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tv   Wolf  CNN  March 17, 2017 10:00am-11:01am PDT

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hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. in wash waington 6:00 p.m. in germany. wherever you're joining, welcome. as we keep our eye on the east room in the white house. in just a few minutes the american president and german chancellor will make a statement and the two met in the oval office just a moment ago. >> send a good picture back to germany, please.
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make sure. >> how did your talks about, mr. president? >> very good. >> thank you talk about nato? >> many things. >> very good. >> thank you. >> all right. thank you. >> mr. president, mr. president -- handshake, mr. president? >> you're senior correspondent joe jackson is at the white house. during the campaign then-candidate had some harsh words for chancellor merkel on the refugee policies, other policies such as nato. will that likely come up today? >> that's a very good question, wolf. as you know, among other things on the campaign trail, donald trump accused angela merkel of
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ruining germany with her refugee policy, allowing so many syrian refugees in. and so that's a potential problem. but the senior administration officials who briefed on the subject say, sure, these two world leaders are going to have disagreements but at the end of the day they want to talk about the commeonalities the shared interests and the administration wanted to know how angela merkel met vladimir putin. she's met himself times and she's a go between with ukraine. and i was in the room when the president was in there with angela merkel. and i have to say frankly, my impression, it was a bit awkward. one of the journalists from germany who was also in the room told me that he overheard one or another of the camera men trying
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to get angela merkel and president trump to shake hands, there was no hand shakes. it seemed just a bit distant and it will be interesting to see what happens at the press conference coming up. >> we'll have live coverage for that. joe john is at the white house. a rare apology from the trump white house, not on the wiretapping claims, but on a, quote, supposedly unintentional slip by the white house press secretary sean spicer while defending the president's comments on trump tower surveillance. take a listen to what sean spicer said yesterday. >> on fox news, on march 14, judge andrew napolitano made the statement, three officials toed fox news the president obama went outside the chain of command and didn't use the nsa, fbi and the department of justice, he used gc hq. it's the initials for the
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british intelligence spying agency, president obama said he needs transcripts and there is no american fingerprints on this. >> let me bring in our cnn diplomatic editor, nic robertson joining us from 10 downing street. it was pretty shocking to hear sean spicer quote from a report on fox news by a legal contributor, a legal analyst, judge andrew napolitano, alleging that the british intelligence was actually spying on donald trump during the campaign on behalf of president obama. how did that go over in the uk? >> like a led balloon, wolf. it went over really badly. gc hq communications headquarters did something they very, very rarely do, they spoke to the allegation, they addressed it and came out and
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said publicly this is ridiculous and should be ignored. a spokesman here at the number ten, the prime minister's office here, added further to that that they have sought assurances from the white house and received them that sean spicer wouldn't make these allegations again. i'll read you the full statement from number ten so you can understand how strongly they field at the moment. we've made clear to the administration that these claims are ridiculous and they should be ignored and we've received assurances that these allegations will not be repeated. of course, theresa may invested a huge capital in the special relationship between the uk and the united states to be the first world leader to travel to washington and meet president trump face-to-face. she has a huge plate back in the uk, trying to get the united kingdom out of the european union same time that scotland is trying to get out of the united kingdom. she's very busy, doesn't want
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this political turmoil, this overspill from the united states falling on her plate. that's why the pushback has been strong. gchq has said the united states and britain are part of the five eyes intelligence sharing cooperation between canada, the united states, australia and new zealand. they cannot try to try, if you will, circumvent laws in one country using an ally's equipment and processes. they say impossible. the pushback very strong, wolf. >> not surprisingly. nick in london for us. thank you very much. as we await the two leaders to take the east room in the white house. let's talk about what's at stake today, and the message could be critically important. joining us from capitol hill the florida congressman ted yoho, member of the house committee and freedom caucus. thank you for joining us. >> sure, wolf.
