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the blowback at home over bowe bergdahl's homecoming is hounding him every step of the way. and a tomorrow, a solemn anniversary of d-day marking a pivotal day of world war ii and we will talk to one of the last remaining members of that war in congress, congressman john dingle dingle. and supporters are driving the early stages of democratic decision-making for 2016, and will someone else beat hillary to the punch saying, i'm in, i'm in the running? we will see. good morning from washington, it is thursday, june 5th, 2014, and in is the "daily rundown" and i'm in for chuck todd who will join us in a moment from the g-7 in brussels. moments ago, president obama wrapped up a one-on-one meeting with british prime minister david cameron. they will host a news conference later later in the hour that we will bring to you. they are gathered in brussels for the latest group of the

seven economic powers. for the first time if 17 years, russia and the president vladimir putin were not invited. president obama and european leaders are warning moscow to block armed groups from crossing the borders in eastern ukraine and officially recognize the new ukrainian president. issuing a joint statement, they said, quote, we stand ready to intensify the sanctions and considering additional restrictive measures to impose further costs on russia should events so require. the president also had a forceful message aimed directly at eastern european allies and na nato. >> the stroke of the pen can can never legitimize the theft of a neighbor's land, and so we will not accept russia's occupation of ukraine or the ukrainian sovereignty, because of the blood to bring them together, how can we allow the dark tactics of the 20th century to

define this new century? >> in an interview with french tv, putin accused the u.s. of being the real aggressor saying that the american army bases are everywhere and the country that carries on the most aggressive and toughest international policy to protect its interest is the united states, and for a long time. but in a good cop/bad cop routine, the european leaders are meeting with putin over the next few days hoping they could use a successful ukrainian presidential election to push for the settlement between moscow and kiev. the president of france will host competing dinners dining separately with obama and then putin, but the summit has been overshadowed by the bowe bergdahl release which is a full problem for the white house. and taliban released video showing bergdahl released, but he is dazed, but far from

critical condition as he is transferred to military forces. last night, the senate received a classified briefing from the officials, and they say they were shown a quote, proof of life" bergdahl shot last december and many were skeptical though that his health was in jeopardy. >> i don't think that from the health standpoint there was any issue that dictated the release of these five nasty killers in exchange for bergdahl. >> and that does not tell me anything at all, because the proof of life released in december and at that time he was impaired and that is not the person reres leased here, he was not in that dire situation. >> and chuck hagel defended the taliban deal in an interview with the bbc today. >> i have been to war. i know a little something about this. this was the right decision for the right reasons. we don't leave our people behind. it is our judgment based on the information that we had that his

life, his health were in peril. >> imminently? >> well, when you say imminently, it is easy for us to sit here and look behind and say, 24 hours or 48 hours, and it is our judgment and it was unanimous by the way. >> officials in bergdahl's hometown hailey, idaho, have scrapped a homecoming celebration after they were bombarded with angry phone call s and e e-mails and they say that the police don't have enough resources to handle any problems that could arise. >> we can all celebrate privately. we can celebrate with close friends and family. our celebration doesn't need to be denied. >> chuck todd is traveling with the president and joins us live from brussels, and chuck, obviously, a lot to talk about regarding bowe bergdahl. but i want to go the you first abroad with the president having this funny dance with vladimir putin and the european allies.

>> well, remember, this whole trip was essentially planned as a counter punch, if you will, to putin and his actions in ukraine. originally the trip, obviously, sort of planned around the 70th anniversary of d-day and those ceremonies begin tomorrow. but what was planned around it, the g-8 was supposed to be meeting in sochi, rush sharks and that is where we were supposed to be today, and then flying to paris to go to normandy, but in the wake of ukraine, it was cancelled and rescheduled for brussels and then the united states decided to symbolically go to poland and that is why the president gave that speech in poland and a hawkish speech for him and more muscular in terms of what the nato treaty means and what it means to be a nato ally and all designed to pushback against putin, and what is interesting about the g-7 is that the united states are struggling to keep the european allies from basically walking away from the sanctions, and right now, they say, hey, it looks like things

