i'd of said... i'd of said you're dreaming. dreaming! definitely dreaming. then again, dreaming is how i got this far. now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your time with us. the russia special counsel says there is a big message in today's sentencing of a man caught lying to investigators. and a new court filing highlights possible collusion by the trump campaign chairman. lithuania and astonia are looking for a tougher posture

against russia's vladimir putin. scott pruitt gets a presidential vote of confidence. rollbacks and constant praise from the boss. >> this is another step. this is another step in the president's regulatory agenda, a billion dollars in savings with respect to over 22 significant regulatory actions that we've been involved in here at the agency. this president has shown tremendous courage to say to the american people that america is going to be put first. >> we begin the hour with a signature moment in the russia special counsel investigation. the first sentencing of someone charged by robert mueller and a new court filing that puts the question of trump campaign collusion with russia front and center. in court today, a dutch national who is the son-in-law of a russian oligarch. alex van der zwaan sentenced to 30 days in jail and a $20,000

fine. van der zwaan will likely be a footnote when all is said and done, but the case against him shows how van der zwaan and two key players, manafort and flynn, had talks with russians. when he was appointed, robert mueller was specifically tasked to investigate whether manafort, again, the trump campaign chairman, quote, committed a crime or crimes by colluding with russian government officials with respect to the russian government's effort to interfere with the 2016 election for president of the united states. let's start with cnn's evan perez. he's outside the courthouse where van der zwaan was sentenced a short time ago. tell us how this fits into the investigative puzzle. >> reporter: in court today,

prosecutors with robert mueller's special counsel's office emphasized that the importance of this sentence was simply sending a message of the consequences of lying to the special counsel. that's what alex van der zwaan confessed to doing. he was faced with charges of conspiracy and admitted to charges of lying and conspiracy, and as you mentioned, the judge sentenced him to 30 days in prison and a $20,000 fine. earlier he apologized to the court and said, what i did was wrong. his lawyers argue that he should receive no jail time, but that is not what happened. now, what is he accused of lying of? he is accused of lying about his interactions in particular with paul manafort and rick gates. in particular, rick gates who, according to prosecutors, was in frequent touch with a known russian spy, a man by the name of constantine kolumnik. according to prosecutors, in the

middle of 2016, gates was interacting with this man who worked for the russian spy services and that gates knew this man worked for the russians. the importance of this is this brings front and center what robert mueller's mission here is, which is to prove or to show whether or not there is any legal coordination between russians and the trump campaign, or obje and obviously paul manafort and rick gates are at the center of that. >> with me here in the studio, julia pace of the associated press, former federal prosecutor michael zelden, cnn's prokupecz. >> i'm asking this as a layman. michael flynn, national security adviser, pled guilty to lying as well. he has not been sentenced. he is cooperating. most people think he essentially got a traffic ticket for robbing a bank, if you will, because he's cooperating.

how does van der zwaan get 30 days in jail? what treatment does flynn get if he's already in jail? >> it may mean he gets harsher treatment because he was exposed to greater liability on a full sentence. he could get six months and it be a walk in the park compared to what he could have gotten. but i think it tells us that mueller is serious about his investigation, and particularly serious about lying to his investigators. if you do, there is a consequence, as the court said today. i think it sends a message that mueller wants people to cooperate and be truthful, and i think it tells those who have information to give up to make sure they give it up. as we saw in the van der zwaan case, he waived his right to seek information act information which he is entitled to because mueller has asked him not to do that because it could tip off where their investigation is going. there's a lot of moving parts

here. >> that's a critical point, because we don't know so much. with every court filing, we look for a clue. in the van der zwaan filings they talked about a meeting in late 2016 with a known russian operative. here's why we're investigating his business dealings in ukraine, because we have a specific charge by the justice department to do so. i want to put up this document that has two paragraphs about paul manafort. it says, investigate collusion, possibly crime or crimes in the top, and then investigate payments from political groups in ukraine associated with russia. it's the black redacted part. if you're donald trump, that has to set a chill up your spine. if you see these documents, the tip of the iceberg is manafort. what does that say? we don't know about everybody else, but that is where robert mueller began. his charge from the deputy attorney general, the president's deputy attorney general. >> this document, as you said, was filed yesterday, i think

sort of tells us there is a lot that robert mueller is looking at. because about where they start to talk about allegations, practically the entire page is redacted, is blacked out. if i was paul manafort, certainly i would still be worried that i could potentially face more charges involving collusion. that is where it's clear by this document that paul manafort still has exposure on, and there are other people that we know whose names have been out there that potentially are facing some scrutiny, some charges. but yeah, this is definitely -- and what we don't know and what we see here blacked out is probably more notable than we know. >> beyond the redactions, rosenstein himself was brought in during the scope of this investigation. rosenstein is somebody giving mueller a really broad purview, and trump has repeatedly gone after sessions for stepping aside.

