reporter. are you a friendly reporter? watch how friendly he is. watch how friendly he is, go ahead. go ahead. [indistinct question] [ inaudible question ] >> asking a very simple question. it's not a simple question. not a fair question.

okay. sit down. i understand the rest of your question. so here's the story. number one, i am the least anti-semetic person you have seen in your entire life. number two, racism. the least racist. quiet, quiet. he lied ab he was going to ask a very straight simple question. welcome to the world of the media. but let me just tell you something. i hate the charge. i find it repulsive. you heard the prime minister. you heard netanyahu yesterday. he said i have known donald trump a long time. then he said forget it. you should take that instead of having to get up and ask a very insulting question like that.

>> thank you. on national security and immigration, can you give us more details on the executive order that you have for next week? will it be focused on those same countrys? and? addition on the program for immigration, what is your plan? do you plan to con that program or end it? >> daca is a very difficult subject. you have these incredible kids in many case, not in all cases. some of the cases they're having daca and gang members and drug dealer, too. mostly they were brought here in such a way. this is a very tough subject. we have to deal with daca with heart. i have to deal with politicians.

i have to convince them that what i'm saying is right. i appreciate your understanding on that. the daca situation is a very very -- it's a very difficult thing for me because i love these kids. i have kids and grand kids. i find it very very hard doing what the law says exactly to do. i'm talking about the existing law. it's very rough. as far as the new order, the new order is going to be very much tailored to what i consider to be a very bad decision. but we can tailor the order to that decision and get just about everything in some ways more. but we're tailoring it now. we have some of the best lawyers in the country working on it. the new executive order is being tailored to the decision we got down from the court.

okay? >> the white house visitors office. she does a lot of great work for the country. can you talk about what melania trump does for the country? what does that mean to you? >> now that's what i call a nice question. that is very nice. who are you with? good. i'm gonna start watching. all right. thank you very much. melania is terrific. we had dinner with senator rubio and his wife who is lovely. we had a really good discussion ab cuba. we have very similar views on cuba. cuba was very good to me in the florida election. cuban americans. i think that melania will be outstanding. she just opened up the visitors center. in other words, touring of the white house. she, like others that she's

working with, feel very very strongly about women's issues, women's difficulties. very very strongly. she's a very very strong advocate. i think she's a great representative for this country. and a funny thing happens. she gets so unfairly -- the things they say. i have known her for a long time. she was a very successful person. she was a very successful model. she did really well. she would go home at night and didn't even want to go out with people. she was a very private person. she was always the highest quality that you'll ever find. and the things they say -- and i have known her for a long time. the things they say are so unfair. and actually she's been apologized to by various media because they said things. i think she's going to be a fantastic first lady. she's going to be a tremendous representative of women and the people.

helping her and working with her will be ivanka, who is a fabulous person and a fabulous, fabulous woman. and they're not doing this for money. they're not doing this for pay. they're doing this because they feel it, both of them. melania goes back and forth. after barron finishes school, because it's hard to take a child out of school with a few months left, she and barron will be moving to the white house. thank you. that's a very nice question. go ahead. yes? it's going to be a bad question but i'll take it. >> thank you very much. mr. president, i need to fine out from you, you said something as it relates to inner cities. that was one of your platforms during your campaign. >> inner cities. >> fixing the inner cities. what will be that fix? as well as your hbcu executive order that's coming out this afternoon. see, it wasn't bad, was it? >> no.

it was very professional. i'd rather let the order speak for itself. it will be something i think that will be very good for everybody concerned. but we'll talk to you about that after we do the announcement. as far as the inner cities, as you know, i was very strong on the inner cities during the campaign. i think that's probably what got me a much higher percentage of the african-american vote than a lot of people thought i was going to get. we did much higher than people thought that i was going to get. i was honored by that. including the hispanic vote, which was also much higher. and including the women's vote, which was much higher than people thought i was going to get. so we are going to be working very hard on the inner cities having to do with education, crime. we're going to try and fix as quickly as possible. it's taken 100 years and more for some of these places to evolve. they evolved many of them very badly. we're going to be working hard on health and health care. very very hard on education.

