obviously, i'll reserve judgment until i see the final report. they were professional, courteous, i have no complaints about anyone's conduct. >> he believes as i do that it is outrageous. i cannot imagine for what reaso reason. english tailoring has always been better than italian tailoring. [indistinct question] >> i don't, and neither does he. i think what's happening here is

the special counsel will try to manufacture a crime and to say it looks, prosecute you for this if you simply admit you were colluding with the russians and donald trump knew everything. in other words, bear false witness against the president. i've known paul manafort for over 40 years and i don't believe he is going to do that. i'm sure they are far more extensive and complicated but i have no idea what charge he could be indicted on or whether that charge is fair, i just don't know. there was no discussion of coming back, although i would certainly be open to it under the right circumstances.

>> ]indistinct question] >> i do not know general flynn. >> jon: there is former donald trump advisor roger stone who played a role in the campaign that got the president elected coming out of a meeting in front of the house intelligence committee, they have been investigating whether there was russian compromising of the election and collusion of the election efforts and he has been testifying about that. as you heard him say, he is complaining that the charges against him and his fellow associate paul manafort made it very publicly but the testimony takes place in private, that seems to be what he wanted to get out there and answer every question thrown at him. >> heather: he's been out there a lot, follow him on twitter and you can see what he has to say. >> jon: this fox news alert, we await president donald trump at a joint news conference with the prime minister of spain, we

also expect reaction from the president to a wide range of issues. including tax reform and the nfl protest. we will bring you those remarks as soon as they begin, hello and welcome to the second hour of "happening now," i'm jon scott. >> heather: i'm heather childers. while we wait for the president we are also watching capitol hill where the last-ditch republican effort to repeal obamacare appears to be on life support in the senate. susan collins joining rand paul, john mccain on the no vote on the graham cassidy bill, putting g.o.p. leaders are short on the 50 votes they need. mike emanuel is life for us on capitol hill with the latest, hi, mike. >> g.o.p. leaders are facing an end of the fiscal year deadline to act. i caught up with lindsey graham earlier in the hallway and asked about the challenge of getting to 50 50 yes votes.

>> we have our backs against the wall in terms of timing, we are where we are. the good news for me is that more and more governors are coming on board, i think we are up to 20 now. >> top democrat sound excited that republicans are lacking the votes in favor of the bill so far and did some celebrating with activists earlier today. >> we have not won yet but we are on the edge of victory. and it wouldn't have happened without you. keep fighting until this bill is gone and will never come back again. >> some key democrats are calling for a return to bipartisan talks featuring senator lamar alexander of tennessee and patty murray of washington state, they were working on a bipartisan fix up until about a week ago. >> we have kind of a deadline this week, i think they were very close and as you know there

are three elements, one is the reinsurance of the second is the cost sharing in the third is to get some states some flexibility with the same amount of money coming to the states which is different than graham cassidy's. >> the senate majority leader has not said what his next move will be on health care. >> we think the american people deserve a better way forward, like returning more power to the states where americans actually live and allowing for reforms that can actually lower costs and improve care and moving beyond the growing failures of failed law called obamacare. >> there are a lot of frustrated republicans on capitol hill who have campaigned for seven years on scrapping obamacare and so far they've been unable to find a piece of legislation that 50 republican senators can support you. >> heather: thank you. >> jon: there is growing speculation that the apparent collapse of the latest effort to

repeal obamacare could drive a bigger wedge between president trump and the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. with new reports that the white house plans to blame senator mcconnell if graham cassidy does it fail. joining me now, joe trippi. and former communications director for senator tom coburn. there is always a blame game in washington if something like this happens, if a piece of legislation doesn't get off the ground, what do you think of the white house blaming the senate majority leader? >> i think this has been a fight that's been brewing for quite a while. the first couple of times the health care repeal and replace failed it was mcconnell saying the president wasn't involved or not involved enough, his expectations were too high. the white house has always fired