are better in ukraine and that presidential election went pretty well. it looks like putin is backing off. when can we start pulling back on the sanctions, and the united states has been trying to say, no, no, no don't pull back, because you could make an argument that they are working, and that is why putin hot with rhetoric has allowed the election to go through and allowed to quietly pull back, because the sanctions are working, and that is the struggle here, and look at the way that the europeans are clearly trying to appease both sides here, and the symbolic natures of the dinners and by the way in french speak, they claim it is not two dinners, luke. there is elan having dinner with obama and late supper with putin. and one journalist said to me when she was asking basically the french version of jay carney, what about this and why two dinners? >> no, no, no what do you

expect? we have to feed putin. if not, that would be rude. >> yes. >> and i want to the turn to bowe bergdahl, because was the politics of this have gotten away from the white house, and you are an astute prague mat cal guy who studies this for a living and i want to ask you this, talking to the republicans, with one thing they have been using against the president and can't do large scale immigration reform is that we have a trust issue within the conference, and talking to the gop aides yesterday, and they say, my god, the president has played right into our hands and we had no tangible example of us not thrown to the trust the president, and thrown out as a talking point, but it has played into our hand, and how did the politics of bergdahl get away from them so quickly? >> look, we are in day six here, and i think that we now have sort of, and i have always believed that the entire thing was about the five taliban members that they decided to release and the entire thing is

about gitmo, and now looking back, you have to wonder if the entire attempt at the rose garden ceremony an effort by the white house to make it so that the debate didn't immediately go to gitmo, but they wanted it to be a rally around the flag moment with bergdahl for a moment, and tam thep down what they expected to be a heated debate over who should be released from get mow, and how, wh -- from gitmo, and how and when and all of the questions that are part of the debate that i am surprised that has not been at the heart of the back and the forth so far, because we know what a political hot potato that is, and we know it is a very touchy legal question and let l alone a political question, but what they did not anticipate and the white house anticipated that they did not anticipate the blowback on bergdahl himself, and he is a flashpoint and obviously, the flashpoint so far, but as you see, the question now in their effort to tamp down the debate about

gitmo, and maybe they have made it harder to get cooperation from congress. i will tell you na one of the background excuses as to why they are limited in how they consult congress with this thing is that we are always worried that it leaks and this or that, and that is factually and you and i both know that leaks from cap can toll hill are what make reporters able to the their jobs some days and we thank the heavens for those leaks sometimes burk it is however, an equal branch of government and whether it was the complaints that the democrats made in the bush years about the lack of n consultation that we they got, and now the same thing from the republicans about the obama years, and the fact of the matter is that you will get it from the executive branch, because was they are so caught up in want ing ing to keep the information and make their decisions and worry about congress that they don't treat them as an equal branch of government sometimes, and i t think that this is with one of those that you are right, the long term impact of this may be greater than the white house potentially understands today.

>> it makes any back bench republican congressman who wants to go to the center a little bit makes it a harder to do. so chuck, you will be back later in the hour ahead of the president's news conference and a lovely back and forth and thank you for joining us on your own wonderful program. >> yes, buddy. >> and here on the eve of the 70th anniversary of d-day, we are looking further ahead to the historic milestone in congress and for that, we will talk to the man who is one of the last world war ii veterans in congress. looking ahead to the planner, chicago mayor rahm emanuel attending a ready for hillary event, hmm, started with the clintons the and went to obamas, and he know where is he is loyal. more on the buzz around her book later in the show today, and also, the daily rundown only on msnbc, and we will be right b k back. eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste, and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me stay more like me.

