>> dramatic evening in the united states. these pictures around the world, joint base andrews in maryland. a helicopter just landed. we believe it has vice president mike pence as well as other dignitaries on that helicopter. we are seeing it with you live. that's the guidance we have gotten, we may see vice president mike pence emerge. then another helicopter after that will be marine 1 carrying the president of the united states along with first lady. they have not left the white house yet. then the next movement will be the first airplane coming from that refueling stop in

anchorage, alaska. another plane will come after that with these three freed americans who have been incarcerated in north korea. we are going here live and let this play out for you, our audience. on the ground we have had our correspondent. leland, can you see the helicopter from where you are and talk to us about how this is all playing out. >> reporter: this is the first arrival we have had so far. vice president pence and the second lady will emerge from the helicopter. probably about 50 to a hundred yards away from us where we are, the press corral. this is the same area where they depart. it's rare in any administration for this kind of homecoming and

a joyous one at that, that both the vice president and president here. the vice president who is just about to get off of marine 2 will walk into the terminal here, the vip area at andrews air force base. the president and first lady will come and then the secretary of state who has been on the road now for better than 72 hours as he flew over to north korea. spent about 15 hours on the ground, picked up those three americans and working their way back as they hopscotched across from north korea, then to japan for the medical stop, anchorage, alaska for the refueling stop. it's the very end, the last plane to arrive is with the three americans. they will pull up right here where you can see this huge american flag is draped between these two fire trucks. that plane will pull up, the

three americans will come out, that's where the president and vice president will be waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. we are told that the three americans who are coming here will not have any family to greet them here. they are going to be taken by motorcade to walter read medical center. in light of the last american homecoming from north korea, that being otto warmbier who arrived in horrific condition and how he was treated while he was detained, he arrived and died shortly after his arrival in the united states. very different with these three americans who are arriving shortly. we were told they were able to walk on to secretary pompeo's plain undeplane under their own. then they transferred to another jet that had better medical facilities. these three hostages have been

in north korea for between a year and two years. they were detained at different times, charged with hostile acts towards the north korean regime. we are getting more on the timing of their release. secretary pompeo was making his second trip to north korea to talk about this big summit between president trump and kim jong un to negotiate more details about that. and it appears as though part of the negotiation for this second trip by secretary pompeo was something about bringing these three americans home. we have heard president trump talk about how important bringing these three americans home was. >> pardon me one second. we can see vice president mike pence has gotten off the helicopter. as you suggested, the second lady is there as well. some other aides and military officials. as you reported, it does not appear that they will be relatives of the families, the

three americans coming back. we talked about that earlier. they will be going to walter reed medical center. you raise an important question, the health of these three americans compared to otto warmbier. in the early hours, the initial reports, secretary of state mike pompeo was able to lay his eyes on them and talk to them said based on various exchanges with reporters in the early hours of this, that they appear to be in good health. >> reporter: exactly. the pool that is traveling with the secretary of state, we watch the vice president head into that hold area here. the pool that was traveling with the secretary of state said that they watched the three americans climb the stairs up to the plane there in north korea before it took off.

that would lead you to believe that they are in pretty good health. by the time they got to japan where there is huge u.s. medical facilities, they were checked out during that refueling stop and switched to another plane. signs they weren't in terrible conditions if they were allowed to fly all the way to anchorage and here. it seems this is a different situation than the one that was dealing with otto warmbier. we heard from the vice president about otto warmbier about how his thoughts and prayers were with that family and he spoke with them to offer his thoughts being with them. it's a joyous homecoming, and can't forget to another american that was in north korea. >> some excellent reporting. still can't get past the image, that picture behind you, leland, of the american flag waiting for those three americans to come on

