>> a fox news alert. we are awaiting the white house press briefing set to begin any moment. i'm sandra smith. press secretary sean spicer will likely face some tough questions on north korea, this with warnings that its army is on maximum alert after vice president pence toured south korea and visited the demilitarized zone between north and south. the vice president reinforcing the administration's position that all options are on the table in dealing with i don't think yang and kim jon -- pyongyang and kim jong-un. what are we looking forward with here? >> these things tend to run 15 minutes behind. we're likely to hear more tough talk on north korea. that's the position this white house adopted. far different from the previous administration. president trump also pointing to

the failure of successive administrations from the past to deal with successive leaders of north korea. here's what he told us in an exclusive interview which will run tomorrow morning. not telegraphing again what he plans to do about north korea, but certainly saying he is not going to tolerate their nuclear development program. listen here. >> you read clinton's book. he said, oh, we made such a great peace deal. and it was a joke. look at different things over the years with president obama. everybody, he's been outplayed. they've all been outplayed by this gentle man. i just don't telegraph my moves. >> reporter: this situation has got an increasing sense of urgency after the weekend display in pyongyang. some new missiles and lot of missiles that have even long time observers of north korea worried about just what the size of the arsenal is. the u.s. carl vinson, a guided missile cruiser and guidele missile destroyer is in the sea

of japan as a show of force. the vice president mike pence there in seoul and the demilitarized zone saying that the time for strategic patience has come to an end. here's what pence said. >> just in the past few weeks the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new pot. in actions taken in syria and afghanistan. north korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the united states in this region. as our secretary me clear in south korea not long ago, we will defeat any attack and we will meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective response. >> reporter: so you can see the posture of this administration much tougher than the previous administration satellite tpos to show it looks like north korea is preparing for another nuclear test. the big warning is they are trying to develop a hydrogen

bomb instead of a nuclear test over the weekend, there was another missile test. this one a medium range missile that blew up just moments after it took off from the launch pad. some believe it might have been u.s. cyber hacking that was responsible for that. i'm told even when you're trying to hack these things you don't know if the reason the missile failed was the successful hacking or because north korea is just particularly bad at launching missiles. >> sandra: still a lot of questions. john roberts, thank you. as we do await that briefing, let's go to chris steirwald. north korea. you just listened to the warning coming from vice president pence. what is next? >> well, that pretty much is up to china. there's no question that the united states would have no trouble dispatching north korea from a military point of view. this is a starving nation of

essentially prisoners, brain washed prisoner, 20 million of them who live in this country. this is a humanitarian disaster and one that is waiting to get much much worse for both our allies in south korea potentially or for our partners in china. how this ends the unspooling of this is the big deal. it's not a question of whether we could dispatch kim jong-un's military. it's with him removed, what would happen in this woe be gone nation. >> sandra: going further than pence just warning north korea not to test the president's resolve. he said that the administrations, previous administrations, practiced strategic patience in the region and they vowed to end the era of strategic patience, saying it is over, chris. >> well, essentially what's happened here, trump has come in. he came into office having run on a platform of getting really tough with china on trade. threatening a trade war. threatening to label them currency manipulators.

doing all of this to china. now he said, he said it on twitter over the weekend, i'm not gonna do that because they're gonna help us with north korea. china is taking a harder line with north korea. they've cut off imports from north korea. the only thing of value that comes out of north korea. china is taking a tougher role. if the president is successful in getting china to take more ownership of dealing with kim jong-un and the on going humanitarian crisis and problems in north korea, that would be an enormous victory. that's the name of the game. can you make china take control? >> sandra: as we read comments from the white house, i want to run this by. kenneth duberstein was on face the nation talking about the struggle within the white house, who's running things, the communication coming out of it. he was saying that the president needs to empower one person to run the white house. listen to this. >> the president needs to empower one person to be the

white house chief of staff and the funnel rather than spokes in the wheel. the person who has to be designated first. dick cheney told me you can't have eight or nine people sitting around with one tough issue. >> your turn to talk. >> no, no. your turn to talk. no, no, your turn to talk. >> sandra: one person needs to be designated. that has happened with rice previs is supposed to be that person. doesn't seem like it's working that way. what did you think? >> ken duberstein knows successful administrations rely on people just not only being loyal to the president, but the president being loyal to his people. if you are doing an scorpions in a bottle, where you are pitting aides against one another. previs out, kushner out, cohen

is in, all of that drama, if you're not loyal to them. if you don't say, i believe in you, i'm going to play this out with you, if those people are living in panic, not only will they want to bring the president bad news for fear that their position will be diminished further, but also they're going to get crazy. they're going to get desperate because they're going to be looking for a win. they're going to be trying to force issues instead of taking a long view about how to make the overall administration a success. they will be trying to survive the next round of the apprentice. that doesn't work. you need loyalty from the staff up. you also need loyalty from the president down. >> ken duberstein has some experience to comment on that. let's get to the daily beef today, the new power center in trump land, talking about this axis of adults. secretary of defense jim mattis, rex tillerson homeland security secretary john kelly. the axis of adults.

