you've heard that from the other candidates as well. you've got a candidate who sponsored a bill that i supported to finally solve the immigration problem and he's running away from it as fast as he can. they're all denying climate change. i think that's troubling to the international community since science is unequivocal. the other countries around the world kind of count on the united states being on the side of science and reason and commonsense, because they know if the united states does not act on big problems in smart ways, nobody will. but it's not there trump.

look at the other candidates. there is not a single candidate in the republican party that thinks we should do anything about climate change. ge. will he trump them again. live at the debate ahead of the south carolina primary one of the u.s. supreme >> i'll leave it to you to speculate on how this whole race is going to go. i continue to believe mr. trump will not be president and the reason is because i have a lot of faith in the american people. i think they recognize that being president is a serious job. it's not hosting a talk show or a reality show. it's not promotion. it's not marketing. it's hard. a lot of people count on us

getting it right and it's not a matter of pandering and doing whatever will get you in the news on a given day. sometimes it requires you making hard decisions even when people don't like it and doing things that are unpopular and standing up for people who are vulnerable but don't have some powerful political constituency. it requires being able to work with leaders around the world in a way that reflects the importance of the office. and it gives people confidence that you know the facts and you know the names and you know where they are on a map and you know something about their history and you're not just going to play to the crowd back home because they have their own crowds back home. you're trying to solve problems.

and so during primaries, people vent and they express themselves and it seems like entertainment and oftentimes it's just reported, just like entertainment, but as you get closer, reality has a way of intruding and these are the folks who i have faith in, because they ultimately are going to say, whoever's standing where i am standing right now hat nuclear codes with them and can order 21-year-olds into a firefight and you have to make sure that the banking system doesn't collapse and is often responsible for not just the united states of america, but 20 our countries that of having big problems or falling apart and are going to be looking for us to do something and the american

people are pretty sensible. i think they'll make a sensible choice in the end. all right? thanks, everybody. thank you. >> that was president obama at a news conference wrapping up a two day summit in california with the asian pacific nations trying to strengthen economic ties. the president did make a lot of news not only about the death of justice antonin scalia and what's next and the president gave extensive views of the 2016 presidential race. let's first start with antonin scalia. the president said there was a constitutional process that you will be moving forward with. he said he will be making a nomination before very long. he said the qualifications of that person are pretty clear. he said he will be nominating somebody who has a great legal mind and who cares about u.s. democracy. the president said that he's not

looking for any particular position on any particular case. that is interesting, because both hillary clinton and bernie sanders, the democrats have said they would only nominate somebody to the supreme court who would overturn the citizens united campaign fundraising case. the president said when he makes his nomination, names somebody, he believe that is person will be indisputably qualified and everybody will see that that person will serve with integrity on the supreme court. a number of republicans suggested that the president should not be naming a supreme court justice in the final year of his term. the president at time spoke like a la professor challenging anybody to find anything in the constitution that suggests a president should not fulfill his duties. he said we've reached the situation where everything is blocked and that both parties have something to blame for

that. finally, rewarding the 2016 approximately at race and this was intriguing, president obama said while he knows hillary clinton a little bit better than bernie sanders, he said that their differences is a matter of tactics in terms of approaching how you try and get things done in washington. a lot to chew over for political junkies and bring in mike viqueira. what did you make of that? >> well, i think it was predictable, first of all that in a press conference with the white house press corps there wouldn't be a whole lot of questions about the subject at hand. the reason they were there in california and the palm springs area, the asean summit. inevitable that this firefight over the replacement for associate justice scalia would take front and center. i think you heard the president say somewhat sarcastically that

it would come out that way. when president obama answered the first question saying he was going to find someone who is an outstanding legal mind, no litmus test, someone that was indisputably qualified. i guess that's common sense. said otherwise, it would have been news. my interpretation was he would go the moderate route, all the that the he would motivate the base by picking someone on the left side of the political spectrum or go the moderate route, thinking that republicans would block the nomination. it would require 14 republicans to go along to break a filibuster in the senate. that's highly unlikely. a moderate would point out the obstructionist republican way in which they've run the senate over the course of the last several years. the president shot that down right away. he said no, i didn't say i was

going to choose a moderate or liberal, i didn't tip my hand one way or the other. he was firm and resolute as he was saturday night in the immediate aftermath after the shocking news of the death of justice scalia that he was going to fulfill his constitutional responsibility and put forward a nomination and said he expect action in the senate. david, finally, we should report that there is waiving now monkey republican senators in the senate, most notably chuck grassley, the republican of iowa who said he may after all schedule a hearing. he's going to have to see who in fact president obama nominates when he does get around to it. >> i want to get to the politics of all of this. that would then be a sign the republicans feel they're on the losing end of this politically with the idea there wouldn't be a hearing or a vote. the one question he seemed to dismiss and the one easy most vulnerable to, this idea that in 2006, there were 25 democratic

