boip aandshake and history and a long way to go. i'm robert costa side the promise and peril of a breakthrough in the seemingly e neveing korean war. tonight on "washington week." korean leaders from the north and south make history. agreeing to end decades of tensions and turn a 1953 truce into a peace treat >> there will not be any more war on the korean peninsula. we s are thee people that should live in unity. robert: how this stunning summit is a preview of the planne sitdown between president trump and the north korean leader. >> much of what has been targeted toward me and my team has been half truths or at best stories so twistedhey do not resemb reality. robert: embattled e.p.a.

administrator scott pruitt is fighting back against allegations of ethics allegations and questions over his spending habits. >> those are the type the -- those who attack the a e.p.a.nd me want to derail the president's agenda and undermine this administration's priorities. robert: the president's pick to lead the department of veterans affairsithdraws from the nomination process following reports of professionalsc duct. mr. trump hostedeaders of france and germany this week who urged the president to preserve the iran nuclear deal. >> we should abandon it without having something substanal an more substantial. robert: we cover it all with tara palmeri of abc news, yamiche alcindor of the pbs newshourth mark landler o "new york times," and dan balz of "the washington post." >> this is "washington week." corporate funding is provided by --.

once again, from washington, moderator robert costa.ro rt: good evening. the images this week of state craft and stage craft were ground breaking. even as negotiations continue. but north korean leader kim jung un and south korean leader moon jyin came together shaking hands and smiling as they agreed to remove all nuclear weapons from the korean peninsula and announced they will work with the states and china to officially end the war.

a war thaegan in 1950. at the summit the first between korean le ders in man a decade, moon and kim pledged to ish a permanent and solid treaty. that declaration includedis pr to pursue a phased reduction of military arms, transforming the border into a peace zone, and reorganizing families, bringing them together, that were dividedth b long war. in the oval office on friday, president trump said, nor, that he believes the north korean leader is working in good faith.'t "i d think he's playing," trump said, adding that "he will not be played." esesident trump: i agree. the united st has been played beautifully like a fiddle because you had a different kind of a leader. we're not going to be played. ok? we'll hopefully make a deal. if we don't that's fine. robert: mark, welcome to "washington week." what are the next steps for president trump here as he watches from afar president moon andun kim junet

together? mark: this summit amounted to a drum roll for the summit he'll have at the end of may or early june. re i think that they watching very closely in the white house to see what kim -- how kim behaved, how he handled himself. i think probably the judgment is he is a pretty adroit player. there was a moment you recall when the two leaders first met across the line of demarcation and moon maneuvered kim for a picture and before they retreated into the peace house to have their meeting, kim took moon by the arm, brought him back aoss the line of demarcation into north korea. that struck me as the moment where it was clear they're dealing with a sophisticated guy. he understands stage craft. he understands imagery. and i think for donald trump, a president who understands stage craft and imagery, it had to be an interesting moment to take the measure of this man he'll be dealing with. robert: inside ofhe white house, are they thinking of the stage craftheelves? eatheater of big deal with kim

jong un ory thinking be the conditions they want to set before the meeting? yamiche: i thinkt isoth. at the white house they are very into imagery and president trump knows very much that he wants to look strong and in control. i was kind of surprised by the fact he didn't go on a complete i would say maybe two or three twitters or send two or three tweets today basically taking credit for the fact they were talking about the war being over. you kind of felt was trying to say i'm having a very big deal in this area. instead he kind of was smarter than that. he said, you know, i look forward to meeting with him. we've gotten two locations and we're down to this and getting close. he was careful not to say i'm going to s there and stick it to him. he basically said we have these goals of denuclearization. i don't think he was taking the tough man stance that he was taking when he called him ttle rocket man. robert: tara, welcome to "washington week." are there any tsions in the cabinet or the administration about how to move forward, to take a hardoo line or for the deal? tara: you'll see the tension between the new national

security adviser mike bolton and then also mat is -- mattis, secretary of defense.ar they're liners, hawks. they're going to be very suspicious. they've been around the block in terms of foreign policy and they've seen this game before where north korea plays nice enough just to get the sanctions lifted and then, you know, pul back on the deal. so i think trump is going to have to -- they're probly tempering his expectations and that is why you're seeing the tweets that aren't necessarily victory laps. but you can s, i felt shades of trump trying to paint this as his legacy. i'm sure heovd that congressman messer said he deserved a nobel peace prize. those are the things trump loves to hear. but he's going to have to temper h expectations. i think that's what they're going to be doing. robert: so there a veteran skeptics inside the administration. as a veteran reporter, dan, reyou've seendents raise expectations before and sometimes be challenged to meet those. dan: yes. i think in this case that iics paarly the challenge for the president. you know, obviously something significant s happened. the fact that we are where we