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for the first time in 70 years, there is going to be no world war ii combat veterans serving in the u.s. congress next session. that is a stark contrast to the early '70s when 3/4 of all members of congress were veteran veterans and most of them having served in world war ii. the influx of the werld war two candidated started with george andrews in alabama who was on active duty when he won a special election. he started a surge of vets coming to office in 1946 and 69 vets were elected or re-elected to the house or senate, and since then, the senate has had 113 world war ii veterans serve various terms. i tried last year to try to get a number of the house vets all time from the house historian from world war ii, but he did not have a concrete answer and he said, well, there has been a lot over the years. inde

indeed. today, there are zero vets from world war ii in the senate. from the lake frank lautenberg of new jersey was the last senator to have served in world war ii and he died last year. congress is a microcosm of the loss of world war ii vets as 16 million americans served in wor world war ii and on the 70th anniversary of d-day the census says that only 102 veterans of world war ii are alive. two veterans are serving out their terms, representative hall and represent dingell. and hall rose through the rank of lieutenant grade, and he flew aircraft off of air care ers, and john dangle was in the army and while he was too sick to join the d-day assault he joined the invasion of japan, and the political influence of world war

ii goes beyond congress. eight presidents have been veterans. eisenhower, kennedy, johnson, nixon, ford, carter, reagan, bush and dole. bob dole was seriously injured in world war ii but ran for president against ford and later against bill clinton. as for years past in losing a world of veterans for nearly a century. and thankfully, i'm joined by one representative and yvette ran of world war ii, representative john dingle. talk to me about the shared sacrifice that veterans had coming to congress republicans and democrats and how it was a great equalizer that provided for civility and partisanship through the years? >> well, it did. on the foreign policy questions,

the republicans and the democrats really came together. s senator vanderberg worked with roosevelt and then harry truman and major policy leader on the republican side. of course, other republicans and other democrats came together. first of all, with we remembered what happened prior to world war ii and what had occurred thereafter the war started and before and why we got into it. but we also had the terrible impact of what it was that the russians and the communists were doing in terms of threatening the peace of the world. as you remember, one of those great plans was that we would have a situation where we would see to it that the united states was going to prevent a r replication of world war i as we did not do in connection with world war ii. so, happily, we pulled together

and worked together and puts a side a lot of nonsense. the country now, regrettably doesn't do that. for a lot of reasons. the pressures that brought us together are no longer there. we now have the tea party and the folk like that who would rather say no than to try to figure out ways of working out the difficulties that the nation confronts. so our situation to dday is not the one that was there where we had a generation that fought in a major war and which came home hoping to build a good life for themselves, their family, and also a good life for their country so that we could pull together and make it happen in the best interest of the united states and in the best interest of the people of the world. >> and d-day specifically, obviously, it with was a e t

tremendous moment of heroism for the united states and the allies, and you have a unique story, and you were in fact possibly going to go to join the d-day assault, but you contracted meningitis. >> well, god was awfully good to me. my outfit was ready to get on the troop trains to go to the p.o.e.s and i came can down along with 3,000 other servicemen at camp in florida with a severe case of meningitis and if it weren't for the fact that i got some of the first of the penicillin and lots of the sulfurs, i would not be here talking to you. but harry truman frankly saved me and half a million other american servicemen with regard to what he did with the invasion of japan. had he not dropped the bomb, there's a high degree of probability that we would have had half a million at least more

casualties in world war ii, because that is what was thought to be the risk and the potential danger of americans being killed in the invasion of japan. >> yes, and really quickly, you sit here as one of the last two wor world war ii veterans in the united states congress, and when you think of the folks that came before you, jack kennedy, richard nixon, mr. eisenhower, and general eisenhower, and did you think that you would be one of the last two? >> well, you always hope that you are going to live as long as you can. i nef figured that i would be hitting 87, but the lord has been awfully good to me, and the people of the 12th district have been very kind and i'm still around, although, i have to say that i will be retire agent the end of this congress and i have to say that it is also time for me to go, because, you don't -- >> well, we look forward to seeing you, sir, as a

