Joining today's show are Mike Barnicle, Mark Halperin, Harold Ford Jr., Al Hunt, Jonathan Capehart, Pete Wehner, Steve Schmidt, Rep. Tom Cole, Craig Shirley, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Mike Lupica, Matt Lewis, Molly Ringwald, Sherrie Westin and more. Plus, it is Day 50 for Dolphin Capturing and Killing to be allowed in Taji Japan and there were none killed or captured today. It is indeed a BLUE COVE today.
Rep. Paul Ryan sets terms for House Speaker run, 'my family commitments come first'. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) announced in a press conference he would run for House Speaker, based on "a few requests."
The Associated Press reported ahead of his press conference the Wisconsin congressman would run "if he is the unity candidate of the divided party."
His requests included changing what he called the "opposition party to proposition party," updating House rules to "be more effective," suggesting the party should "unify now, and not after a divisive speaker election," and finishing off his list by stating "I cannot and will not give up my family time."
"If I am not unifying, that would be fine as well, I'll be happy to stay where I am" he stated.
Ryan explained a number of issues facing the country, stating it was time lawmakers worked together to produce results for the American people.
"We can blame the President, we can blame the media... point fingers across the isle... people don't care about blame... they care about results. Results that are measurable."
Ryan gave a Friday deadline to colleagues to back his decision.Already some have expressed their support via Twitter.
No Groundswell for Biden in New Hampshire: Bloomberg Politics/Saint Anselm Poll. The vice president is lagging well behind favorites Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton among likely Democratic primary voters.
Vice President Joe Biden trails the two leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination by more than 25 points each in New Hampshire and would enter the race without an edge over them on overall favorability or specific personality traits. Biden would draw the support of 10 percent of likely Democratic primary voters if the primary were held today, according to the Bloomberg Politics/Saint Anselm New Hampshire Poll released Tuesday. That puts him well behind Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who's led most recent polls in the state that neighbors his own, who gets the support of 41 percent of those surveyed, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who's at 36 percent. When Democrats first and second choices for the party's nominee are combined, Clinton edges Sanders: 64 percent of Democrats rank Clinton as either their No. 1 or No. 2 choice for the nomination. For Sanders, the number is 63 percent; for Biden, 29 percent.
Former Virginia Senator Jim Webb, who dropped out of the Democratic race on Tuesday, was the first choice of 1 percent of those surveyed and the second choice of 1 percent. Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig was the first choice of 1 percent, while former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee got no support as a first choice candidate but drew the backing of 6 percent and 1 percent, respectively, as a second choice candidate.
Bloomberg Politics/Saint Anselm last polled New Hampshire Democrats in June—before Sanders' surge—and Clinton led him 56 percent to 24 percent then. Biden was not named in that survey.
The anemic showing for the vice president comes as people close to him say he's nearing a decision on whether to get into the race, though there have been several false alarms in recent weeks. Advisers have said that Biden's choice won't be driven by polling and will instead be swayed by whether he believes that he and his family would be able to withstand the stress of the campaign after losing his older son Beau Biden earlier this year.
Thirty-six percent of Democratic primary voters surveyed say that Biden's drawn out decision-making process made them less supportive of him, while 62 percent say it doesn't matter to them.
Biden has signaled that his bid would ride on the successes and popularity of President Barack Obama, who got favorable ratings from 83 percent of the New Hampshire Democrats surveyed. Biden's 75 percent favorability rating put him behind both former President Bill Clinton (78 percent) and Hillary Clinton (77 percent). The differences are more pronounced among those voters who feel most strongly: Obama got "very favorable" ratings from 50 percent of New Hampshire Democrats. For Hillary Clinton, that number is 40 percent. For Biden, 29 percent. The highest favorability rankings went to Sanders, from neighboring Vermont: 86 percent rated him favorably and 55 percent "very favorable."
On questions of personality and ability to govern, the vice president generally trails Clinton and Sanders.
Clinton leads the field on leadership questions, with 49 percent of those surveyed saying she’s most ready to be president. Biden, despite being a heartbeat away from the presidency for nearly seven years and having served in the Senate for nearly four decades, is seen as most ready by 21 percent of respondents, barely ahead of Sanders, who’s at 20 percent. Clinton also has an advantage in being seen as knowing best how to get things done in Washington and in handling Russian President Vladimir Putin. And Democrats see her as their party's strongest potential standardbearer: 50 percent of respondents say that Clinton would be best capable of beating the Republican nominee in the general election. Sanders is next at 19 percent.
