conference that's going to happen with president trump and the president of romania, klaas rohanis. he will be in town for a meeting, but of course the big question will be what did the president think about the testimony by james comey. he tweeted it. he essentially said he lied about everything, or at least he lied during the course of that testimony, and he called him a leaker. this will be the first opportunity for him to say outside the twitterverse exactly what he thinks of it. we expect that this will be, after this meeting, to take place in the oval office. it's about defense, two questions each, from u.s. reporters. that's something to look forward to. in the meantime, that's going to wrap up this hou of msnbc live. my colleague katy tur takes over from here. hi, katy. >> hello. we begin with what is to be a very busy afternoon at the white house. president trump alongside

romania's president in the rose garden. it will be the first time president trump comments on james comey's testimony. we'll take you there live when it happens. our word of the day? vindication. at least that's what the president is claiming. complete and total vindication, as a matter of fact. he tweeted this morning two minutes before what would have been his longest stretch of silence on twitter in years. but not everybody agrees with his hot take. >> only from the mind of donald trump could anybody see what happened yesterday. >> very small mind. >> not only did he vindicate him and he's a leaker, he lied. in effect the president just said comey purged himself. >> what i want to know is what was vindicated? his lies or his misstatements? i'm not quite sure. >> this is headline after headline is calling the president's credibility into question. the words "liar" or "lies" are

topping front pages across the country today. but trump is already taking steps to strike back. sources tell nbc news that his attorney, mike kasowitz, will reportedly file a complaint after comey's admission that he handed over memos detailing his conversations with the president. and more fallout from comey's testimony, including new questions surrounding attorney general jeff sessions. after comey suggested yesterday sessions had an undisclosed russia problem. could jared kushner be next the hot seat? the president's son-in-law will go to capitol hill for a meeting that could tak place as soon as next week. we'll debrief all of this with our team of reporters and analysts. but first let's go to kristen welker who is at the white house. kristen, donald trump and his attorney are all but calling james comey a liar. what proof are they offering when they say that james comey never asked him for his loyalty? what proof do they have?

>> reporter: well, katy, great question. >> kristen, i'm sorry, i need to interrupt for one second. the president is now greeting the leader of romania right there at the portico. they're going to go inside and talk about security high on the list of topics, according to you, kristen, is what's going on in the ukraine and the relationship between ukraine and russia. i'm sorry i interrupted, kristen. go back to what you were saying before. what proof do they have that james comey lied? >> it's a great question. so far no proof has been offered. as you pointed out, the president is pushing back against a number of assertions that james comey made yesterday on capitol hill. one, that he called for a loyalty pledge, and two, that he says the president encouraged him to drop the investigation into mike flynn. but where is the proof? remember, the president dangled the possibility that there could be tapes. so the question today for the president, the question for a number of his top aides since he tweeted that out is, where are those tapes?

is he going to release them? so far no proof, no indication that the tapes actually exist. but katy, i would anticipate that whoever gets a question today at that news conference, which is going to get underway shortly in t rose garden, will ask about the tapes. can you aually prove these assertions that you're making that james comey isn't being accurate? right now we have a he said versus he said situation, and james comey saying that he took memos after he met with the president after each of those meetings because he said he felt as though the president could try to misrepresent what happens. as far as the talking points we're getting from this administration, you laid out some of them at the top of his show. the president really focused on the fact that comey acknowledged that he leaked out his own memos. remember, the president always insisted the real problems here are the leakers. as you say, his counsel is set to file a legal complaint. there is no indication that actually holds legal weight, by the way, but the real talking

points will be the fact that comey did verify the fact that he wasn't under investigation. s does the president swant to say that comey is a liar or that he vindicated him? >> david nakura of the "washington post," white house reporter, today you had an article that said, trump's decision to weigh in personally on comey's testimony represented a sharp shift in strategy for the white house and could come for political risk for trump who has potentially undermined himself legally on other matters through his tweets, including his attempt to impose a, quote, travel ban on immigrants from some majority muslim countries. you're talking specifically abouthe president's tweet from today. elaborate for me. >> well, you know, ihink what we saw yesterday was the president seemed okay to sort of farm out the response in defense of his position to comey's testimony to his surrogates.