congressional spouse which is your next role. you will be darn good at it. congressman john dingell, thank you for being on the program. >> pleasure, my friend. take care. >> thank you. and tomorrow as part of the coverage of the celebration of d-day brian williams will interview president obama in normandy and you can see it on "nbc nightly news" at 6:30 eastern tomorrow, and catch more in the primetime special at 8:00 p.m. eastern and that is exclusive of course, and you can't get anywhere else, and tune into the peacock. it is time for the first numbers of the data bank. six is an apparently unlucky number for former spouse of south dakota candidate annette bosworth. she received 6% of the vote, and losing the nomination to former nominee mike brown and then yesterday, she was arrested and charged with six counts of perjury and six counts of filing false documents for collecting voter signatures fraudulently

while she was on a mission trip outside of the u.s. she was immediately releesased after turning herself into the authorities. and getting the signatures together -- didn't we have that problem with mr. conniers? their political future could be mighty bright. who is the first california to serve as majority leader? that is a good one. tweet your answer to the daily rundown to get the shoutout. the answer in three short minutes. where villages floated on water and castles were houses dragons lurked giants stood tall and the good queen showed the boy it could all be real avo: whatever you can imagine,

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the ready for you alert, only at laquinta.com! la quinta! this week, we focus on golden state, and much more than the anchor state of the oc, but let's meet some of california's rising stars starting with the democrats, some of the names may sound familiar. first up, sacramento mayor kevin

johnson, the former nba all-star is his hometown's first african-american mayor and he is working to establish a gang-prevention task force and three-year strategy to combat gang violence in the city by promoting literacy and job fields and collaboration, and he is married to the former school chancellor here in washington, michelle rhee. and then the best looking attorney general, but the credentials speak for themselves. she is african-american and asian national, and her platform is to combat drug trafficking and gung v violence. and also is kevin deleon, and state senator and much of the work has focussed on low wage workers and gangs and guns, and

he is expected to to be the next senate protem later in the year, state senate, of course. and the predecessor bob fillmore is infamous after a scandal forced his resignation. i covered that one. and kevin fallconer is a name that you should know, because after eight years on the city council, he is the only republican mayor in one of the biggest cities in the country, and he says he has distanced himself from the party and changed his stance on the same-sex marriage in 2008, and he supports it. and up next is tony strictland who co-founded the club for growth in california an toutd t as like ly a successor to the next seat. and ashley swearingin is the fresno mayor who is headed in a state runoff for state contr

controller. she is atop for the open controller seat with 24% of the vote. keep an eye on those folks, and time for the next number in the data bank, and 49, and that is the percent of the republican voters who support incumbent senator lindsey graham according to a new clemson university poll. graham's six challengers trail him with six points as 1 in 3 voters are still undecided. graham needs 50% of the vote tuesday to avoid a runoff a la what we are seeing in mississippi. more from california coming up, including and answer to the question of whether the big one is in our future, and that is earthquakes, of course. and in other rumblings, hillary clinton has a lot of things to say, and now she is saying it in a ree veal iing interview. >> and president obama just sat down with britain's david cameron in brussels and the two

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back to the tdr state california. it is the 48th state and proving that already there have been 22 earthquakes that measured 4.0 or greater in california or just off tof the coast where at leas three of them have been in the los angeles area including a 4.4 hit that went on to beverly hills in march and a 4.2 that struck westwood a few days ago. so far this year the strongest was a 5.1 in la habra. >> i was sitting in the car and i looked over to place the order, and my entire car was shaking. >> it was like, i turned around and said, was it an earthquake? was it? and we confirmed it with was. >> although three is not a big

number, but it sun usually large. since 1940, the l.a. basin has only seen 30 earthquakes that strong with an average of one or two per year. this year, we are following a relatively kquiet seismic activity, because there were no earthquakes stronger than 4.0 in california. the last time they had a comp e comparable number of earthquakes was 1994, the year of the northridge quake. >> we have all seen today on our own televisions the buildings that have collapsed, the freeways turned into rubble. the powers then cut off, and gas mains have exploded and most tragically, many people have been injure and several lives have already been lost. >> the northridge quake measured 6.7, and one of the strongest in state history killing dozens of people, and did billions of dollars in damage. just because the number of quakes sup, it does not mean that the threat of a northridge-style earthquake is growing in since 2012, but it

