whhe's happy.im? your family's finally eating vegetables thanks to our birds eye voila skillet meals. and they only take 15 minutes to make. augh! (family giggling) oh my. birds eye voila! so veggie good. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. as the pressure mounts, so does the president's anger. in a series of tirades, the president suggests robert mueller's investigation is illegal. you're going to hear why. also, a curious defense of his personal lawyer who is under criminal investigation right now. why the president says michael cohen won't flip and implies

prosecutors will try to get him to lie. and an intense manhunt under way right now for the killer who opened fire inside a waffle house. this as we learn disturbing new details about the suspect's past, including a run-in with the u.s. secret service right here in washington. but let's start with the president of the united states on twitter once again. with the prospect of the legal walls closing in, the president fired off around 20 tweets over the weekend on a number of topics, most notably the legality of the special counsel robert mueller's investigation and the ties to former fbi director james comey. but also this. on personal attorney and close friend michael cohen saying, and i'm quoting now, michael is a businessman for his own account, lawyer who i have always liked and respected. most people will flip if the government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories. sorry sorry, i don't see michael doing

that despite the horrible witch hunt and the dishonest media, closed quote. let's go to jim acosta. he is outside on the lawn of the white house. jim, the briefing expected to start in a few moments. what is the feeling there in the wake of the president's twitter barrage? >> reporter: wolf, i think what we're hearing by people close to these discussions inside the president's legal team is essentially where we have been, and that is at this point there is no concern that michael cohen will flip on the president and start working with the prosecutor's office in new york or with the special counsel. i talked to a source familiar with these discussions a short while ago, and they remain concerned about the raid itself on michael cohen's office and hotel room. they feel like that was over the line. but at the same time they still feel that michael cohen is the kind of loyal associate of the president that he's counted on for so many years, that they don't see that as being a concern, and they also are taking these assurances.

remember last week, wolf, when we were reporting this, the justice department went over and told the president, told the president's legal team, that essentially at this point he's not a target of that michael cohen investigation. that came from rod rosenstein himself, according to our sources. so at this point they are banking on that information. now, of course, this source did say they are preparing for all possibilities, but this person was saying that that's obviously what attorneys do in this case, and, of course, they're doing this with a beefed-up legal team, rudy giuliani coming on board and others, and they feel at this point that they've got a pretty strong legal team to take care of this moving forward. >> there is a lot of issues on the agenda right now for the president. he's got a big week of diplomacy right now, he's got major issues involving syria and north korea, other hot spots around the world. how do all these legal issues, the robert mueller investigation, the separate criminal investigation in new york of his long-time lawyer and

friend michael cohen, how does that play into all of this? >> well, obviously, wolf, we're going to see at the briefing coming up here in a few moments that this is obviously still dominating the discussion, sarah sanders is obviously going to be sktd abo asked about this in the briefing 15 or 20 minutes from now. she was asked this morning whether the president would consider pardoning michael cohen. she really wouldn't take to that. listen to what she had to say. >> the president tweeted over the weekend that he doesn't expect michael cohen to flip. have you received any assurances from michael cohen? >> i'm only aware of the conversation from a couple fridays ago. >> what is he worried michael cohen could flip over? >> i think he said there isn't anything there for that to happen. >> you heard the press secretary there echoing what the president tweeted over the weekend, that he's not concerned about it. but wolf, the french president,

emmanuel macron, is coming in tomorrow for a press conference. he's actually arriving in washington today and top of the agenda for these two leaders will be, of course, dealing with russia and the prospect for these high-stakes talks that the president has been hinting and teasing for a few weeks now with the north korean dictator kim jong-un. obviously the european leaders would like to see the president take a tougher posture when it comes to dealing with russia, but as you heard last week, the president insisting nobody has been tougher on vladimir putin than he has. i think we'll hear a whole host of questions about this michael cohen matter at the briefing, wolf. it just seems to come up at every turn no matter what the president tweets, no matter what the press secretary says, or inside that the legal sources are saying. until we come to some sort of conclusion, i can't imagine those questions will go away, wolf. >> jim acosta at the white

house, thank you very much. let's take a quick break. ultimately sarah sanders will meet with reporters. there are a lot of questions reporters have on this day. we'll be right back. your digestive system has billions of bacteria, but life can throw them off balance. try align, the #1 doctor recommended probiotic.

