robert:: civil war in the white house and a possible trailed war coming. i'm robert costa. statue tensions, proposed tariffs and stadied gun talks. tonight on "washington week." as stream weather batters both coasts, a storm of controversy and conflicts are creating disturbs inside the white house, from power struggles and dent tigations of pre trump's family to trump's ongoing attacks against attorney general jeff sessions. the president finds himself isolated and angry. this week he took aim at the national rifle association and his own party over guns. >> we didn't address i mr. president. >> because you're afraid of the n.r.a. robert: but changed course the next day after meeting with the n.r.a. he surpris many with his plan

to impose heavy tariffs on global exports of steel and aluminum. >> workers in our country haven't been appropriatelyd. represen robert: but the announcements sent stocks plummeting and stoked fears o a trade war. what's the cost of president trump's disruptivend unpredictable tact six? we'll discuss it all with hallie jackson of nbc news. michael crowley of politico. nancy cordes of cbs news, and karen tumulty of the boast. >> this is "washgton week." funding is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinctive. they understand the challenges of today.

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foundation. koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station fro viewers like you. thank you. >> once again, from washington, moderator robert :sta. robe good evening. president trump vowed he would shake up washington and has always embrace it would ideath unpredictability has power. that approach was tested this week when the president rattled global markets with his surprise decision to raise tariffs on steel and aluminum imports,ep d up his public feud with attorney general jeff sessions, engaged the national rifle associationver guns and faced challenges with two of his closest advisors. son-in-law gerald cusmer in an white house director of communications, hikes --

hurricanes. scrutiny on kushner continues to grow. his white house meetings with executives from two lending companies that issued more than $500 million in loans to his family's real estate business have also drawn attention. and home hicks, oneth of president's most loyal confidants resigned jt one day after she testified before the house intelgence committee, which is investigating russian eddling. hallie, welcome to "washington week." hallie: thanksoraving me. robert:: this week seems different. the president's family under scrutiny. his closest confidants and advisors under scriny as well. what made it different? hallie: his inner circle dissipating. a couple of things made this week different. i think it comes from the intersection of the personal and the policy on the rhythms and how that affected policy moving

forward. the president midweek, after hope hicks testified in that dramatic moment on capitolill to lawmakers about the russia investigation, the thing that annoys him the most, as we knoww simmering over there. simmering about the conduct of his attorney frustrated by the beating that his son-in-law was taking in the press and the continued headlines about jared kushner. i was told my one person he was feeling angry and depressed. not clinically but feeling low. which put him on a fight and the one that came to him was a fight on trade. over the advice of so calmed globalists. that all came to a head this week which -- whether onsd th morning, the president made that seemingly surprise announment that caught some of

his own staffers a on guaut tariffs. robert: it took some in his own party icongress on -- off guard. one wrote every day is a new adventure for us. >> first of all, they don't agree that the president is a trade war is a good thank that will fnd well the united states. number two, the cavalier way appear told go about this, by naving a lot of his top aides in the dark, may running the numbers and thinking about all of the consequences beforehand. it was another reminder to them about the way this h whise operate, kind of on an ad hoc basis. t same time they're waiting to see whether he pulls back a little bit after seeing how the stock market reacted. after seeing threats from the e.u. tt it might end up putting tariffs on u

products. they're holding some of their fire new mexico they will see the final announcement from t white house. do they make these tariffs for narrow? >> but there was also this whole series of tweets started, which we say packetically -- practically every day i this administration but there was a series of tweets starting before down dawn this morning where tid prt is declaring that trade wars are a good thing and that they're easy to win. it suggests that he is operating completely on impulse and i think he's also operating with an eye to a special election in passive 10 daysrom now where there is going to be a big -- it's a lot closer than it should be for the republican candidate. and a lot of these voters are going to be people like steel workers and coal miners whom will cheering these tariffs. >> this not a new position

for the president. as somebody whoovered his campaign, he was talking about this at rallies in pennsylvani and ohio and some critical rust belt states. his supporters knew he wase goig toough on trailed and based on voters we've talked to, he feels like he's delivering his promise. but the devil isn the details. >> what's interesting is althou the markets did swoon at the end of the day the dow wasasally flat and the nasdaq was up 1%. one thing we've seen throughout the trump presidency is a trump -- stock market c thattinues to grow. we did see a pseudo correction but generally people don't expect to see trade warses, wars with north korea. their theory is donald trump twts and says a lot of dramatic things but the follow-through has thus far been limited and investors seem to

