and we're keeping an eye on the press briefing room where secretary sean spicer is expected to kick off his daily briefing with reporters at any moment. when he walks out, we'll bring it to you live. spicer is expected to address the vice president who is in the nation today. the era of strategic patience with kim jong-un is over. >> all options are on the table. just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in syria and afghanistan. north korea would do well not to test his resolve. and during today's annual easter egg roll at the white house, the commander in chief sent this advice to pyongyang.

>> better behave. >> behave. we begin with nbc's hallie jackson who is inside the white house press briefing room and hans nichols who joins me from the pentagon. hallie, a lot of tough talk from vice president mike pence. let's listen to a bit more of what he had to say. >> i think the president has made clear that we're going to abandon the failed policy of strategic patience, but we're going to redouble our efforts to bring diplomatic and economic pressure to bear on north korea. our hope is that we can resolve this issue peaceably. >> so this administration wants to abandon strategic patience, but aside from sanctions, what does the white house have in its arsenal -- and arsenal might not be the right word here -- to counter what's going on in north korea? >> right. that's one of the big questions that i think you will hear sean spicer press on in a few minutes when he walks into the briefing

room, katy. you have heard discussion from this administration that there will be an economic push, a political push to put pressure on china specifically to then put pressure on north korea. this line that vice president pence rolled out about the era of strategic patience being over as you talked about, is one that is having reverberations around the world. i spoke with one former top level obama official who felt that was the right move, essentially. there should be more pressure put on north korea via china because of this. for example, sanctions, what does that mean? we know the treasury department came out with sanctions at the end of the month. could there be more on the way? what kind of discussions is president trump having with president xi and their counterparts in lower levels regarding sanctions? obviously there is the military option, which the united states is not taking those options off the table, but that could potentially be very dangerous. that is a concern you heard from analysts talking about where does the administration go from

here and what the trump doctrine really is. hence, speak loudly and carry a big stick. >> hans, what does patience being over mean in pentagon speak? >> that means they need to be patient, they need to be ready. pentagon officials are always thinking a couple steps ahead. at least what the political leaders are saying publicly. it's been three weeks, three or four weeks since this strategic patience was declared dead. what's interesting to me about the pence comments is he twinned it with syria and dropping the mother of all bombs. when you look at it from the pentagon side, the seriousness of it, that planning was done in 72 hours. even faster when you think about the time the president came to the pentagon and asked for options.

they're always planning. we obviously don't know how specific they are or to what level they've been presented at the white house, but that's something that will be the focus in our reporting going out. one quick note of that carrier strike group, the u.s.s. vincent. there is a lot ofalkn that. it's still off the northwest coast of australia. for the next couple days, it will steam north toward the korean peninsula. >> what message does that send, hans? >> a show of force, a change of posture. when you send a carrier in that direction, it's a change of posture and it's an indication that the u.s. military has a great deal of optionalty and a great deal of strength and can hit in a moment's notice. >> hallie jackson said the north is the first test of diplomacy. does that echo the white house right now? >> i think you're seeing the white house respond with that level of preparedness, that it is a huge test for the u.s., the

threat looming over the administration. this is like a slow motion cuban missile crisis. i've talked to some people involved in these negotiations a decade ago with north korea and said, hey, any time this person was in south korea it felt like the missile crisis was happening there. the threat to north korea is more direct to south korea. elections happening there next month will be a crucial part of this puzzle already. there was still no am boss dar that's been named, so there still are pieces of this puzzle that have not yet come into play. >> as we all know, north korea had some anniversary celebrations over the weekend. they were expected to test missiles. one of those that they did try to test failed. but they also had a test that showed off their new armory, an

intercom ballistic missile. hans nichols, what message is north korea trying to send, and is it a message that is effective? >> well, i don't know about the effectiveness part of that, katy. i think the messagehey're trying to send is they have ambitions, they have goals and they would like the capability to be able to shoot a missile from the korean peninsula that could land on the west coast or the rest of the united states. we haven't gotten a full assessment, and frankly, there isn't a consensus of what was in those tubes. what capability do the north koreans currently have. the jena assessmegeneral assess haven't figured out reentry. one other note on this, every time north korea launches a missile, if it's a scud or