home. >> reporter: you have to think that this is exactly what president trump is great at, which is sort of the feeder of being president and the show of being president. it was him saying earlier today i'm going to be there to greet these three americans that put all of this into motion. it's pretty rare for anybody to be out at joint base andrews at 2:00, 3:00 in the morning. there is an enormous amount of media as this is beamed around the world, these three americans coming off the plane. we have seen the white house communications staff, staking out areas that the president wants to talk, he can talk. so there's clearly a lot of imagery. as you know from covering the white house for so long, presidents relish the idea of happy news. the first homecominghe did was

terrible news. the idea of being here on such a wonderful occasion of three americans coming home, conceivably in pretty good health is something to be celebrated no matter who you are. >> leland, pardon me, you mentioned the white house and we have our correspondent live there. we'll get back to you in a moment. if you can hear me as well, i understand the president of the united states is now in motion as well headed towards joint base andrews. >> he is. moments ago he walked out. oval office, walked past a huge crush of reporters. he didn't answer any questions. he boarded marine 1 and he should be wheels turning. just watching that scene, the two flag between the fire trucks, what a moment this is for president trump, what a huge night. it's difficult to overstate how

big a win this is for him. this is one accomplishment that nobody can take away from him. his supporters have been saying that this is proof his campaign of maximum pressure is working. all of that tough talk, the tweets about him calling kim jong un little rocket man and fire and fury, and all the harsh things, all of it is working. i can hear marine 1 taking off. president trump is on board to make his way to joint base andrews where that american flag is and those three americans will be returning home very shortly. and tonight, we have been listening to a bunch of republicans, six republicans here at the white house, six republican lawmakers having

dinner here at the white house. while tonight is about these three americans returning home, the focus of this dinner and quickly the focus of this administration is going to shift to what happens now. because we are just weeks away from this huge, historic summit between president trump and north korean leader kim jong un. today we learned that that summit is not going to be taking place at the dmz between north and south korea as president trump had hinted at. it's likely going to be taking place somewhere possibly in singapore. there we go. getting really loud. take a moment to listen to that as president trump takes off. the summit likely in early june, going to be taking place in singapore. and republicans that were here tonight like republican senator gardner, they say that [indiscernible] that would never

have happened without president trump and without his campaign of maximum pressure. right now president trump, i see marine 1 passing the washington monument, on his way to joint base andrews. >> we appreciate your reporting. we'll find out whether or not the president is going to make a statement. we'll get back to leland. he's live. right now i want to bring in retired lieutenant colonel daniels. as we watch these historic events unfold, there is a lot of hard work that needs to be done after the celebrations. >> as so many people have said tonight, this is a night to celebrate, that's great. really, the question is what happens next. the summit between moon and kim was great. it was great optics, but it didn't come to any concrete requirements or agreements by anybody to do anything. trump has been from day one

saying he needs co concrete act, concrete results. we'll see what happens from this point forward. >> we did a lot of reporting on the north korean regime, she was saying the regime has become famous or infamous for catching americans, releasing them, a different kind of catch and release and basically show these gestures that end up being empty, they don't go to the table and give anything to the u.s. what is going to be different this time around? >> what's different, the north korean lead herb has more incentive to have an agreement. when you look at the sequence of when he changed his tune, it happened after the november 27 nuclear missile test, that's when they say they gained their operational capability, then he changed his tune. he thinks he has some cards to

play. when you look at what he's been saying domestically, he wants to improve the domestic economy, that's the sure way for regime survival. >> another guest provided detail and instate, one reason sing more may be used is that dmz, it appears the dictator didn't want to go there. it's still a hot zone, obviously. but singapore is one of the only places that the north korean air force can take them. they can't go much further than that, which tells me and tells you that their military is a lot more decrepit than their press releases about their dear leader would suggest. >> i have been making that same comment. when you look at the conventional power between north korea and south korea, south

korea is far more powerful than the north koreans, even though they have a million active duty soldiers, they have more modern, modern tanks, fighter aircraft, their troops are very well trained. and they are capable of defending their country. there is not much chance to kim jong un is even going to think about having any kind of offensive attack into the south because he knows even aside from what the united states can do, south korea can defend and has a strong military. >> so this is a gesture, another gesture was the north korean dictator saying they were going to hold off on nuclear testing for a while. was that a strongest tour that suggests to us that we should read that they are coming to the table in good faith or was that just a pause because they needed to take a break anyway and they could go back to that testing whenever they want? >> they can. that's on the table. anything is reversible.

