monday he met the two men to apologize to them in person about how they were treated, but beyond that, we're not getting any details about what happened in their meeting. robin's lawyer said they're meeting with starbuck's and it's confidential. they will be closed tomorrow afternoon to give 1,000 of them racial bias training. >> alison, thank you so much. "inside politics" with john king starts right now. thanks, kate. and welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. a big retreat today from the president's all-time fixer. he drops two lawsuits to investigate the lawsuit into michael cohen.

donald trump said he's already bringing in millions of jobs. do his claims pass the fact check. what makes america great already are people like the texas firefighter who rushed to help when the engine exploded on the southwest flight last wednesday. >> god put us on that flight for a reason. everybody acted and everybody stood strong. there was a family that lost a loved one. i feel for her family. i feel for her two kids, her husband, the community that she lived in. i can't imagine what they're going through. >> remarkable moment there earlier today. amen to that. a first for us today. a big retreat from the president's long-time lawyer and fixer. and a bigger question.

should president trump now be worried there are limits to michael cohen's loyalty? cohen today dropped defamation suits against buzzfeed and the research firm gps. he filed those suits in january claiming he was recklessly smeared in the allegations in that now infamous russia dossier. but now cohen is under investigation and his attorney says the defamation suits are being dropped, quote, given the events that have unfolded and the time, attention and resources needed to prosecute these matters. is it just the time that's needed or is he protecting himself now that every word is being scrutinized by the feds? and is the president listening to the words when he was told that cohen could flip? sol, michael cohen dropping these suits even though his statements in the past have been, i've been liable, i've

been defamed. i want them to pay. does it make legal sense? >> it makes absolute legal sense. given the time and resources needed to investigate a criminal investigation by one of the most premiere attorney's offices in the country, as you know, john, when you sue somebody for defamation, to begin with, michael cohen is a public figure, so it's a very difficult standard. second, you have to answer all kinds of questions that don't necessarily have any direct relationship with the thing you're suing about, the steele dossier. they can ask him about a number of things, as president clinton found out in the paula jones lawsuit. it's very broad what you can be asked about in discovery. so there are probably a lot of things we don't even know about that are connected to the southern district investigation that he just -- it's not in his interest to answer, and if he takes the fifth, that can be used against him in a civil proceeding unlike a criminal proceeding. so it's a very smart move. >> and especially not in his

interest, i assume the point you're trying to make is that given the feds have now used a search warrant. they have all these documents, all these records. if he says anything not even close to the truth, the feds have that. >> you have two issues. you never want your client to talk about things when he or she is under criminal investigation. so if he is asked about this, he can either take the fifth, which could be used against him in the civil case, or he can tell the truth that might incriminate him, or he can end up saying something that's later found out to be false, which is what happened to president clinton when he said he doesn't think he was ever alone with monica lewinsky in the paula jones case. so it's just very, very dangerous. >> very, very dangerous, you say. from your perspective having been on both sides, as a prosecutor and in a defense setting, we hear the president making phone calls. he's asking people, should i trust michael cohen?

one of his previous attorneys from way back said, you should be careful. is the president in enou-- is michael cohen in enough trouble that he sits down and thinks, am i loyal to myself or am i loyal to the president? >> he's very possibly a target of a criminal investigation. so that always goes through one's mind when you're in the position of michael cohen. as far as what the president should or shouldn't be worried about, there is really not a lot he can do about it. he certainly should not at this time be discussing anything of substance with mr. cohen. but there's not much you can do at this point except -- i guess he can have his lawyers enter into a joint defense arrangement if it hasn't already been done with mr. cohen's attorneys, and

that way you can find out exactly -- for example, what's in the warrant, which i'm sure they already know, and a number of other things. you want to keep those sku discussions between the attorneys, though. you don't want to involve the president. >> maybe i'll send him a transcript and see if he follows your advice, don't bother the president. cnn's dana bash, bloomberg, and julia davis. it is good for cohen just to drop these suits because it was president trump's m.o., i'm going to sue you. is there a political bent to it or is michael cohen worried about his legal standing in that he's gone from pitbull to