>> well, we are seeing in addition to that, the rise of the busheys. politico talked about it today. it's a trend, where you are seeing people of experience, old hands, people who know their way around washington who deal, people like duberstein, who have been here before and can offer advice to the president. it's great to say you want to duane drain the swamp. if you don't know how it works, you will never change a thing. this city will run circles around you while you are in there stomping on the table saying you're going to get results. you need people who know how to get it done. mattis is one of those guys, certainly, but so, too, are a number of people from the bush administration and republican establishment who are starting to pop late this administration. >> sandra: you set it up nicely for us. thank you, sir, for joining us top of the hour. the pentagon is now taking up a review of its nuclear forces.

at the specific request of president trump, amid the rising tensions on the korean peninsula. comes as defense secretary james mattis is on the first leg of a week long trip to the middle east and africa. mattis sitting down with leaders in saudi arabia, egypt and israel. the trip follows a busy week for foreign policy inside the trump administration. jennifer griffin live at the pentagon with more on this. jennifer, what's the pentagon saying about the north korean missile test? >> sandra, the pentagon just, as you mentioned, just announced that defense secretary mattis ordered the commencement of a nuclear posture review to begin today. coincidence? i doubt it. the only comment from the pentagon was the 22 word terse statement issued on behalf of defense secretary mattis, quote, the president and his military team are aware of north korea's most recent unsuccessful missile launch the president has no further comment.

pentagon sources tell us the missile blew up just four seconds after launch. it was not the intercontinental ballistic missile that many had feared. sources tell us it was a medium range kn17 single stage liquid fuel missile, not the type of multistage solid fuel missile north korea tested just a few months ago which is a more advanced missile standard. >> sandra: jennifer, what do the experts think was on display in pyongyang at the military parade that we all saw on saturday? >> well, the most note worthy addition to this year's parade were these two long canisters that appeared for the first time. experts say are chinese made and allow for a longer range launch of capable striking the u.s. there were two missiles on display, a submarine launched ballistic missile successfully tested in august. the other was its land variation tested in february. it's important to remember that north korea has never successfully tested a missile capable of reaching the u.s.

lot of what was on display could be mockups or fakes. in fact, we found a piece in the fox archives from when i was a correspondent in moscow about how those missiles soviets paraded through red square during the cold war were fake. >> recent interviews with the engineers who worked on these rockets reveal most of the nuclear war heads paraded across red square in the 1960s were fakes, dummies designed to fool the americans to give the impression the soviet union was winning the cold war arms race. >> it was only an imitation. >> reporter: alexander kobakov said the phoney rockets were tied down so they would not blow away when the wind whipped across red square. i did that piece 19 years ago from moscow. really, sandra, we don't know what kim jong-un really has, despite the show of might at the parade on saturday. sandra? >> sandra: amazing reporting, as always, jen griffin. fun to see you there as well.

all right. we are awaiting the white house press briefing. we will bring that to you when it begins. it is a busy monday. we'll be right back. >> i will say that it's obviously watching another unsuccessful military attack continues to ensure that we keep safe, not just south korea, other areas of the region safe, but it is good for the world. all finished.

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more secure. from south korea, the vice president will head to japan, continue to provide updates as they warrant during the vice president's trip throughout the rest of the week. looking ahead, tomorrow the president heads to wisconsin where he'll talk about his buy america, hire america agenda at snap-on tools in wisconsin. for those who aren't aware, snap-on is a prime example of a company that builds american made tools with american workers for u.s. taxpayers. we'll be having a background briefing later this afternoon with senior administration officials regarding the details of the trip. further guidance should be coming out in your in boxes momentarily. on wednesday, the president will sign the veterans choice program extension and improvement act. the president is proud to bin this legislation which passed unanimously by the senate early this month. the bill ensures that veterans have certainty and continuity of care while this administration works with congress to develop a plan that reforms the va system and gives our nation's heroes

