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 year.

it's not something we can live with. so we'll be working with china. 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 malt advertise, we'll -- mattis something militarily. getting along with russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. now, maybe we will and maybe we won't. and probably nobody has been tougher to russia than donald trump. >> let's quickly go to our area chief white house correspondent jeff acosta at the white house. answering questions from reporters in the white house as he's having lunch with leaders from the baltic states. what is he saying, first of all, about mexico, that the u.s. was

about to deploy military troops to the mexican/u.s. border. that seems like a new strategy. >> that's right, wolf, and he said it while he was sitting right next to the defense secretary jim mattis. >> he's saying the absence of a wall and the absence of proper security in his view, he's going to be deploying u.s. troops on the border with mexico. now, we're going to have to wait ask see, obviously, what it said in the midday sprays here at the white house. they sometimes don't hold true for very long, wolf. we'll have to find out if that's the case, but the president had a.

ly. >> he also said nobody has been tougher on russia than donald trump. he said that in the company of the baltic leaders who are obviously very nervous about whether or not the president would uphold article 5 of the nato charter which says an attack on one charter country is an attack on all. and i suspect, although that question was not directly asked of the president in this spray with reporters just a few moments ago, he may be asked if a news conference is coming up in the next 35 minutes or so. the president will be taking a question from a u.s. reporter, and as we understand, wolf, each of those baltic leaders from latv latvia. pretty eventful 20 or 30 minutes in the last. again the president venting his frustrations on the issue of immigration. >> he didn't back away at all

fr from. >> at one point he says, thanks very much, guys, thanks very much, and the reporters will keep asking questions. it's because in many cases the president keeps answering those questions, and one of the last questions was on amazon and the "washington post." that's, of course, because the owner of the "washington post" is jeff bazos who also owns and founded amazon. at one point the president said that amazon is going to be paying much more money to the post office. as the president has been making these comments about amazon over the last several days, we've seen their stock price go down, wolf, and that obviously has been detrimental to their investors and has been a scare tactic that the president uses.

people at the "washington post" say they're not going to put up with it, but make no mistake, when the president talks about going after amazon about paying more money at the post office, he's trying to intimidate the "washington post." there's no doubt about it, wolf. >> i know you're getting live kovrmg of that. leet bring in our panel if russian president. >> he says nobody has been tougher on russia than he has which is a notion a lot of people might dispute, and i think what he's -- look, we expelled diplomats. we went along with the rest of our allies for that as a result of the poisonings. i'm sure he considers that tough, but he's also somebody

who congratulated vladimir putin on his reelection and has said he wants to meet with him. i think it's just one of these notions where trump believes that he can be the good cop and maybe everybody else can be the bad cop, and somehow he'll be able to negotiate something with putin that will surmount all the problems we've been having, and everybody is including, i believe, most of his national security team, current and ones that are coming in, are skeptical about it. but this is the president's old saw, that he can do things nobody else could do. >> pamela brower, senior correspondent. what's happening behind the scenes? >> just to gloria's point, he talks about we'll see how the relationship with russia is. he's been in office for more than a year now and russia has taken aggressive action while

he's been in office. what more does the president need about the. he's theep use a u.s. power grid. on the flip side. it's about renewing snmz. he lamd. i'm told behind the scenes there was a lot of friction between rex tillerson and chief of staff john kelly, who pushed back and said, no, we need them to come back. the president would not commit to that, and as a result, chief of staff john kelly was very upset and that's what prompted the phone call to rex tillerson saying, you better hurry, because he wouldn't have risks

that being so. >> and pamela is absolutely right many he is his own counselor now. there seems to be more of a push and pull tug-of-war with john kelly, his chief of staff. john kelly once asked to go and the president said no. the president is standing firm on it. this is back and forth between john kelly. >> it's interesting, and carrie, you're with us as well, carrie perduro, our legal analyst. he dohas some things militarily until we have a wall and proper

things to do. we'll be guarding our border wall with the military. that's the first step. civilian personnel, border leaks and others, they do ignore others. >> emergency personnel have gone there. >> right. i think both this issues and the statements many. for example, was the statement. is that something that he's been part of a policy process throughout government where actually there was an interagency process that there usuallily would be that informed this decision which he revealed in his press appearance today, or is it something he's just

