Korea. What to square what he said about the Nuclear Capability with what we know at this point. Yeah, its something you obviously have to take seriously, david. But when you look at that question of whether or not north korea actually is nuclear capable, combat ready with a Nuclear Arsenal at this stage, south Korean MilitaryOfficials Say questionable. Theres no proof that they actually have mastered the technology which enables that warhead on top of the missile to survive reentry or whether they can activate the war head. Those are the final steps toward developing a nuclear program. What experts do generally agree on is that north korea does have the capability, the technology to bid these longrange Ballistic Missiles after that Missile Launch in late november. They studied the pictures, imagery, and decided that yes, in fact, this is a longrange missile that could potentially reach the east coast of the United States. David, on top of all of this, in that new years speech, kim jongun said the goals for this coming year were to mass produce Nuclear Warheads and Ballistic Missiles for operational deployment. He said that north korea isnt going to make a first strike on anyone, that this is really to protect itself from threats. It will retaliate. But what administration wants to take a regime like north korea at its word, first of all and what does a threat mean in the eyes of the North Koreans. Add to that this overture to south korea, offering talks about the olympics coming up, kim jongun saying he wants it to be a success. He thinks the north and south should sit down and talk about their future together and about the olympics offering to send a delegation. There could be a lot going on here. We simply have to read the tea leaves. Theres no indication of what the North Koreans might be after, whether its a dividing the u. S. And south korea, whether its looking for help from south korea in terms of sanctions or humanitarian aid. We dont know. But these very mixed messages coming from the norths leader today. Were reading tea leaves here and wondering how the white house is going to respond to all of this. The president has been very active on twitter this morning tweeting lot about Foreign Policy issues. Reporter well, ive checked within the past hour and havent seen anything. Im not completely up to speed on his twitter feed moment by moment. Just within the past hour. But we did get this very brief statement, this well see, well see about the idea that the Nuclear Button is on kim jonguns desk. I think theres probably a lot more to come from the u. S. Administration. So a matter of trying to figure out where to go with this offer to the south and with this idea that theyre claiming theyre Nuclear Capability. Thank you very much reporting from south korea. Turning to iran where at least ten people have been killed in demonstrations and armed protest ares tried to take over police stations and military bases according to Iranian State tv. They starred because of frustrations with the countrys stagnant economy, high unemployment, high food prices. Irans president played down protests and called for calm on sunday night and then President Trump tweeted this. Iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the obama administration. The great iranian people have been represses many years. Theyre hungry for food and freedom along with human rights. The wealth of iran is being looted. Time for change. Nbc reports for us from tehran. Reporter thats right, david. State tv is reporting at least ten people have been killed as we now enter the fifth day of unrest in iran. Now, authorities here are saying the police have not shot anybody and that the fatalities are at the hands of the protests are themselves and sunni terrorists. They also say the fingerprints of foreign agents are present everywhere. Theres been a lot of finger pointing within the establishment. Rowhani blaming hard liners, hard liners blaming him and both sides saying this bears the hall marks of foreign intervention. However, in speeches made by rowhani yesterday, he acknowledged dissatisfaction among the people saying people are allowed to criticize or even protest but in a way in the end they lead to a better situation in the country for the people. However is, authorities said that at least 300 people have been arrested and other branches within the system have warned that illegal protests will not be tolerated and will be dealt with severely. A warning that many havent paid attention to. At last night for the fourth night, there were nationwide protests which included demonstrations here in tehran. David, what started as a provincial demonstration over the economy quickly became political. There are more questions than answers. How all of this started, how did it spread so quickly and what does this mean for the future of iran. What is for sure, if these protests continue, the crackdown will become much more severe. At this stage for the most part, the police are dealing with the situation. But if the militia are deployed, circumstances could take a violent turn. As for the president s tweet, his fourth one so far about the situation here. Last night president rowhani fired back saying a person that brands the iranian people as terrorists has no right to sympathize with them. A lot to discuss. Ned price is former director of the National Security council, and p. J. Crowley, assistant secretary of state during the obama administration. The author of red line, american Foreign Policy in a time of fractured politics and failing states, and david ignatius, columnist for the Washington Post and msnbc contributor. David, i was following your twitter page on friday shortly after the