Ballistic missile that Vladimir Putin touted in a speech earlier this month. On the heels of another nbc news report that President Trump is telling his aides not to tout tough policies on russia publicly but behind the scenes he is more critical of his russian counter part citing two officials who say President Trump told putin during the phone call last week, if you want to have a arms race we can do that but ill win. And White House CorrespondentKristin Welker and reporter courtney cubin. Let me start with you. What are we getting from the white house on this syria news . Reporter well, no reaction yet. But look, the president sending out mixed signals against the back drop of this reporting. David, President Trump yesterday in ohio, there to talk about infrastructure, he went off script. Which is nothing new. But he indicated that the troops would be coming home soon and the conflict would soon end in syria and then he that was marked back. But this crisis looms over this administration. Just one of many foreign policies issues that the administration is dealing. Syria and russia as well. Russia as well. Courtney let me bring you into the conversation. We have this tit for tat yesterday. Russia expelling several dozen u. S. Diplomats and that continues today with other western diplomats. What is the latest on the story. And the closing of the consulate in st. Petersburg which is not a insignificant decision. You are right, this is a tit for tat and when does it end. In the bock drop of this, weve been working on a story about exactly how President Trump deals with russia issues, related to russia and we found that his aides and his Administration Officials who are in the cabinet, they have to really push President Trump when it comes to tough actions against russia and specifically against Vladimir Putin. One scenario that we detailed in our story was the decision to provide weapons to ukraine. We reported back in august that a decision had gone to the president s desk and it was by the state department and by the pentagon supported by them and the National Security apparatus to provide these javelin antitank missiles to ukraine. Well it sat on the president s desk for about four months. Secretary tillerson and others had to push him and say, look, we need to do this. This is something that ukraine needs and he made the decision in december but it took a lot of pushing and prodding from people in the cabinet. Let me ask you about that. At the center of this, according to the piece, is the stark divide between the president s policy decisions and his public posture. What is the white house saying about that . We heard the back and forth between Andrea Mitchell and the state department on this issue. The white house is substantia one thing and doing another behind the scenes. Reporter officially they are not saying anything. According to the reporting and the sources weve been speaking with, the president has been a little h hesitant to take action against russia and he thinks it is critical to deal with the crises that weve been talking about. He also doesnt want to play into the media hands and concerned about this. And the investigation into the russia meddling of the u. S. Election. He continues to insist there was no collusion with russia and so there is some real concern from his perspective about giving into that. But his officials have been pushing back and said, putin responds to strength so ultimately they have won him over in a number of instances. I could tell you that based on my reporting, he wassin fury ated after putin flexed his muscles and talking about having a Bigger Nuclear arsenal than the United States and when the president had the conversation with putin after he was reelected, he raised that issue and said i didnt like that rhetoric that you were using. I liked it more once you softened your tone. It is not good for anyone to have an arms race but if you want do that, ultimately i will win. And i was told before the reelection happened, President Trump reached out to his allies in germany, france as well as the u. K. To say, look, this rhetoric that were hearing from putin is not acceptable and we basically have to band together. So really significant, but obviously what we are seeing in terms of action this administration consistently taking more increasingly tough stances. Thank you very much. That is Kristin Welker and courtney kobe. And a Senior Council on the foreign of relations and on the National Security council during the Obama Administration, he was also director for European Affairs and the National Security council during the clinton administration. Let me start with the question raised during last conversation if i could. Where does this all end . I see it described as a tit for tat and when does the back and forth between u. S. And russia end as we see diplomats being expelled. Nobody knows the answer to that question yet. It is clear we are now in a downward spiral with the u. S. And allies kicking out russians and the russians kicking out americans and europeans and closing the consulate in st. Petersburg. It could get worse and my guess is it will get worse and because neither President Trump or mr. Putin are the guys that back down. They have thin skin and big egos. We are in a situation in which the president is saying, my Nuclear Arsenal is bigger than your Nuclear Arsenal. So we are clearly in a bad place. And beneath the surface we have the syria crisis, the ukraine crisis, trump possibly pulling out of the iran nuclear deal. So this is this is looking like a situation where we could be going back to some pretty dark times in the relationship with russia. Charles, i want to get your reaction to