this puts him now in the spotlight for the administration, much more than he already was. >> this is where mueller began in the special counsel. michael, you've worked these investigations. you start with your charge, but if you come to other evidence along the way, you go back and get more. to that point, you have this document right there, the first paragraph about paul manafort, crime or possible crimes involving collusion. meetings with a russian operative. the trump campaign deputy chairman meeting with a russian operative late in the campaign season. the president has said consistently there is nothing there. >> there is no collusion between me and my campaign and the russians. >> there's been absolutely no collusion. there's been no collusion between us and the russians. >> there has been no collusion between the trump campaign and russians or trump and russians, no collusion. bottom line, they all say there is no collusion. and there is no collusion. >> now, again, nothing has been proved. but now you have court documents that do establish meetings,

court documents that do establish from the day robert mueller started, this is essentially when james comey ended when he was fired to looking into possible crime or crimes involving collusion. >> right, and at a minimum, we know there is actually a robust investigation into collusion. i think people were wondering if this would just be an injustice investigation and whether they would find anything on collusion. and like you said, it hasn't been proven president trump knew of any of these interactions, for instance, between rick gates and paul manafort and this russian operative kolumnik. but this does tell you there were conflicts that would raise alarm in any other campaign. it is not normal campaign behavior for your chairman and your deputy chairman to be in touch with a suspected russian intelligence operative. that's not what the campaign is for. there is a reason this is being investigated, because it looks suspicious. it is suspicious in a trump

campaign. >> for paul manafort, this is not good news, right? this is an indication there is still mounting pressure, perhaps, that the special counsel wants his cooperation. the fact they're continuing t s this -- they don't understand why this memo was even put together. you could argue there is some political pressure and they need to perhaps show what they were authorized to do. but there is still mounting, mounting pressure here on paul manafort rkts because in the end there is no question they want and need paul manafort's connection. >> you start from square one. you know for months, what does mueller have? it's time for mueller to shut down. mueller is way behind the original mandate. now he's getting back to the original mandate and it's spreading out from there. when you look at what we know, with this filing and what happened with the van der zwaan

case, what does that mean to you? >> that it involves multiple people. the redacted part is about 6 inches long. there are a lot of people who are under investigation for the collusion and other crimes within the mueller mandate. and i also think that what's important. the add vocation that we can look at what was investigated prior to the 2016 campaign is on the table. that's not good news for the president or jared kushner or don jr. or anybody else that has financial relationships with these people who may have a predicate basis for colluding later on. terrible news for them, i think. >> we expected to get an overall

pool. we're told that's been canceled. the president may not or want to have questions shot down from reporters. paul manafort has been charged, 13 russian nationals have been charg charged. foreign policy adviser, from rick gates, from van der zwaan and a rich man named vernado. you have three people, especially flynn and gates, and does it say there was a meeting on the table at the time? you have here, if it continues, a very detailed document laying out. is this usual? is this normal? or is this rod rosenstein

knowing the president just fired james comey and is politically looking to take this organization down in his view, purview. >> this is an 18th summer vacation. then you started march. what do you want me to do? what are grand juries looking at? give me specific parameters about what i should be looking at, and as i proceed and i look at my man and he says, cases that maya rise out of, i'll come back and ask you about that. that seems to be what he's done, and on august 2nd, rosenstein d detailed for him more information on the scope of his mandate. this is important because he has challenged him in court saying you are acting without authority and this case should be dismissed.

rosenstein, along with the mueller filing yesterday, said to the court, absolutely not, we are kosher and moving forward. >> but this memo was done in august, so that's three months after mueller took over. so the question certainly we've been asking is, what was going on? why did rod rosenstein at that time, in august, three months after mueller had already been appointed, decided to do this memo. >> you look at parts of. it brings up a number of questions but also begins to give you a road map on how the special counsel got started and where he's going. when we come back, the president is tweeting constantly about immigration. what does he want the congress to do, and is there any indication that congress will even try?