and also we're going to be working in a stringent way and a very good way on crime. you go to some inner city places. it's so sad when you look at the crime. you have people, and i have seen this and i have sort of witnessed it. in fact, in two cases i have actually witnessed it. they lock themselves into apartments, petrified to even leave in the middle of the day. they're living in hell. we can let that happen. that's a great question. it's a very difficult situation 'cause it's been many, many years. it's been festering for many, many years. but we have places in this country that we have to fix. we have to help african-american people that, for the most part, are stuck there. hispanic american people. we have hispanic american people that are in the inner cities and they're living in hell. you look at the numbers in chicago. there are two chicagos, as you know.

there's one chicago that's credible, luxurious and all and safe. there's another chicago that's worse than almost any of the places in the middle east that we talk about and that you talk ab every night on the news casts. so we're gonna do a lot of work on the inner cities. i have great people lined up to help. >> are you going to include the cbc in your conversations with your urban agenda, your inner city agenda? are you going to include the congressional black caucus? >> i would. i tell you what, do you want to set up the meeting? do you want to set up the meeting? >> no no no. >> are they friends of yours? i would love to meet with the black caucus. i think it's grated, the congressional black caucus. i thought i had a meeting with congressman cummings and he was all excited and then he said, oh, i can move, might be bad for

me politically. i can't have that meeting pitches all set to have the meeting. we called him and called him. he was all set. i spoke to him on the phone. very nice guy. >> i hear he wanted that meeting with you as well. >> he wanted it. we called, called, called. can't make a meeting with him. every day i walk in say, i would like to meet with him. because i do want to solve the problem. but he was probably told by schumer or somebody like that, some other light weight, he was probably told, he was probably told, don't meet with trump, it's bad politics. that's part of the problem in this country. okay. one more. go ahead. no, no. one question. two we can't handle. this room can't handle two. give me the better of your two. [ inaudible question ] >> can i be honest with you? this has to do with racism and horrible things that are put

out. some of it written by our opponents. you do know that, don't you? do you understand that? you don't think anybody would do a thing like that? some of the signs you'll see are not put up by the people that love or like donald trump. they're put up by the other side. and you think it's like playing it straight? no. but you some of those signs and some of that anger is caused by the other side. they'll do signs and they'll do drawings that are inappropriate. it won't be my people. it will be the people on the other side to anger people like you. oka okay. >> what are you going to do about that? >> who is that? where is that? i'm working on it. no, no. look. hey, just so you understand, we had a totally divided county for eight years. in all fairness to president obama, long before president

obama. we have had a very divided -- i didn't come along and divide this country. this country was seriously divided before i got here. we're gonna work on it very hard. one of the questions that was asked was about the inner city. that's part of it. but we're gonna work on education. we're gonna try and stop the crime. we have great law enforcement officials. we're gonna try and stop crime. we're not gonna try and stop crime. we're gonna stop crime. but it's very important to me. this season donald trump that divided a nation. we went eight years with president obama and we went many years before president obama. we live in a divided nation. and i am going to try -- i will do everything within my power to fix that. i want to thank everybody very much. great honor to be with you. thank you. thank you very much. thanks. >> wow. all righty then. that was some press conference.

the main topic the press. perhaps most extraordinary sustained attack on the press by a president ever in the united states. when asked about the leaks coming out of the white house, the president said the leaks are real, the news is fake. he let the press know he inherited a mess. >> the press honestly is out of control, the level of dishonesty is out of control. i ran for represent to president the citizen of our country. i am here to change the broken system. to be honest, i inherited a mess. it's a mess. >> melissa: i mean, that was just a taste. chief white house correspondent john roberts is live right now. i'm gonna assume the white house correspondents dinner, that is off. >> reporter: i wouldn't say that, melissa. i think president trump had more fun today than he's had for at least the last week or so.