are today as oppose today where we were six mondays ago -- opposed to where we wer six months ago is quite remarkable. the imagery in north korea over the last 24 hours is also remarkable. but at best, the first between our president and kim, all it can do is begin a ocess that might lead to something concrete. and i think that's part of the effort that they're going to have tota und. how do they set those expectations? what conditiontt are they g on the table? to what extent are they prepared to yield on some things? how patient -- i think this is really important -- how patient is presidentrump who we don't think is terribly patient in most other areas? tara: it just seems he wants to sign a deal and move on just like heoes in real estate. this is something you have to nurture over a long period of time. robert: he is not the onlypl er. the president of china was praised by president trump today for trying to, with his hard lineanctions bringing kim perhaps to the table.

china is going to have a role to play as well. yamiche: china is going to have a role to play. when iow think aboutther countries are painting this i was really surprised by the fact that angel merkel said this is great american leadership. there are times we see people kind oftt fing trump in this kind of way that is pretty obvious. she was trying to say, look. we can see you as a leade on this issue and someone who can bring in other countries. i think that's important tha he's not just hearing this is a nice tie or you can rub some dandruff off. she is saying we expect this from you.ea it wasy important he said i feel this is my responsibility. he started kind of trashing the people tt came before him, saying i shouldn't have had to take care of this but i'll take care of this. i think there is this idea that he's not wanting people to feel like i'm going to solve this but it was important to hear him say he wanted to take this leadership. robert: mark, is kim jong un playing with a weak hand right

now? there were reports from china his nuclear missile test site isioot funng and he's dealing with crippling sanctions, hasty throughout his country. what is forcing him --?: mat depends on your benchmark. there is no question his economy has suffered a great deal. most analysts will tell you they don't believe it has suffered enough he would necessarily buckle and there are reports about this nuclear facility being more or less collapsed. that said, over the past several yrs, they have gone to within a close thresld of being able to deliver an icbm to american territory. so you could argue h is actually playing with exactly the righ hand at theoment. when he made the pledge last week to ht testing, he said, well the reason we're halting testing is we don'tte need to anymore. that was also a boast on his part. he was reaffirming what he said before which is that we are tialready effly a nuclear weapons sta. i think there are two ways to look at it. yes he is under econoutc

pressure he's also made a lot of progress on his nuclear ong ram and is playing a s hand. he knows we know that and will try to extract as much as he can to halt t program. robert: you mentioned the past hovers over all of this of course. what about human right what are they saying inside the white house che they look at the fily suing north korea raising questions about whether you can really trust kim jong un? tahat was a huge reminder of who we're dealing with. a lot of the news reports youor hear northn leader. let's not forget he is a dictat. a senior hill aide i spoke to said this would have never happened in the clinton administration because she would have taken so much flack from the foreign policy, that foreign policy jusen inal for dealing with a dictator. you're not supposed to deal with them. what about human rights? trump showed us early on that is not his main priority. young know, b chummy with saudi arabia and just more looking for the deal than the details. we still have three americans detained in north korea.

we're not playing with an honest brokeright now. robert: dan, could the u.s. accept a nuclear armed north korea as long as they agree to peaceful terms with south korea an tthe rest of world? dan: not on the basis the president has established these negotiations. i mean, if that is rolled back, in all kinds of ways he'll be judged as having caved. if that's allowed. in the same way we're dealing with in that iss is front and center. the whole purpose of ending strategic patience, sabre rattling, was to saye will not abide by nuclear weapons for north korea. so i don'tow see he can give in on that. now, the question is, can they structure a deal that takes a lot of time and, you know, mark knows the details of this. mark: i think the issue, the iallenge for the preside going to be if the north koreans string along the process which they always have in the past, he is going to co o under a lotf pressure from the right, which is going

to begin to question thegy stra and, you know, i think it's also worth noting, tara brougoh up bolton. he gave a very interesting interview a few days before he was recruited as national security adviser. he was asked about a trump-kim summit. he said it is a usel exercise because it will fail quickly and by failing allow us to move to the next phase of ourge ennt with them by which he clearly meant military tion. ethat is tension president trump will face if he allows this pros toes play out over a long period of time. dan: doesn't it have to play out over a long period almost byefinition? say they are seeking the end of nuclear weapons. agreementx its of a like that and the conditions and return, a couple years' process. mark: oh, yeah. if y look at the previous rounds of diplomacy during the clinton years and the bush t yeary both bogged down very quickly into these highly technical discussionsbout u.n. inspectors and where do