it's going to be hard to get to anything that's irreversible. that's the great thing about the situation that we have here is that president trump remains in the dominant position because no matter what happens at any point during this, we have all the power so our military can prevent any war from breaking out. war would be the worst thing that can happen for our own interests. but our military can prevent them from using their weapons. >> but he doesn't want a war, kim jong un, because of the state of his military. when we come back, will the trump summit be a win/win? the president on marine 1 as we

speak live heading there. we'll go there in just a moment. stay with us.

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base andrews. that should be marine 1 landing. it has president trump as well as first lady melania trump. three americans who had been incarcerated in north korea in some cases for a few years have been freed. secretary of state, mike pompeo, his second secret mission to north korea. the first one he had not been confirmed. now his second, he was confirmed. this is a sharp contrast with

what he had with rex tillerson. all this setting up two big events coming up in the next few weeks. later this month the president of south korea will be at the white house for a return visit where he and president trump will prepare for a historic summit that is coming likely at the beginning of june. president trump and the north korean dictator, kim jong un, reports suggesting they might be meeting in singapore. those details have not been worked out. the secretary of state expects the summit to last at least one day although more time can be tacked on. you frequently see president trump arrive at joint base andrews usually to board air force one when they are heading overseas or domestic trip. in this case the president will be getting off with the first

lady of the united states with melania trump. they will be waiting for two planes. some journalists have been traveling with him and a second plane, a larger plane with better medical facilities that has been taking a look, giving checkups to these freed americans. you can expect in the hours and days ahead that u.s. officials will debrief them about their treatment, what they learned on the ground, what kind of information could be helpful to the president of the united states. you can see the marines heading toward those steps to greet the president. you can see a secret service agent there in the back of the helicopter, getting ready to come off. we want to stay with this picture live as we get to our first glimpse this evening at the commander of chief on what

is a historic night in the first term of his presidency, he will be welcoming three americans who had been incarcerated in north korea, welcoming them home. they had a chance to at least be in american air space. we don't know whether they stepped foot on the ground in age garagealaska. the president signaled they would be arriving just after 2:00 a.m. eastern. it's going to be closer to 3:00 a.m. eastern time. we'll live for you all in the early hours. you see the president of the united states right there. first lady, melania trump.

want to stay with this live picture so you get a sense of what's happening here. joint base andrews just a few miles from the white house. the president being greeted. he's going to walk him to the vip terminal. i want to bring in leland who has been doing an outstanding job in the middle of the night. you told us when the president arrived would head towards that vip terminal that you and i have been in waiting to take off on air force 1. and also that this is a carefully choreographed evening here where this sets off a chain of events, leland. >> reporter: we saw the president wave to the press corps. he made his way to the vip terminal. inside that terminal is the vice president as well and the vice president's wife, second lady. it appears as though they are

going to head inside the vip terminal. we can see another plane. lights of another plane. unclear if that's secretary pompeo's plane. not a lot going on tonight. if this isn't the secretary coming in, he will arrive, they will go in and wait for those three americans on board, that medical plane to arrive here. it will pull up here next to the big american flag with the fire trucks there. it is so rare for a president to come out to joint base andrews to welcome anyone. president trump gathered to greet precisely one american coming home, that was the u.s. navy seal who died in the beginning of his presidency. he went to dover air force base as his remains came back to the united states. it is rare in a president's term to be able to have such a joyous homecoming as three americans

