robert: checks and balances. tensions flare between president trump and republicans over health care, sanctions and the special counsel and the russian investigation heads to a grand jury. i'm robert costa. recess in washington starts with last-minute drama. tonight on "washington week." president trump: they can continue their obsession with the russian hoax or they can serve the interests of the american people. robert: while the president fumes, the investigation into russia's election meddling ramps up, again. the special counsel convenience a grand jury. president trump rallies his base. president trump: we don't need advice from the washington swamp. we need to drain the swamp. robert: aggressively pushing conservative policies on

immigration and jobs. but his low approval rating and sharp jabs at congress are sparking friction within his own party. >> it's not conservative for elected officials, those of us in congress to watch this and not say anything. robert: congress heads out of town but not before putting new limits on the president's ability to lift russian sanctions, a bill mr. trump reluctantly signed. will the summer recess bring clarity or ballpark -- ballpark. we get answers from dan balz of the "washington post." susan davis of npr. carol lee of nbc news. and franco ordoñez of mcclasmy. >> celebrating 50 years, this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinctive.

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thank you. once again, live from washington, moderator robert costa. robert: good evening. this was supposed to be a chance for the white house to reset. a new chief of staff was instituted to stabilize a divided west wing. but instead president trump found himself in a familiar place, up against the ropes with new developments about the ongoing russia prokes. special counsel rob mueller is assembling a grand jury in last year's election and russian potential collusion with the trump campaign. last night the president did what you'd expect, counter punch. president trump: the russia story is a total fabbri days. there were no -- fabrication. there were no rushesens in our campaign. there never were. robert: dan, the russia issue

day in and day out seems to be the issue the president cannot escape. dan: call it what you will. the festering wound, the low-grade fever that could become an acute fever. no one knows how it will end but he's totally obsessed with it and whether it was coincidence or not, the news that came out yesterday that bob mueller is using a grand jury and the president did what he did in west virginia with that speech, which was not an offhand ad lib rant. this was a prepared speech to sew doubt about and it reinforce with his base that this is an investigation designed not just to hurt him but to hurt the things he's trying to do for him. robert: sue, congressional republicans are watching the president's speech in west virginia. they see him venting and they're trying to put up a stop sign in case he ever stileds to move toward firing bob mueller.

susan: they're putting up a lot of stop signs. you don't hear a lot of pushback from republicans in congress but their actions tell a very different story. congress by almost unanimous margins passed a russians sanctions bill. when the president fired james comey, they made it clishe they needed a nominee who was aabove board. the new f.b.i. director was approved by a near-unanimous vote, sending a message. and senate republicans sent a clear message that firing jeff sessions was not on the table and doing so would have severe and dramatic consequences in congress. robert: do you think the white house, franco, is still considering firing muller? frank: i think this is something he's floated a few times. smog that he's considering. like one of those trial balloons

that's got gone out. but i think the pushback we've heard, i think he's very hesitant to make such a move because he knows there would be a lot of pushback. robert: carolina, the grand jury is the beginning of a process, the new investigative tool but we know that bob muleer is possibly looking into crimes with president trump and his family. carol: when that news came out is when you saw the president really step up his criticism. he's obviously been critical of this from the start but there is this narrative that that is what made him very nervous. that and he also felt like mueller was moving in a direction that was out of the zone of what his investigation was supposed to be about. yes, it's about whether or not the campaign colluded with russia but if you move into looking at businesses and the trump inc and hold, that is a very large space and that makes the president even more upset

about this robert: is this the issue that maybe clouds up everything right now for in entire administration? susan: in a lot of ways what's happening in russia hasn't really affected congress but i do think firing mueller would be that thing that finally does blow up the agenda and i think that's also part of the reason, as you referred to, that there are a bipartisan group of senators right ow working on legislation that would give recourse to any special counsel but specifically aimed obviously at robert muller to protect him if they were to fire him and that's sending another message to the white house. do not do this. we don't trust you. which is the same as the russia sanctions bill is. dan: i agree with sue that it's possible that congress can continue to do it work while this thing is over trump. we've seen this in past administrations when there's an investigation. they're able to compartment meant lies.