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from the president today. the white house says they are a call to action, not just presidential venting. stirring the anger is talk of a caravan making its way from mexico. talking about his border wall, threatening to cut off aid to mexico. something the president doesn't mention in his tweet storm? he signed off on a bill that had a 10% payment to his border wall. and there are other changes the president wanted but didn't come close to enough needed for passing. joining us the rest of the hour, bloomberg silas kippur.

>> is there any sign this will come back? >> people doubt republicans will come back to this issue, because daca is stranded in the courts right now. there is no imminent deadline. without a deadline, it's very difficult to get this congress, which has been paralyzed for a decade on immigration, to act. republican leaders are heading into an election. they know it's an issue that divides their base and in many instances pits their party against the objective. >> the fact the white house is saying this is not just venting, that he actually does have a policy mission here, you have to remember that a lot of this is just a messaging play for the president. he knows coming off the spending bill that a lot of his core supporters are pretty frustrated with the size of the spending bill and the fact it didn't include the wall funding, so for him to get out there and say, no, i want this, it's more a

message to his base that he hasn't abandoned them on immigration and he's trying to get them moving on something in the next couple months. >> van der zwaan stopped him and you could say it isn't going to happen. >> but isn't this his trademark, his calling card? i do deals and i get things done? >> immigration is not going anywhere from trump no matter -- if he can find a deal, it can go away then, but i don't think a deal is imminent right now. i think what the president is trying to do here, this caravans issue is very -- it's a very resonant one for him. but even his aides know this money for the border is cyclical, and it may have something to do with the talk of using daca or finding a

legislative fix for daca. but there is also a much more nuance and broader issues here. one of the issues is for him to have to own immigration. what we're seeing him do here is sort of a normal thing to blame some of the nation's biggest problems on his political opponents. and yes, daca was an issue that president obama put into place, but this is the president who ended it and now it's on him to find a fix for it. >> i said a few moments ago there was no oval office meeting, but they are having a working lunch. they are having that in a separate room at the white house sorks we' so we'll bring you that tape when we have it. the president is saying the border walls are terrible, congress has to do more. the president tweeted this a couple weeks ago. a 45-year low on the illegal

border crossings this year. ice and border patrol agents are doing a great job for our country. ms-13 thugs are being defeated. >> what about the broader election for 2018? if you're looking at the seats that democrats need to take from republic republicans, or you're dean heller, and you write about this, the senator from nevada, if you don't come out to the polls you're probably going to lose your seat. >> this is one of enthusiasm, not of persuasion. republican leaders only want to talk about tax cuts between now and november. >> this is the problem for republicans with having a president who is by name of

their party but not really of their party. at the end of the day, he cares about his own base and his own electoral success. when you talk to advisers, both current and former bhit houwhit advisers, they say nothing rattles this president more than the thought of turning off the supporters who have stuck by his side through so many controversial fires, that is something he really fears. >> would he not be more influenced by pelosi? >> it was never about reaching out to anybody else. it was about firing up his people to come to the polls. we'll keep hearing about the second amendment because he knows it particularly gets republicans out to the polls. we have his midterm license come up. i think we'll continue to see him push these flashpoints that keep people defining and raised.

>> talking about immigration, talking about trade, he thinks he's right again. most of his party think he's not. an embattled chief keeps telling him to keep fighting. but can scott pruitt avoid ethics questions? and get one fr ♪

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. welcome back. the trump administration announcing today near big rollback of obama-era regulations. epa chief scott pruitt says emissions regulations placed by president obama are too strict. >> i think this midterm evaluation, the auto sector will be important to auto

manufacturing in this country. the president again saying america is going to be taken care of first, and we have nothing to be ashamed of. >> pruitt is in the headlines and a condo owned by him has gained interest. the president told him last night, keep your head up, keep fighting, we've got your back. why does pruitt survive, at least for now, while other cabinet members have fallen out of favor. new reporting on the president's mindset and increasing knowledge. pam, is this the way to put it, instincts over his advisers? >> that's absolutely the way to put it. he's renewed his conviction that he is his own best adviser and he has been ignoring the advice of its top aides, including his chief of staff john kelly and the recent firings of cabinet

secretaries. these aides are trying to create stability, or at least the perception of stability, and we're told by a source familiar with the matter, particularly in the firing of rex tillerson, the the former secretary of state, that the president ignored john kelly's advice, his guidance, that the president should wait and do something more ceremony yus wi -- ceremonious with pompeo and tillerson. the president was advised to wait until tillerson returned from his trip and have a meeting with him in the oval office, and do some sort of formal unveiling of pompeo as the new chief of staff. he ignored this information and the president called rex