Sanders does better than Clinton and Biden on traits of authenticity and likability, which the vice president's allies have suggested would be his advantage. Sanders is seen as most authentic by 57 percent of those surveyed, while 19 percent call Biden the most authentic, barely ahead of Clinton at 16 percent. The Vermont senator also gets the highest marks among voters asked which candidate cares most about them – 51 percent say that of Sanders, while 23 percent say it of Clinton and 10 percent say it of Biden. Sanders also has an edge on being trusted to tell the truth, 53 percent to Biden's 17 percent and Clinton's 13 percent.
As Clinton's testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi approaches, Democratic primary voters are divided on whether the panel is inflicting damage and if that is swaying their support of her. Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed said it makes them less supportive of her while 67 percent said it doesn't bother them. Nearly identical numbers say the same about he not being forthcoming about the private email server she used while at the State Department.
New Hampshire Democrats are evenly divided at 47 percent each on whether Sanders' 2005 vote to give gun manufacturers immunity from lawsuits makes them less supportive or does not bother them. Sanders' description of himself as a "democratic socialist" is even less of a drawback, with only 16 percent of voters saying that makes them less supportive of him.
The poll was conducted by Purple Strategies from Oct. 15-18 and surveyed 400 likely Democratic primary voters by landline and cell phone. The margin of error is +/- 4.9 percentage points.
Poll: Trump, Carson dominate GOP field as Fiorina falters. Donald Trump and Ben Carson now stand alone at the top of the Republican field, as Carly Fiorina's brief foray into the top tier of candidates seeking the GOP nomination for president appears to have ended, a new CNN/ORC poll finds.
Fiorina has lost 11 points in the last month, declining from 15% support and second place to 4% and a tie for seventh place.
At the same time, Carson has gained eight points and joins Trump as the only two candidates with support above 20%. As in early September before Fiorina's spike in support, Trump and Carson are the first choice candidate of about half of the potential Republican electorate. All told, nearly two-thirds of Republican voters choose Trump or Carson as either their first or second choice for the nomination.
No other candidates made significant gains since the last CNN/ORC poll conducted just after the Republican debate hosted by CNN and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Overall, Trump's 27% leads the field, followed by Carson at 22%, both head and shoulders above their nearest competition. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio are tied for third place with 8% support each, followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul each at 5%. Fiorina, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz each have 4% support, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich is at 3%. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum stands at 2% and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham holds 1%.
The new poll comes amid a flurry of polling being released about a week before the GOP candidates will again meet on the debate stage. The polling criteria set by the organizers of that debate, set to take place October 28, appear likely to result in 10 candidates taking the main stage. Aside from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who ended his campaign shortly after last month's debate, it's likely to be a rematch of those who debated in Simi Valley.
Fiorina's decline comes across the demographic and political spectrum, with her support now topping out at 8% among those with college degrees. Last month, she stood at 22% among the same group. Fiorina has dropped 11 points among women and 12 points among men, fallen 18 points among independents, 17 points among those age 50 or older, and 15 points among conservatives.
The poll finds Republican voters increasingly satisfied with their field of choices, 32% say they are "very satisfied" with the group of candidates running for president, up from 23% in July. Republicans also remain more enthusiastic about the presidential race than Democratic voters. In the new poll, 68% of Republican voters say they are extremely or very enthusiastic about voting for president in next year's election, compared with 58% among Democratic voters.
Those enthusiastic voters are even more strongly behind Trump and Carson than Republican voters generally, while less enthusiastic Republicans are more likely to say they back Bush. Trump's support among the enthusiastic voters is 30%, with Carson at 25%, while Bush's support dips to just 3%. Among those who say they are "somewhat enthusiastic" or less, 22% back Trump, 16% back Carson and 15% back Bush.
There are some signs in the poll that Carson's numbers get a boost if turnout in GOP primaries and caucuses follows the same patterns it has in the past. Carson runs about evenly with Trump among the groups that make up the largest blocs of GOP primary voters: conservatives, self-identified Republicans and white evangelicals. Carson also nearly matches Trump's support among those voters with college degrees, with 24% backing Trump, 23% backing Carson and 13% backing Rubio.
A gender gap has reemerged in the data in the last month, with Carson matching Trump's support among women (23% back each) with Bush behind at 9%, Huckabee at 7% and Fiorina and Rubio each at 6% among GOP women.