whatever type it is, they learn a little bit. maybe less so with the scuds, but even failed launches are a concern. obviously a successful loss is a bigger one here at the pentagon. >> is the white house worried about a threat from north korea? >> worried about a tougher posture in the united states and what that might do in north korea, how that might make kim jong-un un-act? >> so i think they are taking a tougher posture in north korea. i would say there are more. the belief currently is president trump is more unpredictable than kim jong-un. how will that play out is something we'll look. joining me now, john mclaughlin, former act or and.

so john, north korea. they were supposed to test a missile over the weekend. it did not work. there is a lot of talk whether or not had the hand in. do we have the capability to do that? >> we have the capability to do a lot of things in the cyber field. i have no idea whether we did that over the weekend. it's conceivable. the important thing is whether we did or didn't. some of us who have been around for a while have followed this for years. i've looked at this since the mid-'90s, and i recall in 1998, they actually got two off the launch pad, and did the same thing with a third stage, although the third stage blew

up. so the real cause for concern here is that they learn from all of these failures and they're inching gradually toward the capability of eventually be able to get one of these things to work and travel across the pacific to the united states. >> there wasn't -- there wasn't talk. would you read much into that? >> no, i wouldn't read much into that. there's a positive sign here yart in md yield, the policy of deter may be having success. it may have made them think twice.

i don't think we want to get into a military confrontation with them, and i put that in the category of what the military calls deter rent losses. you don't really want to play nuclear chick within this guy. kim jong-un is an erratic leader. you said in. it is as extensive as his predators. given that, can he be reasoned with? >> well, we don't know. i think that has to be tested. here are two important facts. no american official has yet to meet this kim jong-un, and he has not even traveled yet to beijing, who is his closest regional partner. so he's a rather isolated guy.

you know, i don't think the regime itself is irrational. we don't know about him. that is to say, he's surrounded by people who are fairly knowledgeable about the world, but he's also killed so many of them when they displease him for one reason or another that i suspect he's not frequently bothered by contrary news. people don't go to him, i didn't thi thi think, restrained, onot as easily restrained by his father who was a rational, though brutal, dictator. >> we're keeping our eye on that blue door on the left-hand side of the screen. we've gotten a two-minute warning. if i cut you off, my apologies. talk to me about what is happening in china right now. how much influence do they have over north korea, over kim

jong-un? and can they act as a trud deterring force in order to stop him md his nuclear ambitions. >> they have a lot of influence even though he hasn't met with president xi. another new factor in this equati equation, i think, is that the chinese are not pleased by his behavior. the last thing they want is a nuclear confrontation over the peninsula. they want the. . many of your guests have said, and many people now understand, that china is responsible for about 90% of the trade with north korea. they cut off inputs of coal. i think ultimately we might want to talk to the chi needs to lure

them into talks. they tried to get energy and food out of those and they cheat and all that. but getting them talking again would be better than rattling sabres. >> let's bring in john fineer, secretary of state for john. this is a chang in posture by the united states my does it concern you to see a much tougher stance? >> to be honest, i'm not sure there's been a change of posture. there has definitely been a change of messaging. my understanding is that the policy approach was building at the end of the obama administration where we sought to really increase pressure on

the north korean regime. but what we tried to do was communicate with north korea clearly and directly and not in an in flan to her. in terms of moving military forces in the recent term. you have vice president pence tweeting about kim jong-un, and you have the president tweeting back. that can be dangerous if they misinterpret. >> and sean spicer is coming out right on cue, taking lessons from anyone there. >> you haven't had a chance to check out the.

welcome thousands of families to the house senior evidence. active duty military, children from local schools, local children's hospital, all here to share in this historic event. . the vice president, of course, is currently on a 10-day trip visiting south korea, japan, indonesia and australia. while in south korea, the president has been holding the bilateral means. the president is sending a message. even in these troubled times. the, our ironclad alliance will be even stiffer.

