Surprised were complimenting you . I dont know what to do with myself. Well get there, dont worry. Former chief of staff of the cia and department of defense. Jeremy bash. Nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host, yeah, of kcdc. Its so good. And of course we begin this morning with our willie geist in new york who has the top story. Good morning. I like that kasie is giving us the laugh every time we do it. So adorable. Lets start with the latest on relations with russia. President trump spent the snow day tweeting his defense of his call to russian president Vladimir Putin. The president writing. I called him to congratulate him on the election victory. The Fake News Media is crazed because they want me to excoriate him. Getting along with russia and others is a good thing, not a bad thing. He went on, they can help solve problems with north korea, syria, ukraine, iran and even the coming arms race. Bush tried to get along but didnt have the smarts. Obama and clinton tried but didnt have the emergency or chemistry. Remember, we said peace through strength. That all comes amid multiple reports that President Trumps top Team Included in his briefing materials em blazened with the words do not congratulate written in all caps which is president ignored. If this story is accurate, that means someone leaked the president s briefing papers. Leaking such information is a fireable offense and likely illegal. A source familiar with the matter tells nbc news john kelly is frustrated and deeply disappointing. So it seems to me that the white house, john kelly and others are more concerned about the fact that the information was leaked than the fact that the president congratulated Vladimir Putin and went on yesterday to defend that congratulations while bashing three previous president s. And you know who was not concerned about the leak was the president. He didnt even seem to care about it. In fact, he embraced basically his own actions in that set of twitter tweets yesterday. He said look, i did congratulate him and hes very open and overt about his prorussian Foreign Policy and i think the president was fine with the fact that this got out. He may have even been behind it. I think he wants to show everybody that he is very pro russian. What about the point that the president makes and a lot of people i said it on the show yesterday, that president obama also called and congratulated president putin in march of 2012. We didnt have the backdrop obviously of russia interfering with the president ial election, but if you have the president being diplomatic and the state department putting on the pressure which is what happened in this case, is that not enough . No, so much has changed. Whats gone in syria, whats gone on with threats to the baltic countries, our nato allies and obviously this nerve agent attack on british soil, i think the game has changed a lot and its time for americans to step up and be a lot tougher with Vladimir Putin. Weve all been talking about the issue of the deep state and the president referred to that and i find that to be chilling. Im not sure exactly what his concerns were, whether he liked the leaks and then was tweeting and trying to create a deflection or if the leeks were because members of his National Security team were so horrified at his inability to handle this level of conversation on the world stage that they at this point, its every man and woman for him or herself. But here we have the tweet. According to the Associated Press, President Trump has told confidants that he believes the leak was meant to embarrass and undermine him. Thats according to white house officials and outside advisors familiar with the president s thinking and though it is a small circle with knowledge of the president s briefing notes the president has suggested it was done by quote, the deep state according to the ap sources. Jeremy and sam, what are are you as chilled as i am by that that the president s invoking this . Yeah, i am. These are professionals, National Security officials who devote their lives their careers to defending our country and should be listened to, not excoriated by the president. Well, let me take a different tact here. I do think if it wasnt the president himself who leaked this which i dont think is aly nonplausible thing here, that it would be troubling to have the matter leaked. You need to be confident that the information youre getting is not going to make its way into the press. But that being said, im not entirely surprised im a little surprised i should say that this is a surprise to a lot of people. He spent the last year and a half basically trying to be friends with putin, trying to put up a friendly front with russia. Nothing that he did in congratulating putin was a total surprise to me. I assumed he was going to do it. This is the way he has approached the geo political relationship with russia. Its also his personality. If you interact with President Trump, the first thing hell say when you walk into a room if you havent seen him for a while, congratulations for this, great job. And i knew his aides knew that which is why they warned him. The fact that he took ownership was almost a reflection of what he said for the past year which is, dont you want me to be friends with this guy . Im not going to listen to my team because i know better or i didnt read the notes from a National Team with people with far more experience and im an idiot because i dont read. These are difficult questions. Its a real question. A phone call to a foreign leader isnt just something that happens haphazardly from the residence. There is a briefing packet. There is