senators who filibustered to prevent a vote on samuel alito. >> it's not the first time it's been charged and you'll hear republicans say it over and over again. there is an element of people are switching roles and doing that is typical in washington. i don't think anybody who watches this for a living would seriously dispute if the shoe was on the other foot many democrats would be making this same argument about let's let the voters decide turning the november election on a referendum into who should be appointed to the supreme court. sonia sotomayor cases, elena cagen who were ultimately confirmed, this same question arose of the president's record in filibusters and samuel alito

going allege. the president gave the same answer as today, samuel alito is on the court now so my vote counted for nothing. if it counted for something, then i would have voted against the filibuster seems illogical on its face but that's the argument the president continues to use. >> some democrats suggest there is a difference between a show filibuster when it doesn't count and when it really does matter. i want to play a sound bite of the president discussing the constitution. >> the constitution is pretty clear about what is supposed to happen now. when there is a vacancy on the supreme court, the president of the united states is to nominate someone. the senate is to consider that nomination and either they

disapprove of that nominee or that nominee is elevated to the supreme court. historically, this has not been viewed as a question. >> mike, any surprise there on the president's remarks about the constitution? >> absolutely not. i think that the president, democrats feel as though they are on solid ground here. the president was not elected to a second three year term. he is the president of the united states through this year and on to january 20 of next year. it is his right and perhaps his responsibility as he put it on saturday to nominate someone. i think that you're going to crib to hear that and get traction if they stick with that reasoning and that logic. >> we're going to keep you around and take a quick break. we'll ask mike about 2016 politics, some of the most extensive views that the president offered about the democratic race between hillary clinton and bernie sanders.

we'll play a little sound of what the president said, get mike's reaction. we'll continue after this.

>> welcome back. this is video have president obama at a news conference that just wrapped up, offering some of his most intriguing remarks to date on the 2016 presidential campaign. he also spoke extensively about nominating someone to replace now deceased supreme court justice antonin scalia. the president was asked by a

reporter that if the nominee would be moderate and the president said you should not assume anything other than that this nominee will be well qualified. regarding the presidential election, the president said he had heard from several of the asian pacific leaders who were troubled by that the rhetoric they were hearing from republicans in the u.s. presidential race. the president also reiterated his belief that donald trump would not be president of the united states. >> i continue to believe mr. trump with him not be penalty and the reason is because i have a lot of faith in the american people. i think they recognize that being president is a serious job. it's not hosting a talk show or a reality show. it's not promotion. it's not marketing. it's hard.

>> al jazeera's mike viqueira joins us now from washington. the president went on to referring to having his hands on the nuclear codes. have you ever heard the president talk in those terms? >> no, i haven't, and i did think that was interesting, as well. he mentioned the nuclear codes, sending a 21-year-old into a firefight, a couple of other, making sure the banking system doesn't collapse. the president doesn't usually allude to all the pressures of the presidency and big job he has, partly probably because he doesn't want to inflate himself or appear somehow conceited in going about his daily duties. i thought that was rare and very interesting. it's interesting to hear the president reformulate his answer when it comes to donald trump and having a democratic successor in the white house. not long ago, he was asked if he thought a democratic would succeed him and being able to carry on policies and executive

orders, as well as the statutes passed. he said he had confidence in the american people to make the right choice and choose a democratic. today he fine tuned that. he didn't say he didn't have confidence in the american people not to nominate donald trump. he said he had confidence that the american people would not elect donald trump to the white house to be the next president of the united states. he's not the first person to predict the demise of donald trump over the course of the last six months. virtually all of whom who have been proven 180 degrees wrong. we'll see how that turns out. on the democratic side, i thought it was i am plausible when he said he hasn't studied the individual positions was bernie sanders or hillary clinton so can't weigh in on the differences between them. he dismissed it as tactics as a way to differentiate yourself in a primary season in a hard fought battle. i tend to believe that president

obama is paying very close attention, particularly the democratic race, but so far, being successful at least publicly in staying hands off. >> there was a moment when one of the reporters seemed to want to follow up when the president said he was going to let the democrats vote for a while as if the president at a certain point might come in and endorse before the race is settled. are you picking up any indication that the president might actually go that far before the convention? >> well, he has said or his spokes mapp has not ruled out that the president would make an endorsement before the primary season was over. i think a lot of us in the white house press corps took that to mean once the nominee became clear, once a certain number of dell lets were won through the course of the primary in the caucus season and there was a certain air of inevitability about a nomination which i think people assume and still do notwithstanding the results in new hampshire that that would be