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good to be on. >> let me get your quick reaction to the white house press secretary citing this unsubstantiated report on fox news by judge napolitano that the british intelligence community had been told by former president obama to go ahead and spy on donald trump at trump tower. it obviously caused this huge, huge anger in -- among obviously one of the top allies. what's your reaction to the white house giving at least some credence to this report by even citing it from the white house pulpit? >> i watched that report yesterday, and he did, he gave that information out. i assume there is some cretence to it or some credibility to it or he wouldn't have done that. other than that, i'm not going to weigh in on judge napolitano said what he said on fox news. i think i'm going to wait for the movie to come out to see. let the rule of law and the investigations do what it's going to do and let us focus on
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the things that we need to focus on in this country, healthcare, tax reform. >> let me press you congressman. you're a member of the committee. do you believe that there is any truth that the british government was spying on trump on trump tower? >> i think it's plausible. but i haven't seen the report. i'm not going to say it's true or not, i think the investigation needs to happen. let us get there and do the investigation. >> you saw the statements this morning from sean spicer and john mcmaster, formally apologizing to the british government saying sean spicer should have never given any credence to the judge napolitano news. i think this is the first time we've heard a formal apology
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from the trump white house. have you heard any apologies? >> no. i think that's a good thing. i'm with you. they're showing that they're willing to do this. you're going to see more refinement. i wouldn't use a news source for my information. i don't know if he had any more information. the uk is one of our strong allies and we want to protect the relationship we have with them. >> if there is no evidence and so far all of the republican and democratic leaders in the house and the senate, and the intelligence committees, they say they haven't seen any evidence to back up president trump's accusation that president obama was wiretapping trump tower, if there is no evidence that emerges, do you believe that president trump should formally pick up the phone, call president obama and formally apologize? not only to him, but to the american people for those four tweets a couple of weeks ago? >> i'm going to let those work that out internally. if he did speak out of turn, i
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think he wi think he will eventually do that just like they did on the british intelligence. so i don't think those are the important things we need to worry about now other than we need to make amends with friends and if he overstepped the boundaries, i'm sure he'll go ahead and make that call. >> we've had some heated exchanges, as you know, in the last few weeks since president trump took office and not only now with the uproar with the uk and the prime minister of australia, and the canceled trip to mexico, another important ally of the u.s., harsh criticism of sweden, all important allies. how concerned are you about the incidents that they could be hurting u.s. credibility around the world? >> sitting on the foreign affairs committee for the last four years our credibility has been damaged in the foreign
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policies over the last 15 years. we want to have the best foot forward and best image of the united states. when i talked to the prime minister -- or the ambassador from australia, he said that that call that donald trump had to the prime minister of australia was way overblown, not way near what it was inned media. so i think we need to tread into this softer and not take everything at face value what you hear on the news, no offense. it's an issue at the moment. everybody needs to step back. if we were to look at things on a weekly basis instead of moment by moment, we'd be better served. but i know you have a job to do and you report what's out there. >> we have a job to do. i want to point out what the house speaker paul ryan said to me on the allegations by the white house, the white house is still sticking by the allegations, against president obama and the surveillance and the wiretapping. listen to what the speaker said.
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>> we have not seen any evidence that there was a wiretap or a fisa court order against trump tower or somebody in trump tower. >> as you know, he's part of that so-called gang of eight that gets briefings by the intelligence community, law enforcement community, the most sensitive classified information, he flatly says we have not seen any evidence of any such investment involvement of surveillance by obama against donald trump. are you with the speaker on this? have you seen any evidence? >> i haven't seen any evidence. but i also know that mr. trump is smart enough that if he says something there must have been something that made him react that way. so let that -- let that take it where it's going to be and do the investigation accordingly, and then have either a recanting of what was said or it will be justified that much more. >> congressman, as usual, thanks so much for joining us. >> it's been a pleasure, wolf. thanks.
