If you want to list things to worry about, he said his father the president is surrounded by 37 appeasers. Yes, he means people who just tell trump what they think he wants to hear, where the family gives him the right direction. What a perfect definition of a country run by a royal family, again, on the russian model, the romanovs, a bad example of having it all and blowing it. And thats hardball for now. Thanks for being with us. All in with chris hayes starts right now. Tonight on all in. You had a, you know, someone as despicable as hitler, who didnt even sink to the to using Chemical Weapons. Communication breakdown. To draw any comparison to the hol oh cost was inappropriate. From Foreign Policy to the basics of governing, new signs of confusion and chaos in an understaffed white house. Then
donald trump, as part of an investigation into potential links between russian intelligence and the Trump Campaign. More on this story coming up. But this comes as the Trump Administration is reeling from yet another selfinflicted wound tonight. You know its bad when the president s Press Secretary is standing in front of the white house apologizing for what he said about hitler earlier in the day. This episode just the latest evidence of an administration that does not appear at a very basic level to know what its doing. And as the president has been inserting himself into some of the most highstakes global issues, launching an attack on Syrian Government forces and tweeting about the solving the problem of a nuclear north korea, Trumps Administration is having trouble getting out of its own way. The sean spicer fiasco began with comments he made at todays Press Briefing about syrian dictator Bashar Al Assads use of Chemical Weapons. We didnt use Chemical Weapons in world war ii. You know, you had a you know,
people to festivities on the south lawn. This year, according to the new york times, the white house is struggling to pull it off. The event is this coming monday. But according to the times, Washington AreaPublic Schools that normally receive blocks of tickets for as many as 4,000 children have yet to hear from the white house. Likewise, several groups representing Military Families who have also accounted for as many as 3,000 guests in recent years, the same group of people doing a shoddy job of running the administration, it is those same people that are conducting Foreign Policy in overseeing the most powerful military in the history of the world. Today the kmantder in chief took to twitter to address north Koreas Nuclear program. Quote, i explained to the president of china that a trade deal with the u. S. Would be far better for them if they solved the north korea problem. North korea is looking for trouble. If china decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them. Usa. This comes as north korean state media warn the nation would carry out a Nuclear Strike if provoekzed by the u. S. Meanwhile Secretary Of StateRex Tillerson was at a Foreign Ministers where he asked a question that left his colleagues befuddled. Quote, why should u. S. Taxpayers be interested in ukraine . Im joined by colonel wilkerson. Colonel, lets start with the hitler comment, which we dont have to talk about the sort of trajectory of the historical clumsiness and apology. But, to me, what was striking is that this was pretty clearly a talking point. The president himself in interviews talking about the worst mass murderers havent used Chemical Weapons in this way, which is the kind of rhetoric you normally association with justifications for escalation into a military conflict. Im very concerned by that very aspect of it. Let me just say that i think scott spicer is kept around because he makes donald trump look good. I wouldnt expect him to depart on that basis alone. The white house is looking so bad that scott spicer actually
makes our president look good. With regard to some of the remarks about the more visible threats in the world, north korea being preeminent perhaps right now, from what secretary tillerson has said, from what the president has said, from what allegedly transpired in florida with president xi, i see so much rank amateurism at work here, just your remarks about the easter ceremony and no one being notified, its clearly indicative of a white house that not only is low on people, its low on experience and talent. They cant seem to even manage the grounds of the white house let alone such significant issues as russia and syria and north korea and on and on. One challenge has been just simple coordination on what acy the syria policy is, and it does seem today that they approached something closer to a consensus. You had Secretary Of State mattis saying this was aboutChemical Weapons and reinforcing the sort of taboo and norm and International Law against them. The president sort of basically saying Something Like that as well. Do you feel like theyve arrived at some Coherent Policy On Syria . I certainly hope so. But lets just look at some of the things theyve been saying, chris. Theyve been trying to blame russia, for example, for irresponsibility in the disruption of syrias Chemical Weapons stocks. Im sorry. The United States army and its contractors destroyed 600 metric tons in 42 days of cw stocks. The opcw and the United Nations were responsible for that. As far as i can tell, they did a pretty thorough job. So why blame russia . They dont even know their facts. Now, syria might have kept some sarin, some vx, or some other chemicals aside. Theres no doubt they could have done that. But this is ridiculous. The inexpertise, the amateurism,