cannot be ruled out. joining us are seismologist specialist of california. do we know if there is any way of knowing if we are going to have a bigger quake? >> well, the earthquakes are random, but they are random of a rate. you can talk about the number of average, and just like a geiger counter, you could say, you average so many counts per second, but which second they happen in, you don't know, and if you have a cluster, is it because the rate has gone up or because you happen to have a cluster? we will be able to in a couple of years look back and say, well, yeah, with we continued to have all of the extra 4.0s and with the rate, it has gone up, but with three, we can't say

yet. >> goi to california all of the time, and my mother is in from there, and you can still the damage that the earthquakes occurred in l.a. in 1994, and from your experience, do you believe that the building codes in place since 1994 in the last 20 years, will they make a difference when the next one hits or still too many old buildings in place in california? >> well, yes and yes. the codes have really gotten better and they make a difference. there is a lot of new construction that has gone on, but we have way too many old buildings especially when you get into the big cities, the older ones, san francisco and l.a. and oakland, and you have to have a situation with a lot of the buildings still previous -- >> and dr. jones, sorry to interrupt you, but the president of the united states is having a press conference with the prime minister of britain and we have to go to that live. >> david and i have had the opportunity to meet and discuss

pre pressing challenges including syria, libya and iran as well as the process of ending our combat mission in afghanistan. we spoke about the deepening partnership that we have on issues like nigeria in support of our shared goal of safely returning the kidnapped girls to their families, but what i want to focus on briefly before we take questions are two issues that dominated our discussion over the last two days, and that is the situation in ukraine and energy security. originally, of course, the summit was supposed to be in sochi. but after russia's actions in ukraine, the united nations rallied around a common strategy. we suspended russia from the g-8, and suspended russia making this the first g-7 in some 20 years. all of the nations have taken steps to impose costs on russia for the behavior. today, in contrast to the

growing global ekconomy, a sluggish russian economy is weaker, because of the choices made by the russian leadership. meanwhile, our nations continue to stand united in support and assistance to the ukrainian people, and the g-7 summit was an occasion por me, david, and the fellow leaders to ensure that we are in lock step going forwa forward. on ukraine, i shared the results of the meeting with president-elect poroshenko, and so like so many he wants to forge relationships with the united states and others and also acknowledge hs he can benet from a relationship with russia. and so from the inauguration, he has reached out to the east and also to pursue reforms. russia needs to seize that opportunity, and recognize that the president-elect poroshenko is the legitimately elected leader of ukraine and engage the government in kiev.

given the influence over the militants in ukraine, russia continues to have a responsibility to convince them to end their violence, lay down the weapons and enter into a dialogue with the ukrainian government. on the other hand, if russia's provocations continue, it is clear from the discussions here that the g-7 nations are ready topose additional costs to russia. and i spoke with david about boltering the allies in eastern and southern europe and also the capabilities of africa and eastern africa. and david updated me on the summit in wales. we agree that it is going to be an opportunity for every ally to make sure they are carrying their share and investing in the capabilities that the alliance needs for the future. in the situation of ukraine has

highlighted the need for greater energy security. at the g-7 we agreed to help ukraine reduce the energy risks and diversify the supplies and we will help the countries in eastern and central europe strengthen their energy as well. in following the review i called for in the united states earlier this year, every g-7 country will conduct an energy assessment to identify the possible impact of any potential disruptions and to offer ways to better prevent disruptions, and recover from them more quickly. related to this, we agreed at the g-7 to continue to lead by example in the fight against climate change which poses a danger to the environment, our economies and our national security. i made it clear that the united states will continue the do our part, and earlier this week, we took a major step in proposing new standards that for the first time would limit carbon pollution from our existing power plants.