we saw his son, donald jr., tweeting, live tweeting the testimony which some thought the president himself might do. it appears the president watched some of the testimony but allowed his aides to have the response. we saw his lawyers come out with that statement essentially saying what donald trump said today in this tweet. but now you have donald trump directly challenging this testimony under oath by james comey, calling him a liar and saying he's leaking this information. the president has gotten himself into further difficulties politically and in some cases legally with some of these tweets. his words looking like he's evading some of the questions here on the travel ban, there are other legal issues. but when the president himself weighs in with exact words, they oftentimes could be used against him whether they're in some legal dispute or certainly politically when he challenges testimony that many, many people watched. >> and there was a tweet he sent out last month about the tapes, saying james comey should hope that there are no tapes. and michael isikoff, that points

out, you are the chief justice correspondent, i should say, for yahoo, but that points out a problematic moment from mark kasowitz's statement yesterday. they're saying he did this while he was still the fbi chief, but there are some timeline issues there. walk us through that, michael. >> yeah, the timeline is a bit questionable. kasowitz was trying to undercut comey by saying that when comey said he was responding to the tweet, the tapes tweet, that's what prompts him to call up his -- authorize his friend, the columbia law professor, to leak an excerpt from one of his memos to the "new york times." kasowitz said that can't be true because there was a "new york times" story the day before that tapes tweet in which the memos were disclosed.

well, as i discussed yesterday and wrote yesterday on yahoo, if you take a look at the "new york times" coverage of this, kasowitz was just flat wrong. the story the day before didn't make any reference to any memos. it did describe from associates of comey the dinner that he had with the president in which was asked for loyalty, but the first reference to any memo, any quote from the memo comes four days after that tweet from the president. so kasowitz, in seeking to undermine comey, may have misfired there. but katy, can i just point out, there are two key questions that arose after the testimony of comey that often compels the senate intelligence committee to take this one step further. one is obviously the sessions questions. comey made reference to some other information about sessions that was problematicn terms of

his involvement in the russia probe. susa collins, the senator, has already said the committee is going to be following up on that. but let's go back to the day before the testimony of dan coats and mike rogers, the nsa director, in which they both refused to answer questions about whether the president had made similar requests to them to get them to intervene with fbi director comey. they refused to answer those questions. now given comey's testimony, it seems like the intelligence committee has to compel to go back to those two witnesses who refused to answer and compel their testimony, at least demand on what grounds they're not answering the question, because if there is an issue of obstruction here, which is the most damning aspect of comey's testimony, you know, the committee has to figure out whether that was an isolated comment comey -- the president

made to comey, or whether it was part of a pattern of conduct. and that's why coats and rogers are key to answering that question. >> and just for our viewers' reference, the tweet that donald trump sent out about tapes happened on may 12. the article referencing james comey's contemporaneous memos happened on may 16, you're right, a full four days later. garrett hague on capitol hill. garrett, we're also getting news from kasie hunt, who broke this yesterday, that jared kushner could become to answer queions before the senate. >> reporte yes, katy, this all happens in stages. jared kushner is expected to start to senate intelligence committee staffers sometime in the next month. i spoke to someone involved in the planning in about half an hour. they told me the timing of that conversation is still very much under discussion between the white house and the intelligence committee. they're going back and forth. but when it does happen, kushner will be talking to these intel

house staffers. he's also expected to provide documents of interest to this investigation, and all of this is being done towards an eye to him ultimately talking to the senators of the intelligence committee themselves. i still don't know if that would be an open or closed session, but it's obviously the president's closest adviser and who most americans have not heard speak out loud. there would be enormous interest in hearing what jared kushner has to say. >> guys, thank you very much for joining me here on this friday. now we have with us our panel. joy reed, host of m joy here and rick wilson, strategist. rick, i want to talk to you. everyone is talking about a case for obstruction, but are we missing the larger picture, the pattern of conduct from this president, the abuse of power. is this just a scenario where americans have become desensitized to this sort of thing? it feels like if we had gone back to any other president, we would be -- they would not have even gotten this far.