protests got under way. You tweeted out cell phone videos of protesters in a half dozen cities suggest something important happening there. Need more reporting to understand what it means for mideast in 2018. A few days later what, sense do you have of the breadth and depth here and what are you watching for as this plays out . Im still asking pretty much the same questions. This movement is dispersed in many cities more than half a dozen around iran weve seen in the last four days, people in the streets, cell phone videos appear authentic. The crack down appears to have resulted in the ten deaths that you cited earlier. What we dont know is what the organization of this movement is, how coherent it is. Really what its demands are. I have a final question that id leave with you. Theres definitely an antikhomeini khamenei character to this. Anti, the supreme leader. There may be an anti rowhani tone. People seem to be saying, we were promised that iran would improve economically after the nuclear deal, there would be new investment, new jobs. Whats happened . Where are the benefits we were expecting . Its a tricky problem for the president who has identified with the nuclear deal to manage. David, a quick followup. The president tweeting time for a change in all capital letters. I reflected on a column you wrote last week about iran and looking at u. S. Policy toward iran more generally. You wrote theres still little clear policy. Do you have a sense here of what this white house would like to see happen as the protests play out . The white house has wanted to pressure iran, but not with the detailed specific road map in mind. I think that was the thrust of senator Lindsey Grahams comment. You have to be very careful if youre president in encouraging people to take to the streets in other countries to protest because the question is, how do you follow up if repression becomes severe in the streets. That was the problem that president obama faced in 2009 with the Green Movement as it was called in tehran. And there wasnt really any followup. So i think Lindsey Graham is saying, what are you going to do next if this continues and becomes more violent. Ned price, let me turn to north korea if i could, seeing some movement there, as well. Ill go back to the piece that Rex Tillerson wrote just a few days ago in which he talked about this administrations tact toward north korea. City wrote a door to dialogue remains open. The regime must earn its way back to the table until denuclearrization curse, the pressure will continue. What did you make from the leader of north korea . Are we seeing an olive branch in winter . It was only a speech only kim jongun could give. He spoke of the Nuclear Button on his desk that he could press to essentially eradicate a u. S. City and on the other hand, he called his country a peace loving one. What i think were seeing are two things. One, i think there is a genuine overture. I think kim jongun is now satisfied that he has reached a Credible Nuclear Deterrent with the icbm tests, with the Thermo Nuclear weapon test we saw a couple months ago, per the assessment of u. S. Intelligence, the ability to mate those two together. I think kim jongun is now confident in his Nuclear Deterrent that would prevent us at least in his mind, from initiating an attack. But i think theres also a secondary motive here. I think what kim jongun is trying to do is drive a wedge between the United States and our partners on this challenge primarily south korea. President trump and president moon of south korea have come at this challenge differently. President moon wanted to engage all long. President trump has been about isolation and shutting this rogue country off. What we see kim jongun doing is trying to extend an olive branch to the South Koreans to drive a wedge to drive some space between our critical negotiating partner in this challenge here. P. J. Crowley, if the door is open a crack, what does diplomacy look like with north korea today . Rex tillerson is talking about, the secretary of defense is talking about how this is a diplomatled initiative. Its what you hear from nikki haley, as well. What does diplomacy look like to you. I dont think theres a mixed message here. Wham kim jongun wants is the beginning of a negotiation ultimately with the United States. And based on north korea as a nuclear power. So hes trying to do both things, start negotiation with south korea that may broaden at some point and also he wants to be clear hes not going to give up these nuclear weapons. Thats the dilemma here. Secretary tillerson has said many times during this year that the era of strategic patience is over. And yet, anyone who has done any business with north korea over the past 25 years knows the one thing you have to be with north korea is patient. I think theres a its important to be firm. We had four rounds of sanctions during 2017. Well probably go through multiple rounds of sanctions in 2018. You know, but the dilemma is as the Trump Administration talks itself into a weve got to solve this problem now, youre then confronted as steve bannon said before he left the white house that theres no military option here that doesnt involve putting hundreds of thousands or millions of people at risk. So the dilemma is you start 2018, there will ultimately be some kind of negotiation but theres a definite division over what are the ground what are the conditions by which that negotiation can begin. David, as i mentioned to my colleague in seoul a few moments ago, the president thinking about Foreign Policy over the last 24 or 48 hours based on what hes been reading. The United States has foolishly given pakistan more than 33 billion in aid over the last 