this white house really has been under siege. he had an opportunity to, in a very free willing fashion, as he has done so many times, take a number of different questions. at one point he said that he was having a good time engaging with the press. we saw him do this time and time again on the campaign trail, but the first time we've seen him do it as president. the other two, three have been with world leaders. he had a chance to take some questions that a lot of people have been wanting to hear, particularly ab what led to the firing of his national security adviser lieutenant general michael flynn? did michael flynn have improper con taxes with russia? we asked him the question about what led him to believe, as he said, that there was no wrongdoing on the part of general flynn. let's listen to his answer here. >> i was a little surprised because i said, doesn't sound like he did anything wrong there. but he did something wrong with respect to the vice president

and i thought that was not acceptable. as far as the the actual making the call, fact, i have watched various programs and i have read various articles where he was just doing his job. that was very normal. first everybody got excited because they thought he did something wrong. >> reporter: that was in response to a question i asked him ab that. what evidence did he look at to determine that general flynn had done nothing wrong? there were transcript, telephone intercept, electronic intercepts that the fbi has in its possession. i asked the president if he looked at those transcripts. he did not respond directly to that, only to say that the assessment from the president and his white house counsel was that there was no wrongdoing on the part of general flynn in contacting russia. he said that he was just doing his job. and if he thought he hadn't been contacting world leaders he would have asked him to do it. he went off on twitter and when he was meeting with members of

congress about these leaks, saying he is going to aggressively pursue and try to get to the bottom of who is leaking this classified information. listen to what he said in response to another question i asked him here. >> i have gone to all of the folks in charge of the various agencies and where i have actually called the justice department to look into the leak. those are criminal leaks. they're put out by people either in agencies -- i think you'll see it stopping because now we have our people in. >> reporter: part of the problem is holdovers from the obama administration who are only too happy to put out these transcripts of classified phone calls with people like the president of mexico, people like the prime minister of australia and the president saying today, if they're willing to leak things like that, what happens when i start to negotiate about north korea or other national security issues? he believes this is a serious, serious problem that he has to

get to the bottom of. he all believes that as his own people are confirmed that the leaking will begin to dribble off. he again, as he did on the campaign trail, insisted that he has no business dealings with russia. he has no loans from russia, no financial interest in russia, trying to put to rest at least some accusations that russia may pull his strings a little bit because he has got some potential business dealings there. or what do the russians have on the president that would have him be so kind to putin? he also suggested that he's not being kind to putin, that he's being tough on russia. and the reason we see the spy ship off the coast of the united states and see russia planes buzzing our ships near the black sea is because he believes that putin is now thinking that, well, maybe i can't make a deal with this president. he also says he is going to release a new executive order next week. we broke that earlier early this morning on extreme vetting and the immigration ban. one he says will pass legal muster at the courts. he talked about this idea that

his white house is in chaos, as many of the articles that have been written about it would seem to indicate saying, no, it's not in chaos. in fact, it's a finely tuned machine. listen to what the president said on that front. >> i turn on the tv, open the newspapers and i see stories of chaos. chaos. yet it is the exact opposite. this administration is running like a fine tuned machine. despite the fact that i can't get my cabinet approved and they're outstanding reporter: before in press conferences but did it again today after going what's called the dishonesty. one more thing about the president. >> melissa: there was so much to cover there. >> reporter: we don't have time. he went after the media again. he has done this time after time trying to talk past the media, trying to talk to the american public. lot of people who believe what he says about that.