>> if this was any other president, the president's spray tan would match his orange jumpsuit as he was perp walked into prison. this is clearly a situation where the new normal excuses any kind of behavior of donald trump's, including stuff thats quite obviously either kissi up to obstruction of justice or making out with it. this is a guy who, if it comes out that he has pressured other members of the intelligence community to drop this, this is exactly what nixon did in watergate by trying to get the deputy director of the cia to pressure the director of the fbi to drop the investigation. the historical antecedents here are so crisp and so compelling, it's remarkable. but he's new in town and he's easily fooled by the clever guys. he's simply off the pumpkin truck of new york, easily tricked by all kinds of errors by james comey and his wiles.

>> on that point, how long is the president is new to this going to last? this is not a job as a bank teller, it's not a job as even a cub reporter in a small local station. this is the president of the united states, it's the leader of the free world. >> and fifth avenue has no pumpkin trucks. it is not going to fly that -- somebody who said i alone can fix it, who ran on the idea that because he's a businessman he can come into washington, drain the swamp, that he knows more about isis than the generals. donald trump has always represented himself as smarter, better, brighter, faster than anyone alive. so the idea that he's now essentially reduced to a childlike state because he doesn't understand right from wrong and he doesn't know obstruction is absurd. there are two compartmentalized pieces. one is the political piece a whether donald trump is in jeopardy. i would say no because he has a pay that is so supine and full of sycophants.

they are his stewards. so he isn't in political jeopardy yet, but what he's actually doing, reading what he's actually tweeting is a guy named robert mueller. robert mueller's scope of his investigation potentially doesn't have to be limited to directly russiagate-related matters. it also could go to post russiagate obstruction. when you are denigrating the former director of the fbi who happens to be a friend, when you're calling him a liar, also claiming he vindicated you and putting yourself on the record on twitter, robert mueller can see that. he isn't blind to what trump is doing. trump needs to worry about digging himself a hole on what he speaks. >> and there isn't any evidence that he will be looking for any criminal matter of obstruction.

that was brought up at the hearing. it hasn't been definitively answered yet, though. in your article you give advice to democrats, you give advice to republicans. what do you say to republicans who are trying to brush this off, who are trying to say, listen, he's just learning on the job. or, hey, listen, this isn't going to affect me. i'm donald trump, this doesn't affect me, i've said on the record i don't necessarily agree with them. what risk do they run and what risk do democrats run? >> for republicans, i have several years to remind them of 1974 where republicans thought nothing could possibly go wrong, xon is a great guy until the very last moment, and the ones that tried to jump off the boat at the end, they lost 49 seats in the house and 8 seats in the senate that year. a house banking scandal is nothing, no big deal. they lost for the first time in 54 years. it goes on and on. 2008, 2006, 2010 for democrats.

all these people who misunderstand that corruption is one thing that americans will not stand for you to defend, it's a really important political lesson, and we seem to have amnesia about it every single time because it doesn't happen overnight, but it locks in that these guys are his defenders. joy had a perfect phrase that they're his stewards, that they'll let him get away with anything at all. at some point when the voters go, no more, he'll say the base is still with us. well, the base may be in the low 30s at that point and the rest of the voters loathe and despies t -- despise the way this man is running the country. democrats need to do more than just hate donald trump. they need to bring something more to the table, because right now they're not definitionally about a whole lot else and they need to show some policy differences and show -- >> and they're backed by their constituents. >> it's true. they need to show some policy

differences they could accomplish that the republicans aren't. >> and joy, with a warning we might have to interrupt you because we're going to get some tape back of donald trump with the president of romania, but speaking of tapes, what's going on with the tapes? >> donald trump has a history of taping people or at least bragging about taping people, so it wouldn't surprise me if he taped comey. comey hopes he did, and if he did, he better hope he doesn't destroy them. the reality is if the tapes exist, and it worries me that the trump team just won't knock it down. the existence of tapes could be the worst thing that would happen to donald trump because it would surely corroborate the more honest of the two men in that room, and that's jim comey. like him or hate him, jim comey is an honest shooter. he's never been shown to be a liar, but the other guy goes on about being a birther and he goes on and on as a liar. >> and as to yesterday's questioning, you said the republicans were acting like