it is one of the most ambitious steps that any nation has taken to combat climate change, and it is going to reduce carbon emissions from the electric sector by 30%, and help us to meet the commitments that we made when i first came into office at coe pen penhagen and e the public health, and also good for the economy to create more clean energy jobs and hopefully lower the e llectricity bills f americans and the right thing to do. and this bill is going to build on the steps that we have taken in the last five years for more renewables like solar and wind and raise the fuel standards for the cars and the trucks and make our homes more energy efficient and today, with we are holding the carbon emissions to levels not seen in 20 years, and we are making progress, but my action plan for climate change indicates that we have to to keep at it, and do more. i know it is a cause that david is also passionate about. and we agree that every nation has to do its share. all of the major economies,

including the g-7 and emerging markets like china have to show leadership as we work on a new global xlimt agreement and that includes by putting forward in march of next year the ambitious long-term targets of reducing emissions. again, i want to thank prime minister cameron and the fellow le leaders for the work here together in brussels, and david, i believe that whenever our two nations stand together, it can lead a world that is more secure and more prosperous and more just and we will be reminded of that again tomorrow in normandy as we mark the 70th anniversary of d-day. on that day, like so many others, american and british troops stood together and fought valiantly alongside the allies and didn't just help to win the war, but helped to turn the tide of human history and they are the reason that ewith e -- thatn stand here in a free europe and

the freedoms that we all enjoy. so there is the alliance that our great nations uphold and i'm grateful to have a fine partner in david to make it happen. thank you. david? >> good afternoon, and i'm delighted to be here with you, barack obama. as we stand here in europe on the 70th anniversary of the d-day landings we should remind the world of the strength and the steadfastness of the bond between the united kingdom and the united states. 70 years ago as you just said our countries stood like two rocks of freedom and democracy in the face of nazi tyranny. and 70 years ago tonight, thousands of young british and american soldiers with the canadian and the e free phrfren counterparts were preparing to cross the channels in the greatest liberation force that the world has ever known. those young men were united in purpose, to restore democracy and freedom to continental europe, to free by force of arms ancient european nations, and to

allow the nations and the peoples of europe to chart their destiny in the world. thousands of those young men paid the ultimate price, and we honor their memory today and tomorrow. shortly after d-day my own grandfather was wounded and came home. we will never forget what they did, and the debt that we owe them for the peace and the freedom that we enjoy on this continent. today, in a now century are two democracies, aped continue -- and continue to stand for and uphold the values in the world, democracy and liberty and the rule of law and day in, day out, our people work together to the uphold the values right across the globe, and that approach has been at the heart of what we discuss here at the g-7 and the bilateral meeting here to today, and we have talked about one of the greatest opportunities that we have to turbo charge the global economy for trade dealbit of them all, the transatlantic trade investment partnership to create growth in jobs and a deal

worth 10 million pounds a year for britain alone and to secure our long term success and create a generation of hardworking families back at home. that is why i was so determined to launch the negotiations a a year ago, and since then, we have made steady progress, but we have to keep the eye on the huge prize at offer and not get bogged down. with we also discussed what i believe is the greatest threat that we face, how we counter extremism, and the threat that terrorist groups operating elsewhere pose to the safety of our people both home and abroad. this year, we are going to bring home our troops from afghanistan, and they can be proud of what they have achieved over the last decade to denying the terrorists a safe haven to plot attacks against britain or the united states, but at the same time since we have reduced the threat from that region and the al qaeda franchises have grown in other parts in the world. many of the groups are focused on the countries where they

operate, but they still pose a risk to our people, our businesses and our interests. barack and i share the same concern for these threats where terrorist networks seek a foothold. our approach must be tough, patient, intelligent and based on strong international partnership partnerships. so when it comes to syria, now the number one destination for jihadists anywhere in the world, we have agreed to intensify our efforts to stop foreign fights traveling to and from syria. and we will introduce new measures to prosecute those terrorists here and abroad, and we will work with the syrian neighbors to disrupt the terrorist financing that funds the jihadist training camps. in libya, we want to e help the government as it overcomes to struggle of the gadhafi's misrule and to build a stable, and peaceful and prosperous future. barack and i have recently appointed envoys to support