Trump has larger edges over Carson among men (31% to 21%, with Rubio at 10%) and independents who lean toward the Republican Party (32% Trump to 19% Carson).
Trump backtracks Afghanistan War comments: Not a mistake
The CNN/ORC Poll was conducted by telephone October 14-17 among a random national sample of 1,028 adults. Results among the 465 registered voters who say they are Republicans or independents who lean toward the Republican Party have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
Marco Rubio Takes First Senate Vote In Nearly One Month. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio returned to the Senate Tuesday to take his first vote since September 24th. The vote is one that has political ramifications for the Florida senator and could endear him to conservatives.
Rubio missed nine votes in the last three-and-a-half weeks. He has come under fire on the campaign trail for missing more votes than most of his fellow senate colleagues also running for president, according to an NBC analysis. He has missed 44 percent of votes since he announced his candidacy. Only Sen.Lindsey Graham has missed more.
Prior to his vote Tuesday, Rubio gave a speech on the floor that could fuel the attacks against Rubio's attendance.
"All we're saying here is if you work at the (Veterans Affairs Department) and aren't doing your job, they get to fire you," Rubio said. "This should actually be the rule in the entire government - if you aren't not doing your job you should be fired."
Rubio's spokesperson defended his speech and his missed votes: "One of the reasons Marco is campaigning hard to be the next president is so he can finally bring accountability to the VA," Brooke Sammon said.
Jeb Bush's son, Jeb Bush Jr., recently said this to a group of college students: "And it's just kind of like, dude, you know, either drop out or do something, but we're paying you to do something, it ain't run for president." That was first reported in Politico Florida.
Rubio has defended his record. He was asked about it on October 14 during a campaign event in New Hampshire where he told a member of the audience, "I'm not on vacation."
"I'm frustrated. I'm in Washington DC watching all these problems that we just talked about and nothing is happening. And what I concluded is nothing's going to change here unless we put the right person in the White House. And that's why I decided to run for president and that means you are going to miss votes," Rubio said.
The vote Rubio did return for Tuesday is one that could help him rebuild trust among conservatives skeptical about his position on immigration. He voted to block federal funding to sanctuary cities - cities that won't work with federal immigration officials.
- Rubio lost credibility among conservatives after his leadership in passing the Senate's comprehensive immigration bill. He has since walked back his support for comprehensive immigration reform and adopted an enforcement-first approach to the issue.
In an MSNBC poll, more Americans unsatisfied with Clinton’s response to Benghazi attack. By a nearly 2-to-1 margin, Americans say they’re unsatisfied with Hillary Clinton’s response to the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, according to results from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
But a plurality of respondents believe that the congressional investigation into the attack is unfair and politically motivated.
And the public is essentially divided over the importance of Clinton’s private email server, with 47% of Americans saying it’s an important factor in deciding their vote, and another 44% saying it isn’t important.
These findings come ahead of Clinton’s testimony Thursday before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, where the 2012 terrorist attack, Clinton’s private email server and allegations (even from fellow Republicans) that the committee was established to hurt Clinton’s presidential campaign will all be subjects of discussion.
And the findings in the poll tend to break down by party line.
Forty-four percent of Americans say that they’re not satisfied with Clinton’s response to the Benghazi attack in 2012, when Clinton served as secretary of state. That includes 77% of Republican respondents, 40% of independents but just 14% of Democrats.
By contrast, 27% of Americans are satisfied with her response – including 51% of Democrats, 18% of independents but just 6% of Republicans.
Meanwhile, 36%of Americans think the current congressional investigation into the Benghazi attacks is unfair and too partisan (that includes 53% of Democrats); 29% of Americans believe it’s fair and impartial (including 50% of Republicans); and another 35% don’t know enough.
Regarding Clinton’s private email server, 47% say it will be an important factor in their upcoming vote, versus 44% who disagree.
And once again, these numbers are divided by party: 76% of Republicans believe Clinton’s private server is important to their vote, while 70% of Democrats say it isn’t important.
Clinton’s general-election standing improves (slightly)
The NBC/WSJ poll also finds that Clinton has slightly improved her general-election standing. She leads Republican Ben Carson by two points in a hypothetical match up, 47% to 45%. But a month ago, Carson had a one-point edge over Clinton, 46% to 45%.
Clinton also leads Marco Rubio by one point (46% to 45%) and Ted Cruz by eight points (49% to 41%).