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have a great weekend. >> you too. ted yoho. up next a member of the house intelligence committee, joaquin castro, he'll discuss monday's russia meeting in front ever the intelligence committee. and more on that. and we have breaking news. we have new information about the man arrested friday night after he jumped the white house fence and was discovered by a u.s. secret service agent in the south entrance to the executive residence of the white house. the president was inside the white house at the time. our correspondent jessica schneider is with me. tell the viewers. it's shocking what we're learning. >> it is, wolf. new information about that stunning and dangerous breach on the white house grounds that happened one week ago. 26-year-old jonathan tran was arrested but the details we are learning now is it took officials 15 minutes or more to track him down after he had
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tripped and evaded numerous detections and alarms on the white house ground. to break it all down for you, it was just about one week ago, last friday. we understand the 26-year-old jonathan tran was detected somewhere on pennsylvania avenue, about six hours before this breach even happened. then around midnight we know that he climbed over a fence at the treasury, at the treasury building, which is immediately adjacent to the white house. he then tripped a sensor alarm. the problem here is even though the alarm was tripped and there was an investigation into it, he wasn't detected. he snuck behind one secret service post, moved closer to the white house and an officer did come to investigate, but this intruder crossed over east executive drive, jumped another white house gate, it was a guard post that is not routinely staffed. likely wasn't staffed that night. and we understand that he was on the ground of the white house
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for at least 15 minutes before finally being caught by these secret service members. obviously a huge breach that as this investigation is unfolding, we're learning more information about. we do know at this point, the secret service is undergoing a formal mission service review to see how this exactly happened, how the multiple alarms were tripped and how the intruder went without detection for 15 minutes and now the secret service is conducting that review. how did that 26-year-old evade secret service for more than 15 minutes. >> he was spotted simply walking around the white house on pennsylvania avenue. >> around 6:00 p.m. last friday night he was spotted on pennsylvania avenue, about six ours later, we know there is video surveillance that shows
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him jumping the fence near treasury building, and jumping into the lawn, setting off multiple alarms and avoiding detection for 15 minutes. >> just to be precise, for 15 minutes the arm las were going off, all of the uniformed personnel and officer they knew there was something wrong and they couldn't find this guy for 15 minutes. >> that's what we're hearing from the secret service. yes, these alarms were tripped and despite that, this intruder, this 26-year-old who was wearing a backpack he was avoiding detection. >> and the president of the united states was inside the residence. pretty shocking. thank you very much, jessica. we're getting live pictures from the white house east room, reporters are now inside. guests are inside. any moment now, president trump and the visiting german chancellor angela merkel, will hold a joint news conference, their first meeting since
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president trump took office. we'll have live coverage. that's coming up.
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looking at live pictures right now from inside the east room over the white house. president trump and visiting german chancellor angela merkel, they'll be walking in there momentarily. their joint news conference about to take place. they'll be taking questions from reporters after making opening statements. later they'll have a working lunch. they have been meeting in the oval office. we'll have live coverage, coming up here on cnn. the visit comes as the president stands by his unsubstantiated claims that former president obama ordered surveillance of him in the trump tower during the campaign. as the white house apologizing to the british government for appearing to suggest or give some credibility to a report that britain helped with that surveillance against donald trump. i want to bring in congressman
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joaquin castro, a member of the foreign committee, and also a member of the foreign intelligence committee. congressman, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me, wolf. >> let me get your reaction to this white house blunder this allowed sean spicer to read this claim by a fox news contributor that british intelligence services were surveilling donald trump at the trump tower during the campaign at the request of president obama. what's your reaction? the british government is very upset. the white house has now apologized. >> wolf, it's all just very strange. that came at a press conference that happened right after the senate intelligence heads, the chairman and the ranking member made the comment that they basically had seen no evidence of any kind of surveillance or wiretapping and it seemed to be sean spicer and the administration pursuing one more avenue to suggest that president
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obama somehow wiretapped or surveilled candidate trump. and it's not only strange, but it also starts to really damage one of our best relationships with such a long-standing ally in britain and then, you know, to hear the white house even now and those who are defending sean spicer not be able to admit that they made a mistake, for some of the mechanimbers of congress tol defend it is bizarre. >> i think general mcmaster admits this was a major, major blunder on the part of a white house and it required a strong reaction. . clearly from the british government they got that but now the u.s. apologizing to the government. germany is a strong intelligence-sharing partner of the united states. as we go into the joint news conference, are you concerned that the wiretapping allegations could undercut that intelligence
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cooperation not only with germany, britain or other close other allies? >> that is a concern. our allies need to trust us and feel that they have confidence with us, and any time you make wild allegations like that that are unsubstantiated it starts to cut the trust that other countries have in the united states. >> have you seen any evidence, and you're a member of the intelligence committee, congressman that other governments who would normally cooperate with the u.s. are hesitant about providing intelligence to the united states? >> it's classified and something i can't speak to but it's something that i'm monitoring and other committees are monitoring. >> what do you mean by monitoring? elaborate a little bit. >> sure, we're trying to gauge to make sure that our relationships around the world with longstanding allies like
