0 good evening, everyone. we're waiting for president biden. he is expected to answer questions on a host of topics. we will bring it to you live as soon as it begins. the news conference comes after a day filled with meeting with nato leaders, with the president working to repair relationships with key nato allies that became frayed during the trump administration. we're going to have a lot more on all of this. also as well a wide-ranging interview with my colleague keir simmons with russian president vladimir putin. the top doj national security official is resigning. it comes as it deals with the fallout of a subpoena over phone records of members of congress and reporters during the trump administration. all of this as attorney general merrick garland says the department will overhaul the rules and procedures for obtaining such records. but we are going to begin first with that news conference that is expected to get underway. we cross over now to brussels where nbc news correspondent mike memoli joins us, as well as andra mitchell, affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell returns" here on msnbc. mike, it's 90 minutes past when this press conference was supposed to get underway. do we have any sense of why the delay is happening, and more importantly, what can we expect out of this news conference? >> reporter: well, eamon, i can't help but think as we've been covering this trip, the first foreign trip the president has taken since assuming office. this is the first time he's really had an opportunity to meet one on one, face to face with a smaller group in cornwall, the g7, now a larger group, 30 heads of government from nato countries plus other related officials in the eu summit tomorrow. while we're trying to explain what has indeed been a very long delay, one of the surest explanations is the president is taking every opportunity he can to have some meetings on the sidelines. looking back at what has already been a fairly full day for this president, this has been a trip the president wanted to make a larger case about the strength of democracies versus autocracie autocracies in the 21st century. we saw at the g7 summit a final statement from those leaders where for the first time they called out china specifically for some of inunfair labor practices, human rights abuses, and a stronger word today from the nato countries not just focused on russia and its aggression, of course, a huge part of the discussion is the summit in two days with vladimir putin, but also naming china in a significant statement. this is all a part of upgrading the nato alliance and also discussing cyber authority in the next year. president biden has been telling them america is back, all setting the stage for what will likely be a number of questions ahead of that summit with vladimir putin on wednesday, eamon. >> andrea, if there was a meeting that a lot of people were watching before the meeting with vladimir putin, it is the one with president erdogan which just concluded before this news conference was to take place. you recently traveled to turkey, and you can understand why turkey is such a delicate balance for this administration. all of the topics we've been discussing whether it be russia, syria, authoritarian leadership, they intersect with this president in turkey. what did both expect to get from this meeting? >> reporter: the state of the relationship has been terrible to put a fine point on it, because joe biden as vice president and erdogan had clashed a number of times over erdogan's desperate efforts to try to get a cleric opposition leader who he blamed for a coup a number of years ago, an attempted coup against him which had been in exile in pennsylvania in the pocono mountains. he demanded the president turn him over to turkey for some kind of punishment or jailing or worse. of course, the president said we don't do that in the united states. we have a rule of law. if there is a reason he should be extradited to turkey, that should be done through the courts. biden was not taking a call from erdogan until president biden called erdogan to tell him something he really did not want to hear, which was the united states was finally recognizing that the massacre on armenians was, in fact, a genocide back 100 years ago. that's how tense the relationship has been. most recently turkey is working with the u.s. -- i was there last week when, in fact, there was a mission with the help of turkey to try to get humanitarian aid to continue to flow to syrian refugees across the border. as you know, turkey already has 600 refugees fleeing from syria and there are people from providence living in terrible conditions. they are still being bombed by russia. russia is planning to stop, and two others have been closed because of russia and now russia is threatening next month to shut this one down and it will completely choke down humanitarian aid. keir simmons asked president putin about it and he said, why should they go through the country's leader or through the regime -- he did not say regime -- through assad? they know they're not going to get anything from him and the u.n. is not going to deliver aid to assad and take the aid for himself. there is a real reason why the u.s. wants in this meeting with putin, to get him to back off of the veto and say let's talk about the politics of coming up with an agreement. extend it for a year. let's get some kind of diplomacy together on turkey. also russia has an interest in not spending enough money as there is on this war, so there is some issue there. and turkey helps with the extrication of troops from afghanistan. we have some relationship with turkey, but he has become so authoritarian that nato is decrying today. one thing i want to mention importantly. i think the biggest thing to come out of this communique and the secretary general's comments, for the first time nato in 73 years ordered against aggression for the first time is saying china with its expanding nuclear power, china's growing influence in the world is a threat to europe, to the americans, to the u.s., to canada, the other nato members. that is a first, and that is exactly what joe biden wanted. a strong statement against china -- he didn't get as strong a statement as ept out -- he wanted out of the g7, and ukraine desperately wanting to get into nato, all of these countries that used to be part of a former soviet union want a strong statement against russia. >> andrea, i was going to say quickly, there seems to be a bit of activity in the room. i see the secretary of state antony blink on has arrived, an indication perhaps that president biden may be making his way to the podium any minute now. let me ask, because i know you had the chance to talk to the secretary of state about the u.s. and russia. what did he ever to say about some of putin's assertions, that the u.s. is basically not a force for good, so to speak, in some of these hot button issues, whether it be ukraine or syria? >> well, i asked him about -- he said to keir what putin said to keir simmons that the u.s.