the area will be safer and the north pacific region will be safer with their career. looking ahead, tomorrow the president heads to wisconsin where he'll talk about his buy america, hire for those who aren't aware, it's a company that builds country-made roles and officials regarding the details of the trip. further guidance should be coming out to your extension and improveme improvement. the president is happy to sign this legislation which went by the senate earlier this month. the bill ensures that veterans have continuity of care while this nation works with congress to develop a plan that reforms

the va system and gives our nation's heroes the care they deserve. he'll also host the newspaper to highlight their fifth super b f win. i hand it over to mr. acosta. >> does the president have a line that if they cross it, they will be responsible to answering to the u.s.? >> i think they've talked about the use of red lines in the past. the drawing of red lines really hasn't worked in the ss. he holds his cardslose to the vest and you're not going to see him telegraphing how he's going to respond to military or any other situation going forward. that's something he believes has not served us well in the past. we did this with mosul. we started talking about what

the reaction will be months and advance, and it really gives the intended recipient of action. i don't think he'll be drawing red lines in the sand, but the action taken in syria said that when necessary, we will provide action. >> syria is one thing, north korea is quite another when they have ambitions like they do. when you say we did this with syria, we did this with afghanistan, is that a bombastic reference? >> no. again, please don't read too much into that trying to make an analogy on the action. i think it's quite the opposite. at least with north korea in particular, the president had a really good meeting with president xi down in mar-a-lago made the commitment to their relationship they made down there and that they continue to work to improve. the results of that are taking

an active role with respect to north korea. they can continue to apply pressure to achieve results, and i think we're going to continue to urge china to bring its influence to the region to get better results. >> they tried to launch a missile. >> i understand that, and they failed. we're well aware what's going on. the president was kept up to date, as you know. but i think we'll continue to work with china in particular to help us find a way forward on this. >> the. we want to prevent theindf launchings that you saw. that f-er did not come off.

the bbc will have its missiles tested on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. so my question is, what kind of pressure is china putting on you? >> i think this goes back to the nut of what jim was asking, which is for us to telegraph what we're going to do or ask others to do would not be a smart strategy to alert our own public. but i think if you realize, for example, on the economic side of things, china is the number one importer of north korean coal. i think to see them could curtail some of that as a real. >>. even china because of.

i think we're just not there yet. we've got a lot of tools. laughing at the conversations that are ongoing, but let's not. i think there's an agreement a nuclear-capable north korea is not in anybody's best interest, and i think we'll continue to work on this case. >> what was the extent of the review of the white house logs? what made you change your mind to not continue releasing them? >> i think as was noted on friday, we were talking about a policy with every edition of time. >> why doe't the president obje to people knowing who is coming to the white house? >> it's not a question of knowing.

we're following the law both ass signed them. they would scrub what they didn't want put out didn't serve anything well. the president wants to make sure people can come the same way they can come into congress e' e office and provide details. there are people who want to be able to have that conversation with members of the administration the same way that they would do with members of congress, go into their office. >> why didn't he take this opportunity to one-up the transparency game? >> i'm trying to explain that to you. i think that we recognized there is a private cy issue to respong to all his views. when you go through and you scrub everyone's name out that you don't want everyone to know, that really is not an honest

attempt to doing that. we're going to follow the law that way the every administration has followed, up to the last one. >> hey, zeke. >> the rational given friday was against the serbs. both of those were clear in the obama splangs. why does there seem to be a revers reversal. the obama administration had th that. they said what it was but you don't know who got left off and who didn't. they chose to not. they gave them an excuse and no one questioned it. i think the bottom line is, as i said to kaitlyn, that we're going to have the same president

has had through time. it's interesting. we're following basically the same thing that members of congress followed. you go in there and meet with a member of congress now. tler people who want to make it. we listed participant lists. but i think there is an opportunity sometimes for the american people to want to come and have a dvrgs and be able to share their view. but remember, this is the same policy that every president and every administration has followed. zds i'll grant you that. pr pras. the washington insider said members of this swamp can walk into the white house and there