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germany and britain are not damaged by some of the rhetoric coming out of the white house and some of the new policies that are being put into place. you remember as a candidate president trump was critical not only of chancellor merkel and also nato, critical of our intelligence agencies. so all of these can create what can become a hostile environment and upset the very careful balance in the relationships between the united states and our allies around the world. >> congressman castro you're a member of the house intelligence committee. you're going to have an open meeting with the fbi director, leaders of the intelligence committees, they're going to be discussing all of these allegations, also russia's cyberattack during the elections of the u.s. what do you expect to hear from the meeting? >> it is an open session. it's not a classified session
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where more information would come out. but there are a few things that i hope we hear about. first, many of us have been asking a fundamental question, which is any americans cooperated or conspired with the russians who interfered with the 2016 presidential election. what i would like for the director to discuss in open session is whether anybody is being investigated, whether any americans are being investigated because of that. and then also, basically the scope of the investigation, and then finally, a timeline for resolving that question and so many others that have to do with russian interference in the 2016 election. >> but you see no hard evidence to corroborate that allegation. general clapper a few weeks ago said he didn't have any evidence there was any cooperation between trump campaign officials and russia in connection with their cyber attacks. >> well, you know, i commented before that i think there is a gap in terms of what the
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intelligence agencies know and what the committees have been told. and hopefully, we will start to close that gap starting on monday. >> do you think there are certain officials, americans, u.s. citizens who were involved in the trump campaign who are now being investigated by the fbi or other agencies? >> wolf, that's something that i can't say conclusively. >> let's talk about something else you could talk about because i know you had a chance to meet with the homeland security secretary john kelly. some of your colleagues who spoke afterwards said kelly was dismissive of their comments and unaware of immigration policies and they were left with questions. what was your takeaway. >> that the secretary held the administration's line. he was asked about separating women and children at the border. he said that's not happening now and it's on the table and they may pursue it. he was asked about the civil
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rights violations that have come up, the flight from san francisco to new york, for example, where people were asked about their identification and other american citizens being detained. muhammad ali's son, for example. he was defensive of the agency and the organization and their policies. he was also presented evidence, one of the members from california had a big photo blown up of border patrol agents staked out at a church in california. he was presented that and also a letter from a bishop who asked that they not do that. he said that, you know, they don't go to churches. he basically denied that it was happening. that's why i think some folks felt like his tone and approach was dismissive. i hope that the secretary and the department will be open to hearing about instances where perhaps their agents are doing things that they shouldn't do. what we want to see out of his office is cooperation most of all. >> i interviewed secretary kelly a couple of weeks or so ago, and
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he defended the decision to go ahead and separate children who crossed the borders illegally from their parents, saying this would be a deterrent to convince others not to even try. i assume he made that case to you as well. >> he did. he spoke about that, you know. their point is they want to do everything they can to keep people from making that journey. but the fact is when the women and children do arrive the at border of the united states to separate these women from their children, quite honestly, is inhumane. >> joaquin castro, thanks so much for joining us. the congressman from texas. appreciate it. >> thank you, wolf. the president trump getting ready for this joint news conference with angela merkel. in the mean time we're getting videotape from the meeting he and merkel have been having with german and american business leaders. we'll show you the videotape right now and we'll get ready for the news conference.
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>> chancellor, thank you very much. such a great honor to get to know you, to be with you. i want to thank all of the business leaders who have joined us to discuss a subject that's very important to me, training our workforce for the 21st century. especially with respect to manufacturing jobs. we're working every day to bring back jobs to our country, and ho thousands and thousands are coming back. you're seeing it and reading about it in the papers every single day. we want to make sure we have the workforce to develop to ensure these jobs are being filled by american workers. germany, the united states have incredible opportunity to deepen our partnership as we continue to develop a strong workforce in both of our countries. both germany and the united states are pioneering
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job-training programs. here in the united states, companies have created revolutionary high-tech and online courses and, of course, for decades germany has been a model for highly successful apprenticeship -- that's a name i like, apprentice -- apprenticeship programs. as a result germany's youth and unemployment rate is much lower than many of the other countries, especially the eu countries. i welcome collaboration between our two countries and our industry leaders. we have some of our great industry leaders here as you know, chancellor, great people. we must embrace new and effective job training approaches, including online courses, high school curriculums, and private sector investment that prepare people for trade, manufacturing, technology, and other really well-paying jobs and careers. these kinds of actions can be a
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positive alternative to a four-year degree. so many people go to college four years, they don't like it, they're not necessarily good at it, but they're good at things like fixing engines and building things. i see it all the time and i've seen it when i went to school i saw it. i sat next to people that weren't necessarily good students but they could take an engine apart blindfolded. companies across the country have a chance to develop vocational training programs that will meet their growing needs and help us achieve greater prosperity. the german apprenticeship model is one of the proven programs to develop a highly skilled workforce. germany has been amazing at this, and i'm glad that the leaders of so many companies represented today have recently launched successful programs right here in the united states, and we need that because we're training people as the jobs are poring back in and they're coming back in big league.