back, they took mcconnell on his word that he would have the votes and he didn't. this is a question of -- donald trump ran against the establishment of the republican party, mitch mcconnell is the poster child for that establishment. they are going to have this fight, it's probably going to keep going that they need each other, he needs mitch mcconnell to get anything through. that's why this fight is always sort of interesting as a democrat to watch. >> jon: you've also got the interesting prospect of the president's transportation secretary is married to mitch mcconnell. that would be an uncomfortable cabinet meeting if you were to go after the majority leader. >> it is an uncomfortable situation, i think trump is going too far in blaming mcconnell. i think mcconnell could have done more to help republicans coalesce around a real alternative to obamacare years before trump was even elected but mitch mcconnell is not

responsible for donald trump's decision to pick a fight with the nfl days before a critical vote. the g.o.p. senators feel like presidential leadership is always required for big changes to happen in washington. other presidents have done that and they feel like trump has not done enough, he's done for some things well, he's brought people into the white house but at the end of the day, presidents create big change, not senate majority leader's. the g.o.p. has to focus on cost, does the silicon valley study that shows obamacare is going to be unaffordable in 90% of the country next year. >> jon: one of the things republicans seem to think they can get past his tax reform. what do you see their chance as? >> i think they have to get tax reform done, it's going to be a heavy lift but taxes are an issue that tend to unite

republicans, i think they are more comfortable with the issue of tax reform, it's something they can understand and talk about with a much higher level of comfort in health care. i wouldn't separate the two, i think if you want to lower cost you need to think about the fact that the health care system we have was created by tax laws. >> jon: let me interrupt you for a second and we will get back to you guys in a minute. adam schiff speaking now live. >> we hope he will cooperate in the future, if not it will be necessary to subpoena him to bring him back to answer those important questions. [indistinct question] >> jon: we didn't hear a great deal from adam schiff, i believe he was talking about roger stone who just testified in front of the committee, roger stone suggested he answer to virtually every question that the committee gave him but apparently not to the satisfaction of the congressman

from california. joe, would democrats get on board with tax reform? >> we've got to do something about health care. there are problems with obamacare, democrats have admitted that. i think at some point, whether it's patty murray and lamar alexander, they can get together and help stabilize the market, the senate needs to work with democrats and republicans together to show sure of the problems. if this bill fails, as it clearly looks like it is going to, they've got to address health care, then get the tax reform. maybe they are going to go to tax reform next, at some point they have to get to fixing the health care system. >> jon: let's talk a little bit about electoral politics. its primary day in alabama, president trump and mitch mcconnell are both supporting senator luther strange. he was appointed to fill up jeff

sessions' seat. to strangers in a very tight primary race with former state supreme court justice roy bohr. on this one, the majority leader of the senate and the president are aligned. but it's an interesting race that pits republican against republican republican in a critical state. >> the g.o.p. is concerned about this race not because he could lose the general election but because he could win it. if there is any slam dunk race on a statewide basis, alabama is going to be it. democrats haven't gotten more than 40% in the senate on the democratic side in a senate race since 1996. this is almost certainly going to be the deciding election in terms of the primary. the problem is that the g.o.p. faces is who do we want as our brand ambassador? people like tim scott are very articulate and can speak to the real issues of the country which

are described as a political culture war. in the 1980s the cultural or was about social issues, today it is about free speech and attorney general sessions is talking today about free speech and civil rights. the race in alabama is really a litmus test on political correctness. my sense is primary voters are going to pick the least politically correct member but he may not be the most effective brand ambassador in the senate. >> jon: luther strange is already held the job for some months, he's got the president and majority leader behind him, why is he -- it's going to be a squeaker of an election. >> i should disclose that i am an advisor to doug jones. look, i think part of this goes back to what you are talking about. the fight between mcconnell's

wing of the party in terms of the establishment, i think this was trump listening to mcconnell and wanting to be there, particularly during this health care fight, he needed mcconnell to try to get the votes together, luther strange is a member of the u.s. senate, this was him siding with those folks hoping to help get the boat and i think it's actually a win-win for him. he's with them if they lose tonight, he will blame it on mcconnell and frankly roy moore -- with steve bannon over there supporting roy moore, he sort of has two dogs in the fight for lack of a better way of putting it. and i think it works out fine for him either way. >> jon: the other part of this race we didn't talk about, steve bannon was supporting roy moore and the president is supporting luther strange. fascinating race, we will see what the voters decide. thanks very much. >> heather: in the meantime we are awaiting a joint news

conference, president trump and the spanish prime minister set to take questions about 30 minutes from now in the white house rose garden. we will bring it to you live one that begins, plus a big day on capitol hill as president trump and republican house leaders work on their tax reform plans ahead of tomorrow's unveiling. a republican congressman joins us on that next. mediterranean shrimp. and new sweet and spicy nashville hot shrimp. plus our classics like garlic shrimp scampi. try as much as you want however you want 'em, but don't wait, it ends soon. upeace of mind.s we had a power outage for five days total. we lost a lot of food. we actually filed a claim with usaa to replace that spoiled food. and we really appreciated that we're the webber family and we are usaa members for life.

