president of the white house correspondents association. live on the phone is the president of the white house correspondents association. ouse correspondents association, jeff mason. thanks for being with us. guest: my pleasure, steve. host: where is this all heading? guest: it is hard to answer that. i would say that the white house correspondents association certainly is in favor of having briefings and would reject any move to have briefings canceled. briefings are an important way for journalists to ask questions, and it is our job to do that every day at the white house. that is a principle that is in the first amendment. we would oppose anything that would go against the principal. host: you issued a statement on the white house correspondents association website. you also tweeted it out on your twitter page. let me share with the audience the whole statement. -- the full statement.

let me ask you about the televised aspect of the briefing. some have wondered whether or not the cameras have influenced the drama that unfolds inside the briefing room. guest: you know, that is something we talked about with sean spicer at the very beginning of the trump administration when we were in new york. in thef us correspondents association board went up and had talked with them and a couple of his colleagues. one of the questions he asked then was how we would feel if

not every single briefing was televised. the correspondents association, it does not take a position specifically whether they need to be televised every day. we represent television reporters. we represent court reporters. would represent radio reporters -- we represent print reporters. we represent radio reporters. the clips and what they need for the television packages. the white house decides to hold some briefings off-camera, which it sometimes does, that is fine. that is their decision. host: jeff mason. "washington post" reporting on a possible staff shakeup. comey firing. reince priebus and sean spicer may be let go. are you hearing any of this talk? guest: i have not heard any of that talk, no, but there certainly have been rumors since

the very beginning of the trump administration about various shakeups. that is not something i can capacity, in my wac a but i am -- my whca capacity, but something we will be watching. host: another missile test in north korea confirmed by japanese, chinese, and u.s. officials. what does this mean? guest: well, it means, number one, that the white house and other u.s. allies will be looking closely at how to handle north korea. it is something that we talked thet in our interview, reuters interview with president trump a couple weeks ago, and the fact that dismissal made it as far as it did. the white house referred to russia means the u.s. will press russia to be involved in increasing sanctions against north korea. the big question is whether or

not allies get together and increase the sanctions and whether that is in a. host: this setting the stage for the president's first extensive trip beginning this week. quickly walk us through the itinerary. guest: sure. the president going abroad for the first time since becoming president. he will start in saudi arabia and meet there with gulf allies and saudi arabia leaders. he will go to israel, where he will be meeting with the leaders of israel and the palestinian leaders. from there, people go to brussels. excuse me, first he will go to rome and meet with the pope, which will be a very closely watched meeting. some of the critics he has levied at hope francis. he will go to brussels and have a meeting with nato leaders. that will conclude with a meeting in italy with other g-7 leaders.

host: jeff mason, who covers the white house for reuters, and the president of the white house correspondents association. the website is whca.net. announcer: join "washington journal" on monday as we visit to learnes of axius about the news organization start up. dear from their editors and reporters on their news of the day. joining us will be the cofounder a national political reporter covering the trump presidency, and republican leadership. a health care reporter and the cofounder of axios and executive editor. watch "washington journal's" spotlight on axios, starting at 8:00 a.m. eastern. announcer: next, "q&a" with mark cheetham on his biography of andrew jackson.

then, a bbc review of the major stories recently in british politics. after that, a news conference with sergey lavrov. ♪ >> this week on "q&a," cumberland university history professor mark cheetham, discussing his book "andrew jackson: southerner," and talks about comparisons made between president jackson and president trump. brian: mark cheathem author of andrew jackson southerner, and a lot of other books about andrew jackson and the south. when you see this picture on the screen, what's -- what comes to mind? mark: all the comparisons between trump and jackson, and how wrong they are frankly.