who had been detained. you would say detained in north korea. they were being used as bargaining chips by the north koreans. now they are coming home. we expect the president, the vice president, obviously melania trump, mrs. pence. the one group that is here is any family members. it gives you a sense of how quickly this came together. the white house said they weren't sure these three americans were coming home until they were on the plane in north korea about 18 hours ago. there was a lot of questions. >> i don't want to be rude. i want to interrupt you. there is a plane as you are reporting, an air force plane that just landed. we have not yet confirmed that the secretary of state is on that plane. i don't know if you have other information, i will let you report on that. but there is a carefully

sequenced bit of events. in fact, i'm hearing now from our producers that we believe the secretary of state is on that plane. >> we do. it looks like the plane that the secretary of state travels on which is a converted 757 that goes around the world with the secretary of state. that would have been the plane he took over with his staff. there were a couple of seats reserved for these hostages if they were able to bring them home. you are looking at the pool camera. it's fairly dark. you can see this plane taxiing. there is a group of air force personnel awaiting its arrival. it is the secretary of state, he will get off his plane and then take that motorcade to the same place that president trump and the vice president are holding to await the next plane. as i look out towards the west, which is how they are landing here at andrews, i don't see the

lights of what would be the second plane. and that's the plane with the detained americans as we watch this 757 presumably with the secretary of state here taxi over. you think in terms of the wear and tear on mike pompeo who has been on the road since late monday night and, really, has been flying the whole time, then 13 hours on the ground in north korea. the meeting with kim jong un. the negotiations and negotiations to bring these three americans back home, they all traveled on the secretary of state's plane from north korea to japan. that's when everybody separated and hopscotched their way back across the pacific. the one plane that landed, it appears to be taxiing over to this area. just away from the press pool here as we wait for the

secretary of state to come in. and then we are told a little while later we'll get the three detained americans. >> we are going to come back to you in a minute. you can see, obviously, the stairs coming out. we'll get back to you as soon as the secretary of state emerges. i want to bring an analyst, he has important insights. thanks for coming in. walk us through what your impressions are of these events. it's hard not to feel a sense of pride at these three americans coming home. at the same time you have to have some scepticism because we don't know what comes next. >> this is one event with two dimensions. one is release of hostages, it's highly emotional. this is something that america displayed around the world, we will not abandon any american

behind. at the same time, you have another dimension which is a change in foreign policy. that's why secretary pompeo's coming is important now. he's going to embody what really has changed. we are not retrieving hostages from a regime that will continue to be at war with us or a confrontation. we are retrieving them from a regime that we hope is going to change its course. >> i understand that the plane carrying the three freed americans is expected to land 30 minutes from now. that would give the president, vice president, a chance to relax, talk, debrief the secretary of state. what i find remarkable among other things is the fact that mike pompeo as leland so rightly noted hasn't slept since he was confirmed as secretary of state.

nobody is complaining. you sign up for these things. nobody is forcing you to do the job and he has jumped right in. but compared to rex tillerson when it did not seem like he was on the same page, it didn't seem like this president trusted rex tillerson. they didn't have that level of trust to send him on such a delicate mission. this is the second time, the first was around easter weekend, that he has gone to pyongyang. >> the national security adviser. >> john bolton. >> it's working. not just in terms of personal relationships, they knew each other, but also in terms of strategy. before that there was a hesitation about what kind of strategy we need to have on north korea. it was not a secret that the president had different views on thousand handle it. >> if you are just joining us,

it's a little dark. we are fighting through here. these pictures are live. it's a remarkable historic night among many in the early months of the trump administration. but this is a big one. joint base andrews in maryland, a few miles from the white house. the president, vice president, first lady, second lady are all there. the secretary of state. it's a little dark. just landing after refueling in japan, alaska. on his second mission. mike pompeo will be emerging from that plane in a few moments. and then in about half an hour from now, we are going to witness stunning turn of events which is three americans who have been incarcerated in north korea, at least one of them since 2015, are free now and will step foot on american soil. you can't even begin to think what's going through their mind.