>> melissa: we're going to play a lot more of the sound. you said we are going to see the obama care replacement in march. that was big news, in between all those meetings. fantastic job, john roberts, thank you. for more on this let's bring in brett bayer the anchor of special report. brett, i mean, wow? >> yeah, wow. that was the first word you said when the press conference was over. listen, love him or hate him, this is why people looked at donald trump as a candidate and said this is different, this is somehow refreshing, this is breaking the mold. this is not political correctness. i covered the pentagon and defense secretary don rumsfeld used to hold these afternoon press conferences and he'd spar with the press. it was must see tv back then. this was a different level. this was mesmerizing in one sense. there will be people who say it's unhinged and who say -- whose heads are going to explode about some things that he says.

but there is a lot of substance to what he said. and this is trump being trump. this is -- someone said to him go back to the campaign trail when you were best and be yourself. after probably some press secretaries and other spokes people having a tough couple of weeks. he came out and took the bull by the horns and did it his way. so president trump talking like this is different for anybody to see in washington, for anybody to see in this country. for his supporters, it is refreshing and 100% they're behind him. for his opponents, they it this's frightening and unhinged. so somewhere in the middle there is the president of the united states. >> melissa: he made a ton of news saying that we're going to see the obama care replacement in march. he said they are moving ahead on tax reform. that that's coming along nicely.

they drilled down very deep on the mike flynn situation. and he said again and again that mike flynn did nothing wrong. that he reached out to his russian counter parts as he should have. the problem was, he came back and told the vice president something that wasn't true and then he didn't remember, and that wasn't okay. and in some ways, brett, it begs even more questions. because if it was okay and he knew about it, why would he misrepresent to the vice president, mike flynn, what he had done? do you feel resolved about that? are there more questions? >> there are clearly more questions, but what this news conference did was deal with a whole bunch of issues in a way that donald trump deals with it uniquely. >> melissa: that's true. >> obviously going after the press the way he did, no other president has done that, to that extent. people can argue that that is a bad thing to delegitimatize the press. but the press has been under

fire for getting things and bias in one way or another of different stories. i will tell you this. on the substance of the answers you saw three, four reporters go after the same question, which is can you definitively say that anyone in your campaign talked with anyone in russia during the campaign? and his final answer, the last time, julie pace from the associated press asked it, said not that i know of. not that i know of. i think it's going to be something that doesn't go away, but this press conference will have a lot of people chewing on a lot of different elements. >> melissa: he answered. he went on and on. he took questions from people he couldn't even identify which is something he is not normal. he said, you, you can have a question. he included every topic, including keeping everyone safe. listen to this. >> we've taken decisive action to keep radical islamic terrorists out of our country.

parts of our necessary actions were blocked by judges in my opinion incorrect and unsafe ruling. our administration is working night and day to keep you safe. including reporters safe. is vigorously defending this lawful order. i will not back down from defending our country. extreme vetting will be put in place. it already is in place in many places. >> melissa: he doubled down. said there's a new kpeufrbg order coming next week at the same time they are still pursuing the original one in court. what do you think of that? >> it's big news. that's huge news. you add that to member this whole news conference started with the introduction of his new labor secretary nominee. alexander costa who is well respected on both sides of the aisle. seen as somebody who is not going to have trouble in following up in the failed nomination of puzder. i think you have that, executive

order. they are going to roll out tax reform. they are going to be talking ab these big items. he said all of this other stuff is just noise. there are people at home trying to sift through this. they look at him going head to head with the press and supporters say it was a tour deforce. and again the split is right down the middle of the country. opponents say this is going to be an interesting time. and democrats will continue to press. >> melissa: he almost finished on that point where he said the country has been decide for a long time. that it was divided. and this is the way it's been. sort of making the point you were saying about the country. so much going back and forth about the reporters. i don't think we've seen that in a presidential situation, i

don't know when. >> it hasn't happened like that. i covered the white house. it was not like that. no president ripped like this about the press and the coverage, about who he watches and who he doesn't. i think we're in a different time and people should get their head around that this is a different unique president. this is why he was elected. because in places like michigan and pennsylvania and wisconsin, they say washington isn't working on either side. kick the table over and try something new. this is something new. he has taken the initiative. we'll see whether he has answered the questions on some of the key issues. >> melissa: president trump also addressed wall street journal reports that information is being intentionally withheld from his daily intelligence briefing. katherine heritage join us live

from washington. made direct mention of that article in the wall street journal. >> reporter: that's right. after the wall street journal reported the intelligence community is disclosing information, president trump hit back. >> they took a story out of the wall street journal and just wrote the story that's not true. and i'll tell you something. i'll be honest. i sort of enjoy this back and forth. i guess i have all my life. but i have never seen more dishonest media than the political media. >> reporter: also denying sources for collecting intelligence are being blocked because of growing distrust between president trump, his trip to the cia the day after he took office. quote, any suggestion that the u.s. intelligence community is with holding information and not providing the best possible intelligence to the president and his national security team is not true. what's important to bear in mind here is director -- not director flynn.