tillerson while he was on his trip and told him to hurry back to washington. ignoring those around him, he wants more stability in the white house, and he also makes decisions like what's happening with pruitt more perplexing to aides that he can't sustain it. but the president likes him, and it's anyone's guess what he's going to do. >> anyone's guess, i think, is the key phrase. so the president called scott pruitt last night and said, hang in there, we've got your back. if you're a senior official in the white house, is that cement dry, or do you think, i'm not going to trust that? what's the shelf life, i guess? >> i guess we have to wait and see, but it's true the president likes what pruitt is doing at epa. he thinks he's executing his mission there and he likes pruitt personally. so at the moment, at this moment in time, it appears that pruitt is all right. we've seen this with other advisers, too. secretary zinke has had

difficulties. he's still there. i guess there was a meeting with john kelly at one point, but he's a-okay. >> secretary price did not survive, why, because all of that played out at the moment the president wasn't getting his way with obama and capitol hill? >> there is a bit of a formula to when trump turns on somebody, but then there also is his gut feeling about people, and that seems to be driving a lot of this with pruitt. pruitt has played the game pretty well. he's been over the top in his praise with trump. he knows how to message the president, and that goes a long way. >> if you approve the trump agenda, he has had success. he has rolled back today the fuel economy rules for cars. we'll see if it survives a court challenge. clean power plan rules, clean water rules, the paris climate

law happened on his watch. epa explored private jet lees for pruitt's traveled last year, pruitt security included disneyland and rose bowl trips. those are things that usually set the president off. >> one source put it to me, back when kelly was on the ropes for his treatment of rob porter, there is always some crisis the president is dealing with, if not creating. >> my colleague peter nichols reported on this a little yesterday. in the white house, trump is referred to as "my lawyer." he also fits a central casting role that trump likes in his cabinet and his administration. but you mentioned that at the start of this, trump is breathe

breathing easier. white house officials were very adamant about this yesterday. there is a lot of angst about pruitt inside the white house. there are careful not to get ahead of pruitt because of what happened in the white house a while ago. i wouldn't be surprised to see some action in the next couple days. >> and there could be more on pruitt. >> there seems to be more all the time. even if no special favors are there for this lobbyist, you're going to try to buy a condo? it's time to get your glow on!

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welcome back. we're just seconds away from hearing the president of the united states. he's at a working lunch of three leaders from latvia, lithuania and estonia. the president took questions on a lot of issues. nobody has been tougher than donald trump. those were his words. he said he's prepared to send the military to the u.s. border with mexico. other issues coming up as reporters were invited into the cabinet. this was a working lunch. let's listen.

>> i have great respect for president xi. two of the most incredible days of my life were spent in china. many of you were with me. he is a tremendous person. but we have a problem with china. they've created a trade deficit, and i really blame our representatives, and frankly, our preceding presidents for this. they have a trade deficit of $500 billion a year. it's not something we can live with. we'll be working with china, we'll be negotiating with china. again, our relationship is very good with china, and we intend to keep it that way, but we have to do something to seriously relieve that trade deficit. we can't have a $500 billion a year trade deficit. we also have the theft of intellectual property, and that probably is in the neighborhood of 200 to $300 billion a year.

whether we like it or not, we have a great stock market, we have a very powerful country, we have our country militarily, as you know, presidents, we have just received $700 billion. our military will be stronger than ever before, but we have to do something on trade with certain countries. obviously china is the leader in materia terms of deficits. we've never had a situation -- nor has there ever been in history a situation where a country has done that to another country. we've helped rebuild china. over the last 25 years if you take a look at what's happened, we have helped rebuild china. we intend to get along with china, but we have to do something very substantial about the trade deficit. with that nothing is easy. i campaigned on that, i talked about that. china won't be the only country, but i did, in fact, campaign on it. mexico, if you look at the

caravan of thousands of people coming across, i told mexico, look, you have a cash cow in nafta. nafta has been great for mexico, has not been good for the united states. a lot of businesses have closed down because of nafta. you look at empty plants all over the place, and this is from years ago. they still haven't recovered. nafta has been a terrible deal for the united states. we're renegotiating the deal right now, but it will still be good for mexico and for canada. and when this caravan came in, and this is a caravan of a lot of people coming in, in this case, from honduras. if it reaches our border, our laws are so weak and so pathetic -- you would not understand this because i know how strong your laws are at the border. it's like we have no border. we had obama make changes. president obama made changes that basically created no border. catch and release. you catch them, you register them, they go into our country.

