>> words have power. president trump insults african nations and haiti, sparking outrage. i'm robert costa. the charged and changing debates over immigration plus the russia probe. tonight on "washington week." >> mr. president, are you a racist? >> vile comments made by the president. robert: zphart dick dirt bun, who was in the room, confirms president trump insulted the people of haiti and african nations but the president denied making racist remarks, saying in a tweet if language was tough but this was not the language used. republican congresswoman mia

love, whose parents are there haiti demanden an apology. she called the comments elitist and fly in the face of our nation's values. the exferings exploded just weeks after it was reported the president made similar remarks at a meeting last summer, claiming that all haitians have aids. the white house denied this reporting. plus, new droments in the russia probe. testimony about a frump-related document is released and the president skirts questions about testifying before special counsel robert mueller. >> we'll see what happens but when nobody has found any conclusion, it seems unlikely you've you'd have an sfwuff. we've cover it all with jeremy peters of "the new york times." anthony parker of politico and manu raju of cnn.

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day at the white house. critics accused him of racism. some allies looked away. a statement reeled in part -- president trump is fighting for permanent solutions bk by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation. president trump denied he used alexis: language. he said i never said anything derogatory about haitians other than haiti is obviously a very poor and troubled country. he also said never said take them out, made up by dems. i have a wonderful rhythm with the haitians. he also added we should probably record future meetings. unfortunately no trust. that's all from president trump. witnesses, however, inside oval office meeting were divided. two republicans who remember participate of the session say they could "not recall the

president using vulgar language." others have chosen to stay quiet. senator dick durbin, a democrat, insist the president did use vile and racist language, his words in thatism graduation meeting. what a day. ashley and andy, welcome to "washington week." take us inside the white house. the perspective was at a martin luther king jr. event at the white house. he didn't take any questions and didn't respond to rompletse yelling at him are you a racist? is this a white house in christ or are they defiant? >> for in quhowls crisis is often standard operating procedure. was it chaotic in the fallout? absolutely but they're now used to operating this way. in taking to aveds inside the white house, yes, this was bad. not as bad as some things they've had to weather or things they've heard at other times and

the president himself, my sense from people inside white house who had spoken to him was that last night, at least, he was not particularly bent out of shape. he called friends and confidants to get a sense how this was playing. of course he doesn't like negative news coverage. that's why you saw him sort of tweeting and trying to walk it back. again, they said the president has a sense of what washington goes crazy about and what dom names cable news is not necessarily what his base, what people around him care about and he doesn't necessarily think it's that bad for him there. >> i would say i agree, that for aides that have been there since the beginning of the campaign, there's a sense of like we've survived this a million times. this language isn't out of the ordinary from what they're used to hearing from the. -- president. a little bit of a binled,

though, was that this was different because trump made in remark in front of durbin, a democrat, and other lawmakers. so we saw trump, the white house push back very hard on a "new york times" report where he made similar comments saying people from africa have aids and live in huts and they pushed back very hard. it wasn't just an environment of white house aides where they could agree amongst themselves. here the audience was too big to just deny it so that caused more of a hiccup but in general i saw a lot of kind of shrug um it off. a few aides were kind of demoralized because it was a week to shift away from the mental state conversation and they actually had a good economic message to press yesterday. chrysler announced it was moving a factory from mexico to million. walmart announced it was raising

the mini much wage for some u.s. workers. aides in the white house were hoping they would talk look that yesterday then it gets blown up but there was some discouragement but not thinking this is a turning point. robert: and the base seemed to stick with him, jeremy, today. >> they're either going to not believe he said it or not going to care. i think more of them fall into the latter category. the if the we thought maybe we believed earlier in week was walking back his promises on immigration. make considering some type of am nestty for daca kids. no, the president who doesn't want unskilled labor coming into in country, that's the game who would say that vulgarity about these countries who are seemeding people here. two things playing in the president's favor today. one was that, oh, our guy is back. two is that the left is

overplaying their hand. you heard commentators from rush leadership baugh on down saying this is moral preening, pearl clutching by the left once again. come on, like they've never heard a bad word before? please. so i do think that there's some noise out there. think about what happened in week. we started with the president's mental fitness. the president has dementia, then oprah is going to be president. then steve bannon is fired then the perspective is walking back that deal with democrats and calling haiti and these other predominant live black and brown countries an incredibly borderline racist if not outright racist term. it's too much for people to catalog in name brains. robert: and too much programs for lawmakers to categorize. we hear the law makers in part may be shrugging off the controversy, the base may be shrugging it off.