efforts to reach a much needed political settlement. and we are fulfilling the commitment to train the libyan forces with the first tranche of troops to begin training in the uk this month. in nigeria, we are committed to s supporting the government and their neighbors as they try to combat the bow koe ko haram. we have provided immediate s a sis s and the in the search of the kidnapped girls. we stand to help the region to strengthen their defense and security measures to counter these barbaric extremists. and finally as barack said, we had an important discussion on ukraine and the discussions. from the outset of the crisis, the g-7 have stood united and clear for the ukrainian people, and the right to choose their own future and firm in the

message to putin that russia's actions are completely unacceptable, and at odds with the democracies and that is why russia no longer has a seat at the table was. at this summit we will clear about three things, the status quo is unacceptable, and the destabilization of eastern ukraine must stop. second, a set of things that need to happen. president putin must recognize the legitimate winner of the election, president-elect poroshen poroshenko, and he must seek support from the separatist groups, and if they don't happen, then sectorial sanctions will follow. the next month is vital in judging if president putin has taken the steps and that is what i will urge him to do when i meet with him later today. and finally, we will discuss the cancer eating away at the world's economic and political systems, corruption. corruption is the arch em enemy of democracy and development, and the best way to fight corruption and drive growth is

through three ts, the transparency and tax system and free trade. that is what we had at the heart of the last meeting. these things are now hard wired into the international gatherings this year and many years to come. thank you. >> all right. >> we have got a couple of questions from each press tell gags. start with jeff mason from -- from each press delegation. start with jeff mason from reuters. >> you have a meeting tonight, and since you have had president elon on a state visit and a lot of tensions have ar risen including the paribas where the phrfrench say a potential fine that bank could affect the global economy and affect trade talks. do you believe those concerns are valid? how do you expect to address them tonight? and also the u.s. concerns about the french e selling selling wa

russia? and mr. prime minister, do you feel comfortable with your eu leaders as jean-claude as the commission feel any pressure from president obama about your position on keeping the uk in the eu? thank you. >> first of all, the relationship between the united states and france has never been stronger on a whole range of issues we're seeing intense cooperation, and i'm looking forward to seeing president hollande this evening to talk about a range of issues and continue some of the work that was condition here in brussels. my answer on the banking case is short and simple. the tradition of the united states is that the president does not meddle in prosecutions. we don't call the attorney

general. i do not pick up the phone and tell the attorney general how to prosecute cases that have been brought. i do not push forth settlements of cases that have been brought. those are decisions that are made by an independent department of justice. i've communicated that to president hollande. this is not a unique position on my part. perhaps it is a different tradition than exists in other countries, but it is designed to make sure that the rule of law is not in any way impacted by political expediency, and so this will be determined by u.s. attorneys in discussion with representatives of the bank, and, you know, i'll read about it in the newspapers just like

anybody else. >> he said he'll confront you about it tonight. >> he'll hear the same answer from me tonight as you just heard at this podium. [ inaudible question ] >> i have expressed some concerns, and i don't think i'm alone in this about continuing significant defense deals with russia at a time when they have violated basic international law and the territorial sovereignty of their neighbors. president hollande understands my position. i recognize that this is a big deal. i recognize that the jobs in france are important. i think it would have been preferable to press the pause

button. president hollande so far has made a different decision and that does not ney gate the broader cooperation that we've had with france with respect with the willingness to work with us on sanctions to discourage president putin from engage nothing further destabilizing actions and hopefully to encourage him to move in a more constructive direction. we are at a point where mr. putin has the chance to get back into a lane of international w law. he has a president in poroshenko who he can negotiate directly with, having spoken to president poroshenko this morning or yesterday morning it's clear this he recognizes that ukraine