it was love at first touch met and all you wanted to do was surround them in comfort and protection that's why only pampers swaddlers is the #1 choice of hospitals to wrap your baby in blanket-like softness and premium protection mom: "oh hi baby" so all they feel is love wishing you love, sleep and play. pampers >> we must make our tax code a simple and fair. it's too complicated, people can't do it. american taxpayers weigh 6 billion hours each year complying with the tax code under our plan. the vast majority of americans will be able to file their tax return on a single page without extra record-keeping and all of

that paperwork. we are going to make a very, very simple. a simplification. >> jon: president trump highlighting one of the principles in the pending republican tax reform plan. senate republicans are discussing whether to use their budget plan to try to target obamacare repeal. the gramm cassidy bill now looks like it is all lost cause in the u.s. senate. this obamacare repeal and replace his gun down in flames a number of times, how confident are you that republicans can get together on tax reform? >> it something we talk about just like health care, i would say i am very disappointed.

i am very disappointed they don't take up the house plan which we passed. a lot of work went into that, as we move to tax reform, we've put in a place where you have the house, the senate and the white house all working together for this framework. it's putting everybody on the same page. when we come out, the details will be worked out. the general principles are all there. the senate and the house in the white house are all on the same page. that's why i believe this is different opposed to what happened during health care when we couldn't get everything we wanted to under reconciliation but i think under this you will see a much more concise -- and it's about the people we serve. there are so many people who are hurting, obamacare has hurt them. taxes also affect everybody else, it's also where a country has to start. if we get growth everybody prospers, that's what we are looking for.

>> jon: we just spoke to john hart, used to work for senator john coburn, he said he thinks there are a better chances for tax reform legislation coming in talking at tax reform than they are health care, would you agree? >> i think it's definitely something from a perspective of looking at the economy, most people believe republicans are much better understanding how it affects individuals and families and working couples as they move forward. i think we are understanding that and also with health care you have massive takeover of health care in which the democrats want to give everything away with no concern of cost or actual result. we are saying this is something we can do from a budgetary standpoint, so yes, i think republicans are focused on this, i am looking forward to it. >> jon: congressman doug collins, vice chair of the house

republicans conference, we wish you well. >> heather: we are awaiting a joint news conference with president trump and the spanish prime minister, it is set to begin at about 1:45 if they are on time. this would be the first time they've sat down together, they have talked several time over the phone. we will bring that life from the white house rose garden when it happens. plus, president trump once again reacting to the nfl's national anthem controversy, that is up next.

today, central new york and the mohawk valley are rising together. we're invested in creating the world's first state-of-the-art drone testing facility. which marks the start of our nation's first 50-mile unmanned flight corridor. and allows us to attract the world's top drone talent. here and all across new york state, we're building the new new york. to grow your business with us in central new york, visit esd.ny.gov.

>> jon: we are awaiting a big meeting at the white house white house, president couple have have a joint news conference with the spanish

prime minister mariano rajoy. we expect there will be many questions about u.s.-spanish relations, expect the president to get an ear full from the press about the nfl controversy, may be tax reform, maybe graham cassidy. expect it about 20 minutes from now, we will have it live when it begins. >> heather: we will talk a little bit more about the nfl controversy, president trump calling on the nfl to prohibit kneeling during the national anthem. take a look. he also tweeted it. a former trump hispanic advisory council member joins us now, he's also a fox news contributor