donald trump's stewards. they didn't take the gop talking points, the rnc talking points to go with jim comey on his credibility. in fact, most all of them in their opening questions said, i respect you, i think you're honest, i respect the service you gave to this country, and they thanked him for it. so that was notable. they did not go after him in terms of his credibility, they just tried to paint donald trump's behavior in the most positive light they could. joy reed, it's so wonderful to see you. >> yes. >> i love having you on. >> thank you. >> rick, it's great to see you as well but you're farther away. you're on a satellite feed. >> i'll come and visit. >> we just got a minute warning, actually, that we're going to get donald trump in the white house with the president of romania, so i'll go bac to you, joy, for just another few seconds. what are you going to be looking for in this press conference that we'll get afterwards? >> if he decides to go off script, which is what he does, and go after comey again or if

he returns to the familiar script about the election, donald trump doesn't talk about things other than donald trump, so i would be surprised if he didn't get in some digs at his enemies during what should be a straightforward speech. >> rick, call him. >> i think the fact that trump is anxious to take a poke at comey, he'll easily fall into that trap today, i'm pretty sure. he really wants to have this media war like it was something fought out on page 6 in the new york post as a real estate thing or a gossip thing. i think so it's going to be hard for him to resist taking a swing at comey. >> is he going to call on a more friendly outlet? >> he'll probably call on some joke site, trumpbart, or whatever. >> we hope he calls for journalists on nbc. we'll cross our fingers. yeah, let's expect donald trump to be asked about those tapes.

i'm just getting word that here is the president with the president of romania, guys. stand by and let's take a listen. >> thanks for being here. it's wonderful to have you. you've been a true ally and that relationship as of moments ago is getting even better. so thank you very much for being here. it's my honor. >> thank you very much, mr. president. it's a great pleasure and honor for me to be here, and i'm looking forward to our discussions and our partnership. >> yes. it's been a great partnership. thank you all very much. thank you. thank you.

surprising. i'll be making a statement. thank you very much, everybody. >> well, that feed got cut off pretty quickly. he said something was a surprise. i'm sorry, i couldn't hear the question. he also said he was going to be making a statement very soon. i assume the london election was a surprise, that's what i'm hearing. when he says he's making a statement very soon, we'll find out what that is, because again, after this meeting he's having with the president of romania, they'll be having a joint press conference in the rose garden. that's where a number of journalists will be eager to ask donald trump a number of questions, most of which we would imagine would like to be on james comey's testimony yesterday. and whether or not he actually has tapes of their conversations. so we're going to be watching out for that and we'll bring it to you live as soon as it does happen. meanwhile, i have with me nick ackerman, former assistant u.s. attorney who served az prosecu --

as a prosecutor on the watergate se. nick yesteay you said this was obstruction up the wazoo when you said this on chris hayes. >> absolutely. >> tell me why. >> the case is fairly strong. i speak from a former prosecutor who prosecuted these cases and also a defense lawyer who defended these cases. you essentially have four acts of obstruction, two of which comey has testified to. one is the meeting in the oval office where he's left alone and donald trump comes to him and asks him to drop the fbi investigation. there is the firing of comey. but then you've got two other critical pieces that really have not been fully aired in the public yet. one is dan coats, the director of national intelligence. on the other is mike rogers, who is the director of national security agency. both of these individuals apparently will testify that they were called separately by the president who asked them to try and -- >> but they didn't say this yesterday or two days ago when

they were testifying. they refused to answer that question. they're going to have to answer it again? >> they have to answer it. they don't have any legitimate reason to not answer it. this is a statement made in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice. there is no way the privilege applies. and the key is they didn't deny it, either. they didn't deny it. so you've got four acts of obstruction. on top of that, the real key legal issue here is whether or not donald trump vinced corrupt attempt. this has been bandied about in the papers. it's certainly an attempt to stop it. that's all it means. here we have admissions that donald trump made to lester holt, the admission that he fired comey to get rid of this

russian thing, and then you have admissions by the russian ambassador who referred to comey as a nut case and at the same time said, look, now that i've gotten rid of comey, i have this russian thing off my back. >> very quickly because they're telling me i have to take a break. very quickly, could we potentially see the president testify under oath? >> you absolutely could. there is no reason he couldn't testify. there may be a prohibition of him being indicted as a sitting president. >> but we could hear from him? >> it may not be in public. he could be called by a federal grand jury which is a private proceeding, and there is where you'll have the testimony. i could keep going. >> nick, i have to cut you off. they're yelling at me in my ear. i think that's fascinating and thank you so much for coming on. it's good to see you. also everyone who has been on so far, thank you very much. we'll see the president and his romanian counterpart face the press. we'll bring you that live when it happens. we'll be right back.

morergetic, by natally supporting your digestive and immune health. trubiotics, a daily probiotic that helps restore the balance of good bacteria. trubiotics, from one a day.