is. the visit or logs to all the what i'm saying is all of those are fudge to the federal records act and we're complying with the federal records act. this is policy that existed from the beginning of time since they were kept. the last one was a foe attempt at that. it's not really being transparent that you scrub out the names of anyone we hear. i think we've made a decision to follow the lun at the law. system the president afraid to act alone r that the decision of use of force is made? >> i think he'll utilize the powers of article 2 with the

constitution. i think what you saw with respect to the action that he had with syria, he made sure that members of congress were notified of his action in a very, very short amount of time. we're going to continue to seek their input on the policy overall and then make sure that they're notified. we'll do that, but i think the bigger consultation issue is what we do with the larger world community and have that dialogue, as i mentioned earlier, to make sure every country is putting the political pressure on north korea to act in a way that helps us. with tax filing day coming up, is the president going to release his 2016 tax returns so they're not. . it's a routine wurnl.

that was something he made very clear during the election cycle, and so the one time that it was done, i think the people understand how successful the president has been and how much he pays in faxes. so nothing has changed. >> he's never yented the use muchl. the president may have gone ahead to confirm he's under audit, what years, how long it's expected to take, et cetera. will the president authorize the irs to confirm? >> i think the president's view on this has been very clear from the campaign and the american people understood it when they elected him in november. hallie? >> thank you. always looking out for you, general roberts. >> reporter: political leaders in hawaii are reviewing emergency plans in case they are attacked. does the president believe that

the level of tension between the united states and north korea is at the point where we should start reviewing emergency attack plans? >> just to be clear, i would just tell you that there are military contingency plans for almost every scenario in numerous aspects around the world, here at home. everything from humanitarian relief to refugee crisis to attacks. that's standard military procedure to have those. so to make that in any way, shape or form to have new. it is fine for the military to plan for a number of operations, a number of hot spots. >> how tired is the president's view on the threat level from north korea? >> i think the president has made it clear we're engaged in the activities that they've engaged in, and we're monitoring

them, and the national security team continues to keep them up to date. >> just one more on the topic. one of the reasons jeff sessions has chosen to negotiate is that it's believed there are no good military options toeal with. does this president belve there are violent options? >> i don't know, but i think taking anything on and off the table is in and of itself limiting your options to some degree. i'm not discussing that. . this referendum that gives president ergan have in reviewing. a initial report is due 10 to 12 days so we'll let them do their job. they were international monsters throughout torture kai.

we'd rather not get ahead of that report and not make decisions without knowing. i would rather wait and see. >> just beyond the irregularities, the act that everyone is going through to try to accumulate these powers, what does the president think about it? >> they have a right to have elections and their people participate in that before we start getting into their governing system, let this commission get through its work. steve? >> when vice president pence says regarding north korea's strategic patience is over, what does that mean, exactly? >> the error of strategic patience was a policy that the obama administration has been inactive to basically wait and see. i think we have now understooded that policy is not one that is prudent for the particularly with respect to. that's where the president really is building on from the

time he spent down in mar-a-lago with president x. part of it so actively engage with world leaders that have economic influence that tech utilize. agai i'm not going to get ahead of the policies right now. i think. let's see how that goes. >> you're doing it today and then you'll sit at the podium that you don't want to telegraph, you would rather of the kim jong-un. at what point does this strategy of unpre diblt. we. not just the predictability.

i talked about it a minute ago, when you look at some of the actions we've taken in the past, mosul being a good example where we leaned in and started to explain what we're going to do and how we do it, that takes a huge element of surprise off the table and reunions the full effect of what we're trying to do. the more he works with world leads and ensuring a woman's place around the globe, it should be reviewing just here at home, but around the globe the people are asafe and decidedly . >> war costs thousands of lives, it could democratically destroy south korea. is this part of the trump

administration? >> no. if you get into a series of hypotheticals about what you narrow the table. i think the president has long held a strategy that doing that begins to give the opponent, whoever it is in that particular case, if it's just a negotiation, the options of where to go and w not tgo. the president was making it clear that not to take options after the table was done. we will always make sure our national interests were protected. if we were to say we were taking something off the table in any way, shape or form, that would limit what we have to do. we're going to make sure we have to do what we have to do to protect our natural interests.

