James Clapper: “This is a partisan staunch supporter of the President.”

I think it has more to do with the psychology of Putin, and Russia. And he needs to assure his own people, Parliamentarians, he was talking to, and for that matter, himself, that Russia is still a great power.

this is the standard Russian -- Soviet Russian way of war. Surround a city if they can and they are having trouble doing that, put it under siege, strangle it, prevent supplies, medicines, food, water, et cetera and then bombard the city…

a stark reminder that the terrorist threat to this country hasn't gone away. We cannot take our eyes off this ball.

The frequency with which they are occurring, tells me that they're kind of in - they realize they're kind of in a jam.