been sort of thinking about in. and it's is his decision making based on intelligence information and policy process, or does he just sort of say what comes to mind in the moment. >> remember, he said he was going to pull out of syria, right? we don't know -- we still don't know where that came from. or does it come from what he watches on television? >> the question is this state of emergency with the honduras caravan, does he need to put troops on the border? if there is, why is there such an imagine? why? >> we hear president trump right now blaming his predecessors for problems that exist today, whether china immigration. in one of his tweets this morning, he goes directly after president obama calling him

cheat cheatin' obama. i think this is the first time he's had a label for the former president of the united states. >> he has a label. then he says if hillary clinton was in office, this wouldn't have happened. who cares about these other people? why is he so fixated on them? >> of course, as we know after studying donald trump. it's always somebody else's faults. and i guess you can revert that and say, gee, if i were barack obama being questioned about an affair with a porn frp. where would that story have gone? >> it's interesting, i was

talking to a senior administration official just yesterday, was he looking for policy and that kind of thing. this person said whenever anyone tries to brief him on certain topics and he thinks they're trying to interrupt with being told what to do and really dive into the matter with memos and so forth. >> very quickly, april, because we have to take a break, but do we know why the president all of a sudden is referring to president obama as cheatin' obama? is there something this president has lashed out in the first few days mz. president obama, before he left.

he's a person who doesn't read his. . this president realizes he is the exact opposite of barack obama who was well loved by a large portion of america. he does not like president obama, number one, because he's totally different. he's the republican president, former democratic person, but republican president. >> we'll try to figure out why he's calling president obama cheatin' obama. the president once again will meet reporters, take questions. he's having lunch outside now with leaders of latvia, lithuania and.

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comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. let's get to the breaking news as we await the president's news conference. a federal judge in washington just handing down the very first sentence in the robert mueller russia investigation. a dutch lawyer who is tied to paul manafort and rick gates, for that matter, getting 30 days behind bars and a $20,000 fine for lying to the defense. mr. mueller warns this should serve as an example of what happens when you lie to federal investigators. all of this as a newly released classified document lays out the

allegations. it says allegations that paul manafort colluded with russians before the campaign, and it also looks for payments of politicians were pro-russian. gloria, first of all, what's your reaction to the 33-year-old dutch lawyer working for a major u.s. law firm is now a convicted felon. he will pay a significant price, 30 days in jail, probation, a $25,000 fine. >> don't lie to the special counsel. i think rick gates learned that. pamela and i have been doing a lot of reporting on this. time after time, if you lie to the special counsel, you're going to get in trouble for it. this is somebody who was an attorney with scab and arms, a major firm, and he's very remorseful, clearly, about what he did.

. >> after they got caught. >> yes, but you cannot lie to them. >> the president is paying attention to this. the number of people who have been charged and pleading guilty to lying to the fbi, to the special counsel, and that is part of, you know, in the calculus when they're trying to decide whether or not to let the the president speak to robert mueller's team. there is a lot of concern, as we know, it could be a perjury tap for the president. >> and rod rosenstein, then acting attorney general, wrote an article now released by robert mueller. it's a memo from rosenstein to mueller, the special counsel. the scope of investigation, the definition of authority. it clearly states that they w t want. even though the house intelligence committee, the.

>> but uf to remember the special prosecutor has i asked form he remembered. >> he said you have to worry about an investigation. it's like somebody going into a house to find drugs and you see the man abusing his family. this could be about following the trail of money. people might lie about that, they might lie about this. but he has to follow the trail wherever it may lead, and there is a broad scope. >> in this memo from rosenstein to mueller, the allegations of paul manafort, the campaign chairman. the allegations that he committed a crime or crimes by colluding with russian government officials with

respect to the government's efforts to interfere in vai lalgs of united states ulaw, payments he received. those are very, very serious potential allegations. >> and part of the reason. paul manafort is challenging the special counsel's authority to prosecute him, including false statements, including money laundering, including conspiracy to defraud the united states. so manafort is trying to challenge the special counsel's authority. as a result rk, the special coul filed this long democrat which includes money from the associate attorney general. it shows the deputy association

that he is conducting active oversight of the special council's vechgs. it is just an indicator in that he is really doing that, and it dates back to august. there could be other memos that have been issued in the ensuing months we don't know about that continue his written oversight in addition to what he has said has been meetings he'd had. >> it clearly underscores that mueller is investigating possible collusion, money laundering, obstruction of justice. he has a full plate moving along. >> it clearly says rod rosenstein is on board with the course of this investigation, which isn't going to make the president of the united states happy. he thinks it's all not a hoax

and rod rosenstein is in charge. >> he's in charge because the attorney general jeff. new scandals involving epa chief scott pruitt and a report that he defied us by giving two staffers huge raises. we'll talk more about that when we come back. in the comfort of home. home instead senior care.