the care they deserve. he'll also host the new england patriots this wednesday to congratulate them on their fifth super bowl win. on thursday, the prime minister of italy will be here for an official visit. with that, i'll kick it off to the birthday boy, mr. jim costa. >> i'll take it. thank you, sean. does the president have a red line when it comes to north korea that if they cross it, they will bring about some kind of military the u.s.? >> i think what we talked about, you know, the use of red lines in the past with respect to syria, the president's red line, that drawing red lines hasn't really worked in the past. he holds his cards close to the vest. you're not going to see him telegraphing how he's going to respond to any military or other situation going forth. that's just something that he believes has not served us well in the past. we did this with mosul. it really gives the intended

recipient of action a heads up as to what's going on. i don't think that you're going to see the president drawing red lines in the sand, but i think the action he took in syria shows that, when appropriate, this president will take action. >> syria is one thing. north korea is quite another when they have nuclear ambitions the way that they do. >> right. >> when you talk about, well we did this to syria and we did this to afghanistan, is that -- is that keeping with bombastic rhetoric. >> please don't read too much into that. it's quite the opposite. i think with respect to north korea in particular, the president had a really good meeting with president xi where i think he spoke about the relationship that they made down there and that they continued to work to improve. the results of that are paying off. i think you see china playing a

much more active role with respect to north korea. both politically and economically that they can continue to apply pressure to achieve results. i think we're going to continue to urge china to exhibit its influence in the region to get better results. >> north korea did launch that missile. >> i understand that and it failed. we're well aware of what's going on. we monitored that situation. the president was kept up to date. i think we're going to continue to work with china in particular to help find way forward on this. john? >> the president spoke about this relationship between president xi. president xi is meeting with the north korean government to -- [ inaudible ] >> it seems as if that effort did not work. in addition to that, the vice foreign minister of north korea said to the bbc today that north

korea will test its missiles on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. so my question is, what kind of pressure is china putting on north korea? >> again, this goes back to what jim was asking. for us to telegraph what we're gonna do or ask others to do would not be a smart strategy to lay it all out in public. i think if you realize, for example, on the economic side of things, china is the number one importer of north korean coal. i think to see them curtail some of that has a real economic impact on the region. there's a lot of economic and political pressure points that china can utilize. we've been very encouraged with the direction they're going. >> north korea is essentially what they tried to do over the weekend thumbing its nose. and even china with what they attempted to do. >> i understand the question. i think we're just not there

yet. we've got a lot of tools and conversations that are on going. we've had very productive direction that we've seen china move in. i think there's an agreement by everyone so far in that a nuclear capable north korea is not in anybody's best interest. i think we're going to continue to work with the chinese in particular on this case. >> was there a review of the white house visitor log? >> i'm sorry? >> what was the extent of the view of the white house visitor log? what made you change your mind and not continue releasing them? >> as was noted on friday, we are following the same policy that every administration from the beginning of time has used with respect to visitors log. we will comply with the federal records act as stated by law. >> why does the president object to people knowing who is coming into the white house? >> it's not a question of objecting. it's about following the law. we are following the law as the presidential records act and the

federal records act prescribe it. it's the same policy that every administration had up until the obama administration. frankly the faux administration that the obama administration put out who they would scrub who they didn't want put out didn't serve anybody well. the president wants to make sure people can go, provide information and details. there's people who want to be able to come, have that conversation with members of the administration the same way they would do with members of congress. go into their office. >> why didn't he take this opportunity to one up the transparency game? >> i'm trying to explain that. we recognize there's a privacy aspect to allowing citizens to come and express their views. that's why we maintained the same policy every other administration did prior to the last one. the last one was an faux level of doing that. when you go through and scrub someone's name out that you don't want everyone to know that's not an honest attempt at doing that. we are going to follow the law

that every administration did up until the last one. >> the reversal friday, national security and privacy concerns. both of those were clear exemptions in the obama administration that led to that scrubbing. so why exactly is the reverse here, third rational that you're giving. >> i think i just touched on privacy. >> i didn't know the obama administration had that exception. >> i think the problem is we don't know what the -- they said what it was. but you don't know who got left off and who didn't. they chose to not put people out for whatever reason. they gave an excuse. no one questioned it. so the question is -- i think the bottom line is, as i said to caitlin, is that we're going to have the same policy that every president has had through time and comply with the law on both

