Ininstead, fecklessness. He showed cowardice on the world stage where the president looked like a weak, dupy stooge to a kgb spy. He had a chance to show loyalty toy the men and women of uniform of americas military and Intel Community, and instead he betrayed them. Time and again. And instead he said that he trusted Vladimir Putins word, and by extension, the word of russias spy community which attacked the United States of america. So many things were said yesterday, jon. So many concerns, not only by the usual suspects in the Democratic Party but also by an awful lot of people and what is now the trump party, the Republican Party. I know theres no way to ask you for a parallel, because there is no parallel. Fdr, after pearl harbor, didnt deny there was an attack. George w. Bush didnt deny al qaedas attack on september 11th, but Vladimir Putin attacked american democracy. Weve got the forensic evidence. Its there for all the world to see. Every reasonable, rational person looks at that material just like they can see the dna on a gun and they know who did it, when they did it, how they did it, why they did it. You could actually take judicial notice in every court in america that Vladimir Putins russian spy agencies tried to undermine american democracy, an dan coats, the president dni director on a daily basis, and yet yesterday donald trump defended Vladimir Putins spoy agencies instead of his own. Where are we right now in the summer of 2018 . Theres a live and open question whether the president of the United States is putting the National Interests of our our National Interests ahead of that of a foreign power who may have leverage over him in some way, and without without that explanation you have to wonder what possibly could be going on. What what is the possible motivations along the way. Was it simply pride . Does he simply not have the capacity to see beyond his, the, in his own mind, the socalled legitimacy of his own election . Or is there some larger issue here . And my chief fear is that this is the middle of the journey, not the beginning and not the end. Because Vladimir Putin has a huge check in his pocket ready to cash. From donald trump. And i dont think its simply going to be cashed for a congenial press conference. I think there must be some other shoe to drop, i dont news that image, there must be some other country to invade, there must be some other attempt here by russians to expand their influence at the expense of the western, the expense of the western alliance and we have seen over the last not just the last 24 hours but the last six, seven days that the president of the United States does not have the interests, historic interests, of the western alliance and of the United States front and center. And willie geist, my father grew up reading books, a series of books called none dare call it treason. None may dare to call what donald trump did yesterday treason, but one thing we can say is this faced with overwhelming evidence that, again, any court in america would take judicial notice of that Vladimir Putin tried to undermine american democracy in 2016 and continues to act in abohorrent ways, that our director of intelligence says poses a threat for the upcoming election, donald trump sat there and was obsequious to Vladimir Putin. Ive asked, i wont bring you in on this, ive been asking, but we all know that Vladimir Putin is holding something over donald trump. We do not know what it is. But we know it must be something extraordinary, because no rational politician, no rational president would act this way if he werent being blackmailed on some level. Well that may be true, and we have to entertain that possibility now. The other part of it is what jon alluded to, the vanity question, which is that any implication or suggestion or evidence that shows that President Trumps election in 2016 was anything other than legitimate is a blow to the president s ego and he cant stand that and is willing to stand next to the president of russia and say i take your word over that of my Intel Community so it doesnt undermine my election. Right, willie, but heres the thing. It wasnt just about the 2016 election. We first here on morning joe, in the december in december of 2015, a year before the results of that election were called into question, we asked limb repeatedly why he said, Vladimir Putin was a strong leader. I said, he assassinates journalists, assassinates politicians, assassinates others. Donald trumps defense of Vladimir Putin was, well, american soldiers in iraq killed a lot of people, too. So even before the election was called into question, he was a like a scared child, afraid to criticize Vladimir Putin. That was three years ago. Yeah. Theres no question about it. In the context of yesterdays press conference, though, asking about that, i think, again, he cant say anything that makes his election look anything other than legitimate, because its about his ego, and i want to be clear for our viewers again, joe. What exactly the Intelligence Community assessment stated. Dated january 6, 2017. This is what the president says he does not believe. We as russian president Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the u. S. President ial election, plain and simple. So yesterday, dni, director of National Intelligence, dan coats, had to put out another statement of his own after what the president said reiterating that the