and syndicated radio host and fox news contributor leslie marshall, thank you for joining us. steve, i will start with you. i did you see any monday night football, the entire dallas team along with their owner jerry jones kneeled before the national anthem, they stood up and directly across the field you had at the arizona team all standing linking arms, what do you think? >> i did not see it, for the first time in 40 years i didn't watch one minute of nfl football this weekend, i am a football fanatic but i can't stand the disrespect and i'm not going to give them my viewership and effectively my money. i think what the president has done here is he is giving voice to working-class regular americans, who are tired of the condescension and the disrespect we saw from the elites of our society. whether they are in a hollywood or the news media or big-time sports. instead of their indignation, i think what they should be

showing his gratitude that they live in such an amazing country that has so enabled their success. >> heather: i am a huge football fan as well. the carolina panthers are my team, i know several people were ready to walk out if any of them had kneeled at their game over the weekend, they did not. one of the players stayed in the locker room and came out after. what do you think is going on here. >> i stand for the national anthem, i put my hand over my heart and that is my choice, which my father who fought in the korean war and other people in my family and the wonderful men and women in the military fight for my freedom to choose to do. the first amendment clearly protects those who are protesting. what this is not his violence, what this is not is hatred of our country and i think it's being pretrade that way. if you listen to the original reason somebody did this, you

look back to colin kaepernick, the bottom line is they don't like the direction of their country. as the mother of a nine and 10-year-old who were asking me what "son of a b" it means because the president of the united states said that, he is the president of all people. >> heather: that is it true. a couple of things, do you think the message is different now? leslie mentioned kaepernick in the original message, do you think they've gone so far off message that they need to stop it now? do you think everyone is to treated equally when it comes to what they want to speak up against? >> before we try to canonize

kaepernick, he wore a pair of socks that portrayed cops as pigs. i think what's really unfair here is we are seeing identity politics ripped this country apart. the left has exploited and used identity politics for its own purposes and sometimes to win collections. it's corrosive to the fabric of our american society. as it and hispanic who knows president trump, this man is no bigot. he cares for and loves all americans, he wants prosperity and equality for them just as we all do. that flag represents the perfect ideals that a very imperfect country is striving towards. we should never disrespect those principles as embodied by that flag. >> heather: fans go to these games to watch a game, how do we resolve this or is this just going to continue? >> i think this is going to

continue, president trump said he was going to unite the country, he hasn't. we have an incredible increase in violent crime, north korea has taken what he said as a declaration of war and people are starving in puerto rico. he needs to do his job. he was not elected whose to deo is to be fired in professional sports and if anybody who disagrees with him is to be fired, that is not what makes america beautiful and that is not a unifier, it's a divider. i feel the country is becoming more and more divided, we are seeing people take a knee just this morning, i think that's for the future of america, he has an opportunity to be the leader of the free world and unite this country. >> heather: there are differences of opinion as to who is causing the people to be pulled apart. in the meantime, president trump does seem to be backed by the

majority of people who say they don't want to mix politics with football. we'll see what happens. thank you both for joining us. >> jon: president trump said to hold a news conference with the spanish prime minister, can he corral enough republican support to push his agenda forward on repealing obamacare? and also passing tax reform. former house speaker newt gingrich will join us next.

>> jon: a fox news alert, waiting for the president and the prime minister of spain mariano rajoy to emerge from the white house and hold a bilateral news conference with the assembled press in the white house rose garden. each side, each leader typically takes two quick questions. as i said a moment ago we are not expecting a lot of questions about u.s.-spanish bilateral relations, we are expecting to hear the president's thoughts on the nfl kneeling controversy. mr. president has already made it pretty clear via twitter. we will take you live when this news conference begins. >> heather: here is a fox news alert for you, republican voters going to the polls today in alabama, a hotly contested g.o.p. senate primary runoff between senator luther strange and former alabama chief justice roy moore.

live in birmingham, alabama, with the very latest. >> one of the biggest applause lines, when the vice president came to birmingham last night to rally for luther strange, came with the vice president said that if strange gets a term in the senate, the wall will get built. one of the major white house priorities, the administration needs strange for a period >> alabama, make no mistake about it, president trump and our entire team are just getting started. our president needs luther strange back in the united states senate so we can finish the job. >> senator luther strange voted first thing this morning and is also telling alabama republicans to be wary that he is irritated with his party's leadership still struggling to repeal and replace obamacare. >> i will tell them publicly and i told them privately, we've got

