompeo. >> they are looking for a pretext to escalate this with iran. >> an excuse. >> always one step forward, two steps back on these tweets. no-fly zone, a safe zone cannot happen without boots on the ground. how do you withdraw from syria and do what the president is saying. >> we talked about how mattis was reining in president trump. he's got. >> over this. >> over this. >> we have a former head of boeing running the defense department if that makes you feel better. iran will likely be an air war. bolton and pompeo have always been promilitary action. mattis was as well. the adult in the roo

the failing "the new york times" has knowingly written a very inaccurate story on my intentions on syria. no different from my original statements. we will be leaving at a proper pace. while at the same time continuing to fight isis and doing all else that is prudent

syria, our richard engel, what happened? >> reporter: let me comment first on that of the statement that you just played, there was a time where president trump used to say he would never telegraph his war plan to isis and giving isis the advantage. he often criticized president obama for telegraphing and troop withdrawals. he would not consider something like that. in syria, time and time again he has said that u.s. troops are leaving. a troop withdrawal had begun and still in its early stages. isis wants to show it is still here and it is a force to be reckon with. it wants to write the narrative that it was not defeated and managed to push out u.s. troops. what happens today according to multiple witnesses mattis the following. u.s. forces were on a patrol there and at one stage they were on foot and they were at a restaurant. it was 1:00 local time. they had stopped at that restaurant and witnesses tell us this was something of a pattern that they went to the same restaurant several times every couple of days they would

you know, the worst enemy of russia, iran, syria, you look at it, is isis. so we're killing isis for people that aren't necessarily always in agreement with us. let's put it that way. we've done assad a very big favor. you do have to ask yourself we're killing isis for russia, for iran, for syria, for iraq, for a lot of other places. >> so that attack occurred less than one month after the president proclaimed isis in syria defeated, something vice president mike pence repeated hours after isis claimed responsibility for last week's deadly attack. >> and we are bringing our troops home. the caliphate has crumbled and isis has been defeated. >> you were briefed before that statement about the fact that there had been this horrific suicide bombing that killed four americans. is that what the defeat of isis looks like? >> look, the progress that we have made against isis since this president came into office has truly been remarkable. there are isis fighters still in the region, but we've taken back 99% of the territory that the caliphate had claimed in a very

. >> there's been a lot of noise about this withdrawal from syria. we want to make sure they understand completely what that means. there's no change in our commitment to the defeat of the caliphate or vices globely. there's no change in our counter iran strategy. we're going to withdraw our 2,000 soldiers from syria but the mission, the purpose for which we have been involved in the 24-month administration remains in full. >> those comments coming before pompeo embarks on a trip to at least eight middle east countries to reassure allies to the region. it seems like the timing of the u.s. troop withdrawal is still in flux, as exemplified the change when donald trump abruptly unveiled his plan three weeks ago. >> we are pulling back in syria. we're going to be removing our troops. i never said we're doing it that quickly but we're decimating isis. >> we've won against isis. we've betten them and beaten them badly. so our boys and young women and men, they're all coming back and they're coming back now. >> the part where the president he never said he

that's all he has left as the economy slows down, as what he did in syria backfires on him. that's all he has. >> donny, you are going on much longer than we wanted to go. we just wanted a jab and come back up. let's go to naia rothman, instead, it wasn't just about making america white again, there are hispanics, a lot of hispanics on the border guard, border patrol. but i am curious, though, what an interesting decision by donald trump to have that imagery while history was being made on the other side of pennsylvania avenue. what was your take? >> yeah, i think he was trying to project the strength associated with the office. he was trying to demonstrate that law enforcement is behind him, because he's projecting himself as the preserver of the national security. i am struck by how uniquely stupid this entire exercise is. it is an exercise on face saving. there is no principle at play here. the wall isn't on the table. the whoo wall asked is 25 billion. what the president wants 4 billion. he wants a display of deference from democrats. one he couldn't get from republicans