the streed to strengthen. >> i flipped the coin, right? if you're not taking options off the table and you flip it, then, that -- >> that's the point. it not a question of taking a risk or not taking the risk. again, you can start to go down a very dangerous path of will you use this, will you not use that? the president is very clear. i think everybody has been briefed on him, and i think when you look at the quality of the national security team that's surrounding by all accounts, probablime probabliment. >> john, you just missed north korea said it isn't a threat unless you can go through with it. >> the bonds.

and how about this is just smoke and mirrors hiding them on the abstract and not develop socially. >> i don't think there is anyone in the world who would believe north korea's actions are both provocative and a concern. so the actions that were taken were appropriate and justified. what we're doing is working with the world community, and as i mentioned multiple times today, especially china which is really acting in a historic way to ensure that our national interests and the safety of the peninsula is protected. >> so what about the thought -- the out out there is what about the criticism from people on the hill who say, you're just hiding fighting a war that isn't going to happen? >> i haven't heard that. i don't think there's a person that doesn't believe that say the workshot is the right and

justifiable thing to do. jessica? >> you referred to the mission launch adds s an unsuccessful launch. >> it was an unsuccessful launch. >> so you just misspoke. there was nothing to indicate that -- >> no, it was an unsuccessful missile launch. glen? >> you talked about strategic patients in want context of trying to expand china's role. do you believe chain has the power to change north korea's behavior if they choose to do so? then a follow-up. >> that's a good question. i think they can definitely try. there is economic and political points that they could be pushing. whether or not they achieve that outcome is yet to be seen, but i think there is a lot of

influence that they could exhibit in both of those areas, but we'll have to see. it's prudent for the president to try to build that relationship with president xi and see if we can achieve an outcome that's in all of our best interests. >> how concerned are you that the uptick in the language could potentially pre voc unintentional. there is a concern that a lot of words being thrown around could have an unforeseen impact. just explain to me how upset the president is. >> i've got a question i wrote to china but first to step up to the tax question. you've been asked this for a thousand times.

is it fair to say once and for all that the president is never going to release his tax returns? >> i'll have to get back to you on that. >> i mean -- really. >> really. >> he may? >> no, i said i would have to get back to you on that. i think he's still under audit, the statement still stands. >> and on north korea, you said that china is playing an active role, is historical right now in pressuring the north koreans. what are they doing? >> when you look at both the economic front, coal in particular, that that has been north korea's number one export -- >> just cut it off? >> i think they've taken some very healthful economic actions and again, this is something built on an ongoing conversation the president built with president xi. as the president noted before, we'll have to see, but it is

encouraging the signs that china is showing. >> the president said yesterday there was a quick kwid pro quo because they areally put pressure on north korea, is he going to go back and declare. >> there's a couple things on that. number one, they haven't been manipulating the currency since he's been in office. that's a fact. number three, i think the president's tweet said to do so at this time would not be prudent. many of them. to label them a currency manipulator, i don't think, would be very productive importt, national, strategic objective. >> sean, in both the visitors logs, there are now experts on both sides of the aisle who say

this is the least transparent administration in decades. how do you respond? >> i think we've taken several steps to allow people access to this white house, in particular, the press. we hold regular meetings where we bring people in, see the press list wech. we bring the press in to hear the discussion. >> i don't believe you'll want to keep them. give me some reversals just in the last week. >> i don't think so. i mentioned it on the currency. on nato, we talked about this last week. the question in my where there are certainly.

i think it was december 29 of last year. he was talking very specifically about some of the moves he was seeing in the opposite direction. already encouraging him. the space of china, they're not manipulating their occurrency with a number of other nund. we can take an issue and make it. on these particular issues, you can see the president is moving on a lot of decisions he talked to the american people about. when you talk about the big issues that he kept promising the american people in terms of immigration, immigration is down 60% on the border. jobs, jobs are coming back over and over again. you're seeing companies talk about new job creation here, new manufacturing here. the executive orders that he's signing are all consistent with the campaign and it is an issue.