consideration, this is highly orchestrated. The president totally blew it off. We have republicans responding and there was difference on capitol hill. Ukraine, what hes done in the baltics, what hes done in london, poisoning people with nerve gas, thats a criminal activity. I wouldnt have a conversation with a criminal. Im not sure why the president felt like he needed to kale and congratulate Vladimir Putin on what was a fake election. I think most of us dont see that as necessary. I wouldnt have done it. Its it would be like me calling fidel castro saying good job, you really took 99 . I mean, those elections dont mean very much and i think we shouldnt lend any more credence to them. I dont agree with congratulating putin. I dont think you congratulate someone for a fake election. So as you walked the halls of the capitol did you sense Something Different among the women and men of congress . Weve talked about how reluck cant republicans have been to cross President Trump. Its been frustrating we saw it almost across the board yesterday. In this case they were sort of stuck between praising or criticizing the president or praising or criticizing Vladimir Putin and we saw where the chips fell in that regard. These republican members of congress think that Vladimir Putin and the way he approaches the world is unamerican and you know, there are people who are more harsh on russia than others. The Republican Party has been on the more hawkish side so i think this is an area where it put them in a tough position. You combine that with whats going on with Robert Mueller and again, i dont think this turns in a fundamental way until november of 2018 and thats the next point when we might see one, but this is definitely an instant where i would definitely mark it down on the history of the Republican Partys relationship with trump. This is still a bit of the usual suspects here. And i mean that in a good way. But where are the republicans across the board . This is pretty black and white isnt it . I think across the board they are where you heard them be pretty black and white. I think its clear how they feel about Vladimir Putin, about this president s phone call. Whether that means theyll disown donald trump across the board, most of them need him. I think the situation is going to end up playing out that they cant win with him but they cant win without him. Senators were also among several lawmakers who were highly critical of whomever was behind the leak, the briefing notes for the president s call with putin. The president s call was terribly ill advised but that doesnt change the fact that the leaking of the confidential briefing materials for his call were also wrong. It shouldnt be difficult to say both of these things. Theyre both true, so we should be able to say both of them at once. A president s staff shouldnt leak. In cases of principle, you may need to resign, so resign. Im not sure his notes are classified. I just dont understand them, you know, if you work for the guy and youre trying to undermine him in the public, why are you working there . Only a handful of people in the white house could have possibly known both about the call and what was said and the notes that were prepared for him and my view of it is, if youre leaking stuff its to hurt him and if youre trying to hurt him its because you dont like him or agree with him, why are you still there . I think whoever did that ought to be fired immediately. And i think they ought to be prosecuted. I just think that is absolutely unconscionable. Its disgraceful. Unconscionable and disgraceful and maybe a sign that the white house is at a Tipping Point in some way and people inside the white house have no other way to go. Im serious about this. We could go to snarky jokes. You looked at me when you said that. I did. But were at a point now where, you know t president is pushing back against the special counsel, there are those in the administration, there are experts in the Intelligence Community who have worked for president s on both sides of the aisle who are worried this president will fire mueller and republicans have yet to do anything that will prevent that. They just say its wrong and you have people incredibly close to the president releasing information about a call and about the way the president messed it up or supposedly didnt follow the advice of his National Security team within hours of the call. Have you ever seen anything like this . Is there any parallel . No, i havent. And i agree, leaking classified information is wrong and how about an hour before the happening . There wasnt a single leak out of those daily Staff Meetings and the reason was because the leadership had loyalty among the team. And theanty do antidote to leak loyalty and what is lacking here is a sense that the president is carrying out the right policies and frankly his team isnt loyal. The only alternative theories is that the president wanted this out there and if it was authorized then it was not inappropriate and i think theres a fair chance that the president wants it known that he has embraced putin. Its part of his overt part of just ignoring the advice of his advisors and doing what he wants to do. He is running the show. I dont think you can separate the news leak and what happened. Thursday night, friday morning, basically waiting for three, four, top trump administrators to be fired. It creates back stabbing and a lot of those people were in the National Security apparatus. So you dont you probably end up getting rid of leaks when you foster a community that trusts one another. Or youre trying to deflect. I want to ask you about ben sass and that speech he made