we can't throw them out. in many cases they shouldn't be here. many, many cases they shouldn't be here. then after they get whatever happens over the next two or three years, they're supposed to come back to court. almost nobody comes back to court. they're in our country. and we can't do anything about it because the laws that were created by democrats are so pathetic and so weak. so i told mexico, and i respect what they did, i said, look, your laws are very powerful, your laws are very strong. we have very bad laws for our border, and we are going to be doing some things. i've been speaking with general mattis. we'll be doing things militarily. until we can have a wall and proper security, we'll be guarding our border with the military. that's a big step. we really haven't done that before, or certainly not very much before. but we will be doing things with mexico, and they have to do it. otherwise i'm not going to do the nafta deal.

nafta has been fantastic for mexico, bad for us. we've had our car plants move to mexico, many of them. we make tremendous numbers, millions of cars in mexico that years ago didn't exist. they closed in michigan, they closed in ohio, they closed in other places. now they're starting to move back because of what we've done with regulation and with taxes, they're starting to come back into our country in a big way. but i told mexico very strongly, you're going to have to do something about these caravans that are coming up. i just noticed the caravan now, which is toward the middle of mexico coming up from honduras, is breaking up very rapidly. that's because mexico has very strong immigration laws, as we should have. we should have those laws. we don't have. we have immigration laws that are laughed at by everybody. it's got to be changed. we need the world, we need the protection, and we have to change our immigration laws at the border and elsewhere.

so mexico has, at this moment, it seems they've broken up large numbers of that particular caravan and see what happens. but we're prepared at our border. we cannot have people flowing into our country illegally, disappearing, and by the way, nef showing up to court. so the court case will be set for two years, or three years that's really hooish, and every person that walks across -- they're taught to say the right thing. and then they're supposed to go to court. sole we have 5,000 judges because we can't afford to take them out. we have to bring them in front of a ridiculous sports sections

just like what's happening in the south american cities. there are a lot of areas, orange, and others. they don't want you -- i just learned that the caravan coming up from honduras and broken up and mexico did that. i told her, you really have to do it. we have to include security in rememb mexico. the caravan makes me very sad that this can happen in the united states. we are thousands of people that just decided to walk into our country, and we don't have any laws that can protect us. and the laws because of the

democrats has been delayed. we started the wall just the other day. we have 1.6 billion. we're fixing and building brand new walls in some areas. we're doing a lot of work on walls. we have 1.6 billion and we're starting brand new sections of walls, but we need to have a wall that's about 7 to 800 miles of the two-mile stretch. we have a lot of natural boundaries. but it's very sad to see it. many. >> it's sad for the people in the caravan and it's sad for e the. if you don't do it. to me that's a very sad thing for the people of the united states. thank you all very much. thank you. thank you very much. >> i have great respect for the baltic states. tremendous people. tremendous leaders who i've

known now for a pretty long period of time. no, we have great respect for the baltic states. thank you. thank you very much, everybody. thank you very much. we want to be able, if possible, and this is speaking with the baltic states. ideally we want to be able to get along with russia. getting along with russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. now, maybe we will and maybe we won't. probably nobody has been tougher to russia than donald trump. if you take a look at our military strength now which would not have happened if the opponent had won, if you take a look at the oil and gas we're producing now, we're now exporting oil and gas. this is not something russia wanted. the three presidents just told me that nato has taken in a tremendous amount of money because of donald trump. that would have never happened, so nato is much stronger. you may want to say that. wouldn't you like to say that,

madam president? >> we heard five minutes ago how much our importance. we expect together for the united states to go ahead with deep reforms of nato, especially on decision making on decisiveness, on their denial -- actually, denial which we expect to see from russia in case of aggression. without the united states, this is not possible. about 80% of spaniards come to the united states, and vital leadership of the united states, we are behind and with you. i think the best alliance you have in europe and nato is the baltic states. we're spending more of a percent, and together i think we

can do a lot and i'm very much looking forward to seeing everybody around the table in presence and go ahead with a better nato, more resulting nato and more efficient nato. >> and has donald trump made more of a difference on nato? >> what's that? >> this is a very risky question. if she said the same thing that she said in the oval office -- >> all members of nato, it is better pressure to all political elite who thinks that somebody else needs to protect but not themselves, so the faster you do homework and then you ask for your partner to come with you. and that's exactly what you did. and this kind of leadership is good. we're using it also. we're using kids to influence their opinions in other dunts? >> you think nato has taken in billions of dollars more because of me.