the former national security adviser mike flynn was really running what i have come to understand as a second intelligence gathering operation within the white house so he could provide a different set of ice and ears by looking at the raw data himself. i think that is where, based on my reporting, where we got the tension between the ic and the national security team. just as a final point, if i could, because i know we've not got a lot of time today. but the president talked ab these leaks being illegal. and people should really start to focus on these two statutes 793 and 798 because these are criminal statutes that deal specifically with releasing information from electronic communications. this is a very specialized area in the law. it's like an automatic 10 or 15 years if you are criminally convicted. so the president does appear to be on very strong ground when it comes to calling these leaks

criminal on the electronic intercepts or the phone calls, melissa. >> melissa: wow. that is big news. thank you for that. >> thanks for hanging with me. >> melissa: we are going to talk more on that. ron desantis is a member of the house committee on foreign affairs and the judiciary committee. he heads the oversight committee. reur, thank you very much for joining us. let's pick up on that.. the president came out swinging. he threw a lot of cold water on the report. he said the leaks should be the focus. what happened there was criminal. giving us the evidence as for why within the law he may be on strong ground there. what's your thought? >> i think that's right. we have an intelligence community that exists to provide information to the commander in chief. if they're going astray from that, there are penalties in place. people could really face very significant jeopardy. i think it's important though

that he gets -- we have a great cia director, mike pompeo. i think it's importanted that they get this going in a good direction. the way this works so far where there's leaks about flynn, leaks about calls with foreign leaders. that is not the way you will be able to run an administration. so i'm hoping they can turn the corner on that. >> melissa: do you think that what we just heard helped or hurt? that news conference? >> well, i didn't hear all of it. i know he's very upset about the leaks. i think there shouldn't be these types of leaks. on the other hand, i think it is important for the president to reiterate that he does want a robust intelligence capability, that he does have respect for those folks who are doing their job and doing it within the confines of the law. i think you can be upset at some of the leaks, which are unauthorized, but also make clear that you are supportive of the intel folks.

>> melissa: do you think? it's maybe starting to feel that way. maybe the president needs to know where the leaks came from before he can move forward? he feels like it's a criminal act. there's a level of distrust. i don't know. do you believe the story that was in the wall street journal? do you believe there are people that don't want to give him details in a complete brief? do you think that's going on? >> i don't think that would be the case for someone like director pompeo. whether that's the case for kind of people in the midlevels of bureaucracy, i don't know the answer. the intelligence folks denied the story, but it is possible that that's the case. what i would say, those folks are there serving a certain function. if they feel they don't want to provide this to the president because they have certain views, that's fine. the appropriate thing for them to do is resign, not to go outside proper procedures and with hold things.

>> melissa: really quickly before we go, tell me definitively, do we need to find out exactly who leaked this information? do those people need to be punished and removed from service? >> yes. and the intel committee is investigating and we on the oversight committee are trying to get that information as well. so it is important. we do need to get the facts on that immediately. >> melissa: sir, thank you for coming on. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> melissa: donald trump launches a blistering attack on the press for over an hour. we are going to ask our political panel about that. as well as this. >> tomorrow they will say, donald trump rants and raves at the press. i'm not ranting and raving. i'm just telling you you're dishonest people. i'm having a good time doing it. tomorrow the headlines will be donald trump rants and raves. i'm not ranting an raving. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis like me,

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>> the wall is going to be a great wall. it will be a wall negotiated by me. price will come down, just like it has on everything else i have negotiated for the government. we ordered a crackdown on sanctuary cities that refuse to comply with federal law and that harbor criminal ail against. and we've ordered an end to the policy of catch and release on the border. no more release.