this has a cost, programs, on capitol hill. they're trying to avoid a government shutdown and cut an immigration deal. it seemed today that the lawmakers on both sides were reeling in the twake of all this >> no question. there's so much uncertainty heading into that january 19 deadline. most likely they'll have to kick the can down the road, extend government funding for another few weeks, avoid a shutdown and deal with this immigration issue at another time. i think one thing that dick durbin -- the comment on this is probably correct, that any deal is going to have to essentially be cut between the republicans and the democrats in the senate an september the white house. of course the president is going to have to stein something at the end of the day but it's going to have to be a deal that the leadership agrees on and the democrats in particular don't trust this president to be on the same board with them when it

comes to immigration. they will have to get some buy-in from republicans and leadership of the senate and take that to the white house and say take it or leave it. we'll see if that plays out but most likely for the short term, it's going to be punting. >> if you watch that sfrooled 55-minute basically repeat tv show may not be quite right. >> he calmed it the stuche. welcome to the stuche. >> i went backed and watched ate second time but if you looked at that, the president was very much an empty vessel on immigration. he was almost asked where are youied lollingly and he said i'm kind of nowhere. these guys will put something together and i'll sign it. on the other hand while he may be an empty vessel in some ways on policy, he has a real sense of where he is on immigration and he's very unpredictable.

i'll do anything, sign anything, oh, by the way, except -- wait a minute, i won't sign that. so it's tricky for lawmakers. robert: if he's flexible on ideology, is the white house prepared to agree to some sense to agree to a wall -- >> it depends on your definition of wall. an electronic wall? trump made it cloorp he means a physical border wall like he described during the campaign. so for now he seems to be sticking to the position that a wall mean as physical barrier. you can see through it -- that's what he's willing to shake on but he seems to think a wall is a wall. >> and senator flake from arizona said today, the republican moderate that a deal is ready on the table. is there a chance the president could sign that, because

because, as flake said today, that's the only deal available. >> the president himself said he wouldn't sell this. this democrats a lot of republicans and democrats' minds on alcoholism. the president says one thing but how do you know where he's going to be at the end of the day? >> hex this week, you guys sign anything, i'm -- draw up anything, i'll sign it and take the heat. >> that brings up the bigger question, can this president govern? as ashley said, she watched the whole thing again. 55 minutes. >> wonderful television. robert: we can argue look that. they're trying to showcase to the tchaun he can handle these kind of negotiations but then it unravels. can he govern? >> the president american elected does not care to understand policy. it's not that he doesn't understand it, he doesn't care to or need to. other people will do that for

him. this is why he's so swayed by the last person to speak to him and that's clearly what happened overnight after that last meet in the oval office where he was basically agreeing with diane fine semifinal and dick durbin about what to do with the dreamers. he had this meeting with kevin mccarthy jumping out of his seat saying no, no, these are what republican principles on this issue are. he doesn't really care to know. it's only after the fact when he's reminded hey, this is what you campaigned on. when people come to the of office and tell him no, when steven miller is in his ear, about immigration especially saying this is not some place we can go, mr. president. >> it's a good thing to put more of these meetings on camera because he performs for the camera. that 55-minute televised meeting

with lawmakers was a win for him. he can stay on topic a long time. unlike what michael wolff reports in the book, he doesn't repeat himself every minute and tell the same stories and he said a very out of character thing, i'll take the heat. when does the buck ever stop with trump? robert: we have hundreds of fouls thises of youngun document immigrants looking at their permits and wondering if they're going to expire. >> that's the ultimate question. we know that the ultimate deadline is march and as we know from congress, they'll take it almost certainly all the way until the demrinle to get a deal. the democrats want to attach this to the spending deal in order to force republicans to keep the government open but today paul ryan made a clear pronouncement that he does not want to tie it to the government spending bill and that's going to make things presumably more difficult.

robert: the issue that drove everything today -- race. the president talking look preferring people from norway versus those from african countries or from haiti. he has a history on race. you look at the birther moment on america. his statements on the central park five. how is this white house grappling with the charges of racism that came fast and furious today? >> well, today you sort of didn't see them publicly grappling with them at all. their official position is the president is not racist and tpwhroin nice otherwise, that is a gross misunderstanding. thacks, there were his comments inspect wake of chartsville where he said both sides were to blame and you mentioned birthers briefly but a lot of people see that as the orange sin. it wasn't just refusing against all evidence to accept that president obama was born in the

united states but it was to fuel his rise. candidate trump, there is no president trump without birtherism so issues of race are inextricably bound with in perspective and followed him into the oval. >> they're not going to answer for it until the republican party answers for it. robert: leaders around the world and u.s. allies have are condemn it would president. >> i don't think he'll feel any pressure until the republican party makes him answer and right now you've seen lawmaker after lawmaker basically take a pass. >> republicans for the most part have been silent about this. >> why? >> i think they made the collation that they need this president on their -- calculation that they need this president only their side to get things done. lindsay graham is an example of that. he's been a sharp critic of the