you put stockpiles of uraniuim. and it does get extremely complicated very fast. so to yr point earlier, does the president have the patience is i think the key question for how this works. >> details matter. theater matters too in politics. so many players. bolton, pompeo, the president, his tweets, the mattis. we'll keep close eye o it. let's turn to another complicated front -- iran. mthis week president tru with the leaders of france and germany and discussed the iran nuear deal that is set to expire on may 12. the week kicked off with a festive state visit in honor of the french president. the warm relationship between the two leaders was certainly on full display. but differences remain on trade and other issues. in t his address a joint session of congress he called for an expanded deal to include containment of tehran's destablizing activities in the region. friday german chancellor angela merkel received a lower profile welcome at the w ate

house f working meeting with the president. merkel pressed the president to stay with the iran dl. bu during his first official trip as secretary of state mike eo who we've been talking about said no decision has been made on whether the u.s. will pull out. >> absent a substantial fix, absent overcoming the short comings, the flaws of the deal, he is unlikely to stay in that deal past this maybe : tara, you are at abc news now but spent a lot of time in eope as a correspondent in brussels. with merkel and mccrone m back-to-batings with the president what is europe's agenda in trying to keep president trump wits iran deal? tara: i spoke with a senior french official that said the leave nt of france did disappointed. this is a hallmark of the e.u. and validates the e.u. which is dealing with a bit of an entity crisis since brexit. losely with john

kerry with the support of merkel and at the time francois holln france. they want this to stay together and are considering adding an agreement on top of the g that nt because hav agreement is so symbolic for them. he left acknowledging they are going to have toxpand the sunset clause for a lifetime, rather i think 10 years. it is really difficult for them this.ve the fact is trump is doing what he said he'd do. he said he was going to pul out of the paris climate agreement and he did. he said he was going to pull out of theran deal and it seems he would. he created a self-imposedma deadline o 12 but at the same time with the paris climate agreement they didn't really give him an option. at this time they're heading home and two w in european diplomacy time is like a minute and they'll have to come up withomething if theyant him to stay. robert: dan, does this have a cost for the nuclear talks with north korea if the u.s. is seen as getting outf the iran deal does it send a message to kim

jong un? dan:ne would think it would. i would think part of the difficulty is we don't know how kim thinks. normally if you're starting a negotiation and reneging on another negotiation or treaty that person is going to be deeply skeptical of you and your negotiating stance. make i've heard analysts another case which is that kim is suchan hermatic guso involved in his own world that anwon't put that stock in agreement with a country thousands of miles away. the things we know about kim's psyche are huge. with president trump the ifficult thing on then deal is that the europeans have come a long way toward him. they've actually moved i think to a remarkable degree from deal they thought was absolutely well negotiated and keep in mind extremely popular

with european public, there is actually a domestic cost for merkel and macron to even talk about walking away from this deal. i think the fact they've mad this many steps toward the president and it doesn't seem to be fnough almosteclosure the possibility of it, of a happy outcome. mark: when you look -- robert when you loo at macron he is bouncing a lot of balls this week trying to become chummy with president trump but also to his congress back home. miche: it was a remarkable bromance until it e wed. the scere the president was touching him. as a reporter you sit back and think did that reallyha just en? then you listen to the president of france talk to congress and it was sounding like he was talking drektly to president trg,p. he was say look. we understand america first got you elected but we don't want this to be an isolationist or about nationalism. you can't just pull out of the world. the world is going to go on. he was speaking in this poetic

way reminding america that france and america have been joinedt the hip and really connected for centuries. there is this idea that he was real trying toend this message that, look. france really wants to be your riend tond to be our continue to be close to us we need to have these deals together. we need to make these agreements. i was sitting i that press conference. they were both physically language the body between them when you see them in the room is them feeling oummy, them feeling warm. i think bothf them were trying to feel as though they were having a connection but then whente you l to him address congress you kind of think, hum. is he tellingrump, hey, don't do that? tara: the thing trump remember when talking to macron and merkel he is not just speaking to the leaders of france and germany but leaders of the eu and macron is there defending the interhets of e.u. he is talking about trade with slovenia as well even though it is a smaller country and he keeps talking about bilaterals and needs to understand the political dimensions in europee when doing this. he sort of is maybe missing