pussycat. >> it's easy to be on the offense when you don't feel like you have too much to lose. he has so much to lose. the raids in his office and hotel where he was living, that is clearly where he wants his focus, needs his focus to be, never mind the very important legal issues we just heard about the fact that a defamation case can sort of, you know, bring up, kick up a lot of things that he doesn't want that could be related to and even hurt him more in these other battles he's fighting. >> as you mentioned, some of the arguments he was probably prepared to make in this defamation case rely on the veracity of whether you believe him or not. now prosecutors have all of these documents that may actually make it more complicated for him to sort of push forward on his case. and, you know, as to the question of whether he might flip, obviously this is not in and of itself an indication of anything, but these defamation cases were in large part not

only to protect him but to protect the president's reputation. this was in essence an effort to say the dossier was fake, this whole thing was a hoax, and to the degree that pulling back those cases sort of takes that away, it is an indication that the case against him is going to make him -- has already made him less apt to spend time and energy defending donald trump. >> the president makes these calls. among those called is jay goldberg who worked for the trump organization back in the day. here's what he told cnn. anybody who faces 30 years never stands up. without exception a person facing a prison term cooperates. i say people who face a prison term invariably become government witnesses. that's what mr. goldberg said he told the president of the united states. how do you think the president of the united states reacts when he is told by an attorney who he trusts that he might flip? >> he has the tendency to take that final input as the decisive

one. the interesting question here is, "flip" implies that michael cohen has information that is damaging -- not just damaging, legally damaging, to the president of the united states. you can't flip if there's nothing there. so i'm a little intrigued by the assumptions built into mr. goldberg's comments. >> exactly right. implied in the conversation is there's something for the president to be worried about. we don't know that to be true, but he's making these phone calls, he's seeking advice from people when you think about the case against michael, et cetera. to that point, thinking he might flip on you, that means there might be something michael cohen could give on the president. >> mibl chael cohen, who has sed the trump organization for many years, the family and people they've had business dealings with, and that includes other countries like indonesia, and

they're known to be shady characters. now these questions are suddenly there and the southern district of new york, that case is going forward regardless what happens with the mueller investigation. it's been nicknamed the sovereign district of new york, just an indication of the independence there. that is going forward regardless of what happens in the russian industry. >> does the president believe mr. goldberg who says, you should be worried, michael cohen could flip on you, or does he believe anthony scaramucci who said, no way? >> the rules are constantly shifting and moving, and the people you think are loyal end up not being loyal to you. i would be personally shocked. to me michael cohen is a very loyal person. if you said to me, is he going to turn on president trump or turn on other people, i would say adamantly no. >> just the debate, i assume, is one of the reasons we're told

the president is not happy about all of this? >> yeah, and look, michael cohen is loyal. there is no question about that. he has spent much of his adult life, his career, trying to help donald trump in private life and now as president of the united states. he loves him unequivocal almost as a member of his family. but he also has an actual family. he has a wife, he has children, and he's a relatively young man who, if he is facing potentially decades in prison, it's a whole different ball game. >> he's not flipping a coin between flipping on donald trump and flipping on someone else, it's basically a choice -- it could come down to a choice between himself and the president. whether or not there is any criminal activity that he's aware of or anything that's in these documents the prosecutors now have that directly implicates trump, we know that mr. goldberg also told donald trump that he should, under no circumstances, talk to mueller. the feeling is, and this is a feeling that the president keenly believes, that he could

get jammed up regardless. even if he's telling the truth, even if he's done nothing wrong, there could be risk for him. he's right about that. there is plenty risk for him. >> yesterday you heard the president not answering directly, would you ever fire bob mueller, would you fire rod rosenstein? he said he wouldn't. we don't know for sure. today he's in a meeting regarding his former campaign chairman paul manafort. we'll be right back.

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welcome back. the president's former campaign chairman is in federal court today as we speak trying to convince the judge that federal prosecutor robert mueller is well outside his mandate. james comey is challenging that saying, quote, we ever a very competent attorney who is looking at what's going on. just knowing that means there is no end in sight to this investigation. the president asked yesterday whether he has ruled out firing mueller or the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein who oversees mueller. >> as far as the two gentlemen you told me about, they've been saying i'm going to get rid of them for the last three months,