yesterday. Hes a fascinating test case for people who have been frustrated that Congressional Republicans havent spoken up more about President Trump when they think its appropriate. We heard him yesterday, he talked about the problems with tariffs and why trade wars are bad and not good as President Trump said. He talked about were not getting rid of due process just because you think we should take guns first and defend the process later. Ben sass is a republican in a state nebraska that president won by 25 points in 2016 and yelt he doesnt seem to have any trouble stepping to a microphone when he feels like something has to be said. Why arent more republicans following his lead . Is there a cost to ben sass doing this and speaking from his conscience . I think that the cost of it is still a little bit unknown, to be honest, but this what youre seeing from ben sass has been a fundamental part of his political identity since he first ran for office. And you heard him speak up during the president ial campaign as well, and he is somebody who is, you know, jeff flake just went to New Hampshire. There was some chatter about him doing a 2020. I think ben sass is probably the person that people are looking to as well to potentially challenge President Trump from an intellectual conservative perspective. Whether or not theres a constituency for that is the question. The tariffs issue was something that is specifically related to agriculture in his state. But at the same time, you only see him and jeff flake out on this ledge and jeff flake has gone farther and gottern more isolated. While most republicans are playing politics and not sure they can succeed with or without trump, but let me lay out for you the questions that weve gotten. This week theyre coming to ha head. The question as to whether or not the president will fire bob mueller. That is front and center right now and people high up in the administration and people high up in the Intelligence Community are deeply concerned will happen. Weve been watching over time this president s confused relationship with his attorney general. His deep misunderstanding that the attorney general does not work for him, that he kworworks the country. The president has shown that he does not understand this concept. He cant get his head around it and hes abused that relationship. The question definitely is coming toe a head as to whether or not this president can be blackmailed. It is clear to so many people that he has some problem with russia, that Vladimir Putin has something on him, that he and his press secretary or his stooges can not say anything disparaging about russia in any way for fear that something might come out. A lot of people feel that is a reality at this point and then itss his relationship with women and several women coming forward and saying they had affairs with the president , but they say they were threatened, abused by the president , did it happen during his campaign . These stories are coming to a head and one play come out on 60 minutes this sunday. This is all on the president s plate right now. What you see in tweets that come out with misspellings, with urgency, with a sense of unhinged impulsiveness and you have to be wondering especially in youre in the Intelligence Community if this president is so impaired and so subject to blackmail that hes unfit to lead. And that he would ignore the advice of all his senior advisors and the move against bob mueller was foreshadowed, basically saying the special council should have never been appointed. If the president really subscribes to that theory, bob mueller is the president. Watch tv and watch his tweets. Its unbelievable, frightening and terribly childish. I would watch cable news, watch our show, watch his tweets. Its literally a, b, and c. We were joking in the news room that the chi ron operator probably has more power he comes here for whats really going on. He really wants everybody to like him. They dont. And it it actually gets to his head. Meanwhile we have our entire countrys place in the world at stake. Still ahead on morning joe, three women have legal actions against President Trump. So who poses the greatest danger to the white house and why do these women matter . They do. Also, Mark Zuckerberg speaks out after a scandal engulfed facebook. What hes now saying about the data firm that harvested users information. And well call on senators on the issue of Gun Legislation ahead of saturdays big rallies, but first lets get a check on the noreaster. Well, there were some surprises with our noreaster and this was kind of the runt. The less impactful. We didnt have a lot of high winds. But some areas did get a ton of snow. Out on long island, bay shore had 19. Numerous spots over a foot. Philly 7, d. C. Was around 4. Its still snowing out there, but heres the key. The temperatures are stayed above freezing so we havent had a lot of accumulations from boston, to hartford, to providence. Just be careful secondary roads and bridges. A lot is not sticking. Its still above freezing in boston and that is that you lucked out here. This heavy rain in california, this is going to be a huge story today. This is a huge plume of rain. This is santa barbara, this is where those horrible fires were. This one is expecting 3 inches of rain today during the morning hours. Well find out how bad the mud and debris flows are there if theyre going to come close to what we saw two months ago. Well keep an eye on that. Were just about done with this one and hopefully, till next winter. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. We the people. 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