-russia relationship is at its worst, that it's at its worst it's ever been. he said, that is one thing i would agree with vladimir putin on, it is. he said, we'll stand up to putin when he's being aggressive on ukraine, on human rights, on navalny, on american rights who are in prison, unfairly on trumped-up charges and convicted in kangaroo court. but they still want to deal with putin, and if he can prove that he wants to make progress on iran, on climate change, on syria, on any of the issues where they have a mutual interest, then they do want to have a constructive relationship. president biden keeps saying i want a stable relationship, a predictable relationship with vladimir putin. but so far in the days leading up to this summit, he's been anything but indicating he wants a constructive relationship. he has been very aggressive, cracked down on navalny's organization last week in particular and some of the other support for the belarus air hijack thing, none of this is showing any design as well as cyber hacker activity on solar winds. he did, of course, offer this cyber accord where he would turn over cyberhackers from russia if we would do the same. the view of the u.s. would be, sure, if they've duchb things illegally, but we don't protect cyber hackers in the u.s., we go after them. >> the same disclaimer i gave andrea, if we see the president come out i'll have to interrupt you, so i do apologize for that. this summit was to try to repair relationships with world leaders, the french president declaring that america is back with the election of president biden. does the white house feel the president has made a lot of progress in accomplishing this singular goal, that european allies feel that america is back? >> reporter: well, one white house official put in a very warm embrace when they came over here, but even they are surprised just how warm it is. but you only need to continue to look at what continues to happen back home, that the president talks about an assault on voting rights that former president donald trump has not ruled out running himself again. some of that is tempered than it would perhaps be otherwise, that this president is doing his best to assure our allies we are back and we are back for good. but these allies, especially some of them who themselves are leaving the stage, german chancellor angela merkel for one, have a real concern about what's next. it's interesting, the white house just released a short video of some excerpts with the president's sit-down with angela merkel and he called her really the sort of bedrock of europe, the real leader of europe over the last decade. he said he was going to miss her, and with her leaving the scene, the uncertainty about the u.s. political association, something the u.s. had never had reason to question before, you can understand a nervousness that remains below the surface. but that's why the president wanted to come over here, to convince his allies that there is a reason to have a tangible effort in these summits. having a billion vaccines to share with the developing world, to have what they call the built back better world, sort of an infrastructure for the world proposal to counter china's influence, their belt and road initiative, and the number of other steps they're taking. it's really part of what biden has been arguing about. what's needed at the summit is more than just talk but some concrete things we can work in our own middle classes in our respective countries, because a strong foundation is a strong democracy. we're waiting to ask the president, perhaps it will be coming shortly, is to what extent he really has been able to reassure our allies. i thought it was an interesting tack he took when he sat down with the french president. he chose not to answer himself but to pass the question along to emmanuel macron who replied definitely, definitely he's been reassured. that's the conversations that biden is having. so many on the sidelines are all about sharing information about their own respect active political considerations at home as well. >> we're going to continue to watch this biden press conference. as soon as it gets underway, we'll bring it to you. thank you, andrea mitchell. mike, i'm going to ask you to stay with us within the next hour. ambassador of global affairs, thank you for taking this time. compared to what we heard a few years ago from donald trump who at one point called nato obsolete and threatened to pull the u.s. out of it if other nations did not start fulfilling their commitment under the nato treaty to spend agreement at least 2% of their gdp on the collective defense of the organization. andrea was just talking about how this communique identified china as a great risk to the trans-atlantic relationship into the collective security of europe and america. what do you make of the pivot there? we often think of the greatest threat to nato being russia. now it seems with this communique it is china. >> well, rightly, i think, in my mind it points out that both russia and china are a real problem for nato and security in europe. russia is described as the security threat. that's understandable. it's right in the neighborhood. it's deploying military forces at the border and threatening targets inside nato with its nuclear capabilities and its conventional capabilities, with hits cyber warfare capabilities, so correctly pointing out that we need a strong deterrent to deal with russia. but for the first time, as andrea rightly pointed out, the challenge that china presents to both the system of international order, of international relations by trying to break the rules of the international system by cheating on its economic efforts, on stealing the international intellectual property rights, by engaging in threatening behavior with its military force in asia, and in so many other ways including on human rights in its own country and hong kong and other places, that china represents a new forum and a new challenge that nato in alliance with democracies needs to be aware that china is that systemic rival, as the communique puts it, and now needs to be more aware of how the