hillary clinton, that he would start endorsing publicly. obviously because of new hampshire, because of the surprises in iowa and some of the polling that we see in nevada, and even south carolina where hillary clinton is winning the latest polls just out today, but by a narrowing margin, nothing is a sure thing at this point and when so much has broken the mold over the course of the last six months in this presidential campaign, if in particular over the course of the last three weeks since voters actually began to cast their votes, i think the president, you'll see him take a step back a little bit and not put a thumb on the scale, at least not publicly unless he really feels it's the appropriate time or it is really needed and would help, david. >> mike, the republican race, the president seemed particularly exasperated that he

has to explain to world leaders. how vexed or angry is the president, embarrassed i'm not sure is the right word when he has to explaining issues to foreign leaders such as this? >> i think he's frustrated and i don't think you have to read far below the surface to see that. we have heard the president express frustration and even open anger at issues that the rest of the word sort of looks at the united states at least the western world looks at the united states, the allied world and does not really understand some of the policies that are so controversial here. first and foremost of that is climate change but also u.s. attitudes rewarding guns and gun ownership. this is something the president has just lashed out about, i'm thinking of the g20 in turkey when he talked about some have these issues in the context of terrorism. so, you know, i thought it was a cleverly worded question by the

knob reporter to talk about it that way, to talk about the american elections through the eyes have foreign leaders, a couple dozen of whom the president just met there at the summit of southeast asian leaders and the president went for it and gave a very interesting answer and talked about some of the frustrations that he doubtlessly shares with some of his colleagues and fellow leaders from around the world. >> there was also the moment the penalty was asked if he bears any responsibility for the frustration that so may be voters seem to have, causing bernie sanders and donald trump to be so popular. is there a sense of self responsibility that perhaps the president overestimated his ability to bring people together these last seven years? >> well, you know, of course the president has spent about the second half, perhaps the second half of his state of the union speech talking about the issue of civility, the lack of

bipartisanship, the rancor that dominates the discourse in washington. he gave another speech where he talked about that, as well, even presented his historic speech to the mosque within the context of civility in american society and what is lacking there. his speech to springfield, the legislature in springfield of illinois, where he got his start as an elect official, also struck on that team. i think that you see the president very frustrated and has admitted quite explicitly and literally that this is a failure of his presidency, perhaps his biggest regret after his inability to pass gun legislation. >> there's one more loose end we're going to talk to you about on the other side of this involving antonin scalia and whether the replacement could be a recess appointment. we'll explain what that means and wipe it is so controversial on the other side of this break. you're watching aljazeera america. bear because of his raw intellect

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he spoke extensively about his nominee to the supreme court to replace antonin scalia. the president said it would happen in due time. there you see a live picture of the supreme court, the president said the qualifications would include a great legal mind, somebody who cares about democracy. the president said there is not any particular position on a particular case that he will need to see. the president said there is one other option the white house could take, something known as a recent appointment. that is when the senate goes out of session, the president during their recess makes a nomination that way. the president was asked at his news conference whether that is a possibility and here's how he responded. watch. >> i think that we have more than enough time to go through regular order, regular processes, i intend to nominate somebody, to present them to the american people, to present them to the senate. i expect them to hold hearings.

i expect there to be a vote. >> mike viqueira joins us now. mike, that doesn't sound like the president is ruling it out or pulling it off the table should the republicans decide to play hard ball here. >> you know what, i had the exact same thought, david. he did not rule it out. he said i expect a vote full stop, which is not saying i would not put forward a recess appointment. there are all kinds of wrinkles in this thing. i read today where one school of thought says january 3 of 2017 is when the new congress is sworn in. that's part of law. a new president isn't sworn in until january 20, in the interim, if the democrats were to win the senate, then he could get his nominee through. in the meantime have a place holder or recess appointment. i think if the republicans will get rid of that, they will find a way parliamentary to avoid going into recess, the sinesdie

recess add journal. that's happened a couple of times in recent history where a senator will go in and gavel in and gavel out to avoid going into recent to keep the president from a recess appointment. >> always a pleasure, thank you very much. the president with a news conference in california. he provide a few more details in what he is looking for in his nominee to the supreme court. the president also weighed in on 200616, describing donald trump as somebody who will not be president of the united states, will not have fingers on the nuclear code. more news an hour from now on al jazeera. i'm david shuster. thanks for watching. >> the only live national news show at 11:00 eastern. >> we start with breaking news. >> let's take a closer look.

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