that nbc news report about that kraiukraine arms dead with javelin missiles and others and what nbc news is reporting, that the president isnt keen on his staff talking about that move. Talking toughly about president putin. What does that say to you about the relationship . It says to me that President Trump is still schizophrenic about his relationship with mr. Putin. As a candidate and as a president during the first 15 month, he had only had good things to say about mr. Putin despite they are been in georgia and ukraine and helping assad gas and bomb his own people and they are all over the european elections and now good reason to believe they poisoned a former spy and his daughter in the u. K. And so you have to ask, what is going on here . Why is President Trump so reluctant to stand up to putin . And it makes one wonder, does putin have some good . Does he know about collusion or financial worongdoing. And we doan dont know the answer to that. But it seems President Trump has turned a corner in a sense he feels like hes being played by mr. Putin. I think he is being played and ready to push back. But it is schizophrenic. Why isnt he coming out and using more forceful rhetoric. He is still stuck in this nomansland when it comes to russia. What is your policy prescription if you were still at the nsc and giving advice to the president on this relationship, from a policy perspective would you advise he do . I think that the United States has not been sufficiently strong when it comes to russia. And im particularly concerned about russian interference in western democracy. I think the russian threat from within is much greater than the russia threat from without. Russia is a declining power. Theyre demon graphically on the way down. Economically they dont hold a candle to the west but theyve been very good at dividing americans against each other. The europeans against americans. We need to push back much harder on that front and in general on the kremlins aggressive behavior. Thank you very much. The senior fellow at the council on foreign relations. New details just released about the shooting death of Stephon Clark. A autopsy revealed the 22yearold unarmed black man was shot a total of eight times. Most were fired in his back. Six of the bullets, you could see in the body diagram exits gunshot wounds of entrance in the back. Meaning he was shot in the back six times. The seventh gunshot wound was slightly to the side of his body but to the back of the side of his body. So you could reasonably conclude that he received seven gunshot wounds from his back. The sacramento countries coroner is yet to release the autopsy and tells nbc news it is currently waiting on toxicology results. The results of this independent autopsy come a day after he was laid to rest, two weeks after being killed in the backyard of his grandmothers home. Joe fryer is in sacramento. And we know he didnt receive any medical treatment might array and would that have made a difference in saving his life . Well, david, the doctor didnt want to make a conclusive decision about that. What he said is that he believes receive Stephon Clark died from three to ten minutes after he was shot. We know clark did not receive immediate medical attention. So perhaps immediate medical attention could have helped but he cant conclude whether that would have saved his life. Each one of the shots was independently fatal. Now lets take a step back and look at what the doctor said about this autopsy. He said in all with the 20 shots fired toward clark, he said eight of them hit clark, all of them were either in the back or on the side. He believes the first shot was actually the one that sort of right here on the side near the armpit. He believes that clark was facing his grandmothers home at that time. That shot hit him and sort of the propulsion flipped him around and the next six shots were behind them and then the ae eighth and final shot on his leg as he was falling or on the ground. So that is the conclusion dr. Omalu has after taking a look at this. Not that long ago this week the association that represents Sacramento Police officers, they said that the officers believed that clark was in a shooting stance and was pointing an oe pointing an object at them and the doctor said his findings dispute that. Take a listen. The proposition that has been presented that he was assailing the officers that he was facing the officers is inan is inconsistent with the prevailing forensic evidence as documented at autopsy. Reporter now if doctor omaulu sounds familiar, he is discovered cte, the disease affected a number of athletes. Joe fryer in sacramento. Thank you. Up next, the growing bash lash to fox news Laura Ingraham attack on park labd shooting survive david hogg as Companies Pull their ads. After the break ill be joined by alum, one of the brothers of the shooting survivors. Ield. While this was burning, you were saving other homes. Neighbors helping neighbors and strangers alike. This is what americas about. Sometimes its nice to see all the good thats out there. Bringing folks out, we have seen it in community after community. Your society was led by a woman, who governed thousands. Commanded armies. Yielded to no one. When i found you in my dna, i learned where my strength comes from. My name is courtney mckinney, and this is my ancestrydna story. Now with 5 times more detail than other dna tests. Order your kit at ancestrydna. Com earlier today a jury in orlando found noor salma not guildy on all charges. In june of 2016 her husband murdered 49 people and injured more than 50 others in the name of isis. It is the worst terrorist attack on american soil since september 11th. The 31yearold face twod charges of aiding and abetting a terrorist act and obstructing justice. It took the jury more than 11 hours of deliberation to reach the verdict. It was revealed during the trial that pulse was not the original target as previously believed. Instead it was disney world but a heavy Police Presence deterred the shooter and after a search of nightclubs he chose pulse. Sal man has been in the jail the last two years. A list of advertisering banning Laura Ingraham show is growing and including Johnson Johnson and nestle and hulu. She criticized david hogg for not being accepted to several colleges. She tweeted this apology yesterday after several companies had already pulled ads. However she made no verbal apology on the show last night or make mention of the controversy. 