Talking about them, the clock starts ticking on the courthouse . Its been a little weird over the years. Bob mcdonald. I wasnt paying attention to mcdonald. Youre on it and suddenly he is on trial. Here we have everything i know, everything i know about governor bentley in alabama, i have learned from you. Because youre on tv the hour before me. Everything i know. I havent read a single article about it. Everything came from you. And tonight i watch him plead guilty on your show. Surrender to the lieutenant governor. I know. You know, lawrence, i promised tonight on the air well, i didnt promise. But i indicated that im likely to never play his super grossout sex tape again. But if you would like to borrow it, i am no longer going to use it. No i still have your version of it on a loop in the office. But rachel, seriously, the next time you Start Talking about a governor, can you in the first report give us your best guess about when that governor will be going to court . Like exactly how long it will take. Its a weird class picture that weve got up on the wall. Kitzhaber in oregon and blagojevich in illinois and mcdonnell and Chris Christie in bridgegate and now bob bentley. I know, its but you alone were on bentley. You alone. No one else saw anything there. That was yours. I just think hes cute. There had to be a reason. Thanks, rachel. Thanks, lawrence. Well, Donald TrumpsNational Security adviser wants to know what did Vladimir Putin know and when did he know it . Do you know what the trump doctrine is on Foreign Policy . Yeah, i think the trump doctrine is americas first. If anything, the doctrine would be impulsiveness. If youre an adversary of the United States and you dont worry about what trump may do on any given day, then youre crazy. Its really unclear now what the u. S. Policy is going forward. Were hopeful the Syrian People in fact will determine Bashar Al Assads fate. In way do we see peace in that area with assad as the head of the syrian government. If you gas a baby, if you put a barrel bomb in to innocent people, i think youd see a response from ts present. The air base that donald trp hit on thursday, the Syrian Regime has already flown a couple of planes out of it. What i think assad is telling trump by flying from this base, fyou. We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world. Ask russia how could it be that you didnt know that the Syrian Air Force was preparing and executing a mass murder attack with chemical weapons. The Associated Press tonight has duelling anonymous statements from the white house in the same article. One saying that the United States has concluded that russia knew in advance of syrias chemical weapons attack. And the other source saying no final american determination has been made that russia knew ahead of time that a chemical weapons would be used. There is no way to know which one of those statements is true. What no one in the white house is saying anonymously or otherwise is that we know that russia did not know about the chemical attack before it occurred. White house National Security adviser h. R. Mcmaster sounds like he doesnt believe it is even possible that russia did t know abo the checal attack ahead of time. What we should do is ask russia how could it be if you have advisers at that airfield that you didnt know that the Syrian Air Force was preparing and executing a mass murder attack with chemical weapons. Thats the question that i asked on this Program Friday night. How could it possibly be that Vladimir Putin did not know that his client, Bashar Al Assad was going to use chemical weapons. Chemical weapons that Vladimir Putin had promised the world no longer existed in syria. How could assad dare to expose the fact that he still had chemical weapons without Vladimir Putins permission to do that . General mcmasters question then raises another question. Why. Why would Vladimir Putin authorize the use of chemical weapons in syria . Why would president assad use chemical weapons when he was doing a perfectly good job of killing people, bombing hospitals, killing babies without chemical weapons . Another vitally important question is did the Trump Administration do anything to indicate to president assad and president putin that they were so intent on not intervening in syria in any way that putin and assad could get away with anything . A week before the attacks, Rex Tillerson was saying that president assads future should be decided by the Syrian People. Are you worried at all that was taken as a green light by assad to launch that chemical attack . George, i dont i dont see how that could be the case. This is not the first chemical attack launched by assad. In fact, there were two other chemical attacks. So this was just the latest in a series of violations. The other two attacks were minor compared to last weeks attack. And they occurred before Rex Tillerson publicly said that in effect he had no problem with anything assad was doing in syria. President assad, should he stay or should he go . I think the status and the longer term status of president assad will be decided by the Syrian People. Senator john mccain believes that saying things like that was a deadly mistake. Do you think the administration did anything to encourage this behavior by the syrians by saying that the Syrian People would determine assads fate, and that removing