think it will don't -- continues do be. >> one of the interesting things was the effort u. proposing possible tariffs on bourbon. and who's in kitsch? mitch mcconnell, theeader of the senate. >> bourbon and cheese,on win. robert: when you look at what happened this week, a 25% tariff on foreign-made steel, 10% for aluminum. as hallie said, maybe some of a this islay for the base but michael, when you think about the consequences inside of the white house. when we talk about the staffers and advisors. this administration is driven by relationships with the president and often but -- by thet' presid instincts and you see someone like gary cohen, the national economic advisor, wilbur ross, trailed advisor peter navarro, he sees the administrati a tilti different direction, perhaps. >> yeah, there's talk he may

leave the administration if the president does follow through on tariffs and personnel cane policy. that's why another interesting componente fate of h.r. security advisor mcmaster. so if cohen leaves, i do think the markets would reabout badly to cohen leakng. i th that would be a signal that trump is willing to take actions witheal significant consequences. and i think if mcmaster leaves it depen on who replaces him but that could be a sign that trump is kind of breaking the shackles of some of the relatively conventional foreign policy he's followed up to this time. el there's an ent chance he's going to pull out of the iran clear deal. he recognized he would recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel against the advice of many. and what else might he be

thinking in terms of north korea?th that's a big test. but you're right, who is in the white house -- this is like an epic reality show but that is -- that has real policy implications. >> there are a lot of folks that listen to a lot of the things you ticked off and say hey, promise made, promise kept by mp donald t when you look at the roller coaster ride in the markets, this was not a surprise to people inside the west wing who have beenorking on the potential trade fall out. they predicted this was likely going to hpen and our reporting is they told the president this probay would happen. robert: not a surprise to them but a surprise at republicans at the capitol. >>in rights normally the kind of things you'd forecast, this is where you're heading. maybe you'dit consult republican leaders. absolutely, folks are not surprised that the president cares about this issue. he's talked about it aot b

the fact he did what he did on thursday took everyone by surprise and, you know, republicans were already reeling over a very unusual conversation on guns just 24 hours earlier. robert: what does it mean, karen, when you think about americans and how these trade policies affect them? karen: it means essentially that if donald trump follows through on this, he's picking winners and losers. the losers will be american consumers who will -- prices of anything that has steel and aluminum in it will go up and there have been estimates that prices will go up more than the benefit people are getting fm the tax cuts that republicans plan to run on. the industries tt he is trying to protect here will benefit in e short run but, you know, insulating them from global economic trends is not i necessariltheir interests in the long run.

this is a very dramatic break with republican economic. olympi >> and it's the kind of thing that can get out of control. once you break that membrane and start taking some of these steps and other neighings retaliate it can escalate quickly. heavy we have ay pre stable economic system where the countries that are a part of the economic order globally don't change things dramatically. >> the losers will also best ines that the president cares a lot about. car companies. boeing.ha companies use a lot of steel in this country and will see their prices go up and they are sure to be beating down the of the white house trying to change the president's mind and they could have an influence as well. >> we talked to a guy named ken wood today. he farms wheat in kansas and he's concerned because if the president goes through with these tariffs, there's a concern

there will be retaliation on things americans export like wheat and soy bean. there's real concern their prices will go up as well. tit's not jhe bourbon and cheese and blue jeages. >> and finally it punishes everybody, our alleys as well as r adversaries. there may be an argument to some sort of targeted trade measures targeted against china or russia. this hits canada, europe. it is a very plunlt instrument. robert: michael said they're going to fight back. i asked a white house official about it today.ai he the president says the trade deficit is over $500 bistion. he's fted and he wants to move on to something in a midtermea not just sit on the tax bill that passed last year but china is not going to walk away from michael: no, that goes back to the point about possible escalation with unforeseeableeq

conces. the u.s.-china relationship is so important in so many ways. we spend a huge amount of time talking about ameri russia and for good reason but if you talk about people who take a bif picture vieww the world is evolving and politics, they say the u.s.-china rhythm is actually the more important donald trump hammered the chinese on the campaign trail and his audienc loved it. he's been fairly soft on china but he's getting frustrated there are not more results there and ts might be a sign we might be getting more confrontational. robe: you look at president zing pingnd he continues to exert his control in china. the gun debates and on the same day students from marjory douglas sneman high school, the president convened oicials

from both sides of theal. the president said he supported an immed ban on bump stocks and supported raising the age for buying them and seemingly supported background check. democrats in the roorg the president to take the lead to make progress. >> mr. president, it's going to o ve tbe you that brings republans to the table on this. >> i like that responsibility, chris. it's time that a president stemmed up and we haven't had them - i'm talking democrat and republican presidents. they have not stepped up. robert: the president's apparent openness lo new gunislation did not last long. the n.r.a. leaders who met with him this week signaled that the president may back off. that makes somees conls probably pleased on clip. when we look at the president's talk o guns, does it translate

