Tom Donalin News Today

One of the significant issues at play in this conversation. you talked about the meeting that took place here. the president presided, he chaired a meeting of his top national security advisers that took place here late this afternoon. well show you a picture of that that the white house has just released within the last five minutes. you can see the president is there. he was joined by his new national security adviser susan rice there to his left. she, of course, just took over this post three...

Get as much security support as we possibly could to coordinate with them. i spoke to the national security advisor, tom done a londdonalin. i sought possible support from the white house which they quickly provided. tom was my first call. i spoke with our charge in tripoli to get a situation updates. i spoke with former cia director petraeus to secure and coordinate given the presence of his facility which of course was not well-known but something we knew and wanted to make sure we were closel...

Be hiding their nuclear program? >> you know, i think its tough. i mean, you never know what you dont know, right? but iran is the most watched country in the world. i mean, north korea would be the most watched but its, you know, its a whole different animal so iran really ranks number one here. and ieae is on the ground with video monitors, with sensors watching, you know, aggressively every move they make. so could they have some other facility? yeah, but, you know, every time theyve had a fa...

Seemed to undermine the balance of power, then they could pull out. and the u.s. put up, this the white house, obama administration put up this explanation saying, oh, you know, look, they say these statements before, dont overread it. theyre very nervous about that statement being overread. still there are some sticking points having to do with missile defense. >> hey, chuck, this is new york asking you a question. who among president obamas staff is his go-to guy on russia? >> reporter: repeat...

A guy named gary seymour would you say been doing a lot of these taunglks, negotiations ba and forth as well. when you look at inside of would you say been pushing all these buttons, tom donalif is pushing all the buttons. general jones travels a heck of a lot more than what weve been used to with national security advisers. that means tom donalin is the guy that probably gets more presidential face time than any other key national security figure, mike. >> you know, chuck todd, from new york ci...

Attention of the other intelligence agencies of the white house, itself. >> it goes to the fundamental core of our democracy. >> tom donalin, president obamas national security adviser, came face-to-face more than once with the russian leader behind the attacks. >> it was alarming because it was consistent with putins intent to undermine the institutions of the west. >> russian president vladimir putin, a former kgb spy, famous for his boldness, even ruthlessness. at home, some of his opponents ...