15 years. Theyve given us nothing but lies and deceit. Thinking of our leaders as fools, give safe havens to the terrors we hunt in afghanistan with little. He concludes with no more. A lot of bark there. Do you think well see the bite . I think that its entirely possible that President Trump will follow through with some reduction in aid to pakistan. One of the pillars of his afghanistan strategy that he announced in a big set piece speech a few months ago was that we would be tougher on pakistan, the sanctuary for the taliban, for the militants operating in afghanistan. And now he seems to be following through because pakistan hasnt done enough. I just want to make one quick comment about north korea following on what ned and p. J. Said. Theres been a lot of anticipation about just what kim jongun would say in his traditional annual new years message. Just before christmas, the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman gave us much softer tauped statement leading people to wonder if kim would open the door toward a process of negotiation and engagement. I think that the central theme to take away from the speech is hes done just that, proposed an interesting way to do it, seizing opportunistically on the time of the olympics, to reach out to south korea, to make north korea look like a hero. But i think a lot of north korea watchers will look at this and say aha, this is the moment in which hes decided to begin the process of engagement. There had been fears he would conduct another round of test before doing this. Appreciate the time today. Thanks to p. J. And ned for joining me. Happy new years all of you. Coming up, kickstarter, new revelations about Foreign Policy adviser George Papadopoulos and his role in sparking the russia probe. What he told an australian diplomat that raised red flags. Youre watching msnbc live. But if thats not enough, we offer innovative investing tools to prepare you for the future. Looks like you hooked it. And if thats not enough, well help your kid prepare for the future. Dont hook it kid. And if thats still not enough, well help your kids kid prepare for the future. Looks like he hooked it. Well do anything. Takes after his grandad. Seriously anything, to help you invest for the future. Ally. Do it right. Seriously anything, to help you invest for the future. Raphael just fourt are brothers who hate bullies, and love this city. Leonardo woo michelangelo whoa haha. Leonardo gear up guys we had a fantastic 2018. Were off to a very good start. As you know with the great tax cuts and getting rid of the individual mandate which was very, very unpopular. Stock market i think is going to continue to go up. Companies are going to continue to come into the country. And theyre doing it now soon to be a record clip. Trump striking an optimistic note for the new year as a New York Times report throws the spotlight on former Foreign Policy adviser George Papadopoulos highlighting a discussion between papadopoulos and australias top diplomat in the uk. Their barroom conversation reportedly sparked the initial inquiry into russias role in the election. The hacking and a member of the Trump Campaign may have had inside information were driving factors that led the fbi to open an investigation in july 2016 into russias attempts to disrupt the election and whether any of trumps associates conspired. Joining me julia ansley, frank is a former fbi assistant director and Ashley Parker a reporter from the Washington Post. Ashley, from reading that piece and what weve learned over the last few days, how much into finer focus this narrative has come. So its basically what weve seen this whole investigation is theres a drip, drip, drip of revelations each of which raises new questions that are problematic for the white house. The biggest one now is who George Papadopoulos may or may not have told about what he knew of russias hacking within the campaign. If this is someone getting drunk with a diplomat and telling him, its entirely possible and perhaps even likely he also tried to pass this information on to the Trump Campaign. So again, the president has actually in recent weeks been fairly calm about the Mueller Investigation saying he believes hell be treated fairly and thinks it will pass. When stories like this come out and news like this comes out, it makes people in the white house in his inner circle increasingly nervous. How does a story like this reverberate through the winter white house in south florida, the white house comment has been sparse. Ty cobb saying in effect theyre not going to comment but still participate in the investigation. The special counsels investigation. How does it revert great through maralago where he spent the last couple days . One thing about maralago which is why its a mixed bag for the president s aides is this is a place where the president , its familiar. Its comfortable. Hes surrounded by sort of adoring fan fans, club members who had to pay a lot of money to join maralago. When Something Like this happens, in a way the president is in a bit of a bubble hearing from people who think hes great and doing a good job. It may not quite reverberate as much as if hes back in the white house. That said, he has a lot less adult supervision down here which means hes talking to outside adviser who are worried about that and are sort of passing on that message of concern. Julia, let me ask you about this dossier, the focus of a lot of republicans especially in washington, d. C. Here over the last many months. How much does this report by matt apuzzo and his colleagues at the times diminish the importance of that as this investigation proceeds . The way the times report lays this out, there was clear