...you realize the smartest investing idea, isn't just what you invest in, but who you invest with. ♪ i am totally blind. i lost my sight in afghanistan. if you're totally blind, you may also be struggling with non-24. calling 844-844-2424. or visit my24info.com.

over hereno!ver here! (dog barking) whoever threw it has to go get it. not me! somebody will get it... ♪ (dog barking) anyone can dream. making it a reality is the hard part. from the b-2 to the upcoming b-21, northrop grumman stealth bombers give america an advaage in a turbulent world. and we're looking for a few dreamers to join us. i am totally blind. and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424. i am totally blind. and non-24 can make me show up too early... or too late. or make me feel like i'm not really "there." talk to your doctor, and call 844-234-2424.

hey you've gotta see this. cno.n. alright, see you down there. mmm, fine. okay, what do we got? okay, watch this. do the thing we talked about. what do we say? it's going to be great. watch. remember what we were just saying? go irish! see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. we're back on this friday waiting r president trump and

the president ofomania t arrive for a press conference in the rose garden. it will be theirst time president trump speaks since james comey's testimony yesterday. we'll bring that to you live, you better believe it. now to the russia investigation. a source telling nbc news that trump's son-in-law and senior adviser jared kushner is expected to meet with senate committee leaders next week. this follows the question that kushner may have had a third meeting with sergey kysniak. >> he may have talked to him for a variety of reasons. i also couldn't say something

that would make his continuous investigation problematic. >> joining us now to talk about this is former double fbi agent and also author of "how to catch a russian spy." and military analyst and spokesperson for the counter speech project. what will they be asking jared? >> i think the big question here from mr. kushner's perspective is did he lie on his fa-86 on his background investigation? was there actually an intent to deceive and hide this meeting? that is sort of the crux of the question of legality. but katy, the bigger question here is, from the counterintelligence perspective, what were the russians able to accomplish if, in fact, mr. kushner, mr. flynn or mr. manafort were talking to the russians, were they acting as agents of russia? that is a potentially explosive accusati accusation. >> and tara, the other piece of this is jeff sessions. there could have been an

undisclosed meeting with the russian ambassador. this, we believe, is a meeting that could have taken place at the mayflower hotel in april or march of 2016 when donald trump was given a foreign policy speech back then. the russian ambassador was there for that speech and there are questions about how much jeff sessions may have met with kislyak and how much of a conversation they may have had. the justice department spokesperson is denying this, but what do you make of the way comey spoke about it yesterday? do you think he was allude toin something? >> i think he was definitely alluding to something and the key is he asked people to leave the room and question why. that is a big red flag. why is donald trump so concerned with the investigation of flynn?

there were meetings with officials, some of which have been disclosed, others that still have questions. why? what happened in those meetings? same with kushner, but in his case also with the russian bank, conflicting stories about what happened in that meeting. hone in on that eting. comey, during his testimony yesterday, i think tried to sort of paint a picture without making a conclusion or drawing assumptions as sort of the areas where things are a little gray and where the investigation really needs to focus. and obviously in a classified setting, there may have been more information given to the senators. but i think also we should be aware that when talking about collusion, it's not necessarily just directing the russians to do something improper related to the campaign, it could have been sharing of potential problematic information, campaign data. there are a lot of surrogate companies working with the trump campaign. were they in touch with the russians? there are reports that some of those companies are being looked at as well prior to the investigation. so i think there are still a lot of questions, but i think comey tried to steer the investigation

in the right direction. >> tara maller and vije, thank you for joining me. we're waiting for president trump to make his very first remarks after the james comey testimony. he is going to be appearing wit. they'll be taking questions from the press, and we will be back right after a quick break. "how to win at business." step one: point decisively with the arm of your glasses.