him is not a priority . Things that were said before the use of chemical weapons. I think it was partially to blame. I and secretary tillerson basically saying the same thing after kind of contradicting himself and saying the same thing argues vigorously for a plan and a strategy. So how does the Trump Administration really feel about regime change in syria . A regime change is something that we think is going to happen because all of the parties are going to see that assads not the leader that needs to be taking place for syria. In no way do we see peace in that area with assad as the head of the syrian government. So tonight the trump doctrine of Foreign Policy is finally clear. It was enunciated today by secretary of state Rex Tillerson in italy and sean spicer at the white house. Were going rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world. Were not just going to become the worlds policeman running around the world, but we have to have a clear and defined National Interest wherever we act. And that its our National Security first and foremost that has to deal with how we act. Joining us now, steve clemmons, editor at large at the atlantic and an msnbc contributor. Also with us malcolm nance, msnbc counterterrorism and intelligence analyst. And joan walsh, National Affairs correspondent at the nation and an msnbc political analyst. Malcolm, first to you on the question of what did Vladimir Putin know and when he know it. Do you share general mcmasters feeling that it seems to him very, very hard to believe that sad woulhave used chemical weapons without putin knowing it ahead of time . Yes, i share his point of view. And there is a reason that i do so. Principally because shayrat airfield is a very small airfield. It has two runways. It has 25 vetments. When you use chemical weapons on an aircraft, you to do very special handling. You have to have decontamination units that follow the aircraft. Everybody has to be wearing gas masks. You do not want to be on the flight line if one of these things exposes, right . So the russians would see all of this coming from the arsenal, move on to the aircraft, go to a special handling area, use special aircraft controls for it to take off, and then fly off on to its target and delivery. There is no way russia could not have known that. Also, we may have intelligence that comes from the ground on that base from the syrian level that indicates that they were either operating with the russians, maybe the russians were operating the decon units, the decontamination units, but there is just no way. We probably have very good intelligence. That comes from the mcmaster side. The political side is saying we dont know. So im going to go with the mcmaster camp on this one. Steve clemens, if you go to the spot where Vladimir Putin was aware of the chemical weapon attack ahead of time, told assad it was okay, in effect, both of those men, putin and assad had to think then what . Then what happens . What does the United States do . What does President Trump do . I think Vladimir Putin had if knew, and were speculating here. But if he knew, he had one of two things on his mind. One was to test the Trump Administration. I think there are a lot of players thought the world that want to test the Trump Administration and see what hell do. Or to change the conversation in the United States. And that gets very creepy if you go down that road. But i think that to some degree, you know, i agree with everything malcolm said. But perhaps more fervently, syria is a wholly owned russian subsidiary. Right. Nothing happens in that country without Vladimir Putin really signing off and knowing. You know, assad doing what he did is an embarrassment to russia if russia were in fact concerned about with the notion that they were supposed to have rid syria of all of its chemical weapons. So in my view, putin was either changing the conversation here in this country on the russia investigation of things or he was testing trump. And that takes it down this course. Because if you look at the attack that we made with those tomahawk missiles, it was a polite attack. We didnt crater the runway. We used excuses of the cost of the tomahawk missiles as an excuse for that. We made sure that most everyone was out of the way. It was a polite attack. It was a pinprick. And so if it was in fact supposed to be a deterring effect to preempt any further use of chemical weapons or the kinds of assaults against civilians that Bashar Al Assad was launching, then i think it was a failure. And so were left with this conundrum. And joan, everything steve just said, i was raising friday night on this program. I saw. And the next day the Washington Post was absolutely outraged that the question could even basked. They did this story, i dont know if it was in the print edition or online saying that i was advancing a Conspiracy Theory when i was asked a conspiracy question. Right. Which is a different thing. Steve just took a stronger position on it than i did. So steve, im warning you, the Washington Post. I was saying its calls for speculation. Exactly. But the Washington Post is coming to get you because apparently im not saying that happened. I understand. I understand. But apparently as of saturday morning, the Washington Post and others in the media were not even slightly interested in the question that general