By comparison, Democratic rival Bernie Sanders is ahead of Carson by one point (44% to 43%), Rubio by four points (45% to 41%) and Cruz by 12 points (50% to 38%).
The NBC/WSJ poll shows a generic Democrat holding a one-point advantage a generic Republican in a presidential contest, 41% to 40%; it was 38% to 38% a month ago.
Comparing Clinton’s and Sanders’ attributes
When Democratic primary voters were asked to judge Clinton and Sanders on several different attributes, Clinton’s top attributes in the poll were being knowledgeable and experienced to handle the presidency (88% gave her high marks here versus 56% for Sanders) and sharing your positions on issues (71% for Clinton, 55% for Sanders).
Clinton’s worst attributes among Democratic voters: bringing real change to the direction of the country (585 give Clinton high marks here, versus 58% for Sanders) and being honest and straightforward (53% for Clinton, 72% for Sanders).
And only 26% of all voters give Clinton high marks for being honest and straightforward, compared with 50% who give her bad marks – essentially unchanged from the April NBC/WSJ poll.
Democratic Party vs. GOP: In the mainstream or not?
The new NBC/WSJ poll also measured which political party was in the mainstream – or outside the mainstream – on six different issues:
- Gay marriage: 63% said the Democratic Party was in the mainstream on this issue, versus just 29% who said that about the Republican Party;
- Abortion: 54% said Democrats were in the mainstream here, versus 33% who said Republicans;
- Climate change: 54% mainstream for Democrats, 30% mainstream for Republicans;
- Immigration: 46% mainstream for Democrats, 43% mainstream for Republicans;
- Fiscal issues such as taxing and spending: 47% mainstream for Republicans, 42% mainstream for Democrats;
- Guns: 51% mainstream for Republicans, 38% mainstream for Democrats.
- Obama job-approval rating: 46%
The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted Oct. 15-18 of 1,000 adults (including nearly 400 via cell phone), and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.
This article first appeared on NBCNews.com.
Joe Biden goes after Hillary Clinton again. Vice President Joe Biden may still ultimately stay out of the race for president. But on Tuesday night, he made clear he doesn’t mind making Hillary Rodham Clinton uncomfortable in the process.
"It is possible, it is necessary, to end this notion, to end this notion that the enemy is the other party. End this notion that it is naive to think we can speak well of the other party and cooperate," Biden said at a dinner honoring former Vice President Walter Mondale.
"What is naive," he continued, "is to think it is remotely possible to govern this country unless we can. That is what is naive."
In implicitly criticizing Clinton, and more explicitly the dysfunction in Washington, Biden seemed to be following the Obama campaign’s 2008 playbook against her, when the soon-to-be president vowed to put a generation of partisan animosity behind him.
"One of the reasons why it's so hard to govern today is that it's almost impossible, ladies and gentlemen, to reach consensus if you accuse someone else of being unethical, or in someone's pocket," Biden said.
Acknowledging Mondale and former President Jimmy Carter, both in the audience, he said: "The lesson I learned from both of you is how can you govern this incredibly diverse democracy without arriving at consensus. It's simply not possible."
"It's mostly important that everyone in this room understand the other team is not the enemy. If you treat it as the enemy, there is no way you can ever, ever, ever resolve the problems we have," Biden said in concluding his remarks.
Biden has faced increasing pressure from senior Clinton figures to make a final decision about whether to run for president, one he appears unlikely to make for at least another day. Biden's comments Tuesday could have been a signal that he is indeed leaning toward entering that race, or simply a warning to Clinton's team to ease off the pressure.
Joe Biden changes story on Osama bin Laden raid. Vice President Joe Biden offered an account Tuesday of the decision to launch the raid that killed Osama bin Laden that differed from some of his previous retellings -- and from Hillary Clinton's.
His remarks come as he considers facing off against the former secretary of state in the 2016 presidential race, and they seem to signal that he sees his earlier stance on the raid as a potential liability.
At an event honoring former Vice President Walter Mondale, Biden said he had privately advised the President to pursue the raid on bin Laden's compound after initially advising a more cautious approach at a Cabinet meeting.
"We walked out of the room and walked upstairs," Biden said. "I told him my opinion: I thought he should go, but to follow his own instincts."
The new account is a significant departure from what he said at a Democratic retreat in January 2012.
"Mr. President, my suggestion is, 'Don't go,'" Biden said, according to an ABC News report from that time.