to fulfill our promises. i am the one out here taking the brunt of the failures to keep their commitments, i can understand the frustration, i'm the most frustrated person in the senate, believe me. >> last night the challenger judge roy moore rallied in hope and whipped out a gun at 1.2 make a point that the nra's endorsement of strange shouldn't matter. >> we couldn't answer with money because we didn't have it. ads that were completely false. i don't believe in the second amendment, i believe in the second amendment. >> steve bannon spoke at that rally as well, the president's former chief strategist told

supporters not to trust establishment republican types bath backing strange because bannon said the establishment thinks more supporters are a pack of morons. >> heather: some rough stuff there. thank you. >> jon: a fox news alert as we await two big events in washington, president trump said to hold the joint news conference with the prime minister of spain and senate republicans are meeting right now, we expect a decision from majority leader mitch mcconnell on whether to put the obamacare repeal bill up for a vote even though it is almost certain not to pass. >> the democratic party made a huge mistake in pushing through the affordable care act without a single republican vote and that's one reason the law has been both flawed and controversial.

it is a mistake for my party to repeat that error. >> this is not the last chance, this is the best chance. to my friends to the left, i will do everything i can to stop and put a stake in the heart of single-payer health care. >> jon: joining us now, the former speaker of the house and fox news contributor newt gingrich, also hosting an exclusive online class, defending america. thanks very much for being here. susan collins says it was a mistake or it would be a mistake for republicans to unilaterally make changes to obamacare without any democratic support. what do you think of that? >> i think it's a wonderful ide idea, it's very much like john mccain who said we should do regular order, find me a democrat who is willing to work with us. the fact is, not a single democrat in the senate is going to break with his or her party

on obama's single achievement. it would be terrific to go to regular order under the democrats were willing to be open you could do that. the objective truth is i don't think there is a single democrat in regular order would take eight democrats. i don't know of anybody who believes there are eight democrats willing to seriously change obamacare. if the senator schumer would like to introduce a bill that fixes the flaws, let us see what he's talking about. i will tell you how bernie sanders wants to fix the flaws, he wants to go to single-payer socialist government run program. i think he's now got 16 democrats who cosponsored the bill. when they say they want to fix it, does that mean they want more government, higher taxes, bigger bureaucracy?

often that's what they mean when they say they want to fix it. that's the opposite direction from where graham and cassidy want to go or where rand paul wants to go. >> jon: you accomplish one of the most difficult bipartisan achievements ever when you reached out with president bill clinton and balance the nation's budget. why can it not be done now? i am talking about bipartisanship in general. >> you can be bipartisan but to do that you have to forget washington and focus on the country. when we passed welfare reform, 92% of the american people agreed that welfare wasn't working and we needed to fix it. 88% of the people on welfare agreed. when you have that kind of a popular american demand, politicians fall in line or they get defeated. by the time we went to balancing the federal budget, we had a similar majority. the country was coming together.

i am hoping we will see an example of that in the next few weeks on the tax cut bill, i think it's possible to take a tax cut bill to the country, particularly if it has a strong, small business tax code to create jobs, to help entrepreneurs, to grow the economy. i am hoping they are going to go to the country, let the country bring congress together, i don't think you will bring them together in washington. i think you'll bring them together by first educating the american people, reagan used to say his job was to shine the light on the american people and they would turn up the heat on congress. >> jon: president reagan also used to say "thou shalt not speak ill of my fellow republicans." this war that seems to be under way mitch mcconnell and president trump is -- it certainly breaks that commandment. how do you come down on this? is the president right or wrong in blaming mitch mcconnell for the failure to repeal obamacare?

>> i think ultimately he is wrong from a standpoint, for every republican who voted no, 16 democrats voted no. three republicans voted no, 48 democrats voted no. i think the president will get much through it on the road by going after those red states and reminding people out there that it's the democratic incumbent senator who who is up for reeln next year, he has the same chance on the tax bill. are we going to get the democrats from the trump states to vote with the president on tax cuts? i think the president will be much better off to focus his energy on beating the democrats who are voting know all the time rather than picking a fight -- if you get 49 out of 52 that's a pretty good example of leadership. i think overall mitch mcconnell does a pretty good job running the senate, it's just that it's very hard to run the senate when you only have 52 republicans. >> jon: newt gingrich, thanks for your insight.

we will be back with this bilateral news conference involving president trump and the prime minister of spain in just a moment.