four months, five months, and they're still here. we want to get the investigation over with, done with, put it behind us, and we have to get back to business. >> to the point of they're still here, they are still there. the president is saying of course not. they're doing their jobs, i just want it over with. that's not too hard. >> that's not really what's going on. that's the answer. we were talking about this on the break that the reason jennifer jacobs asked that, all of us would have asked that same or at least a version of that question is because we are hearing from sources consistently that the president talks about, muses about, asks people if he should, if he could, if he would fire either of those two people. particularly now we are told the focus has been much more on rosenstein, maybe even more after you read what you just read, that the mueller

prosecutors talked about rosenstein being so active, alive and awake regarding the expansion of his investigation. >> also notable, i would just say, november 20th he was asked about rex tillerson. his response, he is here, rex is here, end quote. i'm not saying it's the same thing. they're obviously firing mueller in a category of things. that's not saying they will. it's possible he's just keeping an arrow in his quiver, but these are not reassuring words from the president given that. >> i don't want to pretend i'm in donald trump's head, but he enjoys having the notion out there that someone is on thin ice. that, you know, they should watch themselves, that they might lose their job, they might be removed and they should watch what they're doing. he wants that out there, and i do think he wanted that with rex tillerson because he wanted to telegraph to him that he wasn't, you know, doing what he wanted him to do and he wasn't acting in a way that he felt was advocating for his interests, and i do think there is an

element of that here, that he wants to put rosenstein on notice, he wants to in some way put mueller on notice that you're here now, but you might not be here tomorrow. >> this was playing out in court today. it's a status update which happens at every trial. in the manafort case it tells you we'll have it through the summer. but it gets to the core. manafort is in there saying bob mueller can't do this. the counsel's response is the memo from rod rosenstein, the president's deputy attorney general, directs him to investigate allegations, paul manafort committed crime or crimes with respect to the russia's efforts to interfere with the 2016 election. he was specifically told by the deputy attorney general to look into this. that is mueller's defense in court. that collusion word gets under the president's skin. we heard it again yesterday. >> that there was no collusion,

and that's been so found, as you know, by the house intelligence committee. there is no collusion. that was no collusion with russia other than by the democrats, or as i call them, the obstructionists, because they truly are obstructionists. but there has been no collusion, they won't find any collusion, it doesn't exist. >> we could spend a lot of time with this. one of the key facts is the investigation started before the election. the investigation started before the election. the investigation is not a democratic hoax because they lost. there might be politics involved in this, but the investigation shows no collusion. that word gets under the president's skin. >> we plowed this terrain before that he would use it as an attack on his legitimacy as president. he'll never accept anything like that. we can also go back and say there was that one meeting in trump tower where several senior figures in the trump orbit met with a russian agent who was offering them dirt on hillary clinton. so, you know, maybe we should be a little more cautious about

saying there is absolutely zero evidence of anything here. >> i actually read what the president was trying to telegraph a little bit differently, which was he was stuck on collusion because he was, i thought, trying to remind people that that was the genesis of this investigation, not necessarily expanding to his financials or any obstruction of justice or anything else that might have come out, which is in -- it is the purview of the special counsel to investigate anything that they find as a part of this investigation. to me it felt like he is sort of trying to turn the direction back to the initial case which he claims never happened. >> i wish the white house good luck on that. what started out as an investigation of a real estate parcel in arkansas got you to paula jones, got you to monica

lewinsky. good luck with that. this came up again. the white house has been in conflict with ambassador nikki haley. the president sa the ambassador said it was coming, and then it didn't come. here's the president saying, no, i'm mr. tough here. >> we'll do sanctions as soon as they very much deserve it. we will have -- that is a question. there has been nobody tougher on russia than president donald trump. >> he came back. he was walking out and he came back to answer that question. it was an opportunity for him to, number one, say i'm sorry with the mixup with nikki haley, nikki haley and i are on the same page. there was an opportunity to end that controversy and he didn't. >> he didn't do that, and nikki haley tried to at the u.n.

yesterday. when asked about their relationship, she said it was perfect. in the same breath, he said we'll impose sanctions as soon as they deserve it. the rest of the administration has been saying for weeks, but particularly last week since the chemical attack in douma, that they very much sdedeserve it no. then he gets up and says nobody is tougher on russia than me, so it's what we've been seeing for months now, which is a mixed message between him and the administration. >> they don't get confused. >> i think he's in a place where his defiance about the entire russia investigation casting a cloud over his legitimacy as president has translated to his defiance. you want me to do this? i don't have to because there's nothing i did wrong. america's dictator has a great chance to solve world problems. but will he have the secretary of state by his side if that summit takes place? i'm not a bigwig.