fronts. again, you remember, it's interesting. we're following basically the same thing that members of congress follow. you go and meet with a member of congress. there's an option for people to be able to express their opinion. if they want to make it public who's meeting with them. in a lot of cases we do. we bring in you guys to a greater extent than we've done before. i think there's an opportunity sometimes for the american people who want to come in and have a conversation and not become, you know, be able to share their view. again -- but remember, this is the same policy that every president and every administration has followed. >> this president entered office saying he was going to drain the swamp. under the policy, a lobbyist on the campaign trail, a washington insider, members of the swamp with walk into the white house and there's no recourse to hold

the president to his own word. >> the visitor logs to all the white house components omb, council of economic quality, u.s. trade representative, all of those are subject to federal records act. we're complying with that. my point is, look, this is the policy that's existed from the beginning of time since they were kept. through the last -- the last one was a faux attempt at that. it's not being transparent when you scrub out the names of the people you don't want anyone to know were here. so i think we made a decision to stay in line with the laws, follow the same procedures that everyone else has. >> on north korea, is the president prepared to act alone or does he feel that congress should be somehow involved in the process if any decision that includes the use of force is made? >> i think he's going to utilize the powers under article 2 of the constitution. i think what you saw with respect to the action he had

with syria, he made sure that members of congress were notified of his action in a very very short amount of time. we'll continue to seek their input on the policy overall and then make sure they're notified. the bigger consultation issue is what we do with the larger world community and have that dialogue to make sure that every country that can is putting the appropriate level of economic and political pressure on north korea to act in a way that helps u us. >> tax filing day coming up. is the president going to release his 2016 tax return, given that we can assume maybe those are not under audit. >> no, you can't. they are. i think it's been covered before. same thing that was discussed during the campaign trail. the president is under audit. it's a routine one that continues. i think that the american public knows clearly where he stands. this is something he made clear

during the election cycle. hold on. one time that it was done the people understand how successful the president's been and how much he's paid in taxes. we're under the same audit that existed. so nothing has changed. >> irs never comments on individual taxpayer information. this obviously extraordinary case involving the president of the united states. the president could authorize the irs presumably to go ahead and confirm that he's under audit and give us some details about what years, how long is it expected to take. will the president authorize the irs to confirm -- >> i think the president's view on this has been very clear from the campaign and the american people understood it when they elected him in november. >> political leaders in hawaii are reviewing plans, emergency planes in case they are attacked. does the president believe the

level of tension between the united states and north korea is at the point where we should start reviewing emergency attack plans? >> so just to be clear, and again, i would just tell you that there are military contingency plans for almost every scenario in numerous aspects around the world, here at home, everything from humanitarian relief to refugee crises to attacks. that is standard military procedure, to have those kind of things. so, to make that in any way shape or form sound new would be a mistake. it is a standard operating procedure to plan for contingencies in a number of operations, a number of hot spots throughout the world on a regular basis. with respect to korea in particular, that's been going on for decades. >> how high does the president view the threat level from north korea? >> the president's made it clear. we're aware of the activities that they've engaged in and we're monitoring them and the

national security team continues to keep them up to date. >> one of the reasons successive administrations have chosen to negotiate with the leaders of north korea is because there are no good military options to deal with them. does the president believe that there are viable military options for dealing with north korea? without telegraphing them. >> i think taking anything on or off the table is in pittsburgh limiting your options to some degree. i'm not going to even discuss that. >> is the president concerned about reports of international referendum that gives the president sweeping powers. >> my understanding is there's an international commission that is reviewing this, some issues to report 10 to 12 days. we'll wait and let them do their job. there are international monitors throughout turkey. i think we'd rather not get ahead of that report and start to make decisions without

knowing. there are observers there, as there routinely are. >> just the regularities, the act that air one is going through to try to accumulate these powers, what does the president make of that? >> they have a right to have elections. their people participated in that before we start getting into their governing system, let this commission get through its work. steve? >> when vice president pence says that with regarding north korea's strategic patience is over, what does that mean exactly? >> the era of strategic patience was a policy that the obama administration enacted to basically wait and see. i think we have now understood that that policy is not one that is prudent for the united states. i think that's why you've seen stepped up efforts particularly with respect to china. and that's why i think the relationship that the president really is building on from the time that he spent down in phar