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they have a plan of bringing the french president macron to the united states. he has just arrived. he'll be walking down those stairs momentarily getting ready to meet with the president and the first lady. later today they'll be going over to mt. vernon for dinner outside of washington in suburban virginia, alexandria, virginia, to be a little bit more precise. there will abe a state dinner tomorrow night, a joint news conference. he'll address on wednesday with macron a joint meeting of the u.s. congress as well. a very, very warm welcome for

the french leader here in washington. we'll have a lot more on that coming up. in the meantime, let's continue the conversation as we await the start of the white house press briefing, sarah sanders getting ready to brief reporters momentarily. among the president's newman ru -- numerous tweets over the weekend was another shot to james comey. quote, james comey illegally leaked classified documents to the press in order to generate a special council, council misspelled. therefore the special council, misspelled again, was established based on an illegal act? really, does everybody know what that means? >> what does that mean, basically, from your perspective, when he says here what the president says that perhaps this whole special counsel investigation is illegal? >> okay. well, first of all, this is really just another effort on the president's part to try to

cast doubt about the legitimacy of the special counsel investigation. i have not yet seen a credible allegation that the former fbi director leaked classified information. in jim comey's book, he says that he provided one unclassified memo to his associate that then relayed some information in it to a reporter after he was fired. now that some of these memos have been released after the department of justice provided them to congress, we have learned that some information in some of the memos, and it's not yet clear which -- whether those were actually ones provided, one of the ones provided to his associate, some information has been retroactively classified. this does not mean that the former fbi director, quote, unquote, leaked classified information and committed a crime, and it also does not mean that the special counsel's

investigation, which was commissioned by the deputy attorney general after the fbi director was fired, in order to provide a neutral continuation of that investigation, it doesn't mean that the special counsel's investigation is no longer legitimate, in my assess man assessment. >> it was based on an illegal act. curr curran, how do you see it? >> it matters what was classified when and the information that was actually put out there versus what we're looking at right now. the president is trying to spin this to various extents. i think the first time we saw the content of these memos it was, look, there's proof there was no collusion. now it was illegally done and it was a setup to be able to create the special counsel, which is returning to an earlier argument he made which is that this entire probe is completely illegitimate. it's the president's concerns,

basically, which have been long term, about the actual russia investigation against him that questions the legitimacy of his presidency as well, and he's lashing out now and it's easy to do that with comey because there are these questions right now about who had what when, and also because comey is out there on the circuit right now writing his book, so this is a fixation point. >> let's remember it wasn't just the comey memos that triggered the special counsel. the president himself went on tv and said point blank that one of the reasons he fired comey was because he didn't like the russia investigation and he wanted it to go away. you can't do that no matter if you're president of the united states. that was the main reason for the creation of the special counsel. i do think this whole question about whether any of the documents comey leaked or gave to an associate who then gave them to the press to sort of trigger this conversation, if any of that was classified. i think this really does hurt him and it gives republicans a line of attack that i think not

only the allies of president trump will going to use, but we're seeing republicans who are moderate to the reporters of the special counsel, they are sort of chastising comey right now over this. why did he do this now? he should have been more care l careful. wait until the investigation is over. i don't think you'll see reporters going from supporting the special counsel to not supporting the special counsel, but it certainly gives the president a dig that he's going to keep going after. >> he's tweeting almost nonstop. let's take a quick break. we're standing by for the white house press briefing. sarah sanders getting ready to brief reporters. also the french president macron, his plane has just landed at air force base andrews right outside washington. lots more right after this. who's a good boy? is him a good boy? erg...i'm just gonna go. oh, you wanna go outside? you gotta go tinky poo-poo? i already went, ok?

