Russia Warning over Diplomats; Trump talking with Porter.
BERMAN: All right, more than 100 Russian diplomats have been expelled from countries all around the world. And that number is growing this morning. All this in response to the nerve agent poisoning of a Russian double agent and his daughter living in the United Kingdom. The U.S. sending out 60 diplomats alone. Joining me now, senior diplomatic correspondent Michelle Kosinski, here with me in New York. The whole world making a statement here.</s>MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, I mean it's a big chunk of the world. These are U.S. allies. The count now is 25, when you include Ireland, which we just heard this morning had jumped on board, and including the U.K. and the U.S. So 25 countries is substantial. I mean each country, for the most part, is just expelling one or two. So you have to do a lot of comparison to see the scope of this and to see that the U.S. has expelled 60, which is nearly triple the number that the U.K. has expelled, and the crime happened on U.K. soil, that's pretty impressive for the U.S. to do, especially when you see how this could have gone. I mean this administration could have done nothing, and there were some indications that that could have happened since only days prior the president flat out ignored his national security team's advice not to congratulate, in big capital letters, Vladimir Putin on his election win. And Trump decided to do that. So there was some that thought that the U.S. would not be on board with this and maybe that is why this story leaked out because somebody on the inside of these conversations wanted the world to know that his national security team was recommending that he do something. Maybe in the off chance that he did not really want to. But, he did.</s>BERMAN: And leaking to force the action that they wanted to see. Any sign that the Trump administration will go any further than this?</s>KOSINSKI: There is. And I think they want to put it out there as a warning because in the usual U.S.-Russia tit for tat, you have Russia now saying, oh, really, you know, very boldly, almost boasting, like, we're going to do this to you now, ha-ha. But the administration was very quick to say, if Russia does retaliate, we could well take more action. You know in these -- in terms of the election meddling, which is a separate issue from this, we did see the administration only weeks ago issue sanctions for some people, some Putin insiders as well. So I think that, too, is an indication that if this goes further, the administration is not really all that shy anymore from taking action where many feel it really hurts Putin, and that is in the money bags.</s>BERMAN: Michelle Kosinski, great to have you here with us in New York. Thanks so much for being here.</s>KOSINSKI: Likewise.</s>BERMAN: The question now is how will Russia respond. Let's go to Moscow. Phil Black is there.</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, how many will be expelled in return? That's a key question really going forward. Russia has only said that the Russian response would be reciprocal. So, one for one, tit for tat, that's what we can expect. Vladimir Putin is supposed to be the man who actually does make the final decision in terms of how many, whether or not Russia simply meets the same number of expulsions, or perhaps goes further and escalates this crisis to an even higher degree. But when he will do so is unclear because he's a busy man dealing, at the same time, with a domestic tragedy, a shopping mall fire in Siberia that's killed more than 60 people, mostly children. That's where he is today, offering condolences, also trying to calm locals who are very angry that this fire has taken place. Tomorrow has been declared a national day of mourning here in Russia as well. So it's unclear if he will announce a response while also dealing with this national tragedy. And, indeed, Russian officials who have been very angry towards the U.S. and western countries over these expulsions, they've also criticized them for their timing, for announcing these expulsions while at the same time, often on the same day, offering condolences for the shopping mall fire at the same time, John.</s>BERMAN: It's interesting, Phil, I have Michelle Kosinski here and I was talking about the fact that the whole world was reacting. She pointed out it's really only 25 countries and where are we on some of the more powerful nations like China?</s>BLACK: So China has offered some statements on this. In fact, it's foreign ministry spokesman addressed this today during a press conference. And it's not clear who she was talking about when she asked the countries to, quote, abandon a Cold War mentality. She went on to say, relevant countries should avoid taking any actions that would aggravate the conflict and work together to preserve peace and stability of the international community. China makes the point that it's opposed to the use of chemical weapons, but at the same time it seems to be urging all relevant parties to talk this through in a peaceful, calm way, to try and stop this from escalating further, John.</s>BERMAN: All right, Phil Black for us in Moscow. Phil, thank you very much. This morning the world is asking a question, who was on that train in China? We're talking about what's been called the mystery train in China. We are now told it's extremely or highly likely that Kim Jong- un, the leader of North Korea, on board there. The private train, which closely resembles one used to transport North Korean leaders, was spotted leaving a Chinese train station earlier. If it is Kim Jong-un, it would mark the first time he has left North Korea since taking power in 2011. It comes as he prepares to meet with the South Korean President Moon and eventually perhaps President Trump. It has been almost two years since he died. Now we're learning new details about just what was inside the blood. Blood tests coming in from Prince.