i remember very vividly how this happened with the Bush Administration in the first term when dick cheney was more or less running everything, and no one knew what was going to come out until dick had made up his mind. This was very disconcerting for our allies. Well, at least mr. Cheney was competent, experienced, and an extremely good bureau craft. This is amateurism, and amateurism looks to the world just like what it is amateurism. Colonel, do you think that theres any danger now of escalation in syria if, for instance, theres evidence of more Chemical Weapons attacks, that essentially a lines been drawn that has to now be backed up no matter what . I think we can take mr. Putin at his word. There are going to be, i think he said, more fake chemical attacks. I dont take that as disingenuously as maybe other americans do because i have seen no intelligence that convinces me that the provenance of those
attacks in Idlib Province was in fact the Syrian Government. So im really worried about this. And i know, chris, that were already committing forces in syria that the we werent committing before. The Rules Of Engagement have changed. You may have seen above the faux left side, Washington Post front page this morning, you had active duty army actually saying that the changed Rules Of Engagement are killing more civilians around mosul and other places. Again, i dont see any coherence developing here even though i understand the military is in charge of the strategy. I really dont see coherence yet. Conel Lawrence Wilkerson, thank you. Thank you. Joining me now, katrina vander hooven, and former congressman david jolly. Katrina, you know, theres this line that eric trump said, and ive now seen conservatives repeat it, which is, well, look, the syria strike proves that trump is not tied or overly
sympathetic to russia. And one wonders whether they now perceive that theres political upside in increasing escalation with russia as a sort of means of producing some sort of domestic political effect with regards to the Ongoing Investigation there. Let me flip that if i could. Colonel wilkerson made a very important point about the importance of the 2013 diplomatic agreement to dismantle Chemical Weapons in syria, chris. Youve been tweeting about that. I think its important because president obama spoke of the playbook in washington among the Foreign Policy establishment. That playbook assigns credibility to use of military force. President obama pushed back against a discredited Foreign Policy establishment. But now that diplomatic agreement is being castigated, dismissed, by even obama supporters. I think its unhealthy. I think Lawrence Wilkerson also made a good point that what was the rush . Weve seen horrific, heinous Chemical Weapons attacks in syria before. Why not an independent investigation of the source of
those attacks . Why not a present to congress or the United Nations . In terms of russia let me stop you there because Lawrence Wilkerson said this. I have seen people calling into the question whether the Chemical Weapons were in fact from the assad regime. Afp was on the scene fairly quickly after the first reporters that i saw get there who had pretty consistent eyewitness accounts of an airplane flying over. Im saying there should have been an independent investigation before the rush because what youre witnessing is and put aside what the trump sons are saying. I do think there could have been a targeting of domestic critics. What were faced with tonight is that we are probably closer to war than we have been since the cuban missile crisis. The prime minister, who is the most prowestern in that putin government, said after the syrian strikes, we are on the verge of military clashes. I think this country needs to wake up. Were talking about sean spicer
factionalization in this administration, which is surfacing and is very difficult to understand. Were witnessing an escalation in yemen, in somalia, an escalation of counterterrorism strikes, an escalation of killing of civilians, and im worried about a catastrophic Collision Course this administration. And think of those who are applauding the syria strike, chris. To me, a disastrous presidency, one of its worst acts possibly was syria strikes and you heard these pundits applauding. Sanity is needed. Common sense. David, that brings me to this question. One of the things in the Republican Party, there was a Central Civil War about this posture towards foreign intervention, particularly along the lines of, say, enforcing a Chemical Weapons ban. And donald trump won by repudiating the bush legacy. He did. Very explicitly. I think and you tell me. I think thats still where the base of the Republican Party is in their heart. I think theyre conflicted,