>> it's historic. i can see two events that reminded us of events before, in 1991 when the soviet union collapsed. we knew that gorbachev was changing course. in this case we know there is something changing. we don't know. the regame is going to change their own course. this is not the north korea of five months ago shooting missiles. this is a different one. but it's not the gorbachev korea. >> because there was, again, we are throwing around the word historic, there was the historic summit between north korea and south korean. the symbolism was remarkable as it is tonight. walk us through what this really means to you tonight and we are just in the early minutes. there is a lot more hard work that need to be done. the idea that the president of the united states is going to follow this up just a few short

weeks and sit down face to face with the north korean dictator, nobody would have predicted that three months ago, six months ago. >> absolutely not. the north koreans are playing an interesting game. they are releasing signal after signal they want to change. number one, they are meeting. they met with the south korean leaders. it was highly symbolic. you remember the gestures between the north and south. second, they are releasing hostages. they met twice with our secretary of state. they are preparing for a major change. we don't know what the limitations are. >> you can see, you are looking at the plane that is carrying the secretary of state, u.s. secretary of state, mike pompeo. as soon as that door opens we are going to bring that to you. see if he makes any comments.

we would expect to see if the commander-in-chief speaks first. there is a podium set up. but the sequencing that we are expecting is secretary of state will emerge, and join the vice president and president in that vip terminal there. the door is finally opening, as you can see. and they are going to wait about another 25 minute or so for these three freed americans and then we are told there are not really any relatives of those freed americans waiting at joint base andrews because they are going to head to walter reed medical center in order to go through more medical testing. it's a very important issue, especially given what happened to otto warmbier when there was so much joy, we thought this was wonderful, an american is coming home. once they got a look at him, he was in desperate shape and died.

we have been mentioning this, for all the joy and happiness we feel tonight as americans, there's the secretary of state mike pompeo coming off with a bounce in his step. he's coming down the steps. i want to complete that thought that we are still thinking if they are watching, the family of otto warmbier for all the joy of us feel tonight, so much tragedy that otto did not survive after coming home. >> the last american that came home ended up tragically t left an impact on americans. the ones returning today will be a symbol for a new era. we need a long time to rebuild the trust. but every piece they offer, we

need to grab. >> leland, if you can still hear me, you are on the ground, what are you seeing? >> we are all waiting really with baited breath, as you are and everyone at home is, the secretary of state's planes is a couple of hundred yard away. you see the secretary of state and staff, they will drive by and head into that terminal. we are about 15 minutes away from the three americans landing. you saw the secretary of state's plane, the modified bowing 757. the three americans walked on to that plane just a couple of minutes before it lifted off from north korea. as the secretary of state's bus passes by us now, a wave perhaps, although we didn't get it from the secretary of state. >> you can see heather there. >> she's been tweeting as she

was on the plane. we have thought seen a picture of the three americans freed. that has been kept under wraps. we understand just before the plane took off, the secretary of state's plane, the three americans walked up on to the plane under their own power. it flew to japan and that's where they were transferred to another military jet that's a flying medical facility, they are able to do more in terms of health checks on these three americans, alaska, and a seven hour flight here to joint base andrews. i look off to the north of the runways which is where the planes have been landing. there is no light. we are still a couple of minutes away. the secretary of the state is walking in. there is a lot of debriefing from him to talk to the president and vice president about his trip, about his meeting with kim jong un, those negotiations. and picking up where your

conversation ended in terms of how this plays out from here. we have seen these good acts from the north koreans before. the president has noted that and been stern, that there is no real concessions until these goodwill gestures are followed by real and concrete acts. we have heard that from the secretary of state and president and vice president as well. also, otto warmbier, there is heavy hearts. you can tell in the administration they are thinking about him as well. we are told there were calls to say that as joyous as tonight is, and joyous for the president to welcome home these three americans, they keep on the to in their prayers. a prayer at the cabinet for him and his family. >> we have not seen the three