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i believe that both countries will be stronger as we continue to develop our bilateral cooperation on vocational training, as we build off the greatest careers, create the greatest opportunity for growth and improve the lives of so many workers. i want to thank everybody in the room. my daughter ivanka, who is with us today. and mostly, most of all. >>, chance lllor, i welcome youo the white house and it's a great honor to have you in the united states, and i look forward to spending time with you. >> the president leading a round table discussion with german and american leaders. you heard him mention that his daughter ivanka trump is in there. and the east room of the white house where they will be -- the chancellor and the president will have a news conference momentarily. i want to go to senior
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white house correspondent jeff zeleny. he's in the east room. set the scene. we're a few moments away. >> we are indeed, wolf. we expect them to come in momentarily. you saw the pictures from the cabinet room, and we saw american ceos, and german ceos, underscoring the business relationship and the importance of this visit. wolf, i would say this is the most consequential face-to-face visit are a foreign leader so far yet in this administration. but boy, is it fraught with interesting history from 2015-2016. if you'll remember back, in 2015 donald trump suggested that angela merkel was ruining germany. it was a tweet he sent out using his exact words, talking about immigration. of course, he has many differences with her, but wolf, i was standing outside of the west wing of the white house this morning when she was arriving and, of course, he greeted her with open arms. this is a reset of the
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relationship. she, of course, is a longstanding leader. so this is going to be the beginning of a get to know you process. she was asked a couple of days ago in germany what she thought of the new president. of course, she had a very good relationship with barack obama and george w. bush before that. for her this is the third american president here. she said, out goes the president and a new one comes in. so sort of an understated statement there. but interesting, there is this, you know, this dynamic coming into this meetings here. so many differences on immigration, on climate change. so she, you know, will be resetting this relationship here and each of these leaders will be taking two questions here from each side, the german press, and the u.s. press, and wolf, this should be underway here any moment in the east room. wolf. >> standing by for live coverage. jeff, thank you. i want to bring in christiane amanpour, as you heard president
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trump has been very critical of the chancellor in the past during the presidential campaign, he often blasted germany's decision to admit hundreds of thousands of refugees from north africa and the middle east into germany. listen to this. >> as far as merkel is concerned she ought to be ashamed of herself what she's done, because germany, they're having riots in the street. they can't believe they have this in the streets. i have a lot of respect for her. she blew it. the german people are going to riot and overturn this people. i don't know what the heck she's thinking. watch what happens to angela merkel who i always thought of as a very good leader until she did this. i don't know what went wrong with her. angela, what happened? what a disaster this massive immigration has been to germany and the people of germany. >> all right. christiane, those are tough words, how do they get over
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that? >> well, they're very tough words. but, you know, what is going to happen is that angela merkel is talking to donald trump with a new found sense of self-confidence. the whole idea of the populist idea because of the refugees have been negated in austria and there is a new sense of confidence for europe. plus, you know that angela merkel was on a phone call with donald trump just a few days ago, few weeks ago when he brought the first muslim country travel ban and she had to remind him that geneva convention are obligated to help people who are fleeing death and problems in their own countries. i think they'll be talking about this. she too, can't see her country open to every refugee in the world and she's taken steps against that. what you played just earlier goes to the heart of this relationship.