yes. Look, the president has zero credibility. Nobody is suggesting that he has credibility on this issue. But the question as to whether or not he made the right dis, i would push back a little bit on katrina. It did receive both affirmation of both democrats and republicans. Chris, i went down to the syrian border. I visited a refugee camp from the children to the adults. Families wanted to go home. There was a father before i left who said, how are you going to help . How are you going to help . Chris, i didnt have an answer. But, david, its not through bombs. Think of the hypocrisy of a president saying hes anguished looking at those civilian casualties when he wont even let those listen to the father who had to bury his twins. Explain to the father who had to bury his twins why we shouldnt intervene and try to prevent that from happening. I mean let me just say this. Two things. One, there is no answer to that father, whether that airfield is struck or not. So Lets Be Clear about theres no incremental progress made for
that father. And as for answering that question, which is a very difficult moral one, there are a lot of fathers in a lot of other places including in yemen right now who would like to see the u. S. Play a role different than the one it is. Katrina and david, thank you. You got it. Still ahead, more on that Breaking News i mentioned earlier. The fbi was granted a fisa warrant to monitor the communications of Trump Adviser Carter Page last summer as part of an investigation into possible ties to russian agents. More on that development after this twominute break. I would always answer hispanic. So when i got my ancestry dna results it was a shocker. Ieverything. Im from all nations. I would look at forms now and wonder what do i mark . Because im everything. And i marked other. Discover the story only your dna can tell. Order your kit now at ancestrydna. Com. A heart attack doesnt or how healthy you look. No matter who you are, a heart attack can happen without warning. A bayer Aspirin Regimen can help prevent another heart attack. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an Aspirin Regimen. Bayer aspirin. Is to always keep track of your employees. R micromanage them. Make sure theyre producing. Woo Employee Of The Month you really shouldnt leave their side. Vita coco coconut water, hydration comes naturally. But weve got the get tdigital tools to help. Now with xfinitys my account, you can figure things out easily, so you wont even have to call us. Change your wifi password to something you can actually remember, instantly. Add that premium channel, and watch the show everyones talking about, tonight. And the bill you need to pay . Do it in seconds. Because we should fit into your life, not the other way around. Go to xfinity. Com myaccount Breaking News tonight. The Washington Post is reporting that the fbi obtained a Fisa Warrant Last year to monitor former Trump Adviser Carter Page. Quote, the fbi and the Justice Department obtained the warrant targeting carter pages communications after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge there was probable cause to believe this is the key part page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case russia, according to officials. This appears to be the first
confirmation that a fisa warrant was in fact approved to investigate contacts between russian intelligence and trump associates. Joining me now, Phillip Rucker and julian sanchez, a senior fellow at the kaddo institute. Julian, let me start with you and then ill come to you, phillip. Fisa is intended to spy on or surveil foreign intelligence . So theres supposed to be a fairly high bar to actually target an american citizen and not just incidentally sweep them up, that right . Theres actually two different sets of standards for getting a warrant that depend on whether the target is a u. S. Person or not. If its a foreigner, essentially if theyre working for a foreign government, thats more or less enough. For a u. S. Person, its not enough to show that theyre in the employ of a foreign government. You have to show theyre engaged in clandestine intelligence
activities and doing so knowingly. So it wouldnt be enough even if he had been unwittingly recruited as an asset. So the obvious question is what is the evidence they had that he was engaged in that kind of conduct and then how did someone who might have been engaged in that conduct end up as one of a relatively small number of Foreign Policy advisers to the Trump Campaign . Thats key here. Phillip, the reason this reporting is so important is weve had stories floating around about possible fisas, and two different british outlets have both had the story. This is the first sort of Big American Outlet to nail down this story and nail down a target for it. Thats right, and it only nails down one target. Its this Gentleman Carter page who was an adviser for some time on the Trump Campaign. The Trump Officials would contest that and say he wasnt a formal adviser but he did play a role in helping shape theForeign Policy. I should also note that when he sat down with your fine paper and the now president of the United States was asked to name Foreign Policy ad