countries of north america and europe can come together to deal with that challenge. it's new, it's important and it's necessary. >> given that, is it possible, is it realistic given the economic dependence of europe, and certainly to some extent, the united states on china that it can be effective in identifying the risks that china poses on the risk it poses before the trans-atlantic relationship? >> well, clearly, many of the issues that china has, so does the united states and they're not willing to threaten those relationships. so they're willing to balance a more assertive posture with regard to china with a continued need to engage economically with them and, as well, to try to find mutual areas of cooperation, areas like climate change, areas like the covid disease and the pandemic that originated in china. one needs to have cooperation to find out where it came from as well as to prevent future diseases. so the relationship is not going to be confrontational. it is going to be a mixture of cooperation and confrontation. but now europe will be part of that confrontation and cooperation, which is how biden tried to get nato modernized for the 20th century. 25 years ago, 50 years ago, china was not an issue systemically or for security in the trans-atlantic area. now china is patrolling in the arctic. it has military operationsiterr. it has a base in chapute. it has a presence in northern europe and it needs to be seen for what it is, about a challenge to be dealt with. >> let me play for you what secretary of state tony blinken told my colleague andrea mitchell over the weekend about the impact of the president's meeting so far while he's been in europe. watch. >> these democratic alliances are an incredible source of strength for us. a unique access that russia doesn't enjoy, china doesn't enjoy, and we are finding we're able to bring them together effectively, diplomatically, politically, economically, militarily, and that's a strong congregation appointed by china or anyone else for that matter. >> do you think they're looking to new threats to kind of bolster the alliance. this is the long haul strategy of america given what they just saw. you know, he's bun what he can. the reality is we did have four years before donald trump. the kind of things we saw on january of demoralized our country, which is deeply concerning to our allies. what president biden can do is say we're back, what you represent to our security, our prosperity, our freedom that your alliance with the framework that secretary blinken was talking about, that we need to strengthen that, find ways to reinforce it as we move forward, and that in finding ways that we are demonstrating that our engagement in the world with our partners can actually address real problems that benefit the american people, that benefit equal in all democracies, so that, as president biden likes to say, we demonstrate that democracy can still deliver for our people. if we do so, then presumably political support at home will be translate into a stronger engagement abroad. >> i have to ask you about one major issue that doesn't seem to be getting enough attention. i'm sure it was brought up with the turkish procession ten years-plus. it obviously borders nato because of turkey. what more should nato be doing to both help observe the authoritarianism in that country? >> it needs to work together with the european union, which is an organization with a greater stake and direct involvement in this issue to work with turkey to deal with the very real humanitarian crisis that remains. turkey is a difficult ally at times, but it has also taken on a very difficult task, being a neighboring country to civil and being the host of skbril yonz that we mind as a solution, which andrea am i familiar said early. ly also with vladimir putin in geneva tomorrow, we need to find a solution so that the people going home to syria can go home to syria. they need to live in peace and start rebuilding their lives. >> ambassador, let me ask you looking ahead to the news conference while we await the president there, we're not yet sure what the delay is. certainly when he comes out, we'll bring that to our viewers live. but if we were looking ahead to the summit with vladimir putin and the concern among russia is nato's expansion over the years, the point of contact would most likely be ukraine, and perhaps we will hear about ukraine. what do you think that existential threat is? should ukraine join nato? should nato take on that responsibility and be effectively involved with a conflict with russia directly if you maintain work toing. >> independent sovereign countries should be able to decide md. the first and most important question is sdwhal line? does it want to have a closer affinity in. as of today, the ukranians would like to become part of nato. they have decided that is something that they would like to do. then the question is for nato strictly would enhance the unite nations which is key whether a country should back part of nato. the united states has led the effort to say, no, ukraine in nato is a good thing. there are other countries, germany and france, who say, no, this is not a good chance to be at nato. one of the reasons, russia is likely to react with a great fury. there is also the reality that russian troops today and is joining separate forces in eastern ukraine. it's a complicated issue. the key, however, is nato and the united states can never say russia has a veto -- it may have a voice -- but has a veto over the question of nato alliance. >> it looks like the president is starting to make his way, so i do apologize if i have to cut you off. what should the president do about ukraine and nato? >> i think we should make sure ukraine remains an independent country, that the conflict with russia gets resolved diplomatically. first of all, economically and providing it to succeed. to continue with the reforms and thirdly and more importantly, providing it as a means of self-defense, in order to protect itself against that attack. i do not think today is the issue of ukraine becoming an independent country, deserves to be able to defend itself, and when it comes to russia and ukraine that america stands up together with all its allies to make clear that those decisions cannot and will not be contested. >> i want to cross over to our white house correspondent mike memoli is in brussels. do you ever any hint as to the holdup or any news operations in there. the secretary of state is in that room in nato headquarters waiting for that news conference to get underway. >> reporter: yeah, secretary