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welcome back. you're looking at live pictures. on the left, joint base andrews in suburban maryland outside washington, d.c. the aircraft bringing in the french president emmanuel macron to the united states. he has not yet walked down those stairs. we'll stand by and watch those stairs very, very closely. his wife brigitte macron will be accompanying him. on the right the white house press briefing room supposed to start a few minutes ago but a bit delayed. we'll have live coverage of sarah sanders answering reporters' questions. i imagine she'll open up with a statement. we'll see if she brings anyone into the briefing room for additional information as well, so there's a lots coming up. in the meantime, let's talk about the president of the united states and his long-time friend, his lawyer michael cohen. they've been working together for a long time now. the doors have just opened and he's going to be walking down, we assume, momentarily. let's watch this for a moment

and we can discuss as we await, kouran. this is an important first official state visit by someone to the united states on behalf of france. >> right. it's very important because also it seems like -- >> here they come, brigitte and emmanuel macron walking down those stairs. >> the president and macron seem to have established a pretty good rapport when trump was in france last year. it's interesting, because trump is a prominent figure in europe. there's a question of how he will deal with europe given the sanctions on russia a few weeks ago. >> it's interesting, it hasn't always been like this, right? president trump always had a lot of positive things to say about

macron's right challenger during the election. they sort of locked hands and it was a question of who would let go first. macron has said nothing but positive things about trump since then, and now they're getting ready to see if they can take this friendship to a new level in coming to some sort of agreement on what to do about syria. also the iran nuclear deal is a big thing with a big deadline coming up for europe and the united states on that. macron is going to try to keep trump in the iran nuclear deal when clearly he wants out right now. >> it's a sensitive issue. carrie, they did agree on these airstrikes of the chemical weapons strikes, the u.s. and syria working together on that, but there is a big difference when it comes to upping the iran nuclear deal right now.

the trump administration clearly opposed to it, but the president of france, president macron, he wants to continue. he says it's not perfect but it's better than nothing. >> he does, and one of the questions for the foreign policy community is sometimes this administration and this president in particular tend to be unpredictable. so what his policy will be going forward with respect to the iran deal, whether he will -- you know, he doesn't currently have a secretary of state so it will be interesting to see if he gets his choice of secretary of state so he can have someone work on these issues for him that he has confidence in. and with respect to syria, ongoing questions about really what the united states' policy is on syria. so i would imagine that those are all items that are going to be on their agenda. >> they have some serious disagreements on trade-related issues as well, especially the tariffs, that the u.s. recently imposed on steel and aluminum, among other issues. >> they will see that the

europeans do not agree about moves the americans have made. there is a lot of criticism about a potential trade war. you can't argue with the iran negotiations, too. that's a may 12 deadline we're looking at. what matters is convincing trump. and he's here now. you've got to get an agreement between the europeans, which is basically the u.k., france, germany, the eu and the americans, if you're going to sell that to all the parties of that deal and get something through to congress before the deadline. this visit really matters, because if you can't turn the president -- pompeo has been in the president's inner circle for a long time and he's a lot more comfortable with that falling away than other people who are no longer part of the administration. one thing macron really has that's important to note was he was never president when obama was president of the united states. so he does not have that memory of, well, you dealt with a guy that i don't like, my predecessor. it's well established how much

president trump does not like things that obama did. macron is not tainted by that, with apologies for that word. >> clearly there are differences, but at the same time they do have a good personal relationship. that's clear in the public statements both of these leaders, president trump and president macron, have made. >> i've heard a number of stories where french officials said that macron has actually studied president trump and did a deep dive into his personality to try to figure out how to move this president and to convince him. basically he's ready to pull out the flattery and has shown that he's willing to do that. remember also back when president trump visited france, that's where he got the idea about the military parade, too. it seems like that sort of show of, you know, masculinity and aggressiveness and pride in the military are things that really won him over to macron. but we'll have to see.