mcmaster raised. Without him raising it, im not sure anybody welcome, have taken it seriously. Would have gotten into the question of what did Vladimir Putin know in advance of this attack. And i have to say from the start, as i was watching the attack, it was inconceivable to me that Vladimir Putin would not know before assad did this, which then raises the question of motivation. And i think the lines that steve just drew or the hypothetical lines from that motivation made perfect sense. They do. Tragic sense. Tragic sense. And we are speculating. But otherwise, this makes no sense, lawrence. Thats your alternative. This makes no sense. The facts that we have putting them together, it makes no sense. Its not an air strike. It was like a facebook poke back in the old days. They could use the airstrip within 36 hours. And they are already using it. We dont know if our policy has changed. Nikki haley says one thing, yes, weve got to get him out. And Rex Tillerson says something very different. Says the policy hasnt changed. Then says we are going to go around the world protecting people. Whh i hadnt even seen. Owed, its stunning. Steve, to that point, Rex Tillerson today saying that we rededicate ourselves to basically rededicating ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against innocents anywhere in the world. And then sean spicer says were not going to be the policemen of the world. You know, in a certain sense, the explanation that putin is testing this white house could very well be true. Because youre seeing such odd, strange conflicting behavior and comments from people within, around donald trump. And youre seeing like h. R. Mcmaster really rise. Youre seeing nikki haley as the secretary of state we ought to have. And Rex Tillerson perhaps should be sent to another embassy near singapore. I mean, its one of these things when you sort of look at the demeanor and the posture, the comments from those around the president. Its clearly not being scripted. Mcmaster is asking exactly the right questions. He is putting forth exactly the right things. And you see an independence of mind and Critical Thinking and asking all the right things. So im heartened by that. Im heartened by nikki haley and how she has done this. But im not i have to say, tillers tillersonto some degree, and he is going to be in moscow, he is going to be talking to Vladimir Putin which is another odd moment in all this, it is bizarre. Its as if they were basically being given oral exams about Foreign Policy. And tillerson is just picking questions out of multiple choice possibilities. Malcolm, what have the russians learned about the Trump Administration . What did assad learn about the Trump Administration last week . Well, ill tell you, theyve gotten a lesson in futility out of this administration. That Cruise Missile attack, and ive taken part in attacks. Ive taken part in attack planning. We fired off the missiles. We hit the targets we aimed at. It was the targets we aimed at had zero effect to disable or destroy that air base. It had zero effect in killing or injuring any of the handling crews that actually effected that weapons attack. And it did not kill anybody related to the launch and recovery of those aircraft. Thats a mission failure. If you planned it that way, you planned for failure. Oh, finally, one other thing. We did not strike the chemical weapons. We didnt use any of the weapon systems we have in our inventory designed to destroy and consume chemical weapons with thermobaric effect. We didnt even try that. So the effect of that was to show that we have the ability to launch Cruise Missiles, which is ridiculous, because weve launched thousands of Cruise Missiles in the last 15 years. But for the russians and the syrians, they see that trump is just not playing serious. And one other thing, if i could just make one last point. When the syrians launched that chemical weapons strike using an aircraft, what did they intend to do other than to show project a message to the Trump Administration via the russians also that they have chemical weapons . It had no tactical effect on the ground. It just killed civilians. They could have done that with regular bombs. Thats a strategic decision made by assad. And assad cant make that decision without Vladimir Putin. They coordinated it. They tested it. And then trump responds by, one warn them that he was going to attack, letting them get off the base and not doing anything other than breaking up some concrete revetments. Mission failure. And at the end of all that, donald trump comes out on the right end of a poll. Washington post abc news poll, do you support President Trumps missile strike in syria . 51 support. 40 oppose. And joan walsh, when youre writing the full story, that is one of the spots where it ends is that donald trump was able to do something that the polls responded to in a positive way. And that pundits responded to for not all of us, but many of us in a positive way. Even some democrats responded to it in a positive way. Its like there was this pentup demand. Barack obama didnt do it. People were happy to see him do it. Even though it makes no sense and there is absolutely no strategy, apparent strategy behind it. But people have such a low bar now and seem to be invested in donald trump either making a pivot or appearing president ial. Simply whe