that point a b. mark: those tariffs on steel and aluminum another reason we see the overtures between the european leaders in their meetings with trupp. rosrt: there was more n this week. president trump saw one cabinet member under a hot spotlight on capitol hill this week in hisea pick tothe veterans affairs administration bowed out following reports of inappropriate work behavior. white house doctor and rear admiral ronny jacks withdrew as nominee for secretary of veterans affairs after current and former colleagues accused him of protssional misconduc while serving as the president's personal physician. in a statement dr. jackson responded to those allegfions sayinghey had any merit i would not have been selected, promoted, and entrusted serve in such a sensitive and important role. on a the same day,mbtled e.p.a. administrator scott pruitt faced two congressional h hearings abo management of the agency and spending habits. lawmakers que administrator for five hours about a $43,000 phone booth, his fir classravel, and a

condo rental from the wife of a lobbyist. uitt down played his role in spending decisions and often blamed his staff. tough situation for dr. ckson. all these allegations. also not a lot of vetting by thiste wouse. dan: no. this whole tominationned into a train wreck starting with the decision i think to nominate h without any serious vetting and nominate somebody who would not have the kind of experience you would expect to run a bureaucracy as troubled and big as the veterans administration. then itapent tool hill and, you know, it was like all of these allegations started flowing in. and, interestingly and in some wayss disturbingly, tt pushed out byenator testor without much backup information. i mean, there was one allegation in particular which the white house says tonight is not true which is that he he got vehicle after drunk at a secret service

event. he denied it. the congress folks did not have any backup evidence of it. it starts with bad personneler ions at the white house and just spiraled out of control. mark: you know what was interesting to me is you had almost universal decorations and statements of support for ronny j from the obama administration officials, trump administration officials, y ivanka trump tweeting. and yet from the people w work with dr. jackson and privately went to the senate committee there was hvidence th was at the very least a pretty bad boss. i guess it shows the isolation the white house medal office is in within the white house that the political side either turned a blind eye to this or was unaware of the way he ran his operation. tara: i'm just wondering where was the pushback from theus whi why did they not find these people that worked in the obama administration, george bush's headministration and fact and get them out there talking about ronny jackson, defending him?

no o talked to h it is a day after he withdrew his name and now we know that that aegation is not true or at least the white house is saying it's not true. all of this stuff should have happened in real time. i think it's just also a lesson about -- that the trump administration is really learning how to nominate. yamiche: i talked to a lot o white house aides who echoed that. people in the white house were telling me they were veryus ated with the fact they were not really having a rapid response to all the things coming at dr. jac ton. i thinkrsday the white house was kind of handing out to any reporter who would listen all these promotion requests from barack obama. the preside himself that same day was not talking about barack obama's promotion requests. g, look.ay if i was ronny jackson i'd probably take the way out. >> scott pruitt hangs on because in part my sources tell me he has support fromn supporters congress, conservative donors like him. his future could be in theba nce here. dan: i think it is a little less clear what direction it is

going in or a little less clear he is on a slope out after the hearings. he got probably more support from republicans o committees than might have been expected. he got very tough questioning from democrats and aouple republicans. but not widespread. mark: is t white houseoing to walk away from pruitt? tara: they don't have that many options. thd to get a head of the v.a. through. trump likes pruitt. i've been told that actually other cabinet members a a ttle bit jealous of his relationship with scott pruitt. rolling backhe is all of president trump's agenda d regulations and he has a truly conservative agenda on the environment. >> rolling back the obama agenda. tara: exactly. trump finds him as loyal messenger. obviously this is a distraction and side show and the question is when will it become too much? robert: we got to go and leave it there. i always love hearing this storyrcrom my s how pruitt goes to the white house no, sir eat lunch. we can talk about it later. thanks everybody. coming up next on "in

osprinciple" c amy holmes chats with microsoft founder bill gates who shares his optimific big picture view o the future tonight on "in principle" on most pbs check your local listings. and our conversation continues onlinehin the wton week extra where we'll talk about president trump's legal challenges and the new house report on the russia probe. find that later tonight atsh pbs.org/gton week. i'm robert costa. see you next time [captioning perftimed by the al captioning institute which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] en

has rovided by the richard king mellon foundadatio, the heinz endowments, the mccune foundation, the pittsburgh foundation, upmc, and bny mellon foundation of southwestern pennsylvania. (crickets chirping) (mellow jazz music) - i was born in the hill dirict of pittsburgh. people call it a ghetto. ghetto? i thought it was paradise. - i can remember as a kid hearing my d talk about wylie avenue, which was the main boulevard through the hill. i wasn't old enough to really know what he was getting at, but my dad said, "there's wylievenue," and his eyes got big. then he said, ylnd then there's deep."