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we're just moments away after president trump's joint scheduled news conference with three leaders of the baltic states. we'll go there live as soon as it begins. joining us now, congressman francis rooney. he's a member of the house foreign affairs committee. congressman, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me back on. >> let me get your quick reaction to the president saying he just met with secretary general mattis and he wants a joint meeting with mexico because the wall is slow going right now. what's your reaction? >> i don't feel comfortable with deploying military troops and an increase of violence and escalation of conflict. these people should be stopped at the border and vetted out, just the normal process. and we should have plenty of agents down there to do that. >> there have been emergencies in the past when national guard

personnel have been deployed either by governors of various states or by the president, but those have been in emergencies. do you think it would be necessary for the president to get legislation through congress to authorize the deployment of large numbers of u.s. military personnel to the border if that's what he wants to do? >> i don't think that robert kennedy had to get congressional approval back in little rock and mississippi back in 1961, but a better question is, is it a good idea to escalate the tension unnecessarily? >> you don't think it's a good idea right now, right? >> i would rather it be handled in a civil context rather than a military one. >> i think a lot of people would agree with you. we just learned in this memo that has been released that last august rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general of the united states, the person in charge of the mueller investigation, said it's okay for mueller to look into paul

manafort, who had been the trump campaign chairman, and to investigate collusion allegations against manafort, that he colluded with the russians in various ways. what does it say to you, the release of this memo now? >> i think first of all manafort asked for it by challenging the authority of the prosecutor with a motion to dismiss, so rosenstein just basically reaffirmed that he was giving him the authority to investigate someone that had worked for a russia-friendly government, took money from them, in the context of an investigation about russian collusion. it all seems to kind of line up to me. >> do you have confidence in rod rosenstein who is overseeing, as you know, the attorney general a rod rosenstein. >> i don't know about that, but

he hasn't come up with any collusion or evidence or successful altering of the election, but let's find out. >> let's also talk about the president's attacks on amazon, jeff bazos, in recent days. let me play a clip of what the president just said when he was answering the the reporters' questions at the white house. congressman, listen to this. >> -- 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. and 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 and that's a big problem. >> what do you think, congressman, about the president singling out amazon for these

kinds of attacks? >> well, when i first got there last january, i went to see the judiciary committee staff and the chairman and asked them why we don't pursue a sherman act market share case against amazon and maybe even google and facebook, because they have the kind of market shares that tend to be a prima facie case of abuse sie abu abusive market power. now it might be time to go after them for dominance. >> explain that, because republicans seem to be in favor of a free capitalist market. they seem to want them to be able to make a lot of money. >> we had public leaders in the ftc that were profiting cases of

free market share. free enterprise is em beldbedde our psyche. you can have it horizontally like the sherman act case, and i think the government has a need to step in. >> but do you think it's appropriate for the president of the united states to be singling out one company like this, especially where it's unethical. look where this has been stacked since the president went on a warpath. tell us why the president is okay to do this. >> standard may be the oil of our day, i don't know. we've seen a massive increase in concentration of banks, a lot of other companies as well as amazon, and maybe all those should be looked at. but amazon is kind of the 900-pound gorilla when it comes

to market dominance. >> so you don't have a problem with the president going after amazon by name, almost on a daily basis? >> i think the personality and related aspects of what you're saying is not good, but i think the anti trust enforcement is. >> antitrust enforcement is good and has been for a long time. congressman rooney, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me on. moments from now, once again the president will face reporters' questions. we'll have live coverage when we come back. more light. let the sun shine in - and frame it beautifully - with fresh new window coverings. just call your neighborhood experts, and get the number one provider of custom window coverings in north america. budget blinds. right now, the more you buy, the more you save -