macron is trying to convince trump to do two major things that trump doesn't want to do when it comes to syria, the u.s. involvement in syria and staying in syria when the president wants to bring the united states out. and then also the other thing was, and i'm having a brain fart right there, syria trade as well, and -- >> eiran. >> -- the iran strategy as well. where is the president going to go in russia? is he going to continue to go with the momentum of the coordinated dismissals or will he backtrack, and i think macron has an important place. >> let's hold on as they play the national anthem for the united states. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ >> all right. the president of france, the first lady of france, president emmanuel macron, brigitte macron, they have arrived here. the dignitaries are there, all the pomp has concluded. they'll get in a limousine and

head over -- i think he's staying at blair house which is the official residence for foreign leaders across the street from the white house. on wednesday he'll be addressing a joint meeting of the u.s. congress which is not something that happens every day. he's speaking now. let's listen in to see what the president of france is saying as we also await the white house press briefing. [ inaudible ] >> severi will have several discussions with president trump this evening at mt. vernon. at the white house, i will deliver a speech at the congress on wednesday.

and during the state visits, we will ask to discuss a lot of bilateral issues and to discuss about our security, about trade and a lot of other issues very important for our countries and beyond our two countries. this is a great honor, and i think a very important state visit given the moment. [ speaking french ] >> brief remarks from the visiting president of france. president macron is getting ready for a state visit here in the united states, some important meetings with the president tonight at dinner at mt. vernon. outside washington tomorrow, a joint news conference, a state dinner on wednesday and address before a joint meeting of the u.s. congress. we were talking about the secretary of state nominee, mike

pompeo. it looks now, even if he won't get confirmed by the senate foreign relations committee, it looks like there will be enough democrats who will vote in favor of his confirmation to get him narrowly by. >> yes, so basically he needs -- the senate foreign relations committee is not the end word on this subject. if he doesn't get a positive vote there, he can still push it to the floor. >> unusual for a secretary of state, but it's doable. >> a lot about this administration is history-making, but you know. if he goes to the floor, it looks like he's got the votes right now. there are three democrats that have pledged to support him. that's enough to offset rand paul who said he won't, and we're not sure what jeff flake will do, and john manchon won't be there this week. he could have this. democrats may have one shot to

block things from coming out of committee, but i don't know that there's that appetite for that sort of political fight, because you do need someone in this office going into the next few weeks. >> and carrie, the vote in the senate foreign relations committee is scheduled for late this afternoon. it looks like he's not going to be confirmed there, but then they can just put it on the senate floor, as kouran points out, and it looks like he narrowly got through. when he was nominated to be the cia director, it's going to be much closer this time around. >> and that's a debate over his nomination of secretary of state is he was confirmed as a cia director, and i would suggest that was perhaps more of a controversial appointment because here you had someone who was a politician, not a career intelligence professional being nominated for that position. so once he was nominated to that

position, he has generally, sort of the view in the national security committee is that he has been a decent steward of the agency during his tenure there. he clearly has the ear of the president, having participated in many of his -- whether they're daily or several times a week intelligence briefings. so the president has developed a relationship with him that, i think, for the majority of the senate that's going to be voting, thinks will be an effective partner if he is confirmed as secretary of state. >> it looks like he's going to be confirmed. remember only three weeks ago or so, he made that secret visit to pyongyang, north korea and actually sat down with north korean leader kim jong-un and made an appointment for a essential meeting between the united states and north korea. we're standing by for the white house press briefing. we'll have coverage for that right after this quick break.

the white house press briefing and sarah sanders getting ready to walk out.