to action in the coming months? y: only if he keeps with the same position, which he's already inpendence camed he y not. he could have some impact if herm to hammer away at his participants dale after damesa ng we need to change our stance on this, we need to be openo uniformackground checks but it doesn't appear that that's going to be the case. just as with immigration, where he initially appeared to side with democrats but then got hammeredot just by his base and by conservative news outlets but ao by some of his own staffers who told him no, you have to go this way. it looks lik the same scenario is playing out here and that's why republicans -- by and lar didn't freak out when he really appeared to break with them son -- on some pretty significant aspects of th gun debate because they assumed that he'll get back to his usual ways, just

wait a couple of days. rort: cox tweeted the president and the vice president support strong -- don't want gun control. who's the trump that matters? the one that had dinner with the n.r.a. or the other? >> swrorning -- i donca think yo separate them. but i do think you are already seeing the walkback from the white house saying things like well, that was a debate,hat was a get the ball rolling out -- kind of a session with the president. i spoke with one source close to the n.r.a. today about what i think is one of the most interesting pieces of this gun detective, which is raising the minimum age to buying some automatic weapons to 21. you' seen someusinesses, l.l. bean come out saying they'll put thi in effect on

our own. dick's sporting goods. the n.r.a. is t not goingo compromise. you may see a push to say states can do that. robert: you've been tracking some of the companies, carolina. dick sporting guns. all these companies are reacting to the gun debate. as you look backt political history, though the president may not be able to execute on some of what he's talking about, is having republican president talking this way about guns some kind of breakthrough in the gun debate? nancy: he -- if he were consistent but he's probably not going to be and we're seeing corporations respondingo their customer bases. dick's sporting goods, their stores are in the suburbs where there e a lot of suburban women. young people, they' big customers. while the polling will show that young people are as likely as any other group to own a gun or live in a house with a g, their attitudes about the

balance bween gun ownership rights and gun control are completely the am sit of those of older americans. these corporations are looking atme their cus baleses and i think seeing where the -- bases and i t seeing where the public sentiment is going. michael: it may be this is a pivotal moment but i still remember the million mom march after the combine shooting. that haded a lim effect and eventually expired.e to change laws in this country, you need really sustained attention andnd commitmentassion on the side of people who want to make the change and j yt haven't seen that whereas on the other side you have this intensity of commitment, money, determination by the n.r.a. and its alleys. think a likely outcome is that donald trump, like many ericans in the amp path --

aftermath of the school shooting got u firp and talked about doing things but the moment will pa and you'll see the same pattern. >> they're takg some action in florida following the shooting but are congressional candidates really push g for something right now? >> i think the challenge is that for the democrati party, while their base is pretty united on the gun issue. itever ranks in polls as the number two or number three issue for voters. on the other hand, it does often rank pretty high up thereva for consve voters so that's why you don't see a push among democrats. they have this bump stock issue. they had finally reached agreement with republicans a couple of months ago after the las vegasto shootinet rid of bump stocks. what a huge breakthrough and then y didn't hear a lot on -- about it for a couple of months. that's because as passionately

about it as they may feel it's not necessarily a winningessue for democrats. can the parkland stunts change things? that remains to be seen. robert: they have been everywhere, those park land activists. respect them and wish them the best. we'll have leave it there. we'll continues the conversation onhe "washington week" extra where we'll talk about president putin's claims that russia has createn invincible nuclear weapons system. and believe it nt not presi trump has named his 2020 campaign manager. you can find us weeknights and all weekendi'ong. robert costa. enjoy your week. -- weekend. >> funding for "washington week"

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foundation, committed to bridging intellectual yurl differentials in our communities. e corporation for public broadcasting and by your contributions from viewers like you.

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>> harvey! (cameras clicking) ...harvey! >> narrator: thiyear at the academy awards, one powerful figure will be missing.or >>than 60 women have come forward to accuse weinstein of sexual harassment, assault and rape. >> by the mid-nineties, we werew aware t the was alleged to be doing. >> weinstein has repeatedly denied allegations of non-consensual sex. >> he believed he was goinge. to be untoucha >> nrator: tonight, the story of how harvey weinstein silenced his accusers. >> harvey weinstein had an incredibly complex machine designed to maintain silence around this.me >> i just reer feeling so powerless and furious...