nonetheless a white house can do business in the absence of that. this is so different because it's so personal to trump and i think that affects him and therefore because of the way the white house has operated pre--general kelly it's made it more difficult for the white house to omit effectively. >> it's a fight he wants to keep happening, i think. we saw that in west virginia. he's not backing down. he's pushing and pushing and what better place to do that in front of essentially a home town crowd. and it's a message, i think that's been effective for the base. robert: let's dig into this. that hometown base in mf, -- west virginia, it is a constant theme for this administration as the russia questions linger over the white house. we're watching in real time this president recalibrating amid dismal poll numbers. his approval rating has dipped

to a new low. 61% of americans disapprove of the job mr. trump is doing. just 33% approve. that's a seven-point drop from just a month ago. the president is returning in this environment to his signature campaign issues that fire up that conservative base. last week it was a ban on transgender troops from serving from the mill tournament this week it was a plan to cut illegal immigration by nearly half. excuse me, it was actually cutting legal immigration. and the justice department is now looking to investigate affirmative action and how it may discriminate against white people. carol, we're looking at a president now in west virginia and his attorney general jeff sessions today on friday is starting to go after the media. you have not only the president but non top cabinet officials targeting these enemies for the

white house and this administration. sessions may he may -- said he may even s&p journal -- journalists to -- subpoena journalists to talk about leaks. will the trump base stay with him? >> that's the big question how long this can last. president obama a number of times tried to pivot. he would pivot to being a moderate. and what you've seen with president trump is he's going very narrow and very targeted. he was saying things in his speech last night about we. we don't knee this we don't need washington. we're going to do this it was like this collective. these are the true believers. we'll see in the next few months whether or not they stick with him if he can't get health care or do anything on immigration or tax reform or infrastructure or bring back coal jobs. he's heading into a period of his first year in office where

there's a lot of must-dos in congress that are going to make life even trickier. it's been very did i feel in the first six months. if-year in the same position a year from now, it's hard to manage that -- imagine that all of them would still be with him. franco: i guess i take a little bit of a different perspective on that. i think the base is pretty lisa:. they love trump. you go to iowa and these different communities in alabama. the fever that they have for trump is so large. i think we'll know later this month with the alabama special election coming -- coming up. will they go with larry or with the more moderate republican? robert: on the immigration legislation, cutting legal immigration by half. does that have any chance of passing franco: i think very little but the most popular line

trump would give was about immigration, building a wall. this goes further, legal immigration. it was overshadowed during the campaign but this attacks essentially one of the national tenants of the national immigration system. it talks about family unification. this is something that our immigration system was built on. it would change that dramatically and if this were to pass, over the next several dect, the idea is to maybe cut legal immigration in half and that's significant. robert: it seems we've been talking about the attorney general for weeks. the president called him be leagueered. but his work on cutting immigration, the populism that infused the capable now seems to be at the core of this presidency. >> that was what was so remarkable about the president taking on jeff sessions. was there any republican in washington more loyal with trump from the beginning than jeff

sessions? and so much of sessions' idealy -- ideology fueled the trump campaign. stephen miller, who we also saw on television this week. when trump went after sessions, that's part of the reason why i think you saw the base hit. types of republicans come out hard for him. sessions is still a guy that the traditional conservative base knows, likes and trust the. and a lot of senators feel like they have a personal connection with him and they trust him in that job. even if a lot of former colleagues in the senate may not always agree, particularly on questions of immigration. >> on the immigration issue, sessions was the one who with steven miriam almost single-handedly ended the gang of eight effort to bring a expensive package that would put these undocumented immigrants on a path to citizenship.

when trump attacked sessions, those people that want immigration enforcement. trump's signature issue, were pushing back. robert: yet steven miriam is out there this week as a spokesman for the administration. dan, is the president retreating to this populism from the campaign or sit part of a strategy? dan: with this president, it's always hard to say there's a particular strategy behind it but i think there are core principles and it ebbs and flows with him. there are times at which it looks like he's strayed completely from the campaign agenda and then he comes roaring back to it and what we've seen over the last 10 days to two weeks are a remind they are those are core issue that is connected him with the people who brought him to the white house and he is remaining true to those issues and to them. it's a combination of this america-first notion, the sense of national identity. the social and cultural issues,

beyond the economic issues. the social and cultural issues that have bound him to a part of the electorate who remain quite loyal. robert: let's talk about the other end of pennsylvania avenue for a moment. president trump's low approval numbers have rattled members of his own party. many of them are suddenly putting a little distance between themselves and the president. south carolina senator tim scott said we work for the american people. we don't work for the president. carolina, what we're watching is a republican party really unsure at this six-month mark about how close they want to be with this president. susan: right, and if you -- carol: right, and if you look at senator jeff flakes, he stuck his neck out and it's not working so well. robert: jeff flake took a put

step with trump with this new trump. why don't you think it's work something carol: it seems like it could hurt him. i think what you see with republicans is this kind of resistance to -- not wanting to criticize -- the private criticism has been increasingly welcoming public. the things that republicans have told all of us in background or off the record or in brivet discussions is now becoming a little bit more public. when you look at what congress has to do and all of the challenges they have, at a certain point they're going to need each other. the president and the republicans are going to need each other to do anything because they have promising that once they got control of the house and the senate and the white house that it would be great for all these people who voted for them and they need to put out. robert: was health care the turning point, when it fell apart in the senate was that what prompted flake and others to walk away?