needs to have a good relationship with russia, but also rightly affirms the right of ukraine to engage with the rest of the world, and the steps that david outlined earlier and that the g-7 unanimously agrees with which is to seize this moment, recognize poroshenko is the legitimate leader of ukraine, cease the support of separatists and the flow of arms, work with ukraine to engage those in the east during this process of constitutional economic reform. if mr. putin takes those steps then it is possible for us to begin to rebuild trust between russia and its neighbors and europe. should he fail to do so, though, there will be additional consequences and one of the important things that came out of this meeting today was the

recognition on the part of all of us that we can't simply allow drift. the mere fact that someone -- some of the russian soldiers have moved back off the border and that russia is now destabilizing ukraine through surrogates rather than overtly and explicitly does not mean that we can afford three months or four months or six months of continued violence and conflict in eastern ukraine. we will have a chance to see what mr. putin does over the next two, three, four, weeks, and if he remains on the current course then we've already indicated the kinds of actions that we're prepared to take. all right? >> we just had a set of european

elections to take two countries at random, france and britain and france from national and an openly anti-european party one and anti-european party my country and you can stick your head in the sand and hope they will go away or have a strategy to address the concerns of the people that you represent in your country. i have a strategy to represent and understand and reflect those concerns and that's why i think it's important that we have people running the institutions of europe who understand the need for change, the need for reform and i would argue that is a view that is widely shared among other heads of govern am or heads of state in the european union. as for britain's future, what i want to achieve is to secure britain's place and i have a strategy to deliver that. it's about renegotiating our position and recovering important powers and making significant changes and putting that decision in the referendum with the british people and

recommending that we stay in a european union and it's a strategy for dealing with an issue which if we just walked away from it we would see them drift toward the exits and i don't want that to happen. [ inaudible question ] >> we had a good discussion about these issues as we discussed everything else. >> absolutely. >> let's have a question from the bbc. >> bbc. mr. president, even if you don't have a meeting scheduled face-to-face with vladimir putin yourself will you end up talking with him face-to-face in france and do you see possible its of putting up a path to end the crisis by engaging with him? france is facing two major decisions, whether or not scotland stays a part of the united kingdom and whether or not -- what does that mean to the people of the united states? prime minister, you'll be the first leader after the summit to engage with vladimir putin face

to face. is there something of an olive branch in your hand? after all, he does denounce the electoral process which brought the president to power in the ukraine. is that what you will be exploring with him this evening and do you accept that germany may not come to your aid and stop jean claude from becoming commission president? will that potentially blow your entire strategy off course? you think you may be able to negotiate a brilliant reform, but your credibility be so damaged in britain that people will vote to leave the union. who are you most afraid of? angela merkel or teresa may? >> great question. >> let me take those. first of all, my meeting with vladimir putin is important to have this communication about some very important messages about what's happening now is not acceptable, about the changes that need to take place. i think as the president said

there is an opportunity for diplomacy to play a role and to chart a path because we've had the elections. the ukrainian people have chosen a president. he's a capable man and it's quite possible that he could have a proper relationship with putin and there could be a proper relationship between ukraine and russia, but change is needed in order for that to happen and that is the message that i'll be delivering this evening. in terms of your other questions. look, on this issue of who runs the european commission, the european institutions, what matters is people who understand the need the need for change, who not the need for reform. who realize if things go on as they have this union will not work for the citizens and that was the message they think was loudly received in these european elections. as for who, as you put it, angela merkel and teresa may, i've become fortunate in my life to work with extremely strong and capable women of which they are undoubtedly, too.

>> i have no doubt that i'll see mr. putin, and he and i have always had a business like relationship and it is entirely appropriate that he is there to commemorate d-day given the extraordinary sacrifices that were made of the people of the soviet union during world war ii. and should we have the opportunity to talk, i will be repeating the same message that i've been delivering to him throughout this crisis. keep in mind that although we haven't had formal meetings i've spoken to him by phone repeatedly from the outset of the protests. my message has been very consistent and that is that russia has a legitimate interest in what happens in ukraine given that it's on its border and given its historical ties, but ultimately it's up to the people of ukraine to make their own decisions, that