>> melissa: the president talking about strengthening our southern border and one border state is going against the grain and defending the president's travel ban, defending it. here's a look at all the states in favor of halting the ban. in texas, the attorney general ken paxton filed documents with the san francisco based 9th u.s. circuit court of appeals asking the court to reconsider its decision not to immediately reinstate the ban. texas congressman henry qualar joins me now. you say the ban does not make us safe. you're against it. your state though looking to keep it in place where you are. your thoughts on that? >> well, you know, first of all, when there was a vote to have more vetting of the congressman michael mccall had last ye supported that. i want to see people that are coming into the united states that, if they're bad people, we want to keep them out. but at the same time, if there are people who are legitimate

traders or commerce or tourism, we want to let them in. the only issue that i have with the ban, i think they should have involved congress. with all this delayed court proceedings, i think congress would have been able to pass a piece of legislation, maybe even look at what michael mccall had last year as a starting point. >> melissa: i can feel people in the audience saying that congress moves at a snail's pace. that if we waited for congress to do things, we have been for a long time. it's very hard to get a lot of people to agree. the president today doubling down, saying that he's going to issue a new executive order and continuing to pursue it in court. why do you think that congress would be better than all of that action? >> well, are we gonna start saying we're going to bypass congress because it doesn't move as fast as some people want it to move? i think congress, when there's bipartisan legislation, i have seen legislation pass extremely fast when there's a will to get the job done.

the other thing is, i want to make sure bad people don't come into the united states. i voted for that extreme vetting, the michael mccall bill. i want to make sure that we have it. >> melissa: what specifically would you write differently? what words are wrong with this one that you think congress could improve upon? >> i don't think we have enough time on your show to cover the legal points. >> melissa: give me one example about what's bad about this process? >> are we going to have a religious test, discrimination. >> melissa: it's not a religious test. he's talking about war torn countries where it's difficult to research information. that's not religious. >> then look at saudi arabia, look at the other countries involved in 9/11. >> melissa: saudi arabia is not a war torn country where you can't work with the government and get information, sir. >> again, they had people on 9/11. look at where they came from. we're using this as way to stop

terrorism, look what history has told us. >> melissa: you like this and then add saudi arabia on top? is that what you're saying? expand it? make it bigger? >> what i'm saying is get congress involved. make sure that it applies and adheres to the constitution. and make sure that we do this right. why bypass congress? people used to complain about president obama issuing orders. now is it okay if trump does those executive orders? congress plays a role in this. as a member of congress, we need to get together with republicans, democrats and do this the right way. >> melissa: all right, sir. thank you for coming on today. >> thank you, melissa. >> melissa: back to the big day, president trump's news conference. the media. listen. >> well, the leaks are real. you're the one that wrote about them and reported them. the leaks are real. you know what they said. you saw it. and the leaks are absolutely real. the news is fake because so much of the news is fake. one thing that i felt was very

important to do -- and i hope we can correct it. there's nobody that i have more respect for -- maybe a little bit -- than good reporters. it's very important to me. and especially in this position. it's very important. i don't want mind bad stories. i can handle a bad story better than anybody. as long as it's true. >> melissa: whew. a fox news contributor bernard whitman is a former pollster for president bill clinton and the ceo of whitman inside strategies. let me start with you. complaint ahead of this news conference is he's only calling on friendlies. that he's not calling on the other people. boy, he let everybody stand up and ask a question. there was nothing friendly about what we saw. >> they wanted questions, they got questions. and i think at one point trump said i'm enjoying this. if you fact check that statement, it probably comes out true. he clearly i think, from my