a-lago with president xi is going to produce results. part of it is to actively engaged with world partners like china that have political influence that they can utilize. >> what would it take to restart some sort of talks with north korea? >> again, i'm not going to get ahead of the policies right now. i think we're seeing some active engagement with china. that's helped us. so let's see how that goes. >> on north korea. you're doing it today. you said it before. you didn't want to telegraph the moves the president will make. a kremlin spokes person said president trump is more unpredictable than kim jong-un. what point does this unpredictability become a liability? >> respectfully i would disagree. the rest of the world, when he acted in syria in particular, the world community, not just the world community, but here at home on a bipartisan basis applauded the president's

actions. absolutely. it's -- you have to look at the flip. when you look at some of the action we've taken in the past, mosul being a good example, where we started to explain what we're going to do. that takes a huge element off the table of not only surprise, but achieving the effect that you're trying to do. so, the world community and especially the more that he meets with world leaders and developing relationships, repairing relationships and reasserting the u.s. place around the globe should be reassuring not just to us here at home, but around the globe people are excited that the president is taking action and decisively so. >> you're not taking options off the table. officials estimated that war on the korean men -- pen inaou la. is that an acceptance of that risk by the trump administration? >> no. again, i think the point is that you get into a series of

hypotheticals about what you will take on or off the table. will we do this or that? at some point you start to narrow your options. the president has long held a strategy that doing that begins to give enemy, opponent, who ever, even if it's just a negotiation the options of knowing where to go and where not to go. >> could you accept the risk of war? >> no. by what you're trying to do is get us to take something off. at the end of the day, we'll all act in america's best interest, to ensure that our national interests are protected. so to say we're taking something off the table, that would limit what we have to do. we are going to make sure we do what we have to do to protect our national interest. with respect to south korea, we've been very clear, the president spoke clearly about the need to strengthen and cement the alliance that we have

with south korea during this visit. >> just want to be clear. flip the coin. you're not taking options off the table. if you flip it, then you're accepting -- >> that's a stretch. i think -- no. it's not a question of taking the risk or not taking the risk. you can start to go tkourpb a very dangerous path. will you use this? will you not use that? the president is very clear. everybody who has been briefed on it. when you look at the quality of the national security team that's surrounding him, we're probably the best in our nation's history. you know the president's getting unbelievably sound and strategic advice on how to protect our national interest. >> last week you dismissed north korea and said it isn't a threat if you can't go through with it. what's changed? what's our goal in north korea? what's the strategy? what's your response to critics who say this is just smoke and mirrors to hide some of the problems on the white house

staff and feelings domestically. >> i don't think there's anybody in the world who would not believe that north korea's actions are provocative and a concern. so the actions that we're taking -- >> you said that it was -- >> they are appropriate and justified. we're working with the world community. as i mentioned today, especially china, which is really acting in a historic way to ensure that our national interest and the safety of the peninsula is protected. >> what about criticism from paoeupl on the hill who say you're hiding a domestic agenda that isn't working? >> i haven't heard that >> i di. >> well, we travel in different circles. i don't think there's anybody who honestly believes that after seeing the launches that they're taking and the work they're under taking that any attempt to protect our country and national interest is anything other than

the right and justified thing to do. francesca? >> thank you, sean. this morning in an interview, you referred to the missile launch as an unsuccessful military attack. that contradicts what other white house officials said. >> it was an unsuccessful launch. >> there is no specific evidence this was some sort of attack. >> it was an unsuccessful missile launch. >> okay. thank you. >> you're welcome. glenn. >> you talked about strategic, the end of strategic in the context, attempting to expand china's role in pressuring north korea. do you believe china has the power to change north korea if they choose to do so? >> that's a good question. i think they can definitely try. there's economic and political points that they could be pushing. whether or not they achieve that outcome is yet to be seen. i think there's a lot of

influence that they could exhibit in both of those areas and we'll have to see. but it's clearly the prudent thing for the president to do to try to build that relationship with president xi and see if we get a human outcome in all of our best interests. jonathan? >> how concerned are you that the uptick in the language, the tweets, could potentially provoke unintentionally military action? is there a concern that a lot of the words being thrown around could have an unforeseen impact? just explain to me from the president, how concerned he is of the risk of unintentional action. >> i think we're taking prudent steps. >> to follow up on the tax question. you've been asked about this obviously 1,000 times. >> thank you. >> you always talk about under audit. is it time to say once and for all the president is never going

to release his tax returns? >> we'll have to get back to you on that. >> i mean, really. >> really. >> what do you think? >> i said i'd have to get back to you on that. he is still under audit. statement still stands. >> okay. on north korea, you said that china's playing an active role, a historic role right now in pressuring the north koreans. what are they doing? >> when you look at what the economic, coal in particular, that is north korea's number one export. i think they have taken some very helpful economic actions and exhibited positive signs on the diplomatic front as well. but again, this is something that's an on going conversation, both on the relationship with president xi. the president noted before. we'll have to see. it is encouraging the signs that china is showing.