abracadabra. the stage is yours. step two: choose la quinta. the only hotel where you can redeem loyalty points for a free night-instantly and win at business. anyone ever have occasional y! constipation,diarrhea, gas or bloating? she does. she does. help defend against those digestive issues. take phillips' colon health probiotic caps daily with three types of good bacteria. 400 likes? wow! try phillips' colon health. [customer] have you ever walkedp into the paint store feeling like you should really know more than you know? satin versus semi-gloss, and...i don't know! [team member] yes...i know the feeling. [customer] that's how i feel right now about all the financing options for this project i'm doing. i feel like i should know more than i know. [team member] don't sweat it. we have this new tool--my credit options guide--

that gives you a customized comparison like this, which helps you discover which credit options might be right for you. [customer] oh, this is better. they should make one for paint. [team member] want to get started? [customer] sure. depend real fit briefs feature breathable, cotton-like fabric. in situations like this, there's no time for distractions. it's not enough to think i'm ready. i need to know i'm ready. no matter what lies ahead. get a free sample at depend.com. you on a perfect car,rch then smasht into a tree. your insurance company raises your ras... maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. liberty mutual insurance. be the you who doesn't cover your moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

be the you who shows up in that dress. who hugs a friend. who is done with treatments that don't give you clearer skin. be the you who controls your psoriasis with stelara® just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before starting stelara® tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. always tell your doctor if you have any signs of infection, have had cancer, if you develop any new skin growths or if anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions can occur. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients. most people using stelara® saw 75% clearer skin and the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. be the you who talks to your dermatologist about stelara®.

good day from new york as our live coverage gets under way of what we expect to be a bilateral appearance and two-way news conference on a beautiful day in the white house rose garden. visiting president of romania, we saw the president of romania after arriving in the northwest portico talk to the president of the united states in the oval office. peter alexander, our correspondent standing by in the rose garden. peter, give us a curtain raiser on told. >> reporter: brian, to give you a sense, this is our first opportunity to pose questions to president trump following james comey's dramatic testimony there before congress. this opportunity will psent itself toose specic questions about his comments after james comey accused him, in effect, of being a liar, saying comey is a leaker. we'll be asking specifically if he's willing to testify under oath today if the questions come from the reporters who are likely to pose those types of questions, and we'll probably

ask specific questions about the russia investigation. why he showed no interest in the russia investigation, as james comey said, over the course of nine separate interactions the two men had, whether or not there are recordings that exist here at the white house of conversations between james comey and himself that could demonstrate his facts, his dispute of what james comey has been saying to this point. so all of that is sort of the backdrop of what's likely to be, has the potential to be a combative moment with the president. we heard from his private attorney, mark kasowitz, yesterday, kasowitz making the points that they are hanging their hat on. he identified the fact that the president was right about the fact comey told him he was not under investigation. but there are others he disputed, including the fact that he ever told comey to let the flynn investigation go, or the fact that he ever demanded his loyalty. brian? >> peter, of course, some of the q & a depends on the news media organizations called upon by the

president. >> i know, i think that's exactly right. obviously there is a lot of other topics that could be discussed today. among them the topics that he would like to focus on, likely his agenda today. earlier he was making a speech about infrastructure. he's been talking about tax cuts this week, health reform appears to be stalled right now, so the white house would like to push back as it describes the obstructionists, the democrats in congress who they believe is keeping him from getting his agenda done now. he also would like to talk about his accusation that james comey is a leaker, given the fact we now learned that comey provided those memos, the information from his private conversations with the president to his friend in law school there. obviously his website got knocked off line because so many people were trying to check out who this man daniel richman is. it's because of the leaking of that information that he got the appointment of special counsel which he said was his desire all

along, brian. >> peter alexander, again, on a beautiful day in the rose garden at the white house -- >> a hot one. >> yes, a hot one. awaiting the arrival of these two men, and we should point out this is the first real getaway friday now that june has settled in to washington, d.c. the president himself will be trying to get away to his bedminister golf club in miami. mark, tell us where the policy stands right now in this white house, and do you think today will be an effort to turn a corner a bit, change the subject a bit? >> reporte >> well, what's interesting about a visit from the romanian president, and peter is right that the questions may likely be about the testimony of comey. as you recall trump made some headlines a couple weeks ago in europe where he scolded members