presumably she'll have a little announcement at the top and then answer questions for reporters. lots of questions on the robert mueller special counsel investigation, also what's going on in new york with the president's long-time lawyer michael cohen. over the weekend the president tweeted this. let me put it up on the screen, a lengthy tweet, and then we'll discuss. the "new york times" and a third-rate reporter maggi maggie haberman -- he correct her name after originally misspelling her name -- known as a crooked h. flunkie who i don't speak to and have nothing to do with going out of their way to destroy michael cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will flip. they use non-existent sources and a drunk-drugged up loser who

hates michael, a fine person with a wonderful family. kouran, a lot of hate for maggie hab haberman. she's an excellent reporter for the "new york times." he says he doesn't talk to her. he taukts to hlks to her all th with phone interviews, press interviews. so he says michael cohen under enormous pressure, under the target of a criminal investigation, could flip. >> the president's twitter feed is a barometer of what gets to him, and this seems to have certainly gotten to him. he can create his own truth on his twitter feed, and he's certainly doing that to try to discredit as much as possible the people behind the report, even if there's plenty of evidence about their relationship going back years, and also to just discount, discount, discount anything that's in there and spin. and that's what he's doing here. it suggests that there may be some truth to what was in that report if this actually struck a nerve quite this sharply.

>> it clearly has struck a nerve, rachel. >> he's pushing back on this any way he can, first saying michael cohen wouldn't flip, also saying there is nothing for him to flip on or about in terms of turning over two prosecutors, and then you also see some trump allies sort of saying this thing about, well, if he is giving some things up, people could lie to get themselves out of legal jeopardy. you can see the concern rising and you can see they're trying to combat it from every angle they can to try to dissuade what mayor may n or may not happen. >> and the president has been under criminal investigation not two or three weeks, he's been under criminal investigation for months. they finally got a court order. they went and gave some evidence, probable cause, to a federal judge to allow the fbi to raid his home, his hotel room where he's temporarily staying, his office as well as his safe

deposit box. his computers, his laptop, his phone. that's not an easy decision for investigators to take. a, he's a lawyer, and b, he's the president's lawyer. >> he is, and they would have had to have had a lot of information, establishing probable cause and being able to take that search warrant application to the judge for approval. i agree, let's not underestimate the pressure that michael cohen might be under right now in terms of his whole life has really -- the subject of an investigation like this, their whole life has really turned upside down. but it's really too soon for any observer to be able to judge whether michael cohen would so-called flip or cooperate with the government in a particular case, because we don't know, as members of the public, what he might be charged with right now. so there is a big disparity between whether he is charged with some kind of extensive financial crimes along the lines of the money laundering type allegations we've seen against paul manafort and mr. gates, or

if it's something like other charges like 1,001 false statements. >> here she is, sarah sanders. >> today the president and first lady welcome president emmanuel macron and mrs. macron to the white house to begin the first state visit to the trump administration. this visit will continue a long and enduring friendship between the united states and france. the first lady will be along for the visit, including the state dinner, tomorrow evening. we're looking forward to a very successful state visit. as you saw, we now have three democratic state visitors who will confirm mike pompeo, the president's highly qualified nominee for secretary of state. however, the democrats continue their pointless obstruction with their base as an attempt to undermine american diplomacy. regardless, the president is looking forward to mike pompeo's

confirmation so he can continue to do a great job on behalf of the american people. i also want to commend the actions of james shaw jr. at the waffle house in tennessee. mr. shaw saved lives when he wrestled a gun from an active shooter who had opened fire. the president offers con dolly e -- condolences to the victims and their families. he is in regular contact with state and local officials. finally, i want to congratulate the duke and duchess of cambridge on the birth of their third child, a baby boy. from one mother to another, i know the reality of being outnumbered can be very scary, but i know she and prince william will continue to be amazing parents. so congratulations to them, and with that i'll take your questions. john? >> sarah, on north korea, is the president willing to accept anything short of complete denuclearization before lifting any sanctions? >> certainly the goal is denuclearization of the peninsula, and we're going to continue the maximum pressure campaign that has been ongoing