perspective, strode out to the podium with two things in mind. two act. first act was a pheupb city state of the union address pushing against an unaeurbl negative media narrative ab how his administration has begun. he said here's how i see things talking directly to millions watching tv. the second part of it was the q&a. it was striking. open rhetorical war fare with the press throughout most of it. and the people who love him, the people who elected him, they're watching that and they ate every minute of it up. people in the press, of course, i think are gonna say it was a frightening performance. >> melissa: bernard, on one hand, you have to give him credit because he let people ask questions. they responded. he responded. they responded. no one was standing on ceremony. there were a lot of lobs going back and forth in every direction. >> that press conference was a long rambling hot mess, just like his presidency has been,

just his campaign was. he claimed he had the biggest electoral win since ronald reagan. that's true if you don't clinton, barack obama election, both of them, and george h. w. bush. he said the rollout of his executive order on the travel ban was perfect. if it was perfect, i'd hate to see mediocre. he claimed the demise of flynn was due to fake news and bad reporting. the demise of flynn is because he lied to the vice president and american people. then he failed to call out russia for any one of a number of terrible things that they've been doing. all he said was they're bad. like russia is some sort of dog in the corner. this was completely -- he was completely bonkers. >> melissa: guy, on the flip side, there was a massive amount of news. you talked about tax reform. they're almost done with it. he said obama care, we're going to see the next version in march. there were a lot of news items in there.

>> you've honed in a few times on the obama feed. lot of us have been wondering when is the alternative plan going to be put out? he said early march. circle the calendar a couple weeks early in march. the other one that stuck out, a question about immigration and the executive order from president obama including among those dreamers. it sounded to me like the response from the president to that question to my ear was trump laying the ground work to on some level extend president obama's executive order on the dreamers. not the adults. that's a separate one. to me that was news worthy and whets my appetite for next week. >> melissa: bernard, did you hear that piece of it? lot of people went wild online when they heard that go by. that seemed news worthy. >> i would be very delighted if he actually extended the daca. he ran on being a business man, strong leader being able to bring discipline to the white

house. and it's anything but. the white house has been plagued by leaks, plagued by infighting. >> melissa: we're gonna get cut off. thank you so much. we'll be right back. tech: at safelite, we know how busy your life can be.

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>> melissa: secretary of state rex tillerson meeting his russian counterpart today for the first time. the two are in germany for the g-20 summit. tillerson calling the meeting productive but remaining vague on details, saying only that a wide variety of issues were discussed. rich epson joins us live from the state department. russian president putin commenting on ukraine today. what is he saying? >> reporter: good afternoon, melissa. russian president vladamir putin is blaming the ukrainian government for the violence in eastern ukraine saying it is that government that wants to use military force in that region in order to solve what he called a very complex problem.

russia news reports are also saying that the russian president wants to strengthen the fsb, the russian security agency. the trump administration has condemned russia for its actions in eastern ukraine and this afternoon, after meeting with secretary of state rex tillerson and his meeting with the russian foreign minister, tillerson pushed the russians to adhere to international agreements, in particular the cease fire between ukrainian government and russian rebels. >> do we search for new common ground, we expect russia to con o work to deescalate the violence in the ukraine. >> reporter: tillerson also said he wants to, the u.s. government wants to, consider working with the russian government, where it would benefit the u.s. people. the people of united states. however, he also said that if the u.s. and russia do not see eye to eye on a particular issue, then the u.s. will stand up for its ideals and principles. the specifics though on where

the u.s. might work with russia remain elusive beyond the trump administration saying they would seek to work together possibly on counter terrorism operations. melissa? >> melissa: rich, thank you. don't mess with texas. taking a stand on who can use what bathroom as the nfl weighs in over a transgender bill similar to the very controversial one in north carolina. >> our women and girls in the state of north carolina are not for sale. they're not for sale to hollywood, to any concert venue, to the nba or ncaa. before fibromyalgia, i was a doer. i was active. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. she also prescribed lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. for some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function,

so i feel better. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. with less pain, i can be more active. ask your doctor about lyrica.