of nato for not paying enough tore the upkeep of the alliance. that's a topic that could come up in the context of this meeting. the other thing that's cooking is the nation's effort to bridge a pretty ugly dispute between saudi arabia and cutter. you'll recall that president trump thrust himself into this dispute earlier this week with a tweet in which he appeared to take sides with the saudis against the cutteries. subsequently the white house has been working hard to kind of smooth over that rift. can you te cutter is a major base for military operations. the president could talk about that as well should there be an opportunity to move past the comey issue. >> by the way, mark, nicolle wallace, former communications director in the bush white house is here with us in the studio as well, as is former new york congresswoman elizabeth holtzman as is katy tur.

you mentioned cutter as a result of a conversation we had on the air the other day about a situation between saudi arabia and cutter that you just mentioned and where u.s. troops are stationed. the white house points out today that the president did, in fact, talk about u.s. servicemembers being in cutter in a speech he made in rihad may 21st. he said cutter is a strategic partner. before we go back, nicolle, this could be gracsped as an opportunity to change the subject a little bit. >> yeah, and i think the white house trying to get on track and make things presidential was made easier when sources close to the president said he was buoyed by what happened yesterday, that they went into the comey testimony on pins and needles. there is some reporting, i think, from mark's paper that he watched that testimony with his personal lawyer mark kasowitz,

and i think general mattis was also around him yesterday. on the other side of it, when they felt they had some things to point to as clear victories in the president's view, this revelation that comey himself had sought to get a special counsel appointed by sharing information, in their view leaking it, but he was a private citizen sharing his own observations about an encounter with his old boss, president trump. so the white house's mood has changed after the comey testimony. i think you may see him trying to look presidential and look more traditional. >> mark, i guess you will be judging the news organizations called upon and the answers given to their questions as sommer of if there's been a change in the press shop for outgoing? >> well, one of the interesting things about the way donald trump handles news conferences is he sometimes calls on sort of the so-called friendlies, conservative or right-leaning news organizations that he can

count on not to ask him the tough questions, and yet at other times he's been very open calling on network correspondents, for example, that he kno will be tough and combative. that's usual a good and early sign about what he wants to do in the news conference. so if he calls on people with a track record for questioning him closely and aggressively, you'll get the sense that he's ready to take it on. if he calls on people that would be more reliable and an offensive for him, you'll get the idea that he doesn't want to get into these issues. get to a keyboard and a television. we're keeping you now. we're told we're within the two-minute period in the run-up to this event. and nicolle, we've come to expect two and two. two questions from the u.s. press corps, two questions from the visiting press corps, though they often intersect. >> they do, and these are carefully negotiated by career press folks from both countries. before a visit like this, both

countries' staff sit down and negotiate the terms of the press interaction with these visits. it's sometimes interesting, sometimes awkward to watch a foreign leader listen to the translation of a foreign question that is somewhat intense political interest to both press corps. i imagine that's what we'll hear today. >> elizabeth holtzman is with us in the studio. we don't have your after action report with what you witnessed yesterday with james comey. i'm curious to hear your assessment. >> if i was president trump, i wouldn't be buoyed by what comey said. comey may have said he wasn't under investigation. of course, comey was talking about the time he was head of the fbi. but it's quite clear that the president is now under terrific scrutiny if he's not under strict terminology and investigation by the special counsel. so what's to be made of that? plus, many people are now

arguing that comey's testimony and the facts suggest that he might have, if not an obstruction of justice, something very close to it and perhaps an impeachable offense. >> this certainly won't be the first president who may, in the face of what may seem like overwhelming odds, choose t strategy of plow straight ahead and act like nothing has gone wrong. >> absolutely, and that might work for him, but i doubt it. >> katy tur, your two cents? >> that is what donald trump does. instead of shying away from controversy, he does run at it no matter what it is. whether it's challenging a female running for president, he'll run at that and say she's only in her place because she is a female, which is what he said about hillary clinton. so it should come as no surprise that he'll be running right at this. the president and his lawyer are very much cherry picking what they like from james comey's testimony and what they don't like from james comey's testimony. they're saying, you know what,