Intel Community believes russia and has evidence, russia interfered in the elections and irnterfered i the 2016 election. The evidence is all there. The president cheeses not to believe so and said so, joe, yesterday. Willie, the thing is and we also saw it when the intel chiefs went to capitol hill. Yep. And i know i know that even donald Trump Supporters know by this point that Vladimir Putin has something over trump. I know they know that. They may try some of them tried, may be trying to deny it. Not many, but whats so telling is, while, lets just say, the last holdouts are talking about the deep state here, it was Donald Trumps intel chiefs that donald trump appointed himself. Thats right. That drew that conclusion on the hill. It was the fbi director that donald trump appointed himself. It was the director of National Intelligence that donald trump appointed himself. It was the then cia director that donald trump appointed himself. Mike pompeo. It was you name it, all of the intel chiefs that drew this conclusion, they were all appointed by donald trump, and they were all confirmed by republicans in the United States senate. There is no doubt. There is no question, especially after fridays indictment, that the russians tried to subvert american democracy, and we have all of the evidence. Forget about csi new york. This is csi moscow and we have all of the dna, and its all over Vladimir Putins bloody hands. And by the way, the dni, dan coats, said all this on friday before the summit hoping to avoid what we saw yesterday. He said, the red lights are flashing, theyre blinking. We know whats happening. Russia continues to interfere in our elections. Bring in our panel, joe. Msnbc contributor Mike Barnicle, washington anchor for bbc news in america, katty kay, president and council on world, richard haas, columness and associate eder David Ignatius and Nbc News National Political reporter heidi przybilla. Your initial reaction. A lot of people, ambassador mcfaul, u. S. Ambassador to rush went over the course of the day from outrage to sadness. The United States president would stand next to a tyrant whos been proven to be interfering in our democratic process and not standing up to him and giving him the higher ground. Particularly, willie, when you, not just look at yesterday but you take a step back and look at the preceding week. This was a week in which selfinterest took precedence over the national interest. In which America First gave way to russia first, and this is a president who basically was unwilling to take on russia, but was more than willing to take on nato. The eu. Yep. And the uk. The socalled special relationship was essentially discarded. So the contrast between the kid gloves with which he dealt with mr. Putin and the frontal assaults on our closest allies for 70 years have been an integral part of americas relationship with the world was in contrast. A bad week for the United States and Foreign Policy. Yesterday capped it off. Katty kay, we heard across europe yesterday discouraging words from American Allies that stood with us through a generational cold war with the soviet union. It was constantly being pushed to do more by american president s, to push back against russia. Yesterday, in britain, in germany, across the continent, we had one leader after another say we can no longer trust the United States of america. Yeah. It was the German Foreign minister, one of the first to come out and say, this means we cant trust the white house anymore after that press conference. Remember, those european allies are right up against russias borders some of them as well and feel this very intensely. They know what russian meddling looks like. Some of those countries experienced it firsthand. What its like to have Russian Troops on their soil and to be occupied by the soviet union. No ones thinking were going back to that, joe, but everybody in europe is looking at, well what do we do now . How do we protect ourselves, if the United States is going to withdraw this completely and not just withdraw but if the u. S. Is now going to side with the power that we have long seen as our enemy and who has reemerged as an aggressive actor on the world stage just in the last few years. The timing of donald trump reaching out to russia like this, opening the door for russia to walk back in from the cold, and reassume a place on the world stage like this with no positive implications. Its worth looking forward after this summit, there was not a single thing said during the course of that press conference that would lead us to believe that russian behavior is now going to improve. Not a single thing. Not in ukraine, not in syria. Not in election meddling, not in the baltics. If you could come out of that press conference and say, well, yes, maybe that twohourlong meeting behind closed doors had throwed a better relationship and now President Trump could influence putin to act better on the world stage that would be one thing, but nothing was said to make us think that was the case. You looked, just looked at the visuals yesterday, and even if you werent listening to the sound, even if you look at the pictures, donald trump looked like a scared child. He was he was could youtail iyoutail cowtails to president putin and not only disappointing as an american to see a u. S. President and what he said, it was disappointing to see an american president look as weak as donald