to north korea until we see concrete actions taken towards complete and total denuclearization. >> does that mean no sanctions lifted until that's achieved or are you willing to go incrementally? >> certainly no sanctions lifted until we see concrete sanctions taken by north korea to denuclearize. >> the president said in his tweet they had agreed to denuclearize. where did they do that? have they already agreed to do that? >> certainly in a number of the conversations, including the comments i would refer you back to. also south korean president moon who said north korea has expressed a desire for complete denuclearization, and that's the focus of the conversation and negotiation that the united states will have with north korea. >> to what extent will the iran nuclear deal be between the president and president macron?

>> i'm not going to get ahead of the conversations we expect to take place in the next couple days. as you know, he just landed a few minutes ago and are headed to the white house. i'm not going to presume what the conversations will look like. i suspect that's what the conversations will look like. i'll let you know if we have any announcements to put out about that. [ inaudible question ] >> the president made it clear he thinks that's a bad deal. that has not changed. >> i want to ask you a question sort of following up on what you were asked this morning about michael cohen. it was noticed by some you didn't close the door one way or another on the president pardoning michael cohen. what's your read on that right now? >> it's hard to close the door on something that hasn't taken place. i don't like to discuss or comment on hypothetical situations that may or may not ever happen. i would refer you to personal attorneys to comment on anything

specific regarding that case, but we don't have anything at this point. >> can i ask you about a tweet that the president put out last week? he tweeted a lot over the weekend, but last week he was talking about sanctuary cities in california and saying there is a revolution going on in california, so many sanctions want out of this crime-infested and breeding concept. when he used the word "breeding" was he making a derogatory term about latinos in california that they breed a lot or that they are prone to breeding? >> no, he's talking about the problem itself growing and getting bigger. >> would you elaborate on that? >> i've answered it. justin, go ahead. >> i also want to follow up on a couple of the president's tweets. one was early this morning. he warned large caravans not to come into the country.

if you can answer what that means for refugees' status. >> the president continues to monitor the situation. a sovereign nation that can't defend its borders will no longer be a sovereign nation. the trump administration is going to enforce our laws whether you're an immigrant or not. we will enforce the law over prosecution of the legal borders. while we are committed to doing everything we can on the border to secure our nation, we need congress to do their job as well and to pass legislation to close the legal loopholes and prevent us from cementing our borders and keeping out americans. >> what does the president believe his personal attorney might have done to get him in trouble with the government, and secondly, what the president has done that he's worried michael

cohen could flip about. >> the president is clear he hasn't done anything wrong. i think we've stated that about a thousand times. i don't have anything to add beyond the president's tweet. matthew? >> thank you, sarah. there have been a number of documented cases in the press recently about scott pruitt appearing to be dishonest about requesting raises for aides, about his relationship with a lobbyist who had a business with the epa. is the white house concerned at all about this pattern, and is there concern about him testifying before congress on thursday as scheduled where these issues are probably going to come up? >> we're continuing to review a number of the reports that you mentioned and we'll let you know if we have any changes on that front. ashley? >> sarah, president macron is looking into the side deal between the powers could strengthen the iran deal and whether or not the president would be comfortable staying in it.

the president has said it's a bad deal. is there way to fix it that he would be comfortable with? >> i'm not going to speculate on conversations taking place the next few days, but as things progress, we'll be happy to share them with you. >> the president tweeted about north korea pretty flatly, they have agreed on denuclearization, and you're saying they just agreed to talk about it? what is the president's definition of complete denuclearization? >> again, i'm not going to negotiate with you guys. i'm going to leave that to the president and kim jong-un to walk through what some of those details look like when that meeting takes place. but i can be very clear that we expect it not to just be mentioned in words, but there would have to be concrete actions that take place towards total denuclearization of the peninsula. >> does that mean removing our nukes? >> i won't go into negotiations of what would take place or what the deal would look like, but there has to be constant action