because they said, you're delinquent. germany is paying 1% and they're not even paying the full 1%. germany hooks up a pipeline into russia where germany is going to be paying billions of dollars for energy into russia. and i'm saying, what's going on with that? how come germany is paying vast amounts of money to russia when they hook up a pipeline? that's not right. so you look at what's going on. germany pays 1%. the united states is paying close to 4%. the united states, as you said, is spending 80. because of what i said in the countries, they've brought in many billions of dollars more

than they would have if you had crooked hillary as president, okay? that i can tell you. many billions of dollars more. we've been very tough on that, we've been very tough on russia, frankly. but i will say that if we got along with russia, that would be a good thing, not a bad thing. it's possible we won't. we're going to find out whether or not we do. but if we could all get along, that would be great. and that includes china, and that includes many other countries. but we'll see what happens. only time will tell, but nobody has been tougher on russia. getting along with russia would be a good thing, not a bad thing. just about everybody agrees with that, except very stupid people. [ inaudible question ] >> there will be a time i'll let you know. you're going to find out very

quickly. thank you, all. i have a great respect for the baltics. i've known them from the beginning of my presidency. these are great, courageous people and have done a fantastic job for their country. so i have great respect for you and for your nations. >> thank you, everyone. >> thank you. >> you take a look at the post office, and the post office is losing billions of dollars, and the taxpayers are paying for that money because it delivers packages for amazon at a very below cost. that's not fair to the united states, it's not fair to our taxpayers, and amazon has the money to pay the fair rate at the post office, which would be much more than they're paying right now. the other thing is a lot of retail businesses all over the country are going out of business, so that's a different problem. that's a big problem. you have retailers all over the united states that are going out

of business. you look at some of these small towns where they have a beautiful mainstream with stores. those stores are all gone. that's a different problem we're going to have to talk about. but if you look at the cost that we're giving a subsidy to amazon, and we're talking about billions of dollars a year, the real cost. a report just came out. they said $1.47, i believe, or about that for every time they deliver a package, the united states government, meaning the post offices, lose $1.47. so amazon will have to pay much more money to the post office, there's no doubt about that. thank you all very much. thank you. >> scott pruitt, sir? >> i hope he's going to be good. >> 15 minutes of questions

there. the president of the united states in the white house cabinet room with three leaders of baltic nations. the president beginning by saying he does not want a trade war with china but saying he has to be tough because of the trade deficit ending, with a q uruasi answer on scott pruitt, saying he hopes he'll be great. another one i think most interesting in airing his grievances about the border, he said he is prepared. we're going to protect our border with the military. that's a big step. now, we'll have to get the details of what that means. does that mean the national guard? does that mean the united states army? other military assets? to hear the president say that tells us what? >> it tells us that he wants to show some kind of action going back to our earlier conversation that he can't get anything done on capitol hill. it will be interesting to see if

secretary mattis who was sitting next to him is aware of this plan and has the next steps to move the military to the border. it would certainly be a bold step by the president. it would show some action on his part for his base who wants him to sharpen border security. whether it would be effective as a policy measure, i'm not sure, and would be tenuous at best. >> he started off by criticizing his caravan. it's been happening for five years. it's an annual event. it's a publicity move. these refugees march northward coming toward the united states. then he gave the russian government, actually, credit for breaking it um. >> there is a really key point to consider, which is the president seems to be talking about cracking down on changing

the laws. right noul, if you can show credible fear at home, things based on race or religious preference. there is a catch and release policy he talked about where some people are allowed to come into the country while they await their court case. on paper he's correct their general laws don't let it work out that way, and ultimately people just can't get in. >> this wouldn't be the first time he sends the military to the border. president buarack obama did it, and we don't understand his rationale for sending a jacket

to the west cited. we're not even to the news conference yet which he's supposed to stand up around the media and take questions at 1:30. >> for as much as president trump wants to blame mexico for the southern border military. there is a lot of revisionists in history. >> the republicans have controlled the house since 2011. they've controlled the senate since 2015. the president has been running on democrat laws. at 1:35, this group of presidents will be. the president of the united states had a full-fledged news conference. it would be nice to have a solo

news conference, but don't giflt. hope you can stay with us for now. that's it for "inside politics beipolitics ." thanks for being here. wolf blitzer starts right now. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. we're following breaking news. we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. up first, the president of the united states sounding off on several issues just moments ago, including china, russia, immigration and mexico. the president met with baltic leaders over at the white house. here are some highlights from the president's remarks. listen to this. >> they have a trade deficit of $500 billion a