robert: president trump prepares tilt the supreme court to the right, but who will heick? m robert costa. we discuss the confirmation fight ahead, the resignation of e. administrator scott prui and china strikes back tonight on "washington week." president trump: i spent the last three days thinking about supreme court justices. it's such an important decision. robert: president trump considers his short list retiring supreme court justice anthony kennedy. > he would like someone with the right judicialemrament. robert: we examine the leading contenders and the confirmation battle that's brewing on capitol hill.

he resigns one day afterin celebr july 4th at the white house. pruitt worked relentlessly to roll bac environmental regulations and had a closeti reship with the president. but scandals into spending and potential ethics violations cost pruitt his job. we look at the legacy hes leave and his successor. plus, after months of threats and brinksmanship, the u.s. begin as trade war with china but at what cost? we discuss it all s withng min kim of "the washington post." kimberly atkins of the "boston herald," and mark landler of the "new york times." announcer: this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- newman's own foundation all profits to charity and nourishing the common good. ku and patricia ewing committed

to bridging cultures in our communities. the excellee in journalism foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers likece you. gain, from washington, moderator robert costa. robert: good evening. the decision looms. but president trump is still deciding. who will replace justice anthony kennedy on the the top three contenders all federal judges couldecure a conservative majority on the bench. but not before facing a political firestorm on capitol hill. president trump: i think you'll be very impressed. these are very talented, brilliant people like justice gorsuch. we hit a home run there. and we're going hit a home run here. robert: the finalists are

kavanaugh and kethledge and amy coney barrett. barrett is the youngest at age 46. while both kavanaugh and kethledge are in their early 50's, a sign the president is intent on leaving a lasting legacy. president trump will make a formal announcement on monday. seun minute -- min welcome back. who is the president talking to as he makes the decision? >> the interesting thing i how th white house has handled this confirmation pcess, he's talking to everyone you could think of. advisors, g to members of congress. t up until 9:00 p.m. when we will know who he ultimately picks, trump is going to hold it very close to his vest. mait's mirror to how he rolled out the nomination of justice gorsuch in january 2017

recall that we had no clue. we knew it was down to neil gorsuch and thomas hardyman but we weren sure until gorsuch appeared on that stage that he picked him to replace justice scalia. robert: he's reading the papers. know the president reads the print edition the newspapers. we can thank him for that. one of your stories looked at judge kavanaugh. there's been a lot of scrutiny not only from democra but from republicans onudge kavanaugh even if he's a conservative. why is that? >> there's one ruling that he made on a jurisdictional issue involving the affordable careom act that point to evidence of squishyness. but he was a member of ken starr

casenvestigating the monica lewinsky. he was one of the prime authors of the report. and in that report he laid f grounds impeaching a president and in this was president clinton. he included lyingido your or liing to the american public or misleading the american public. the concern that some around presidens trump have i that a lot of these same grounds could be applied to president tru in the russia case. and i think that the fear amongst some is thatf he is the nominee and sits through a senate confirmatio hearing, democrats will seize on this to turn the hearing into a referendum on what are the standards for impeachment and could thend sds you laid out 20 years ago apply to the president who nominated you? i don't think it derails his candidacy by any means, but it is a red flag to some people. rober kavanaugh's experience in george w. bush's.ld

she pick someone with that bush link? republicans?ter to >> it matters to mostic repus. they don't like that very close alliance with the bush family. but on the other hand, president trump, we know likes to judge by his gut. now, 90% of theork on this was done for him by the heritage foundation by the heritage foundation who put together this st that he had since the campaign of conservative folks that conservatives would lovth would keep the evangelicals with him and others. but the conservative groups helped to get him that far. now he wants a judge by his gut. he really likes kavangh. he liked his look. his liked his family. and i think that's one thing that has put him ahead of the game here. and i think the bush connection was less apparent. bert: you're hitting on this

list from the campaign. the president is pulling from similar ideological profiles with a lot of these judicial potential nominees but you think about why is heck sg to this list? one of the story this is week about senate minority leader chuck schumer. he's saying go with merritt garland who president obama nominated in 2016. and you think for a moment the president is pretty unconventional. but is it because of mcconnell ' that not thinking of that option. >> he was thinking that he would stick to thi prescribed list of -- people. you heard the elective affairs director saying if there's a vacancy we will stick to that list because that list if youg recall dur the presidential campaign gave reassurance to

enservative who is w initially a little bit skeptical about this donald trump who was a democrat who had proclaimed that he was pro-choice. it gave conservative voters ainsurances -- assurances that he would govern like a republican leader. that's why this list was so important. what was interesting to me that besides the sch er anecdote when i was speak to some key swing votes shortly after justice kennedy's announcement they were pushing the president to look off that list. this list didn't come from the white house solely. so why is it o there? robert: if not kavanaugh -- let's say the president moves away from ca gnaw, what about the clerk for justice kennedy and you have amy coney barrett being pushe by a lot of social conservatives saying she's young. she's notre dame law

processor. yes, she was nominated a year ago but she could galvani the culture wars on issues like r v. wade. i think there's a difference and it isen bet amy coney barrett on the one hand and jue kethledge and kavanaugh on the other hand. the sial conservative side of amy barrett is a big issue for some people. you'll recall there was this famo prior hearing where senator dianne feinstein said to herbout her catholic faith, the dogma lives within you.at something that finestein was harshlyti czed by catholic leaders but it got o a deep concern particularly ife roes wade would be on the table. i think she's a traditional got.uch style jur one of the things that's remarkable act him is how much he looks like gorsuch. how they're fishing buddies.