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claire, here's your name your price tool. -oh, thanks, flo. -mm-hmm. jamie, don't forget to clean the fridge when you're done. she seems nice. she seems nice. [ door closes ] she's actually pretty nice. oh. yeah. >> melissa: professional and college sports getting involved in the culture wars, threatening states of retribution over gender bathroom laws. the nfl, which just held the

super bowl in houston, warning texas that a bill to limit transgender bathroom access similar to north carolina's hb2 could impact the location of future events. texas governor greg abbott hitting back today on america's news room. >> the nfl has its own share of problems. the nfl coddled its players who refused to stand for the national anthem. the nfl has its own problems with regard to people such as violence against women. the nfl has its own problems to solve. the last thing the nfl needs to do is to get into the business of telling states how to operate their own political operations. >> melissa: joining me is the executive vice president and executive editor for fox news. you told me you were in raleigh over the weekend. they are dealing with this problem. it's all over. >> yeah. it started in north carolina. it's gonna spread to other states. texas being the latest one, i guess. i went down to raleigh to talk

to people on both sides of the issue. there seems no way they will work this thing out peacefully. >> melissa: really? >> yeah. people concerned with transgender rights have a perfect reason to say that they fear that the north carolina law might actually legal aoeu discrimination against transgenders. okay. on the other hand, there are a lot of people in north carolina who don't like the idea of some guy walking into the ladies room because he feels pretty that day. >> melissa: it's not a problem that's going to be easily resolved. it's going into more and more places. texas is grappling with it. there's a lot of money at stake. when you talk about a league of any type pulling their event, that means a lot to local people in terms of the revenue they have planned on for the year. >> it's already cost north carolina millions of dollar. the nba has taken away the all-star game from charlotte and put it in new orleans. the ncaa the governing body for collegiate sports warned that it

will lose out on sports if it doesn't repeal this law. >> melissa: yeah. you heard the governor there. he has a point. he says who is the nfl to be grandstanding when you have all these various issues going on that seem very serious within the league. he was talking about domestic violence. work on your problems before you come and try an legislate to a state what they should and shouldn't be doing. you wouldn't let someone play that day, a woman, but a she was feeling like a man was one of the statements someone made. getting heated. >> governor abbott is standing up for texas. he's standing up for the rights of states. it's hard to understand why the sports associations, nba, nfl, ncaa feel they have to get into this gender war. probably the reason is they don't want to be the victims of boycots themselves. >> melissa: yeah, but why weigh into that? when i look -- i cover business all the time. seems like what you want to do is try and stay away from controversy at all costs.

to try and just not make any sort of statement on any side. no matter what you'll have someone very angry with you. >> that's right. >> melissa: so why are they weighing in? >> i think they're trying to have both sides of the argument. they're saying to states and cities, tow the line, do what these groups want you to do or we will punish you. but at the same time, they're refusing to comment publicly beyond some white bread statement saying that we are inclusive and against discrimination. >> melissa: is there any middle ground? is there a force that could solve it and find a solution that might make everybody a little unhappy and a little happy? >> so, north carolina tried. they thought they had a compromise at the end of last year where the cities that had passed these laws that allowed you to go into any bathroom were going to repeal their municipal legislation. the state legislature was going to repeal hb2 and there would be a six month cooling off period where we could decide what can we live with, what can we not?

that deal fell through. >> melissa: all right. stay on top of it. thank you very much. that was quite an hour. that is our show. stick around. shepard smith will have a lot more on president trump's news conference which just ended a little while ago. we'll see you soon. remember when you said men are superior drivers? yeah... yeah, then how'd i get this... ...allstate safe driving bonus check? ...only allstate sends you a bonus check for every six months you're accident free. silence. it's good to be in, good hands.

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are creating a stronger economy and the right environment in new york state for business to thrive. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today at esd.ny.gov >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast. 3:00 in washington. president trump held his first solo news conference since taking office. he blasted fake media and fake news, slammed reports of american spies keeping secrets from him. talked up the progress he said he believed he made in his administration and blamed his problems on his predecessor. >> to be honest, i inherited a mess. it's a mess, at home and abroad, a mess. >> shepard: and that was only the first few minutes. complete coverage of today's event. welcome to the new new normal. let's get to it.