freed americans since they were released. >> i can tell you, just now, there's some lights off to the north. whether or not this is the plane with the three americans, we don't know. the only plane that's landed here in the past four hours that we have been standing out here is the vice president and president's helicopters and the secretary of state's plane. the timing would make sense for those lights out to the north to be the plane with the three americans. we haven't heard from them, we didn't see pictures. they released a statement, how much they loved america, the greatest country on earth. we are seeing the ground crew here start to get ready. it appears as though they are getting ready for the plane with these americans to arrive. >> we are going to keep you close. it does appear those lights are coming. you mentioned that they did put

out this statement. i want to read that. we would like to express our deep appreciation to the united states government, the president and secretary pompeo and people of the united states for bringing us home. we thank god. god bless america, the greatest nation in the world. these three americans are speaking out. we are told they are not likely to speak and likely go to get more medical care. we may hear from the president. it might be an opportunity to talk to the american people about this historic night. >> i think the president is happy along with the first lady and secretary of state. in his mind, i can imagine two things. number one, he has delivered to the american people a very important value of no american left behind.

second, he's taken the united states into a direction that did not exist six months ago. which is to solve the problems. and north korea has not been solved since the cold war. >> when you say america does what it says, we can't lose sight of the fact that his critics are saying this is a huge mistake. he says no, unlike the red line in syria like barack obama. >> the president gave a big example, we commit to what we said when we were in the campaign and then he withdrew from the deal. what will happen is that time is going to tell that the europeans may change their opinion.

we have our arab allies in the region. we see the incidents between israel and iran, shows they were not good. >> we can see those lights getting closer and the anticipation is building. because that very well may have the three freed americans on there. we don't want to jump ahead. that is our expectation. we were told they would land close to 2:50. if it's them, they have landed early. as soon as we can see them, the better. leland, the idea that we just saw the secretary of state, mike pompeo, who did not look like he was tired. he was not low energy mike pompeo. it was just the opposite. >> there is no energy. there is a lot of anticipation. it appears to be the same plane

we have seen in pictures. >> i don't want to jump on you, if you can hear me, our producers have confirmed, so we have it, that is the plane carrying the three freed americans. please pick up your reporting. >> we saw mike pompeo come off. the president came off marine 1. there is a sense of anticipation. in a different feeling you get from almost any event that you are at, there is a universal feeling of happiness here. it's a night to celebrate as we saw the president come out and the vice president come out and secretary of state. a night to put aside politics and celebrate that there's three americans who were being held as

political pawns by a terrible and murderous regime who are now back on american soil. you got that feeling all through the day as you listen to the president talk. there was a sense of excitement. there is time to talk about the politics, the policies, the foreign policy implication. there is a sense of excitement. even among the white house staff as you talk to folks about bringing three americans home. as we have been talking about, three americans home in pretty good health versus the way that the last american who came back from north korea arrived. these three americans who are going to come off the plane, we are not expecting them to talk. there is none of the family here. they will be greeted by the president, the vice president, their wives and taken to walter reed medical center for a number of health checkups. they are going to spend time

with members of the u.s. intelligencintelligence communi. what did they learn, what insights can they provide to the intelligence community. and the secretary of state and president get ready for this summit between kim jong un and president trump. the insights of these three men could be invaluable to this administration. >> absolutely. >> as we are watching this air force jet, medically equipped jet that picked these three men. we saw that huge american flag with the fire trucks there and we are told that the plane is going to taxi up right there. they will bring out the stairs, the three americans will walk down and that's where the president will be to greet them. and then we'll see if the president want to talk. >> you also make an important point about the intelligence