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because donald trump has made a transactionel relationship between different countries. he's very keen on trade, as you know. she's very keen not to, and trying to fend off in i kind of protectionism. the video you showed in the white house, where donald trump was traysing angela merkpraisin praising the workforce. and we were reminded by a german ambassador that she will try to tell the president that his slogan, making america great again, with only happen with good and reliable partners like germany and other partners in europe. she'll remind him that germany invested $200 billion in the u.s. economy, is responsible germany alone for 750,000 american jobs. so all of these kinds of things are very important. i think on a global and bigger international stage, she'll be keen to talk to him about vladimir putin, whether it's
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about interfering in the democratic process as he's suspected in doing in the united states and most definitely germany and other parts of europe or respecting international laws such as having to hold the line against invasions of crimea, eastern ukraine and the like. it's going to be an interesting and very important conversation today. >> it certainly will be. and we're going to have live coverage. christiane i want you to stand by. jeff zeleny, stand by. we're moments away from the start of this critically important joint news conference between the president of the united states and the chancellor of germany, our live coverage will continue right after this. i don't want to pry... dad. but have you made a decision? i'm going with the $1000 in cash back. my son... ...a cash man. dad, are you crying? nah, just something in my eye. the volkswagen 3 and easy event... ...where you can choose one of three easy ways to get a $1000 offer. hurry in to your volkswagen
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at white house. president trump and german chancellor angela merkel, she should be weighing in any moment now. they'll be taking questions from reporters after yards. they'll have a working lunch and they've been meeting in the oval office. and our live coverage is coming up. in the meantime, let's bring in our global affairs don't elise labott, jim sciutto and gloria borger. you wrote a piece on cnn.com, a good piece, very good piece. you write about the credibility of the president. he's leading the free world. we're supposed to believe what he says and trust him. if there is a crisis we want to per se receive him as calm and dlibrative, not prone to tantrums. there is been a pushback against his accusations against barack
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obama that he ordered the wiretapping of the trump tower during the campaign. >> right, i think this goes to his credibility and you have a foreign leader like merkel, and they want to know that they can trust him and they want to know that he is calm, and they want to know that he's not going to fly off at any time and criticize them like he criticized merkel during the campaign. they want the relationships to be strong because they're so important to the world. and so you have to know if you're a leader and my colleagues here can speak about this better than i can, that you can pick up the phone and call donald trump if you're -- if you're merkel, call donald trump and say, what do you think about x, y, and z, what are we going to do about it together? and know that you're going to get a considered and informed response not a tweet. it has a bad impact. >> jim, this is taking place at a very sensitive moment in world affairs now. we heard the u.s. secretary of
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state rex tillerson, who is visiting south korea, visited the dmz, saying all options are on the table when it comes to north korea and its nuclear threats. >> absolutely. at a time when trump's most senior national security advisers consistent identify north korea as the most immediate national security threat, that was the world that obama gave donald trump as he left the white house. that is a significant change him saying that the strategitic patiencence policy that president obama followed and george w. bush followed. he says the military option is on the table. so did president obama. the question is how close, how high on the table will they actually use that and what does it do to a country such as china that has real influence over north korea and also north korea, how does it react? this is a country that reacts to threats like that.
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what does it do? it is not reticent about rattling its own sabres when necessary and north korea -- south korea, rather, the neighbor is often a target of those. it's a dangerous time in that relationship. >> they've got to get the act together both the german chancellor and the president of the united states. as you heard, there is tension over the past few months and the president is concerned that as far as nato is concerned germany is not paying the 2% of the gdp. >> germany spends only 1.2% even though it increased its spending. if the president feels this is a legitimate comment. it's a larger issue not only about what president trump thinks is the europeans' riding on the coat tails of the american taxpayer, but there is an issue about european unity and whether this is a president that supports european unity.
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he sees angela merkel as a linchpin of european unity. when he talks for germany to fleece to the united states, this goes to the heart of what he's doing working on more of these bilateral relationships. some of his secretaries have gone out and gave welcoming messages. but certainly she's going to want to solidify that he's pro europe. we'll have more live coverage of the meeting. we'll take a break and be right back. and natural flavors from the very beginning. give kind a try. won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation.