>> jon: of fox news alert, we are awaiting president trump and the prime minister of spain to emerge from their oval office meeting, they will walk out into the rose garden and each make a statement and take a couple of questions from the press. we expect president trump will not be asked about spanish relations but rather about the ongoing controversy involving the nfl players who won't stand for the national anthem or possibly about what appears to be the impending collapse of the graham cassidy attempts to repeal and replace obamacare. it will be an interesting couple of minutes in the rose garden. when it starts we will take you back there. >> heather: possibly they

could ask about north korea, threatening to shoot down u.s. warplanes even beyond its borders, that is what the rogue nation's foreign minister said monday, adding that the u.s. has declared war on north korea. stemming from president trump's u.n. speech and tweet, this was the white house's response. >> we have not declared war on north korea and frankly the suggestion of that is absurd. >> heather: rex tillerson was asked about the rhetoric between president trump and kim jong un at the state department today, here's his response. >> we are going to continue to pursue our diplomatic efforts and hope that's the way we will solve this thing. >> heather: joining us now, former senior director of middle eastern affairs at the national security council. once again, once again, we may have to interrupt you to go to the rose garden. first, let's get your take on it, what do you think about the president's tough talk?

>> i think a lot of the criticism of the president's tough talk is misplaced because you have two coat scenarios where could have an inadvertent or with north koreans. the one the administration is focused on as if the north koreans feel like we have nuclear weapons, we can get away with a lot. and i think it's important frankly that the united states make clear to the north koreans that if we are attacked or our allies are attacked, there will be a devastating response. >> heather: what about sanctions, this is just crossing the associated press wire, the trump administration using the new sanctions, they have now punished eight north korean banks and 26 bank workers in terms of violating the sanctions we put into place. will that work? >> i think it's important we have the sanctions in place, as much as we can do to fence the nuclear missile programs we should do it.

i think the primary targets of that should be chinese or russian or anyone outside north korea that's facilitating what north korea is doing. realistically, sanctions alone won't be enough to stop this program. >> heather: you mentioned there were two different scenarios that could avoid conflict, what's the second? >> i think the other as if the north koreans worry we are going to be attacked preemptively. that i think is something the administration does need to take care of, that it's clear in our statement that what we are talking about is a u.s. reaction to something north korea does, not some sort of u.s. offense of our pre prepreemptive action. deterrence is all about walking that fine line between not causing that escalation but preventing it. >> heather: finally, threats from other countries, we talked about around a lot. >> we've seen threats from the iranians as well, but i think

what we see with north korea is they actually have a record in the past trying to carry through some of their threats whereas with iran we see more indirect, plausibly deniable action. with north korea they have shut down u.s. aircraft in the past, we have to take seriously when they threaten to do this again. >> heather: thank you very much for your insight, we appreciate it. >> jon: we are going to take you to the white house rose garden again, president trump is going to be speaking there with mariano rajoy, the prime minister of spain. each man will make a statement and typically the process from there is each leader takes two questions from the press of each nation. the questions for president trump, what do you think they're going to be about, heather? >> heather: i have a feeling the nfl controversy, probably tax reform. and of course obamacare which we

continue to talk about, whether that will even be brought up for a vote this week as republicans have been trying to come to some sort of agreement and don't seem to have been able to do that so far. >> jon: we've got our john roberts imposition of the the white house to ask his questions but again, it's going to be fascinating to see what is on the minds of the president and of the press as they make these remarks. >> heather: earlier i was listening to some comments from president trump and he fully expects to not be asked about anything to have to do with spain, although some of the conversations the two are having probably have to do with the european union, also spain's commitment to nato as well as the issue of this independence referendum that is slated for sunday in spain. apparently the prime minister wanted to get president trump on record saying he is against that in an effort to help him with

what is going on there. >> jon: our john roberts is in the rose garden and obviously ready to ask the questions of the president and the prime minister. >> we'll see if we get called on today, certainly the referendum in catalonia, which the spanish government says is an illegal referendum will be something the prime minister will likely be asked about. the prime minister is also known as the president of the government in spain. he could interchangeably be referred to as prime minister and president. clearly a lot of things for the president to talk about, probably first and foremost among them, what to do about puerto rico because while we have had the fema director down there as well as the national security advisor to assess the situation on the ground and the president has modified the disaster declaration down there so the u.s. government and federal government will pay 100% of the cost of removing debris,