gathering. i suspect that there is a lot of information that they want to get from these three freed americans and what they saw up close in north korea. but also, the secretary of state, if you think about all the intelligence gathering, not just this president and this administration, but previous democratic administrations. the amount of time they have spent trying to crack through this very secretive, reclusive regime. now you have a secretary of state who just spent 90 minutes face to face with the dictator. that could provide all kind of information about the body language, the thought process, all of that that the united states has never had. >> pompeo went over there and

spent years, they try to gain insights you talked about. anyone who has been to north korea gets debriefed to try to gain those incremental insights into who this man s clearly, the secretary of state, who was the cia director, felt as though they had enough insights to begin this process of making a deal about a president trump, kim jong un summit. we are hearing from the white house pool as we watch the plane with the three americans come up, that president trump may go on to the plane first to say hello to these three americans before they come out. the situation is fluid. the white house put this together. everybody is doing this. it's now 2:48 eastern time in

the middle of the night. this is a moment in the trump administration, the first 18 months, as we look back on this presidency, whether four years or eight years, this will be one of the key moments of the president out here at andrews air force base in the middle of the night to welcome these three men home. >> we'll find out whether this is the beginning of a turning point in terms of whether there is about to be a summit that produces a peace deal or whether this is an empty gesture by the communist regime in north korea. as leland reported, we are being told that once that plane carrying the three freed americans stops taxiing, there is some indication that the president of the united states and perhaps other dignitaries may board that plane before the

freed americans disembark. maybe he will spend quiet time with them. and then emerge with them. just as leland reported. you see that plane slowly taxiing right in front of that american flag that has been held up by two fire trucks, i believe, on joint base andrews. and this picture is just really, truly remarkable. >> it is remarkable in every way. so our viewers understand. we are obviously able to take pictures of what's happening out there. we won't have audio of what's happening out there until the pool that travels with the president heads out. we see two sets of air stairs pulling up to this plane which is a medically equipped 737.

we don't know the sequence of events. we heard the president may go on the plane, the vice president and secretary of state is here. the secretary of state spent time with these three men. now we just wait and watch it unfold before us. these three men have been on the air in north korea to japan and then alast a they have been on the go for 18 hours. we can only imagine what they have gone through over the past couple of years while they have been detained an sentenced to sometimes more than a decade in north korea on what would have been described as trumped up charges of hostile acts. one of these men was detained as he was trying to leave north korea. now they are back on american

soil waiting for the president to come greet them. i'm looking a little bit off camera to see the terminal here which is the vip terminal of joint base andrews. don't see anybody walking out. a couple of secret service agents began to gather by the door for the president and vice president to come out. the door is not opened on this side of the plane. we don't know what's happening on the other side of the plane where there appears to be a lot of activity. these three men have been on the road for so long are now going to be coming off the plane and then heading to walter reed medical center. we are seeing the bus from walter reed pull up. >> i don't know if you can see, what we just saw was a remarkable moment as well, an air force official get up the stairs and walk up to the door of that plane and go knock

knock. literally knock on the door. he's knocking a second time now. that bus may have blocked your view. tryings to say we are here, we are ready for you. >> we see some activity on the other side of the plane where there was another set of stairs as well that had come up to the plane. we see some activity over there as they begin to move some equipment and people up on to this plane to get ready for the president's visit or for these folks to come off. as you point out, it's unusual to have to knock twice at andrews air force base. they usually open the door the first time. now he's come back down the stairs. >> i don't mean to make too much light of it. while you were reporting, we saw a third set of knocks. then the air force official shrugged his shoulders.