susan: i think flake is his own man on this. i think flake is the one that is most willing to voice the concerns that republicans have about the president, not just in terms of what he believes with you in terms of screarkt and for scombretch flake, who is a mormon, who i would certainly say is a conservative before considering himself a republican and who had been battling these conservative wars in congress long before frump entered the political stage with his good friend mike pence. so he's the most vocal but i think his concerns are privately shared by other members. health care is a failure and they know this. they left town a week earlier than planned. they left quietly. the things they have to go home and campaign on are a russians bill and a new frick director. the republicans are not in a good place. that's why you see them dug

doubling down and saying tax cuts are the next big issues. robert: franco is health care dead? i saw a picture online today of steve bannon's office is the white house that had taxes in big bold letters on the white board? are they just moving on? franco: i'm not sure i would ever count out health care at this point. it's always going to be a tough slog to get health care passed. the republicans are desperate to get some victories before the next elections. i'm not sure they'll be able to. push and his administration are pushing it. they seem to be saying, they want to move on but i wouldn't count out this issue. i think trump has shown that he can kind of turn the skews on -- screws on the party. i'm not saying they'll move but they'll try to shoot for any hole they can. robert: this was the first week

for the new white house chief of staff jon kelley. the retired four-star general was hired to bring some military discipline to this white house. and dan, everyone's asking in washington, can general kelly actually change the culture of a place that has been driven by derision? dan: it's an unanswerable question right now. he's been very effective at managing down. which is to say he's set down marching orders for the staff that works for president trump and now for him. he has created lines of authority day that did not exist under reince priebus. if he is able to continue, that that will bring a significant change to the operation of the white house. the question is will he be effective managing up? there's no particular sign that he's closing off the twitter account of the united states. if anything, we've seen more tweets this week than in the past. we know that the president has a

particular style. an operating style, a temperament, a personality that no one has been able to tame and that can continue to get into the way of an effective chief of staff with the rest of the operation. robert: carol, you wrote a terrific piece to week on afghan policy. the strategy there is a real topic for detective. the national security advisor on one side and steve bannon on the other. will that be resolved by general kelly? >> that totally remains to be seen but the afghan discussion has become the staging ground for these two very different policy views. this was a strategy that was supposed to be decided several months ago and what we've seen is that the president is increasingly frustrated and he's getting a pull from the steve bannon crowd and then you have mcmasters and kelly and others who want him to make a decision

and keep going at the pace we've been going in so it keeps getting pushed further and further along and it's going to have to come to a head at some time and who wins that i think will be significant in the direction of the white house. robert: can general kelly spark so much bipartisan talks? >> if you've been a general for the past 15 years we've been in at war, you have very good relationships with those on capitol hill. his hire, i think was very reassuring on capitol hill. not just from republicans. i've heard from democratic senators ho who like and trust kelly. in many ways he's much more suited to this kind of role than prince rebound us ever once -- was. -- rinse prescribes ever was. >> it was also reassuring at the

white house. as soon as that announcements that kelly was in, we were already hearing from members of the west wing who remember saying a little bit of a sigh sigh of relief, calming down and vaying this is going to be ok. robert: and general kelly reached out to some democrats. we'll see if there can be deals or not. thanks for watching and welcome to "washington week," franco, great to have you on this show. we have to leave awe few minutes early so you can take the opportunity to support your local pbs station, which in turn supports us. but our conversation will continues online on the "washington week" extra where we'll keep talking about president trump's frustration with the pentagon action on russia. you can find that at pbs.org/"washington week." i'm robert costa. thanks for watching. have a great weekend.

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semi---- finals. drama. jeopardy. excitement. tension. bakers. passion! are...going... we...to... do...whole... this...link... like... this? yes. good. sue: last time... oh, what?! it was tudor week. jane: looks really healthy, doesn't it? a lovely lot of fat. sue: there was even a spot of jousting. the, um, jousting pole, really that should have gone on the hand. sue: after getting lost in a marzipan maze... paul: the cake feels quite doughy. sue: it was benjamina who became the eighth baker to leave the tent. benjamina: so much fun being in there. and it's so much fun baking with everyone. sue: and candice was awarded star baker for the third time. now it's the semifinal, and only 4 bakers remain. we can do this, guys. we can really do this. jane, voice-over: to be so close and to go home today would be really, really disappointing. you're nervous that any small thing that goes wrong could be your last day in the tent. candice: it's scary, yeah.