there is so much-needed down there, and the need is so urgent that the president really need some sort of massive plan and whether it some sort of boatlift using the u.s. navy or commercial carriers or whatever to get supplies into puerto rico, that's something the president will likely be asked about today, it is certainly something i would like to ask. of course the remarks by the north korean foreign minister the other day that the united states has de facto declared war on north korea, that north korea will shoot down any aircraft that comes close to north korean territory even if it is an international airspace is a question the president could get this afternoon and of course there is the whole controversy over the nfl that began on friday night with the president at the rally for luther strange, the incumbent appointed a senator who is vying to become the republican nominee in the runoff election there today, the president saying the nfl players who take a knee during the national anthem should be fired, we saw the firestorm that was lit after

that culminating last night, we get the two-minute warning now with jerry jones in the entire dallas cowboys team. a lot to chew over this afternoon as we are expecting the president to come out here in less than 2 minutes. >> jon: we will let you take a seat and hope you get your question in. >> heather: that long list but only two questions normally eac each. >> jon: again, the president meeting with the spanish prime minister who as john roberts just explained was also often referred to as the president of the government. we are going to be hearing them in a moment, we are going to pause now for one moment and let our fox stations join us. >> jon: this is fox news coverage of the president trump's joint news conference

with the spanish prime minister, mariano rajoy. we are awaiting to hear from the two leaders. expect questions from any number of items that are bedevilling washington. could be questions about the graham-cassidy proposal to repeal and replace obamacare. could be about the nfl. but we'll see. here now the president and the spanish prime minister. >> thank you very much, everybody. please be seated. good afternoon. i'm greatly honored to welcome president mariano rajoy of spain. it's a great honor to have you at the white house. thank you very much. we've just concluded a very productive conversation on a crucial range of economic and security issues. before we begin, i'd like to take a moment to send america's hearts and prayers to the people of puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. both have been devastated, and i mean absolutely devastated, by

hurricane maria. we're doing everything in our power to help the hard hit people of both places, puerto rico and the virgin islands. a massive effort the under way. and we have been really treated very very nicely by the governor and by everybody else. they know how hard we're working and what a good job we're doing. as we speak, fema, our great first responders, and all available federal resources, including the military, are being sent to save lives, protect families and begin a long and very very difficult restoration process. i have directed all relevant departments and agencies to assist in the response and recovery effort. as the governor just told me this morning, the entire federal work force is doing great work in puerto rico. i appreciate him saying it.

he's saying it to anybody that will listen. our team has been incredible, after having gone through texas and then florida with other stops along the way. and he further went on, he said through the trump administration's leadership, the relationship between fema and my team is very very strong. i will be going to puerto rico on tuesday. i'll also be going to the u.s. virgin islands. over the last several weeks, our nation has been tested by the destructive force of mother nature, but we will respond to it with an even mightier force, the resolve of the american spirit. texas, louisiana, florida are in really good shape and moving along well. we thank all of the first responders and volunteers who have risked their lives. that's what they did, they risked their lives. all of those impacted by the trouble and these horrible

hurricanes and storms that have affected and impacted our country, i thank you. the recovery process will be a very very difficult one. we will get through this, and we will get through it together. we will be stronger. we will be bigger. we will be better. thank you very much. united states and spain are great friends and close allies. our bonds, culture and commerce go back many centuries. our schools teach american children about spain's history of exploration, our museums treasure beautiful spanish works of art, and your country's contributions to music and film are admired all over the world. a greatly admired country. the deep relationship between our two people is a strong foundation for lasting cooperation.

on behalf of the american people, i want to express our support and extend our prayers to all of those affected by the vile terror attack in spain last month. i want to assure the people of spain that america stands with you in confronting this evil that threatens all of humanity. we will continue to deny the terrorists their funding, their territory and any form of support for their wicked ideology. in this common fight, america greatly appreciates spain's contribution to the coalition to defeat isis. spanish troops and police have trained more than 30,000 members of the iraqi security forces. we also thank the spanish people for being such gracious hosts to the american service members stationed at spanish bases.