>> the president suggested there was a quid pro quo with china because they were helping or going to help with north korea. if china does not adequately put pressure on north korea, is he gonna go back? >> there's a couple things on that. number one, they haven't been manipulating their currency. that's a fact. number two, i think the president's tweet said clearly to do so at this time would not be prudent. it's not a quid pro quo. it's just saying, in the middle of them taking very positive signs s ts to help us address issue in south korea, to label them a currency manipulator would be productive in achieving a very very important national strategic objective. >> on both taxes and the visitor logs, there are now ethics experts on both sides of the aisle who say this is the least transparent administration in

decades. how do you respond? >> i think we've taken several steps to allow people access to this white house, in terms of, in particular, the press. we hold regular conferences, we release participant lists, we give the press the opportunity to come into the room, hear part of the discussion. i would respectfully disagree with that. abby? >> what do you say about 45% of americans don't believe the president -- only 45% believe he will keep his promises. given some reversals in the last week, does he risk being seen as a flip floper? >> i don't think so. i mentioned on the currency, on nato. we talked about this last week. the question in my mind isn't -- looking at the issue and seeing -- i mentioned nato. there are certain things. kwrerpbgs on nato, if you go back to september 29th of last

year. he was talking very specifically about some of the moves that he was seeing nato make in a positive direction. already at that point encouraging them. in the case of china, they aren't, since he's been in office, manipulating their currency. the treasury did issue a report on friday that put them on a watch list with a number of other countries. i know that it's easy to just take an issue and say, well, he's not -- make it seem very black and white. but on these particular issues, you can see there's movement to the president's position. i would say he's achieving a lot of results. when you talk about the big issues that he promised the american people in terms of immigration, you see immigration down 60% at the border. on jobs, jobs are coming back, over and over again you're seeing companies talk about new job creation here, new manufacturing here. the executive orders he's signing are consistent with the promises that he made to the american people on the campaign trail. an issue after issue, whether it's immigration, job creation,

national security, the president made very clear promises to the american people that over and over again he's achieving great success on. so i would argue we're going to continue to see the president not only keep his word, but be rewarded by the american people on that front. >> on a separate issue, president continued to travel to mar a-lago or any other place where he's conducting official business. does the white house believe those other locations should be treated like this building, in the sense that you will be transparent about who he's meeting with and what kind of official business he's conducting while he's there. is that a commitment you are willing to make? >> i think we've been fairly consistent with weeding out who he's meeting with and what he's done, providing the pool access to his where abouts. i think we generally do. obviously president has time to spend with family. he makes phone calls.

we generally provide readouts of the phone calls with leaders whether here or florida. we've done a fairly good job of making sure people know who he's meeting with and speaking to. >> long stretches of time go by and we get reports saying we've been asking the white house information but we don't get that information. >> i understand some days you don't get it as quick as you want. >> sometimes we never get it. >> with all due respect, he's entitled to have moments with his family and private time. i think respectfully i would disagree. i think we do a very good job of getting you information, of bringing you along to events, whether he's here or at a location or even going out to dinner. we lived up to that. the president is entitled to have some time with his family and friends to just catch up. >> that's a difference in what

you're saying. >> what i'm saying, her question was about official business. when he does have a call and when he does meet with advisers, we generally put it out. when he's meeting internally. in the same way when he's meeting here with his staff, we don't read out every staff meeting that's going on. when he's down traveling and having meetings, whether on air force one or wherever, that's what his staff does. they provide updates and policy briefings and give him an opportunity to make key decisions with their insight into a particular issue. that's what all presidents do. i would respectfully suggest that we have done a really good job making sure that the pool is provided information in terms of his where abouts. we provided background briefings on issues that are coming up. so, you know, i guess there's always going to be a back and forth. you're always going to want more. i think we tried to do what we can to get you that information. thank you very much. we look forward to seeing you in wisconsin tomorrow if you can.