17yearold david hogg spoke to Andrea Mitchell today and made it clear he does not accept ingrahams policy. He only apologized after a third of her advertisers pulled out and in the same tweet she tried promoting her show at the same time and i found that sickening. And he wants an apology after last months shooter and far fox has not responded. Im joined by matt diech and a graduate and in park land on the day of the shooting, picking up his sister celebrating a birthday and one of the volunteers helping with out reach and messaging for the march for our lives and never again movement. Great to have you with us. And lets start with the tweet that kicked off all of this. I want to get your reaction to what Laura Ingraham had to say about david hogg and his College Acceptances or rejections thus far. Just the fact that she represents a news organization, ive been told she is a talk show host but she represents on a station that is news and she considers talking about my friends gpa as news when there are people dying every day in this country from gun violence and instead of taking on his policy stances, she goes to attack him personally. I think that is speaking volumes of the argument against us and were just promoting unity and love when she is promoting division and hate. What would you like to hear from her . How would you like to hear an apology from her . I would like her to start by being more objective and like her to start by promoting stories of the disenfranchise and like for her to not mud sling at children. Weve had politicians and news anchors attack shooting survivors more than Offering Solutions to stop the massacres. So the type of apology i would like to see is use her platform for good instead of this diversion and hate. What is your reaction to companies that have pulled their advertising from her show, not all have done that. What do you make of them doing that in response to what your friend and former classmate david hogg tweeted . I think it is incredibly powerful. Because it does speak they are here for the people. That we dont stand for this. That we need morally just leaders at every section of our society. I mean, when i see advertisements for arbys or sleep number, immediately after her show where shes bashing shooting survivors, not just david talking about college and actually being vile toward us, those brands get tied in with that and that is not good for anybody brand. And ive had family members call and said this makes them physically sick. It is just it is gross to me that we are that people are not only funding into this, but that there are companies scared to react and im very proud of those Companies Like hulu and to name one and Johnson Johnson for pulling out of supporting that because that is the only way we combat the hate is by standing together for this. Youve talked about your Mission Going forward here. Help us understand what the path forward is going to be like as you see it. I know ho i know how social media posted that and the Companies Pulled those ads. What does it look like out in parkland. Were trying to empower the youth for things that dont make sense. We need common sense gun laws to ensure public safety. When they are talking about Arming Teachers or adding security wands to school, they are not talking about ensuring our safety. So what were trying to do is empower young people to be active and like what we are doing. There is over a hundred town halls in the next week where people will question their local officials and getting moral stances on this issue. This is not a left or right issue, this is about saving peoples lives and by making this the line in the sand we could see if our elected officials are standing up for us or the position and the people paying them to be in that position. And we need morally just leaders at every section. So were just trying to get the huge to ri the youth to and were going to keep engaging communities from liberty city to parkland to chicago to detroit to newark, california. To get everyone active and to just make a change in this country. Because we need substantial change to ensure our safety. Thank you very much for the time. Appreciate that. That is matt dietsh. Thank you for having me. Now back to the nbc news exclusive report regarding syria and the fight against isis. Chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engle is one of the authors of the report and joins me now. The by line on the piece is they talked to various commenders and what did they tell you about the status of the fight against isis . Reporter well, it is good news and bad news. So the good news is after four years in syria, a relatively small american footprint with local partners and kurdish led force has managed to deal an enormous blow to isis. If you remember, the isis socalled caliphate was a large statelike body that had 8 Million People in it. The size of a small european country and