if the's until lately. he's now central on this immigration deal. and he realizes that perhaps we can't get a deal to help the dreamers, he's more model rat than the president is on immigration and as we know, it was lindsay graham who confronted the president and the white house about those vulgar remarks but lindsay graham did not address that specifically. he alluded to it but did not confirm durbin's account. robert: jeremy mentioned steve ban en. he's out of the white house now. people naught earlier last year maybe it was bannon the puppet match behind the president but some say this is who he is. >> bannon wasn't around when president trump made the remarks about charlottesville and he wasn't around when he used this vulgar language describing people from haiti and african

countries. i think trump will continue to get a long leash as long as he's delivering on the republican agenda. he's got tax reform done. he moved the ambassador to jeers lem. if -- the other thing ask, i think, sarah sanders canceled her press breaching today so we don't know. the white house kicked the can down the road on is the president a racist? but his defenders were saying it's just kitchen takeable talk, as one person said to nep. like locker room. robert: we're going to keep an eye on all of this. there were some more issues this week. a laundry list of things that happened this week but there were, as well, new details in the russia probe with the release of terrorists revealing how a former british spy who compiled that controversial dosea of president trump and his capable team was concerned that

he was being black maimed by the creme lincoln. former british intelligence officer crimp steele was so alarmed about a potential national security threat he personally went to the f.b.i. in july of 2016. according to transcripts of testimony bill glenn simpson whose firm commission, the so-called steele dossa. and this week the president dodged a question about whether or not he would testify before special counsel robert mueller. president trump: they say there's no conclusion. i speak to attorneys. there was absolutely no collusion. it has been determined by virtual little everybody so we'll see what happens. robert: meanwhile, president trump's former chief strategist steve bannon, who's avoided the spotlight out of the reaction from that book by michael woltf.

-- why did senator dianne feinstein of california move to release that striment and what does it tell us? >> she wanted to make the case -- push back against the aggressive republican effort to discredit the dossier and christopher steele who republicans have said, the president have said that this was a democrat-funded dossier aimed at going after the president. this is the reason why the f.b.i. investigation into these connections happened and this has been their tavert target for a long time. what diane fine semifinal wanted to show was that this is what actually happened behind closed doors over 10-hours of testimony. he discussed why he hired crimp steele to investigate in matter. he said under oath that crimp steele had no knowledge of the funding, sources behind the reason why he was over interest. he also explained why.

he's a notable russia expert and he was so alarmed that he decided that he had to breach the f.b.i. on multiple occasions about what he learned about this e. by the kremlin to help the trump campaign. now, this is not going to at all stop the efforts to go after him because the recommendation believe that the dossier -- there are a lot of questions about why he was doing what he was doing and they believe that there are some nefarious actions by the f.b.i. but the interesting thing, though, is that in this election year, democrats want to focus more on russia. what happened with the rushinga meddling and the republicans want to focus on what they believe is f.b.i. misconduct in that russia probe and that's going to continue. robert: what should we expect from bannon from -- when he heads to capitol hill? >> i think probably as little as possible. robert: he's still on team trump. >> it's going to be the exact

opposite of what we've come to expect from steve bannon, which is fire and fury. he's lawered up, as you point out. i can't imagine that he's going to get too far out there ahead of himself. he's loyal to this president, as you correctly exoinlt out, despite what he is quoted as saying. he may understand, as almost everyone around president trump does that this is a man with deep flaws but he's not given up on his ideas that he campaigned on or the possibility for what i think bannon sees as real change in certain policies. robert: such a back and forth between the president's legal team and the mueller probe. where does that stand in terms of the perspective ever meeting with the investigation? >> you can understand from the president's point of view certainly and from his legal team's point of view that that's something nemmed prefer to avoid and if they do have to do it, one of the things that makes

this president a challenging clients for lawyers is that he's so unpredictable and that he engageses in what in the real estate world might be called puffry or exaggeration to put it generously and early only his legal team was trying to team him there are two groups of people you can't lie to and it's a special investigator and congressional investigators. that's why we're hearing and seeing look this effort to take sure that ideally from the president's point of view, it's written questions. it's responding to stuff written that gist them a lot more carom and prevents the president from saying something that may not quite align with what mueller's team has heard. robert: final naught on the president's legal team? he keeps insisting no collusion. >> he does. a subject he likes to address less is whether there was in -- any obstruction of justice. well don't see him trying to brosme that topic. he did a little bit with the

wall street interview, putting it on rosenstein but that doesn't quite aide up with how he's defended himself in the past. robert: annie, great to have you, welcome to "washington week." thanks, everybody, if being here. our conversation will continue on the "washington week" extra where we'll talk about reports oprah fin -- winfrey may run for president. i wrote a story about this this week. it could happen. i'm robert costa. thanks for watching and have a wonderful weekend. >> funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinctive. they understand the challenges of today. and research the technologies of tomorrow.

some call them veterans. we call them part of our team. >> american cruise lines. proud sponsor of "washington week." >> additional funding is provided by -- 1 newman's own foundation. donating all profits from nusmen's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. koo and parisha yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging intellectual really a differentials in our communities. the corporation from public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.

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