they have e same kind of lifestyle. they come from the middle of the country. if what makes you comfortable is another neil gorsuch you're going t go with kethledge. to the extent there's a split it's between theore traditional perhaps pro-business types that would be kftwble a gorsuch kethledge and the social conservatives who would like strike a blow with barrett. susan collins had said she doesn't want anybody who presses a hostility toward roe. that would raise questions like barrett than the other two candidates not that she may not vote for any of them. t that would be a tougher sell. but i think for president trump himselwhy he has said that roe v. wade that it's gone in his presidency, he said that in his campaign.t he has fou against what he sees judicial activists,

democratic judges who he thinks arean biase will rule against some of his administration's policies. this list whiz compiled by nservative -- this list was compiled by conservative groups. has a list of people who he thinks are conservatives, who are republicans and who will rule on his side. i don't think he has a big problem sticking wit. rort: you've been covering the senate for years. can umnator s keep his conference together? does he let some red state de fcrats go and vote the nominee? >> he is under tremendous pressure from the base to keep his caucus together. he was able to keep them together t repeal the affordable care act usi collins and mercove ski who would fight back against repeal. you're dealing with really complicated midterm elections

who hav 10 democratic senators that trump won in 2016. and three of them voted fei gorsuch last year. we're looking at heidi hicamp, joe mancic who have expressed openness to considering fairness of the nominee speaking of amy dney barrett has deep indiana tie. jonelly is from indiana. if it is her, he's going to ber un tremendous pressure. robert: we're all going to try to break the story this weekend. pretty hard to break who is on this short list. but we'll try. let's turn to another big story. former e.p.a. administratorot pruitt, despite months of unwaivering support from president trump, he resigned on thursday. there are multiple probes in his

misconduct. along the allegations ex-traff gant travel, office furniture and a sound-proof pne booth. renting a condo asking his staff ut his travel charges on his personal credit cards and assign his task of finding his wife a six-figure job. the mounting scandals generated criticisms from both parties. >> it's unbelievable. any other administration democrat or republican he would haveeen gonenth and months ago. >> he is acting like a moron. and he needs to sto it. >> in his resignation letter, he said the unrelenting attacks on me personal lip and my family are unprecedented and has taken a sizable toll on all of us. president trump stood by pruitt until the en. he tweeted. scott hasone an outstanding

job. pruitt will be replaced by his depu andrew wheeler, a former call industry lobbyist. robert: mr. wheeler. we know about all the controversies. we laid them out about mr. pruitt. but mr. wheeler comes in this same agenda ofulling back obama era regular lage,orking closely with different companies. that to me may be the big story here that the pruitt agendaoes on without pruitt. >> and perhaps even moreel effect some people have said some of the regulations are the rollbacks. they face legal challenges and h been overshadowed by all of the controversy around scott uitt. you have someone who is coming in very close to the coal industry who understands the regulations and rule making very wellteill do b at carrying out the president's agenda of rolling back tse things and being more pro-business. >> i think one of the points to

make aruut scottt's demise is that people have failed for very different reasons in this administration. aurex tillerson failed b of his inability to develop a relationship with the president. in scott pruitt's case that was never a problem. he hady all accounts a robust relationship with the president. the president stood bhim because of his success in lling back obama era initiatives through just an absolutely staggering number of questions about ethics. it's mostly remarkable how long this guy survived and that tells yo how successful he was viewed as being by the people o e in mr. trump's base who cared about rolling back environmental regulations. robert: and he had an impact. if you think about not only the greenhouse gas regulations and coal plant regulations, the climate paris accord. >> you saw his effect in terms

of the environmental policies but at some point -- there was a point where f the administration and for the president it just went too far. and frankly, for senate republicans who had to deal with this mount dgma from the e.p.a. from the administration, that point where itent tooar was months ago. i was talking with several senate republicans in early june when the last batch of negative stories towards pruitt broke about his behavior a the e.p.a. i remember senator joany ern who is not a trump antagonist by any means said her patience levpl was "pretty much fed up." john thune told me he was wearing thin on pruitt. pruitt w supposed to testify on capitol hill some time in august before the senate vironmental and public works committe but he was able to escape in time before he was able to go urn the grilling. robert: it was all he was

isolated in the end, in the cabinet. didn't have a relationship with chief of staff john kelly. and his own staff was burning him in these congressional testimonied. the one person that was on his side was the most important one thich was the president o united states. and the reason they were able tp that close relationship was he spent a lot of time in the white house. if you look at his resignation letter which was so effusive. he literally diafied. i was blessed with this opportunity. that is what trump likes. he likes that loyalty and that praise and ha closeness.ep that's what him onboard for so long when even people close to trump who wanted to advance trump's agenda were fed up wh him. that's what ultimately led in the end to his exit. robert: but it's ang revea moment about the president even at his rally ts week didn' really want to pile on, on mr.