Vice presidents by the numbers
"'We have to do two more things to see if he's there,'" Biden recalled, though the story did not include what those two things were.
The Cabinet meeting Biden referred to has been described by several people in the administration, including President Barack Obama himself.
The President asked his closest advisers for input on how he should respond to intelligence that bin Laden was holed up in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan -- intelligence that was anything but certain.
The proposed raid by Navy SEALS was risky, particularly without notifying Pakistan of the plan.
"Those decisions are not always popular. Those decisions generally are not poll-tested," Obama told moderator Bob Schieffer in a 2012 presidential debate. "And even some in my own party, including my current vice president, had the same critique" about the risk of the operation as did some outsiders.
Clinton has also characterized Biden has having been openly skeptical in the meeting.
Tuesday's account is also a change from an account Biden gave on NBC's "Meet the Press" in May 2012, in which he described advising the President to follow his instincts but didn't explicitly advise him to "go" for it.
"We walked up toward the residence, toward his office," said Biden of his conversation with Obama, "and I knew he was going to go (for the raid). And what I always tell him when he -- he looked at me again, and I said, 'Follow your instincts, Mr. President. Your instincts have been close to unerring; follow your instincts.'"
Biden also offered a reason for the difference between what he said in the Cabinet meeting and his new account of the private conversation with Obama in which he advocated following his instincts.
The vice president now says that he suggested the administration undertake additional drone surveillance on the compound while in that Cabinet meeting, but that he made that recommendation because he didn't want to undermine the President if he ended up choosing a more cautious approach.
"Imagine if I had said, in front of everyone, don't go or go and his decision was a different decision," said Biden. "It undercuts that relationship. So I never, on a difficult issue, never say what I think finally until I go up to the Oval with him alone."
Biden also said Tuesday that only two people in the meeting were definitive in their advice to the President, contradicting Clinton's account of how she supported the mission.
There were "only two people who were definitive and were absolutely certain," he said, referring to the men who were, respectively, the director of the CIA and the secretary of defense at the time. "Leon Panetta said, 'Go,' and Bob Gates -- who has already publicly said this -- said, 'Don't go.' And others were at 59/41."
In her 2014 book "Hard Choices," Clinton writes that she was an immediate supporter while Biden "remained skeptical."
"I respected Bob [Gates] and Joe [Biden]'s concerns about the risks of a raid, but I came to the conclusion that the intelligence was convincing and the risks were outweighed by the benefits of success," she wrote. "We just had to make sure it worked."
Biden also drew attention in his remarks Tuesday to the fact that he knew about the intelligence on bin Laden's location before Clinton did.
"The President and I, and only two others in the administration, knew about Abbottabad as early as August" 2010, Biden said Tuesday. "We did not go for almost a year to get him. And major players in the Cabinet did not know about it till January or February (2011)."
In Clinton's account, she learned about the intelligence in March 2011.
Syrian President Assad travels to Moscow to meet Putin. President Bashar Assad has traveled to Moscow in his first known trip abroad since war broke out in Syria in 2011, meeting his strongest ally Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The two leaders stressed that military operations in Syria— in which Moscow is the latest and most powerful addition— must lead to a political process.
The surprise visit Tuesday reflects renewed confidence from the embattled Syrian president after Russia and Iran, another staunch ally, dramatically escalated their support recently as Moscow began carrying out airstrikes on Syrian insurgents and Tehran sent hundreds of ground forces.
A Syrian official confirmed Wednesday that Assad had returned to Damascus. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Putin said he had invited Assad, thanking him for "coming to Moscow despite a tragic situation in your country."
Assad flashed wide smiles as he shook hands with Putin and other officials. "We thank you for standing by Syria's territorial integrity and its independence," Assad told Putin.
Syria's conflict began in March 2011 after the government cracked down violently on largely peaceful protests against Assad's rule. The protests gradually became an armed insurgency and a civil war that has killed a quarter of a million people in the past five years.
Moscow, a traditional ally of the Assad family, started an air campaign on Sept. 30 against what it said are terrorist groups threatening Syria and Assad's rule. It became the latest international power to deepen its involvement into the increasingly intractable conflict that saw a mushrooming of armed groups, including the militant Islamic State group and al-Qaida.
Russia says it is targeting militants. But critics including the U.S. say the Moscow military intervention helps props up Assad and is likely to fan the violence.
Assad said Russia's intervention was in line with international law and praised it as an effort to rid Syria and the region of terrorism.