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welcome back. president trump says he's confident he can cut a deal with north korea's kim jong-un. but he also says he's being flexible meaning he'll walk out of the summit if it's going nowhere, or he'll cancel it outright if he gets the impression no progress can be made. >> if we don't think it's going to be successful, mark, we won't have it. we won't have it. if i think that it's a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, we're not going to go. if the meeting when i'm there is not fruitful, i will respectfully leave the meeting. >> may or june remain the target date over negotiations where to hold the summit and policy negotiations. will the president have a new secretary of state in place then? we'll have our answer monday.

that's when they will vote on the secretary of state nominee mike pompeo. the white house hopes the few senate democrats will support pompeo when the full senate votes. >> i think mike pompeo will go down as one of the great secretary of states. by the way, he just left north korea. he had a great meeting with kim jong-un and got along with him really well, so i think mike will be in good shape. we'll see what happens. a lot of people are predicting other things, but i have a feeling it's going to work out very well. >> the president thinks it's going to work out very well. one of their hopes is the democratic senators up for reelection in year and states that trump won in some cases by 20 or 30 points will say, you know what, whether i like the guy or not, the president deserves his team. rand paul, we'll get to the

details of him in a minute, but he says at the moment he's a no. what does that mean, one, two, three? >> two three at this point. rand paul mentioned earlier he's probably not going to get a committee. they have a one-vote margin. i spoke to bone cornyn yesterday, and he said it would be reckless and unthinkable to block this while free negotiation is happening. i talked to jeff flake, the arizona senator. he said he's undecided. he submitted questions that pompeo still has to answer. it will probably be joe mansion, heidi heidkamp, joe donnelly. they're not decided yet. >> the sense i got from some red state democrats is exactly that. it is just so hard to fathom people who are running in reelection in states where the president won by double digits and is still incredibly popular.

a west virginia, a north dakota and an indiana, that they will say i'm not going to give the president the secretary of state that he wants. this isn't voting against legislation, this is something particularly for former governors like joe mansion who understands the importance of having who they trust and want by their side. it's just hard to fathom that they don't give the president what he wants. >> the democratic base, and in those states they have to worry about conservative voters, but the democratic base is screaming at them not to give the president his choice. in part not to give the president anything, and they have objections on mike pompeo. the president said, give the guy another chance, meet with mike pompeo. yesterday he tried to nudge rand paul. >> i will say this about rand paul. he's never let me down. rand paul is a very special guy,

as far as i'm concerned. he's never let me down. and i don't think he'll let us down again. so let's see what happens. >> interesting definition of "never let me down." rand paul speaks his mind. rand paul stands his ground. can they get him or is rand paul just being nice because the president said give him another chance? >> i think he's succumbing to pressure here. rand paul was one of the key votes, remember, that killed president trump's attempt to revive obamacare repeal. he never backed down from that. it's hard to see him having gotten reelected in 2016 up for a number of years now back down on one of his signature issues. he doesn't like the fact that pompeo doesn't support the iraq war. he doesn't like that he likes waterboarding. is rand paul going to flip on something at this point in his career? >> that's right, rand paul believes to the core of his

identity. it's much harder to get you when you've spent your lifetime with something getting away. >> in part, rand paul's brand is being the contrarian. there are certain issues in which he says, nope, i'm not moving on this one. he wants a red state democrat. rand paul wants the one or two votes against trump. some say mike pompeo shouldn't be doing this. he's a cia director, not a secretary of state. the president can send whoever he wants into a meeting over democratic objections. sorry, it's not about titles. mike pompeo at the moment essentially is the secretary of state. >> i'm shocked that president trump has director pompeo have him represent the president and his country in those initial talks in north korea. that tells you how the president

is already viewing director pompeo as the nation's chief diplomat in what we're confident will be his next role as secretary of state. >> it is interesting, and i said yesterday, smart politics from the white house perspective to connect pompeo to north korea, to say, why would you vote no now? this is such an important sum t summit, why would you vote no now? >> who has had such interest in north korea than mike pompeo? who has had contact more than mike pompeo? i don't think the people in the process so far have done it more than mike pompeo. the president sort of has their ear. this president deserves his team. whether i disagree with him on fundamental policies or not, he deserves his team. i wouldn't be surprised, controversy or not, he is within these times. >> and it speaks to the