maybe they are not ready. >> when people have been hostage in north korea they have their prerogative to wait a little while. there is two components to this. we heard from the secretary of state that these men are supposed to be in terribly health. we know from the pool that traveled -- >> we can see that, pardon. the president of the united states is now walking out. we have a live picture, you see the first lady, vice president, karen pence as well as mike mom pio. capompeo. can you see them? >> we can. these folks do well, always smiling. there are broad, broad smiles on everyone's face here as they are walking out. they are now some shouting questions from the white house

pool which the president i don't think is going to walk over and talk to us. we'll take a second to see if he does. he's not. he's walking up to the plane. the door is now open. and we just saw a couple of folks walk out. it doesn't appear any of these are the security folks who just walked out. now we await the president, the first lady, the vice president, his wife, the secretary of state. you are watching as we are to see if they go up the stairs and say hello. they are. so we got the president, the first lady heading up the stairs to say hello to the men on the plane. the vice president, the secretary of state, karen pence, waiting at the bottom of the red carpet. how long the president is inside, we don't know. it brings to the point, these men are in pretty good health. they were able to walk up the stairs. there is the psychological toll. and there is the overwhelming

emotions from people who have been in captivity for well more than a year and now, as we just saw, the president of the united states walking back to them to welcome them back. so you can imagine the emotions that are going through the mind of the men on that play and the emotions of their families who are watching this moment wherever they are. >> someone opened that door so an international incident did not happen. they opened it up for him. he's on board the plane. we are watching live, the president boarded the plane. he's there with the first lady, the vice president, to welcome home three americans who have been detained. we are going to stay on that picture and stay out of the way if the president emerges with

those three americans in a moment or if he comes out and makes remarks, any and all of the above. we will be bringing to you live. don't go anywhere. in the meantime, you have been hearing the excellent reporting of leland. we'll stick with him as well. but jim joins us as well. and we welcome you. i wonder if you can tell our viewers, how you make sense of this remarkable development. >> breaking news, there is no door bell on a 737. i have flown out of that terminal. if you think of the people that have been through there. >> presidents and kings. >> and the events that have happened on that tarmac. >> where the pope came in when he visited the united states. >> >> it's ground zero. it's a profound moment. >> make sense of what this means

in the sweep of history. i know it's early. this is not happening in a vacuum. this is happening a day or two after the president of the united states pulled the u.s. out of the iran nuclear deal. this is happening a couple of weeks before he welcomes the president of south korea to the white house, may 22, to set the table for what we think is an early june summit between the president of the united states and dictator in north korea. >> let's not do an end zone dance. but what this does prove, what ottawa said from day one, the situation that north korea situation was on an inevitable crisis, we heard that over and over again. we heard that for months. that was nonsense. >> were you saying there were critics that said president trump didn't know what he was doing? >> there are critics that find problems with us.

there is another network -- >> let's not mention them. >> their officials are msnbc. this is wag the dog. he must be distracting from something else. they cannot let go of nonrality. >> let's focus on what is good that's happening tonight. three americans are coming home. we should stop and forget about politics and say this is pretty awesome. >> it is. we should remember what kind of regime we are dealing with. they take human pawns. >> he could could do it tomorrow or next week. >> this is very reaganesque. the iranian gave back the hostages. >> i mentioned the iran nuclear deal. those critics about last summer with the fire and fewer

reremarks and where he talked about little rocket man. he's bringing us to the bring of nuclear war. instead, we see the north korean dictator giving up testing recently. giving up three americans without conditions, at least in the early stages. we don't hear about conditions or money. and by the way, the dictator is headed to the negotiating table with the president. i get your scepticism. there is no nobel peace prize. the critics that were saying we were on the brink of nuclear war. >> we have to let go, look, if he's going to do this to the iranians, the north koreans will never deal with him. here's what we are hearing from the north koreans. one is they say we don't know what kim is going to do. this guy does not act like the last two guys. he doesn't consult with a foreign policy architecture.

he does this on his own. >> kim jong un? >> kim jong un. >> you could describe president trump. this guy makes his own decisions in his inner circle. when they get pushed by the contacts, they just shrug their shoulders. houlders. >> let's reset. and henry in washington, you heard from leland, we will get to him in a moment and kristin fisher at the white house. we are live at 3:00 :00 am as we crossed the time frame. the pres. of the united states is