pruitt. it appeared to be based on a lot of reporting this week that it was john kelly the chief of staff that said it's time. >> i thought that an interesting footnote to the story. because if you ask people in our story to handicap who would last longer, scott pruitt or john kelly. we pro hbly woulde said scott pruitt. a lot of us work at places that have been running articles predicting john kelly's hayesy exit. and it turns out that it was hn kelly who administered the death blow to pruitt. he's still exerting influence and still has the able at critical moments to say, mr. president, this has gone far enough. >> can the democrats take the pruitt controversies, take what the e.p.a. has done and maket a midterm issue or does this fade with the president's trip europe with the president

making a supreme court pick? >> i think it stays. the europe trip and the supre court nominee will consume our attention. but democrats will continue to hammer home thatoo the president promised to clean it up. and this seems to be as swampy as it gets. that is ail message you hear. i don't expect a confirmation battle over a pmanent replacement of the e.p.a. any time soonecause andre wheeler is sure to carry out the policys that were already in place. part the reason why senate republicans were more confide t why started to speak out about pruitt that after andrew wheeler you had someonehat they trusted in place. that will fadeaway.rt ro let's leave it there. china has accused china of startingne. on friday, u.s. tariff's on $34 billion worth took effect. the president ice 25% tariffs

cover more than 800 cnese products including machinery, medical parts and auto parts. china put tariffs on soy beans other products. this is the president being the president. where is secretary mnuchin versus peter navarro t trade advisor? is there an internal fight or is the president just d all? it >> i don think it's much of an internhi fight. i the president and navarro were winning. the president didn't just tmpaign on thisgh trade talk. this idea that the u.s. has been in awful trade deals and that's hurting the american worker and the american company. this is something he'sfo believ decades. this is a genuine -- this is as genuine as it gets when it comes to this presint. and heelieves that being tough and issuing tariffs and starting trade wars with china is ad g

idea. some people agree with him. but eve some who agree with perhaps tariffs -- china needs increased tariffs, you know it would be nice if we had some allies. unfortunately, the president is picking trade wars with everyone. we are standing alone while we're picking trade wars with the e.u. we don't even have canada on our side. we're fighting with them too. that's bringing a lot of concern that a pro tracted trade war could really affect the economy. d there's no chance that china is going to back down, at least not now. >> kim makes the right point that this is on the list of core belis of donald trump, trade and the need for fair trade in his view is a core believe. and he's delivering on it. what's interesting is that gary cone and steve mnuchin and wilbur t ross commerce secretary has warned him that if he he goes down this path the

economy will suffer. that has r -- caused president trump tsider and throw it open to a negotiate. -- negotiation. ashe job market has continued to hum along and the stock mark s hasugged off a lot of these trade related shocks. i think he'seeling that he has a lot more room for maneuver than perhaps these me traditional advisors told him. and that makes him even more tecline to start with the peter navarro, bannon school which is really where he firmly is now. robert: what about the matsi the pnt cares about his base and the middle of the country, farmers? you look at the people who get hit by trade it's a lotf these agriculture producers. >> we mentioned soy beans and pork. that will get hit as the trade warscates. robert: do they care? it seems like they're sticking

with him or no? >> i've been talking to a lot of people from the agriculture states as they try to push president trump away from the trade war. but a lot of whatawmakers are ying which is really interesting to me is that their voters, thee farmers back hom are saying we trust president trump. we're going to give him a little bi of maneuvering room, negotiating room. may not lik what he's doing but we have enough faith in the president that he knows what he's doing, which i think is a really interesting dynamic. robert: the grievance towards the global economy seems to the bonds together. >> yeah, that tough talk is really pop la. we're early enough in this process that the tough talk may take him through mid terms. the question is come 2020 when we tart see -- start seeing the job losses or the farmers feeling that will they stick with it.

robert: the republicans have their own concerns about china and trade as well. >>they. do and started even before the election with hillary clinton who wentgainst the t.p.p. and the democrats have sort of figuring out where the are whe it comes to trade. and they haven't really landed yet. >> and the one point i would make as this begins to unfold the question is wha is the president's end game? is he really ready to stomach a series of retalltory measures leading to some uncertain end or does he view this to some extent like i'm going to scare these guys enough that they're going to come to the table? i think he would probably tell you it's the latte but i not sure some of his advisors don't s an in a punishinall-out trade war. the question next is what's the plan? u've scared the europeans, the mexicans and the canadia but to what end? when will we s down and work

things out? robert: thanks everybody for the great conversations. be sure to watch the pbs newson hour monday for special coverage of president trump's announrement of his s court nominee. our conversation will continue online on the "washington week" extra. you can find that later tonig on pbsthrg/newsweek. ks for coming to the table. we'll see you next time.

announcer: funding for "washington week" is provided by newman own foundation donating all profits to charity and nourishing the common good. the ethics in journalism foundation. k and patck ewing foundation committed to bridging culturalc differ and from contributions from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and caption content and

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