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live pictures coming in from the east room of president trump and angela merkel, delegations are going to be walking into the room. they will be giving opening statements and after that taking questions. after that lunch at the white house. >> christian amen poor, europe as a whole what's been the reaction over these a past 50
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days. >> reporter: donald trump presents a stress test for much of europe right now and the ideologues who seem to want to see others spin off, that is a big problem for the rest of europe so angela merkel will be able to tell donald trump we have with stostood a pop you li backlash, in my country the germany the pop lists, far right-wingers are way down in the polls. right now angela merkel is tied with democrat vying for at the election. on the issue of nato of course she will build on what donald trump has already said that they now believe nato is vital and say yes, we all need to pay
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more, need to put that 2% into our nato pot and agree with that and on the issue of vladimir putin this stresses out europe out no end with the kremlin and faked news to be interfering in the elections to the benefit of these nationalists, will it's le pen, afd in germany, et cetera, et cetera and the germans are very worried about that an a resurgent russia who wants to put its power out around the world so she's going to ask donald trump -- she's probably going to explain and wonder why he hasn't criticized the
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annexation of crimea, wolf, this is going to be one of the first times that president trump gets to hear from a pier. she has been the longest serving and the senior leader so instead of hearing from his own advisors locked in the white house, he gets to hear now from a long-standing pier. ve -- peer. >> let me bring jeff zeleny in. i'm sure it's not going to come up in the president's opening statement but there's a rift that has now developed between the white house and britain over sean spicer alleging that british intelligence was spying at the request of president obama, how much of a problem is this right now? >> reporter: wolf, there's no
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question that will come up. these whole claims unsubstantiated have hung over this white house like a cloud two weeks tomorrow, so this is the latest iteration, the white house did have to walk back its word and apologize for what white house press secretary sean spicer that the british were helping president obama spy on the trump administration, i'm not sure how it affects the relationship in the long run the relationship between the british and the u.s. very strong but it is a warning shot and reminder that words indeed have consequences and one this white house is learning, as christiane was saying how long chancellor merkel has been in pow aerer an office, this is her third term
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and i have been told she has met with other leaders, she's been watching his speeches and videos, trying to assess who he is like here and this is how she is trying to reset, reframe a very different u.s. president. but they are going to be spending some quiet time with a luncheon as well as well as meeting in the oval office and the ceos. >> christian, you're there in london, what's been the reaction to what sean spicer said yesterday reading this totally unsubstantiated report of the british spying on donald trump during the campaign. >> reporter: i have to tell you from this side of the atlantic people just cannot believe what's coming out of the spoexmspoe spokesmen and they know it came
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from a ranting on fox news and cannot figure out why the world's leading super power is putting so much flak out based on an unsubstantiated -- and it is extraordinary that the united states accuses it's closest transatlantic ally britain of doing this. that is why britain came out of the gate so fast. it's almost unprecedented to respond in real time to a news story aund precedented as far as we can go back and figure out that the british prime minister has had to demand that this is not repeated and is a very important thing because it goes to the heart of the credibility of the american presidency and everybody needs that trust in order to be able to have a strong defense going out into a highly troubled world.
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we've been talking about russia, we've been talking about north korea. these are immense issues not to mention the global economy, the war, refugees everything else everybody has to deal with so it is very, very troubling because it goes to the heart of what is the most powerful leader in the world thinking? >> is it just a rookie mistake over at the white house or a bigger problem? >> i don't know, we're still into the first 100 days but this was clearly considered by them, he read from a whole raft of clips and i think christiane's is the right one. the president has at his disposal all types of intelligence he can declassify any time he wants but the person speaking for him at the podium at the white house is talking about something that was said on fox news. that doesn't make any sense and by the way, this administration
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always decries anonymous sourcing. well sean spicer was reading from piece after piece that relied on anonymous sources. they say are never accurate. and suddenly, they say they are. >> and it wasn't from a journalist at fox news it was from a contributor judge napolitano making the assertion which the white house read publicly before the whole world. >> funny thing, we shouldn't be surprised. it happened throughout the campaign and since he was inaugurated. go back to the false and multiple times debunked claim of 2-3 million illegal voeters, an the promise into an investigation, just as this that has been denied everybody republican and democrat, it's a pattern, worry some pattern that
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follows the election. i will echo christiane because i was just in europe, it greatly concerns them because they're on the front lines with regard to russia, do madison speak for the u.s., or does donald trump? because often times you hear two things and they don't know the answer to that >> stay with us breaking news in just a few minutes the president of the united states the chancellor of germany angela merkel will both be making statements to the press. the president held a roundtable with angela merkel there with german business leaders there as well. listen to this. chancellor, thank you very much. such great honor to get to know you, to be with you. i want to thank