to strike a deal with the peninsula. >> president macron has quite an agenda and wants to change the president's mind on the military in syria, on sanctions. is there a chance he may change the president's mind when he gets through with him? >> i feel very confident we have the best negotiator at the table. you have two leaders who have a very -- let me finish -- i said we have a great negotiator at the table. i certainly was not commenting on president macron's abilities, simply stating the obvious that we have an incredibly good negotiator for the united states. what you do have are two leaders who have a great deal of respect for one another, a great friendship. certainly both have a great deal of interest in doing what is best for their country, but

being able to have very open and candid conversations because of the relationship, not only that the leaders have built but that has existed between the two countries long before either of these individuals arrived on the scene, and we're going to continue that relationship. but i think we can expect this to be a very productive and very positive state visit for both countries. i said for both countries. >> do you think the president will change his mind? >> i'm not going to get ahead of conversations that are going to take place, but if we have any policy announcements, i'm sure you guys will be the first to know. again, the president wants to make good deals for this country, and if he feels like he can make a big deal that benefits this country, he's certainly going to engage in those conversations. peter? >> why should north korea believe that the u.s. is an honest broker when the president said publicly he would like to get out of deals he made with iran and others? >> the president said from day one he thinks it's a bad deal.

i don't think any deal he would sign into he wouldn't consider a bad deal. the president wants to do what's in the best interest of our country and even in the world. particularly having north korea and the korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons, i think, is a good thing >> steve? >> sarah, i just want to follow up on that, about north korea. i'm wondering, what gives you any optimism that the north koreans are really looking to denuclearize because of the statements that they're making, everybody seems to be jumping on the positive aspects of the statements, but they're saying over the weekend that they're completion of the nuclear arsenal, which they call their powerful treasure firmly guarantees forever, the country's security and well being, that doesn't sound like

any wiggle room on denuclearization. >> we're not going to make mistakes from previous administrations, and we're not going to take the north koreans at their word, like i said before, and we've said many times before, the maximum pressure campaign is going to continue until we see concrete actions taken by -- we're not naive in this process, we've seen some steps in the right direction. but we have a long way to go. we also have seen a major complaining in what has taken place in the past, by having our allies and partners in the region step up and do much more than they have in the past. china has taken a more active role in putting pressure on north korea. they can do more, we hope they will, and will continue working with us, and that's all at the direction -- and because of the relationship that the president has built with president xi of china. >> the first one, the new york times and others report that federal prosecutors have

recommended charges against the new york police officer in eric garner's death. where do you stand in the case of eric garner, and when are they going to make a decision about the police officer and whether or not they're going to charge him. >> i don't have an update on thatfront, but would refer you to the department of justice to get further details. >> the question i have is, the president -- >> usually when we let one, it's not exactly a secret, but i'd be happy to share with that with everybody. >> the president tweeted james comey illegally classified documents in order -- illegally leaked document to the press to generate a special council, therefore, the special council was established based on an illegal act. does everyone know what that means? >> what does the president think that means? should the special council be fired because of the way it begun? >> we have no intention of firing the special council,

we've been beyond cooperative with them, we're continuing to cooperate with them. turn over nearly a million pages in documents to the special council, and have been cooperative. exactly what the president's been saying all along, that this was a false premise, that this entire thing started on, we continue to repeat that we think that the idea that the trump campaign was involved in any collusion with russia is it a total witch hunt, our position has been very clear since the beginning of the process. the president is echoing exactly what that position is. >> over the weekend a house republican called for epa administrator scott pruett to step down. he said he's the wrong fit for the epa. what's your reaction to that? >> we're reviewing some of those allegations, however, administrator pruitt has done a good job of implementing the president's policies. particularly on deregulation, making the united states less