trump looked, as fearful as donald trump looked, as out of control as donald trump looked, as owned as donald trump looked. Vladimir putin owned look at that picture. Vladimir putin owns donald trump, and both of the men know it and David Ignatius, i i cannot imagine what its like being dan coats this morning, or being somebody in americas intel agencies that have delivered the goods to the commander in chief. Have proven the attacks took place and where the attacks came from, and how they how they were launched. In fact, who specifically launched them and from what buildings half way across the world theyve been launched in. This should be a moment in americas Intel Community for celebration. They got a chance to prove that they are the best and the brightest on the planet. Instead they have a president who yesterday defended Vladimir Putin and his spy agencies against forensic evidence that cannot be denied. What how do they go to work this morning . What do they do . What is their attitude . Joe, i think this was a tipping point. I wrote yesterday, you could almost hear the fabric of trumps presidency ripping after he said those words. I made a point of talking to a number of former Intelligence Officers after he made those comments, and to be honest, they were shocked. Mike hayden, who ran the agency said he was stunned to hear the words. He imagined all of the oneword expletives up and down the corridors at the agencies, at the nsa and people watched their screens and saw what happened, that the president sided with our adversary against their intelligence. Will herd, a Republican Congressman from texas, a courageous Operations Officer said he was stunned that an american president would let himself get played by a russian president that way. Dan hoffman, our station chief in moscow said trumps behavior was like asking a criminal to solve a crime. Just a sampling of the responses from the intelligence people who have been on the front lines, as they watched their president do this. The reaction from republicans well talk about, but i felt that we were beginning to hear from people who have refrained from criticism. One obvious example is newt gingrich. Newt gingrich said this is the worst mistake of your presidency. You need to do something quickly about it. And thats just one sign that donald trump went in to a space with the whole world watching that was different yesterday and we awe saw it all saw it and ac differently today. And joe used another word. Disappointing. This is not a political statement. A statement as an american. Its disappointing to watch your president stand up there next to an obvious foe, someone who has tried to change our country by invading the democratic process. Its disappointing. Its sad to watch a president not stand up, and in most basic terms stick up for your country and the world stage standing next to that guy to not stick up for his own country. Willie, you know, to use a phrase. Yesterday really was a day to cry for the country. This Great Republic that means so much to so many around the world. To see the president of the United States, mr. Trump, shrink shrink next to Vladimir Putin, to drop his oath of office, to drop his duty on a world stage to protect and defend the constitution of the United States, and then to have so many here in this country on on tv programs like this one say, what a surprise. No. This was not a surprise. This was mr. Trump in full view of the world. This is who he is. Ignorant, narcissistic, all involved with himself. His priority is himself. Not the country. Not the presidency. He is unaware of histories. He was unaware certainly yesterday of anything that this republic has stood for through the ages. The only thing he was aware of clearly was that he was in putins pocket. I dont know if ignorant is so much the word as scared. You look at the visuals. You listen to every interview donald trump has ever given, and he is clearly scared of Vladimir Putin. He is clearly afraid to ever cross the russian leader. He is clearly clearly in his pocket. Who else and we talked about our interview with donald trump in december of 2015 soon after, i think, during the super bowl he was or maybe it was in 2017 for the super bowl . But i remember he got interviewed by bill oreilly, and said the same thing. That Vladimir Putin was a strong leader, and when oh riley brought up the fact that putin killed people, donald trump said, yeah, well, our soldiers killed people in iraq as well. So donald trump is showing immoral equivalency between the men and women in uniform and a dictator thats invaded two countries in a decade, shot down a passenger airliner, poisoned and killed a mother in england, and has committed one atrocity after another atrocity over the past decade. And yet donald trump continues to play straight out of Vladimir Putins pocket. Dan baltz in the Washington Post wrote this morning that the president refused to stand for the country he was elected to represent and protect time and time again. That certainly was obvious for republicans and democrats alike, for Trump Supporters and trump antagonists yesterday, who saw Vladimir Putin own the american president. Heidi, we did hear some criticism from republicans on capitol hill. But the question is, what is next . Do they continue criticizing him . What about the republicans who seem to be doing Vladimir Putins bidding who are desperate to stop Ro