president putting this issue of intelligence talks in the hands of relative employees rather than diplomats. this is going to be devised by diplomats and spies. >> this is farther than any administration has gone, democratic or republican, to talk to kim jong-un and set the scene for a summit. this opens the door for a dialogue, and he gets a lot of guff from both parties, and this is an area where he's getting support. >> at home this vote is going to be seen as a proxy of whether they're cooperating and working with donald trump or they're

part of the resistance in kind. >> criticism from me in this chair about the white house not having a strategic plan. we'll see if it works. coming up next, the senate lost a seat in alabama, and now they're worried about mississippi. the establishment going after a tea party candidate. we'll show that you in just a minute. whoooo.

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i went to the er. they said i had afib. afib? what's afib? i knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke. i needed answers. once i got the facts, my doctor and i chose xarelto®. xarelto®. to help keep me protected from a stroke. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. in a clinical study, over 96% of people taking xarelto® remained stroke-free. xarelto® works differently. warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your body's natural blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. for afib patients well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines.

get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. learn all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. talk to your doctor about xarelto®. - (phone ringing) - big button, and volume-enhanced phones. get details on this state program. call or visit

and accessories for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit topping our political radar today, an "inside politics" exclusive sneak peek at the mississippi senate.

there is a brand new ad that hits mississippi tomorrow on the airwaves saying, don't vote for mcdaniel. >> slick trial lawyers like mcdaniel cashed in with multi-million-dollar rewards. think you know chris mcdaniel? think again. >> another big story. what do you say about a man who talks trash about your wife and suggests your dad helped kill jfk? senator ted cruz calling the president that in the paper. >> he sends tweets attacking my wife, attacking heidi. it is inappropriate, it is wrong, it is frankly disgusting. >> they played a clip of ted's father and then i just asked about stories that were appearing all over the place, not just in the national enquirer, a fact that a picture was taken of him and lee harvey

oswald. and the list is long and growing. concern on capitol hill that he's not read did they're not ready to gear up. he says, hold on, let's get through the midterms yet. >> i have no idea what the field will be on the republican side, so i think it's way too early to weigh in on who won my support. >> it could be a completely different world by 2020. >> are you prepared at this point to endorse the president for reelection in 2020? >> i haven't even thought about that election. i'm worried about the midterm election. >> i think it is far too early to make a judgment of that type. >> well, that's a long ways off. i want to get through 2018 first. >> senior congressional correspondent manu raju walked around to get all those republicans here with us. why not just say, he's the

republican president; of course. >> they're not sure what these legal problems will mount to, the investigation that's happening, whether the president will be in a strong political question come 2020. on the other hand, they don't want to completely abandon him gifr given how popular he is among their base. a lot of republicans saying they simply don't know whether the president is going to run again, and they think that even if the president has hired campaign managers and raising cash, that might not mean he's going to run for reelection. and also, john, there may be a primary challenge that could emerge. even if they don't necessarily think that's a good idea, they could hit a bloodbath come november and they lose the house and the senate, perhaps the republicans looking for someone else to be at the top of the ticket come 2020, john. when we come back, the

president said his tough new trade policies already bringing billions into the treasury, creating new jobs all across america. do those claims pass the fact check? that's next. like you do sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said... symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. you should tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. symbicort could mean a day with better breathing. watch out, piggies! get symbicort free for up to one year.

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president trump is planning some big wins on trade, standing alongside the japanese prime minister yesterday. mr. trump claimed his confidence in aluminum and strong tariffs are already paying dividends to the tunes of billions of dollars. >> it's gotten us to the bargaining table with many nations and in other cases they're paying. it's billions of dollars coming into the coffers of the united states. the workers in the companies know what's happening. we have companies moving up from mexico, automobile companies, and they're building new plants in michigan, ohio, pennsylvania and kentucky, and expanding