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and did you . you're looking at live pictures coming in from the east room over the white house. it looks like the foreign minister other top aides for the three countries, lithuania, latvia and estonia prime ministers is filling up. momentarily we'll be seeing the president of the united states. the lithuanian president, the

l latvian president and the estonian president. they'll open it up to four questions from a lithuanian journalist, a latvian journalist, an estonian journalist and a u.s. journalist. president trump said nobody has been harder on russia than president trump. >> he has been fairly rough on russia. he did dispel russian diplomats in a number greater than was done previous. but he personally has been extraordinarily soft on putin and i think that sent shock waves throughout the international community about the uncertainty about where this

administration really is going with russia. >> let's not forget, gloria, these baltic states are deeply concerned about russia right now, something that would not happen in the ukraine. >> they spoke earlier about the president helping to make sure that more people paid more of their fair share, of their nato commitments, et cetera, et cetera. but i think the point in coming here is that they want to kind of figure out what the president's commitment is in that part of the world against russian aggression. and i'm not -- i don't know if that's going to be clarified at all, because i think the administration speaks two ways about it. >> let's take another quick break. our coverage of this news conference will take place right after this. only tylenol® rapid release gels

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looking at live pictures coming in from the east room of the white house, the president about to have a joint news conference with leaders of the baltic states. the president has been having lunch with lithuanian president, the estonian president, and the latvian president. all three of them have been invited. these are nato allies of the united states. the president and the three baltic leaders will make opening statements, we are told, and then they will answer questions, one question from an american journalist, one question from a lithuanian and estonian and latvian. four questions in all, we're told, gloria. they are deeply concerned right

now what the u.s. policy is toward russia as well as other sensitive issues. >> and as john was saying earlier, they're getting conflicting messages because the president on one hand is congratulating vladimir putin, reaching out to him saying he wants to meet with him, and on the other hand we've taken pretty strong actions lately, the most recent being ex pelg the russian diplomats. sorry about that. so i think that these leaders have a right to be confused, and they want to find out exactly what the president is saying face to face. >> they're finding out right now they've had a private meeting and now it's going to be open q and a at this news correspondence, carrie. >> there is a few different things. one is the president's statements today regarding putting troops on the southern border seems really at odds with what the whole purpose of today's event is. so it makes me wonder why he chose this moment when really he's supposed to be focusing on nato. and i wonder if he is struggling

with what his approach is towards nato and sort of this internal struggle that gloria is is describing, that he felt he had to completely shift the conversation to a domestic issue. this really isn't the group to be talking about issues on the southern border with at all, and i think it does add to the confusion that the nato leaders that are here today are seeing. and just with respect to the actions that he has taken with respect to russia, expelling diplomats, sanctions, those are actions that he's taken, but there really is a big issue with respect to the russian efforts on cyber security that have been taking place targeting the united states, including the election interference, that the administration has articulated no strategy or policy for. >> i want to point out, april, you cover the white house. the president has had several of these joint news conferences with visiting foreign leaders, usually two questions from american journalists, two

questions from the country that's visiting the united states. it's been more than a year that he's had a full-scale formal -- formal -- news conference where the president stands there, spends an hour or so answering reporters' questions -- hold that thought. here's the president of the united states. >> thank you. today i'm honored to host the president of estonia, the president of latvia and the president of lithuania at the u.s. baltic centennial summit. thank you all for traveling to the white house for these really important discussions. we've just spent a long time together and it was very interesting. this summit proudly displays to the world america's deep and lasting friendship with the baltic nations. on behalf of the american people, thank you very much, and we are going to have another 100-year, very long and beautiful relationship.

this is your congratulations. for a century the united states has stood with the people of the bal bh baltics through the decades, the united states never ceased to recognize the sovereignty of the baltic republics. in our discussions today, i was proud to reaffirm our america's commitment to the wells declaration of 1940 and the u.s. baltic charter of 1998. these same principles lie at the heart of america's approach to world affairs honoring the right of peaceful citizens and nations to protect their interests and chart their own wonderful destinies. all three baltic republics are committed nato allies. i want to express our gratitude to each of your countries for

fulfilling your full obligations and meeting the 2% gdp benchmark for national defense this year. your commitment to burden sharing is an example of really that other nato nations and partners all around the world will have to all get together and bear. some of them do not make the same commitment. hopefully they soon will. when nations are committed to peace and to security, they have to pay their share and we will all enjoy a much more saefr afe prosperous future. baltic countries are also providing security assistance and training as part of the coalition to get isis.coalition is liberated almost 100% of the territory once held by isis in syria. and in iraq. and we will not rest until isis is gone. in economic matters, our