thank you. >> sandra: that was sean spicer, the white house press secretary, wrapping up the daily briefing on this monday afternoon. running about 30 to 40 minutes in length. little bit shorter than normal. but he did answer some very, very important questions when it did come to north korea. let's bring in staff writer for the specialist. jessica, i'll start with you first. when asked about the president's use of red lines, sean spicer responded drawing red lines hasn't worked in the past, the president won't telegraph what his actions will be in the future. >> i thought that was his smartest answer today. he did remain calm through the entire press conference with some heated top eubgs. not only on north korea, but also on president trump's tax returns and other issues. i thought that was incredibly smart. that's something we've been talk about, certainly since president obama drew the red line and what happened with the campaign issue

and then after the strikes about a week and a half ago now. people comparing the action for president trump versus what president obama did there. even though he tried for authorization and didn't get it. smart. >> sandra: brie, the president said -- sean spicer said the president had a good meeting with the president of china. he also said we've been very encouraged by the direction in which china is going referencing their impact and influence on north korea. >> yeah. i think it's important that china doesn't want to lose control of north korea. doesn't want to lose control of the situation. the fact that donald trump is saying that the meeting went very well indicates that they're willing to work with us and work with north korea in order to meet our demands and what we want. i think that all throughout the obama administration and the final years of his presidency, it was very clear that north korea's aggressive behavior was

rapidly escalating. obama's response saying that's not very nice wasn't really working. whenever he would come out and condemn a missile test, you know, they would just continue to ramp up their efforts, continue to ramp up their aggression. so i think changing of the strategy and saying, you know, we are not going to tolerate this. >> i do take your point. they did try to launch a missile on saturday. i understand they failed. it's not like they said, oh, president trump is in town, so i'm not going to be doing anything. for you to say it was clear coming out of the meeting with president xi that they were going to work together. what sean spicer won't say what the arrangement is. what did president trump ask from him? not just hey can you help us out and i won't call you a currency manipulator. what are the facts here about what the arrangement is? >> sandra: sean spicer did reit late that the president will hold cards close to his vest.

he did go on to say, talking about the message that the president is sending that the white house is sending. he said syria has shown that, when appropriate, the president will take decisive action. jessica? >> yep, he did say that. we heard a lot more that all the options are on the table and a wide variety of theaters across the world since president trump has come into office. i would like to know what that entails. is it possible that we're going to war with syria, north korea and do that? i'm not completely sure. i think we would need to look to general mcmaster more than what president trump or sean spicer is saying about this. i know president trump has emphasized how seriously he takes the opinions of these generals who are making these decisions. but it's not particularly comforting to me to hear that all of the options are on the table. but i know there are a lot of people who feel differently. >> sandra: sean spicer saying we will do what is needed to protect america on south korea.

he just said under president trump our iron clad alliance will be evenen stronger. our nations will be safer. brie, jessica, thanks for sticking around. >> thank you. >> sandra: with north korea looking into a threat, lawmakers in hawaii are calling for an emergency response plan in the event of an attack from north korea. the issue did come up in the white house press briefing just a few moments ago when asked by john roberts about it. >> there are military contingency plans for almost every scenario. the president made clear we are aware of the activities this they engaged in. we're monitoring them. the national security team continues to keep them up to date. >> sandra: jonathan hunt joins us live from los angeles. what are we learning, jonathan? >> thanks, sandra. obviously sabers are being rattled and so are nerves. from the u.s. point of view, nowhere more so than in hawaii which simply by accident would almost certainly be the first u.s. target for any north korean

strike. and with north korea parading what it said were long range intercontinental ballistic missiles over the weekend, some officials in hawaii are looking back to the future, calling for reaquipping of fallout shelters. matt lopresti said they were last modified in 1985. now, the truth is north korea does not yet have the capability to hit hawaii with nuclear or conventional weapons. but it certainly is trying. >> we know they have nuclear weapons because they have conducted nuclear tests. the question is, how close are they to an intercontinental ballistic miss thal can reach our homeland? and the short answer is, we don't know. there are various estimates among the intelligence community on how long it would take. again, i have no doubt that they are driving toward that and every test, failure or success, helps them. >> on top of that, it is a major

technological step to go from an under ground test of a nuclear device to putting a nuclear war head on a long range missile. and the north koreans are not believed to have made that leap yet. but the u.s. is taking no chances, constantly honing its missile defense capabilities with the less than easy aim of shooting down any north korean missile ever headed towards the u.s. and, sandra, if we take kim jong-un at his word, those u.s. missile defense capabilities will be tested by a real attack at some point in the not too distant future. sandra? >> sandra: all right, jonathan hunt, thank you. for more on this, let's bring in steve danes on the senate committee of homeland security governmental affairs and appropriations. he is just returning from an overseas congressional trip to asia. senator, good of you to be here. >> thanks for having me. >> sandra: let's stick with what we just heard on hawaii now