their plants. a lot of things are happening. >> so we asked christine to look into that claim. here's what she says. >> john, first, bihe says billis of dollars are flowing into the u.s. coffers. steel and aluminum tariffs have only been in place since march 1st. could it get to billions? maybe. 25% tariffs come to about $4 million. but remember, canada and mexico are exempt and production of steel is likely to decline because of the tariffs, so it's going to be less than 4 billion. how much less? we don't know yet. what about the president's claims that automobile companies are moving up from mexico. yes, some production has been shifted from mexico to the u.s. some examples, toyota and mazda are building a new plant in alabama for corrollas. but there is still plenty of

investment going into mexico. toyota is also building a plant outside the border for tacomas. like so many things the president takes credit for, it's only part of the story wrapped up in a little hyperbole and perhaps a lot of exaggeration. >> got it, christine. thank you very much. look, the president trusts his instincts here. he thinks it's one of the reasons he got elected. but he's way out ahead of his skis in terms of the numbers already, as christine lays out, that just aren't true. >> we're in the middle of the review period on the tariffs. he's not wrong that some countries are coming to the negotiating table asking for exemptions, notably the japanese leader who was just here asked for an exemption for japan. but as far as i know, and i may have missed the bus on this one, those tariffs are not actually in place yet. we're in the middle of a review period after which they mayor

may not deci -- they may or may not decide to go ahead with that. >> also these tariffs on chinese goods, the president makes the case and his advisers will make the case that just the threat of doing them is going to yield dividends in terms of trade concessions by allies that might down the road yield billions of dollars for the united states. we have no data to back that up yet. there are, as olivia pointed out, talks on the way. there is no guarantee it could work that way. in fact, it could work the other way. >> this is one of those situations where when you ask aren't americans nervous about trump, this is one of the issues that has them nervous. if he doesn't understand what he's doing to the nation by doing what he's doing, he's going to be a one-term president, plain and simple, says mr. munck. he suggested beijing is part of

political payback. china knows who got trump elected. >> so the people who did vote for trump, they are worried there is going to be a backlash, and there already is a backlash against people like soybean farmers and so forth. it's the people who are going to try to make aluminum who aren't seeing jobs, and they'll say to the president, what about me? that's the political danger. japan's prime minister has followed the trump playbook to a t. but is it working? >> the media has not covered the tpp correctly. i don't want to go back into tpp, but if they offered us a deal --

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now personal diplomacy. it matters to president trump. now shinzo abe has followed the playbook to a t. he comes frequently to trump

tower, and he was just here again. you see them on the golf course there. but are we seeing before our very eyes that golf diplomacy may have its limits? >> the united states has a massive trade deficit with japan. it's anywhere from $69 billion to 1$100 billion a year. that's massive by any standpoint. i look forward to be able to, at some point in the future, be able to take them off. right now we have a deficit that's a minimum of 69. japan send us millions and millions of cars and we tax them really none at all, and we don't send them so much product. >> i wish i could see how much water prime minister abe was drinking and looking at his toes during that. >> what is he getting out of this? he'll be greeted with protests and he doesn't get the

exemptions on steel and aluminum tariffs, he doesn't get commitments on north korea. what does he go home and say he got rather than cheeseburgers and a round of golf? >> he revived the issue of japanese citizens abducted by north korea, but one of the biggest concerns that they had was that the u.s. would accept something short of -- that the u.s. would focus on long-range threats, the threats to the united states, and sort of play down or forget the regional problem. trump wants to focus on short and medium-range missiles, not icbms. >> he has played it so well. he knows the president doesn't like hand on. here to greet president abe when he gets back home. trump and abe agree to intensify trade caulks but show little progress on metals tariff

exemption. >> it's not clear it's really yielding money dividends for trump except for the fact abe keeps coming and sort of cultivating him. he needs to have him by his side if he's going to engage in these trade talks, if he's going to engage in these talks with north korea. he said trump, when he went to japan last fall, said the thing about the japanese. there was nothing additional abe got out of him. >> up next on your test tuesday. we'll see you back at this time tomorrow. wolf starts right now. hello, i'm wolf blitzer. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we begin this hour with a blunt warning to president trump from one of his former lawyers regarding one of his current attorneys. the warning, michael cohen is likely to flip and cooperate with federal prosecutors, especially if he ends up facing

the threat of serious prison time. former trump attorney jay goldberg says the president called him last friday, asking for advice, and he told him to be very, very careful regarding michael