cooperation continues to develop and grow as you well know. we're excited about new opportunities for collaboration especially in science, medicine and technology. immediately following this summit, the department of commerce and the u.s. chamber of commerce will host a u.s. baltic business summit to expand a mutual trade and investment between our nations. and they are all looking forward to seeing you. the baltic countries remain a key market for u.s. aircraft, automobiles, machinery and medical equipment and we welcome increased bilateral trade with all three nations based on the principle of fairness and reciprocity. finally, we are enhancing our cooperation on energy security. we're all collaborating to diversify energy sources, supplies and routes throughout the baltic region, including

expanding exports of u.s. liquefied natural gas, of which you've become a bigger and bigger user. these are just some of the many wonderful opportunities we can seize together. to all three baltic leaders with us today, thank you again for helping to celebrate and this is really a very great celebration because it is a historic milestone. our friendship will continue to grow closer and our cooperation will continue to bring about the greater security and prosperity for our citizens. and you have done terrific jobs as leaders, as presidents of your countries. and we tell you that for your citizens, we are there for you. as we begin the next 100 years of our partnership, the baltic republics can trust the united states will remain a strong, proud and loyal friend and ally. thank you very much. thank you.

thank you very much. >> probably it is my turn. >> whatever you'd like. ladies first. >> so of course we're very thankful for the possibility to be here especially not only because of our anniversary in our region, but because of alliance which we are affirming today with the united states by adopting the declaration where we say that article v is ironic ironclad for all of us and the collective defense issues important to all of us. and we understand how important nato is for all of us. and why we during our on discussions talked so much the reforming, further reforming nato, the investments into our defense, the amounts of necessary to invest into our defense, and of course together where it is necessary all of us and lithuania is with the united states on fighting the

terrorists through all the world. we in central africa republic, we in comtogether. and because of that, we are sure that the reforms of nato which we are investing together and preparing together will be result and as it was before but special now because we see the united states leadership, we see the willingness of the united states to see a different nato, different quality of nato. and i can be probably open, we talked to the president, i will joke a little bit joking about that we need leadership sometimes for decision making given unpredictable leadership to make enough pressures for the rivals to believe that we can make a decision. and as we seek this kind of leadership in president trump. and this is good because without the leverage and pressure, there

will be no additional spending in our defense in nato on, there will be no additional decisions for rotating military forces of united states in our countries. there will be no willingness to look into the matter of defense which we need very much. so from all of this point of views, we trust that our partner ally is investing seriously in the future of our defense not only our regions, but nato's territory defense, and in the peace and security of the world as it was before. of course the polices are coming together. ally in military cooperation, in those with economic cooperation. and i'm very happy that today in our business forum we will sign two agreements with two american companies on the liquid gas cooperation. lithuania has liquid gas station

and factory so-called floating boat. but we can be independent on thes today suppthe d thes today gas supply because of that and this gives us strength and possibility to make our own decisions not to defend on one supplier and miles per hoamerics will come on time.possibility t decisions not to defend on one supplier and american liquid gas will come on time. and make us more independent in our decision making. this is about a real friendship, a real cooperation between our region and the united states. and this comes also together with the trade where today we see some discussions on the world level between the united states and european union. we are together with the decisions that the trade needs to be useful and equally fair to all sides.

there is no sechis no sense to war, but if there are imbalances, they need to be find and this we support as ald lie of t ally of the united states. so together with the military, with cooperation in economy, together with the united states and european union in solving the trade disputes and issues, we are standing with and together and we hope that as the president said next 100 years will be even better, closer, together and we will be able to achieve and make more. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> your excellency president trump, my esteemed baltic colleagues, dear friends, the baltic/u.s. president's summit have found our share of commitment to fundamental values. our long lasting friendship and steadfast partnership that we have enjoyed for nearly a

century. the united states of america is our closest friend and ally. i appreciate that we help each other's -- we hold each other's mutual assume in ousupport in o and as well as the security challenges we are facing. today we reflected on our many achievements and set a course for our future undertakings. we agreed to enhance our security and defense cooperation. the baltic states appreciate the united states commitment to deterrence policy in the baltic region and the military assistance provided to our forces. we will continue to commit 2% gdp toward the development of our military capabilities for

the purposes of strengthening nato's posture in the eastern flank and contributing to international security. as a baltic states and the united states acknowledged the need to continue the successful existing cooperation we have encountered in modern day security threats such as terrorism, cyber and informational warfare and nuclear proliferation, today all of us committed to placing greater emphasis on advancing economic and trade and investment relationship. we recognize great potentially in areas of innovation, modern technologies and the