the president promises the american people over and over again he's achieving great success. so i would argue that we're going to continue to see the president, we are acting on behalf of the american people on that front. >> have several people traveled to mar-a-lago or any other place where he's conducting official business? this building in the sense of you guys will be transparent in terms of who he is meeting with and what kind of official business he's conducting. is that a commitment you all are willing to make? >> i think he's fairly consistent what this meeting, what he's done, providing us as

perkt, otherwise, he makes phone calls. we make readouts of these phone calls whether here or in florida. >> long stretches of time go by and we'll get full reports from the cooler saying, we've bn asking the white house --. moments with his family skpl. i think we do a very good job of getting you information, bringing you along to events whether he's here or at a location or even going out to dinner. we've lived up to that. i think the president is entitled to have some times with his family and friends to just catch up.

>> that's the difference between -- what i'm saying is her question was about official business. when he does have a call and when he does meet with advisers, we generally put it out. but when he's meeting internally, in the same way that when he's eating with her staff meeting. so when he's down traveling and he's having meetings, whether it's on air force i or whatever. and give them the opportunity to make key decision of an inside issue. i would successfully suggest that we have done a really good job making sure that the pool in particular is provided, and we've provided background briefings on issues coming up. where we're going, why we're going and what we intend to do. i anticipate there will always be a widespread.

sto >> sean spicer ending his fourth big briefing. we've got reporters and analysts standing by to break it down, but i think we should start with taxes. there were a number of protests over the weekend to get donald trump to finally release his tax taxes. after all, tax day is tomorrow. sean spicer was asked if he would do that, and he said, once again, the president was under audit. he was also asked to call the irs to confirm that he is honest. and then he said, given they respond the same way, the president is under audit, under audit, edna, former spokesman

john boehner. hallie jackson is here. hallie, let's start with you. sean spicer getting a lot of questions about taxes. every day the response is donald trump is under audit. it doesn't sound like we're going to get much more information than that. >> sure doesn't. that's probably the understatement of the day, katy. the reiteration has been the same as it has been since before the inauguration, since the beginning of this administration which is that the president feels like he's under audit and the american people knew he wasn't going to be releasing thiz taxes, -- his taxes, and t seems to be holding, that the president says he refuses to give his taxes now. he could talk to the irs about it, to. for this president we are seeing what we've seen for the past 18 months, two years, which is he's not going to be releasing those

taxes despite the fact that tomorrow is tax day, despite the fact they were protesting over the weekend calling on him to do just that. also calling on congress, intending to put pressure on congress who tried to urge the president to release his taxes if he wants to see tax reform done. i also want to talk about the other big headline which is continued action by north korea. when it comes to the pressure they're putting on china and what this means, you heard him say all issues are on the table. that has been something we've heard for a while but it is raising questions, i tell you, from people who want to know what is the strategy, what is the long-term plan, and some real questions about unpredictabili unpredictability, whether that is an asset or not, katy. >> we'll talk about north korea in a moment, but to stick on taxes, the big question remains.

what exactly is donald trump hiding in his taxes? is he hiding anything? what information does he have any idea? >> no idea. but they paid no political price stonewau stonewall og thing on this issu. they're going to continue stonewalling on this issue. frankly, i think they should just rip the band-aid off and say he has a responsibility to his business and his family to keep his taxes private. >> what businesses does he have an obligation to? >> whatever he had last year. but they're probably willing a problem he could face with his ba base.