A statement posted on the Syrian presidency's official Facebook page said Assad had three separate meetings in Moscow: talks with Putin and his foreign and defense ministers, a closed meeting between the two leaders and a working dinner.
Russian television showed footage of Putin and Russia's foreign and defense ministers meeting with Assad. Syrian government officials didn't say if anyone traveled with Assad and photos from the meeting didn't show a delegation accompanying the Syrian leader.
The statement said the meetings were to discuss the continuation of the military operations against terrorism in Syria. The aim of the military operation is to eradicate terrorism that is obstructing a political solution, the statement said.
"Terrorism which we see spreading today could have been more widespread and more harmful if it weren't for your decisions and steps, not only in our region," Assad said in remarks carried by Arab media.
Putin said that along with fighting militants, Moscow believes that "a long-term settlement can only be achieved as part of a political process with the participation of all political forces, ethnic and religious groups.
"The Syrian people have been putting up a fight against international terrorism effectively on its own for several years, sustaining sizeable losses but it has achieved positive results recently," Putin said.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in comments carried by Russian news agencies, declined to comment on any specific outcome of the talks.
Since June, Russia has played with the idea of a political transition that would envisage setting up some sort of interim government, and has discussed the issue with the U.S., Saudi Arabia, the Syrian opposition and others. Moscow's diplomatic efforts have brought no visible results so far, but Putin has insisted that a political solution for Syria remains his top goal despite the military action. He recently met with Saudi officials, staunch critics of Assad and supporters of the rebels fighting against him.
Moscow also has sought to alleviate the concerns of Turkey, a major economic partner and the second-biggest importer of Russian natural gas, which has been critical of Russia's intervention in Syria. Ankara also supports rebels fighting Assad.
Answering questions about Assad's visit to Moscow, Turkey's prime minister took a jab at the Syrian leader, reiterating his country's position that Assad should not have a role in Syria's future.
"If only he could stay in Moscow longer, to give the people of Syria some relief; in fact he should stay there so the transition can begin," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters.
Davutoglu insisted that efforts to find a solution to the Syrian crisis should focus "not on a transition with Assad, but on formulas for Assad's departure."
View galleryAssad forces continue battle with Syrian rebels
Rebel fighters carry their weapons as they take positions in the town of Kafr Nabudah, in Hama provi …
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu who was present at the talks and dinner with Assad on Tuesday said in remarks carried out by Russian news agencies on Wednesday that Moscow is not going to halt its military operation in Syria.
"With our support, Syrian government forces have turned from a retreat to an offensive, liberating a part of their territory from Islamic State militants," Shoigu said. "We are going to continue rendering the assistance to the legitimate Syrian authorities and create preconditions for a settlement of this conflict."
A week after Russia launched its airstrikes, Syrian ground troops, aided by allied fighters from Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, pushed their way into central and northern Syria in an attempt to drive out rebel and militant groups in control of territories there. So far, Syrian forces have seized a few villages but there has been no strategic victory. Many of the attacks have hit western-backed rebels and al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria, but not the Islamic State group, with a stronghold in eastern Syria.
The Russian airstrikes have allowed Syrian troops and their allies to launch multiple ground offensives in northern, central and southern Syria as well as in the rebel-held suburbs of the capital, Damascus.
Dmitry Trenin of the Moscow Carnegie Center said that Putin's meeting with Assad signals Russia's willingness to seek a political solution in Syria — but on its own terms.
"By summoning Assad to Moscow, Putin seeks to convert an early military success into political capital, by launching a political transition on his terms," he said. Vasilyeva reported from Moscow. Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb in Beirut and Kate de Pury in Moscow contributed to this report.
Trump's first 100 days ... of dominating the polls. It's now been 100 days, and Donald Trump is still sitting at the top of the mountain.
According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, the businessman continues to maintain a healthy lead with 32 percent support among Republicans. The new poll came out a week away from the third GOP debate on CNBC.
In addition, Dr. Ben Carson continues to put a stranglehold on the No. 2 spot in the field with 22 percent backing. Apart from the two outsiders, only Sen. Marco Rubio breaks into double digits with 10 percent support, a three point bump from the previous ABC/WaPo poll before the second GOP debate.
Following up the trio are former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Ted Cruz, who pull 7 and 6 percent, respectively. Carly Fiorina, who has seen her poll numbers fade over the past three weeks, garners only 6 percent.
Regardless of it all today, please stay in touch!