energy dependent and becoming more energy independent. those are good things, however, the other things are things that we're monitoring and looking at, and i'll keep you posted. >> andrew wheeler was confirmed by the senate, he's sco scott pruitt's deputy at the epa. con the he implement the president's agenda is scott pruitt stepped aside? what's your view on that idea? >> we're very excited that the democrats have finally allowed another one of our nominees to go through, we hope they'll allow some of the other several hundred that situating to be confirmed -- very highly qualified individuals, we hope they'll continue to follow in the footsteps of that, and get a lot more people within this administration working. >> on the iran nuclear deal, president macron said, don't leave if there's not a better option, and the iranian foreign minister tweeted today, macron is correct in saying there's no

plan b, it's either all or nothing. my question to you is, does the white house believe that there is actually a realistic plan b out there. >> we certainly think that there should be a better deal, one that actually is positive that works, and we don't really typically look to the leadership in iran to determine what our foreign policy is. >> later today on mike pompeo. >> i'm going to keep moving because we're running out of time. >> you may not be willing to be specific about the matters that the president trump and president macron will discuss. but they were very specific on friday. france will insist on and i quite a full and permanent exemption, of any trade tariffs the united states might want to impose on france. he went on to say that if they

are going to be a partner dealing with china, they cannot have a sort of damaclese hanging over them. that's strong language. >> we can agree on that. >> is it on the table? >> we expect this to come up over the next two days, when we have any policy announcements, we will let you know. >> on syria. is it fair to say the president agreed with the french president that the precipitous or too quick removal of the president -- would be damaging to the syrian people. if there's agreement there, is there a possibility the two will come to some sort of a formal announcement during this time here. and a follow-up on mike pompeo, what would be the number one issue the president would like him to tack ltackle.

>> first, i'll talk about the syria question. again certainly something that will come up, the president is committed to defeating isis. that is our primary goal and function of being there, we want to see that happen, the president wants to see the partners in the region step up and do more militarily and financially. that's going to be something i can imagine will be raised and will keep you posted on that front when it comes to director pompeo, it is outrageous he would not come through quickly. the washington post, a number of other outlets that aren't the biggest 5/vow cats of this president have said confirm him already. i think you have to look back at history, specifically to bipartisan votes, john kerry was

confirmed 94-3. hillary clinton was confirmed 94-2. colin powell was confirmed unanimously by voice vote. if you can look at some of the questioning that's been brought up by the senate, no one doubts pompeo's qualifications and his ability to do the job, i think that not only is the white house, but all of america should be calling on the senate to do their job, do what they are required and expected to do, and that is to help government function and to help in the safety and security of our country. this is an inkridably important position, and that plays a big role in that. and they should certainly support mike pompeo, and get that done and get that done today. i think frankly, for particularly members of congress, it's hard for them to justify voting in favor of someone like john kerry and not following suit and voting for mike pompeo. >> does the president consider republicans who oppose pompeo's

nomination to be obstructionist? >> what does it say to the rest of the world if pompeo can't get a favorable recommendation out of the senate. >> i don't think those members are being helpful, what it says to the world is what we've been saying for a long time, the senate has some real problems, and they need to figure out how to show up and do their job a little better. mike? >> should we bring a renegotiated deal back to congress. is there a chance that those changes won't need congressional approval. and that deal is being looked at by a team that was appointed -- >> let me address nafta first. >> those conversations and negotiations are ongoing, i don't have any updates for you on that front beyond what we've said. >> does the president still have confidence. has he been briefed on lately?

and does he and john bolton support where they're at right now? >> the president has a great deal of confidence in a number of members across the board that remain part of his team, his national security team. a great group of people, and the president as been working close with them. most of those individuals have been part of the administration for a long time. >> a couple questions. going back to the issue of eric garner, a couple weeks ago, when i asked you about alton sterling, stephan clark and the issue of eric garner, you said it was a local issue many does this white house give the directive now to the justice department that it's a local matter and that's why it's been held up? is that what's going on with this eric garner case? >> i can't speak to anything specific in an ongoing process that's taking place with the department of justice, we haven't given specific instruction to them, other