it doesn't seem like he'll come up for reelection before then for sure. >> i think we'll see that day where he pays the political price a lot sooner. that is the moment when it becomes a real substantive question, not just a process question, but he tells us who he is in debt to and what kind of taxes he pays so we know at the expense of the american people. that's when it's really going to matter to american voters that he's not doing this. i agree, it's a very strange thing for them to continue to posture for this audit that's been going on for two years. >> i think we have it at two hours? >> right. we know the red tax could be released. sean spicer lies about donald trump's taxes every time he is

asked about it. >> you don't believe the audit is stopping it? >> i don't believe the audit stops it, if that audit was real, which means he won't thin spicer was sgd was the visitor logs. there h been a question, who exactly is going into the white house. especially since he campaigned on this idea of draining swamp. not allowing special interests to co-opt the president's agenda. not allowing lobbyists to take the white house because they claimed they were corrupted by that. they're not doing it. and they're not paying a political price with republicans for not releasing the taxes. will they pay a political price for this? >> i think so. wasn't just draining the swamp. it was opening up the white house back up to the people. he portrayed the obamas as

closing the white house. the white house easter egg volchenkov a 139-year tradition. and we saw with it this minimal involvement with the first family as possible. we don't know if he is actually meeting with real americans. this is not an open he populist white house like the president promised. a lot of people voted for him because of that. the polls said more americans believe he can't keep promises and drag other republicans down with him. >> 415 days since donald trump first said that he won't release his attaches because of an ya audit. saying, i'm not saying that there is military action that could be coming but not saying that there is not military action that could be coming. talk to me about the position this white house is in when it

comes to kim jong-un and how erratic that leader is. what are the potential pit falls? >> thanks. i think the white house and the administration is right to try to increase pressure on north korea. that's the approach we took at the end of the obama administration and it is necessary on get them to change the trajectory. i think they're try it work through china which has more control and leverage over china. and to keep our partners ask allies up close. they've sent high level people to the region. i think they're right not to draw an explicit red line through the press podium. what they are not right about, what is really confounding to us, is a total inability to articulate what the policy toward north korea is other than stay tuned. people who are more specialize

in the these issues could ask questions but we don't that have luxury. manning you're kim jong-un. we find him difficult and interpret. i would imagine the same goes for hip looking at the united states. there is a real danger of him being misunderstood and miscalculating. that's what a lot of people are worried about. if kim jong-un can't tell where the white house is going to go, does that make him less like i to move because he's afraid of a threat or a bomb hitting his country? >> i think we'll to have see where that plays out. the reality is if he doesn't understand what our policy is, what our main concerns are, there is a real prediction he will do things we don't like. then a real risk this white house takes step that's are not expected by not only kim jong-un

but our partners. if they are not keeping our partners briefed on what our approach is, there is a risk, whatever step we take we take by ourselves. >> and it is notable that they will not draw any red lines. president trump has said that crossed many lines for him. the kept snake syria. i think if you were looking f clarity from sean spicer onha mike pence said earlier on the peninsula, i think you were disappointed. in some ways, spicer started to parse pence and then he walked away. in one moment he said don't read too much into what pence was saying in terms of the pairing of the tikattacks on syria. it looks like they're leaning heavily on china. that's the one take on this, outsourcing the north korea issue.

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. we expect to get an updated report on steve stevens who is

accused of executing a stranger and then posting it to facebook. >> with, we're watching city hall closely because there will be a press conference. the first questions will be reports from philadelphia. some seven or eight hours drive from here. there were apparently a up in of 911 calls saying they've sighted the suspect or his car in an area near the huge central park of philadelphia. a number of excuse on lockdown including a high school. i will be interesting to see what happens as we get past 3:00 which is when most excuse are dismissed. but no positive sighting of stevens there. but it is the most activity we've seen anywhere in the country and there is been a national search. the police have said he could be near or far. hopefully at 3:00, they'll shed more light on this. >> we're watching the door in

the room where that xroempbs is expected to happen. we'll take it to you live. that wraps things up for me on this monday. kate snow picks things up of. >> good to see you. we start with fast developing news on north koreaier today. president trump was asked if he had a mention for north korea. he simply said, got to behave. this as a senior north korean official said the north will conduct missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis adding all out war would result if the u.s. took military action. meanwhile, vice president pence sent a strong message to north korea during his trip to south korea. we'll break down all the day's developments. a massive manhunt is underway for a man who police say filmed himself killing an elderly man and then uploaded to it faceok