considering response options on north korea. >> well, we're dealing with a madman in north korea. kim jong-un is irrational and irrational actors like that are a threat to the world. i was over in china last week. we met with premiere lee in beijing. in fact, i spent a lot of time in asia. 25 years ago i was doing business there with proctor and gamble. my family and i lived in china for six years. so i have been watching this carefully for many, many years. here's the concern. do you remember back in 1994, president clinton signed a nuclear peace deal with the north koreans. well, now 22 years later, where are we at? the world now is closer to seeing a nuclear north korea, a north korea with icbm's than ever before. that is a direct threat to hawaii. that is a direct threat to the western united states. that's a direct threat to the entire continental united states. and that is why this era of

strategic patience is over. and you're seeing a leadership now from president trump, vice president pence to ensure that all options are on the table here to resolve this issue with north korea. >> sandra: you know, right off the bat, sean spicer was asked at that white house press briefing whether or not the president is going to use red lines. first of all, here was the response. >> drawing red lines hasn't really worked in the past. he holds his cards close to the vest. and i think you're not gonna see him telegraphing how he's going to respond to any military or other situation going forward. >> they launched a missile. >> i understand that. and it failed. we're well aware of what's going object. >> sandra: senator, is that a good strategy? >> well, the president is now leading from up front than leading from behind which we saw from the prior administration. president trump's decisive actions in syria, in afghanistan, by delivering a strong message to north korea, is actually making the world

safer. i believe strongly in the peace through strength doctrine of ronald reagan. you're seeing that. in our trip to asia last week, meeting with the chinese leaders, meeting with japanese leaders, they have got great respect for president trump. his leadership now is actually stablizing the situation because there's clarity now in terms of the need to focus on denuclearizing north korea. when we met with premiere lee, we asked for his help with trade sanctions. we realize 90% of the trade with north korea comes from china. so china plays a very important role in a peaceful resolution in what's tkpwgoing on in north ko. >> sandra: sean spicer was just asked that question in the briefing. does china have the ability and the power to change north korea's behavior? his response was, that's a good question. based on what you know in your experience, do they? what role will china play? >> well, we had very frank and

constructive conversations with premiere lee about how they can help resolve the situation in north korea. i do believe china plays an important role in bringing a peaceful resolution to what's going on in north korea. it's going to take their help. they can stop their oil, their coal, their trade with north korea and isolate north korea because, really, they hold the key with 90% of the trade coming from china. i think china holds very important economic keys as it relates to sanctions to resolving this issue peacefully with north korea. >> sandra: overall the messaging coming out of the white house on this. all these events unfolding over the weekend. lot of talk about what's happening inside that white house reaction. how are things going, senator? >> well, i can tell you the message i heard over in asia last week was a renewed respect for presidented trump's decisiveness. they are seeing what he is doing on the world stage. they're seeing that he is

reaching out to world leaders. his meetings with prime minister abe of japan earlier. his successful summit with president xi in florida last week. this all bodes well of having constructive dialogue with the important players there in asia. but also, make no mistake, president trump realizes this peace through strength approach in the world and this decisiveness with his actions in syria and around the world are garnering new respect for the united states. that keeps the world safer. >> sandra: all right. you just heard that out of the white house as well. senator steve danes, thank you for being here. good to see you. fox news alert. an army blackhawk helicopter, military helicopter, has crashed right outside our nation's capital. who was on board? we have this next. [vo] quickbooks introduces jeanette

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>> sandra: a fox news alert on an army blackhawk helicopter.

it's crashed at a golf course in maryland. three military personnel were on board from northern virginia. an army spokesperson said one of the crew was flown to the hospital. here's shep. >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast, 3:00 a.m. d.c. at 4:00 a.m. in seoul. mike pence is warning that united states is out of patience with kim jong-un. the president said don't test us. ahead, how president trump backed up that message today and how dangerous this rhetorical escalation may become. plus, the hunt for the facebook killer. he recorded himself murdering a man and posted it online. police say he's armed and dangerous and they're trying to find him before he kills again. and breaking this afternoon, word of an intense search right now near some schools. a live update from investigators is but minutes