he confirmed what we have been saying all along, which is that the president himself is not under investigation. yes, and that is also something, by the way, that was reported in the press through leaks and through the president himself a number of times. that wasn't anything under the radar. nobody had really been focusing on that in particular. but they're saying not so subtly that jim comey is a liar himself, that he perjured himself by asking for loyalty. they're claiming that he did not ask james comey for loyalty. if, in fact, those tapes exist, i'm going to be interested to find out if any of the reporters who are called on, it will be interesting to see who is called on, asks the president point blank if the are tapes in the oval office. he has been asked this before in off-the-record meetings and also on the record with john dickerson at cbs.

can we see the tapes? and he's declined. so we're going to find out if his answer has changed. >> nicolle, i know your broadcast comes on at 4:00 eastern this afternoon, and you'll probably want to keep some of this for your broadcast -- >> no. >> what would your advice or strategy be for this communications department as we head into the weekend and on into next week? >> it's so interesting. katy is absolutely right. they are cherry picking the things that they liked, and it's a bit of a reach that they are as buoyed as they appear. you can see it through surrogates like corwin lewanowski who i appeared with earlier today. they think they got an assist from marco rubio, frankly. they liked the line of questioning that marco rubio engaged in that they went through the three pieces of information that donald trump did seek from him.

one was that he was under investigation, one was that comey said he asked him to let the flynn matter go, and the third one was how uncomfortable jim comey felt or whether or not he had expressed his discomfort to the president and he repeatedly called him. they felt that comey cherry picked what made its way to the media was incriminating information. of course, it's not. 's j comey's prerogative after he w fired and his name smeared to tell his side of the story. but they are engaged in almost watergate-like character representation from someone they view as the enemy, and all the norms and conventions of political combat don't apply to this white house. >> that was a deep reach on your part, the late lee atwater -- >> am i aging heismyself? i feel that old today.

he's making himself feel civilized that they're willing to engage politicals present and past, and the story engaged in response and this president demands loyalty because he does in his mind view people either as loyal or as adversaries. >> we have been told the remarks have been delivered out to both lecterns and we should be seeing the members of the white house staff coming out. an assortment of white house staff and cabinet officials have taken their place in an unseasonably warm friday afternoon in washington. this is the start of the season in that city, where the streets are packed with school groups, with families, with children, with tourists, from all over

this country and all over the world, and if you have spent any time there at all, you can conjure just how hot it gets, and you can just close your eyes and imagine it. >> and sweat. sweat long with them. >> the two leaders making their way out. >> thank you for being here, it's an honor to welcome just a od frienof ameri to the white house. as you know, the people of romania and america share much in common. a love of freedom, proud cultures. rich in traditions and a vast and storied landscape to call home.

the relationship between our two countries stretches back well over a century, but today we especially reaffirm and celebrate our strategic partnership that began more than 20 years ago. that partnership covers many dimensions, including economic, military and cultural ties and today we are making those ties even stronger. mr. president, your visit comes at an important moment, not just in this partnership, but among all of the responsible nations of the world. i have just returned from an historic trip to europe and the middle east, where i worked to strengthen our alliances, forge new friendships and unite all civilized peoples in the fight against terrorism. no civilized nation can tolerate this violation or allow this

wicked ideology to spread on its shores, i addressed a summit of 50 arab and muslim nations, where key players in the region agreed to stop supporting teorism, whether it be financial, militaror even moral support. the nation of qatar, unfortunately has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level. and in the wake of that conference, nations came together and spoke to me about confronting qatar over it's behavior. so we had a decision to make. do we take the easy road or do we finally take a hard and necessary action? we have to stop the funding of terrorism.

i decided along with secretary of state rex tillerson, our great generals and military people, the time had come to call on qatar to end its funding, they have to end that funding. and its extremist ideology in terms of funding. i want to call on all of the nations to stop immediately supporting terrorism. stop teaching people to kill other people. stop filling their minds with hate and intolerance. i won't name other countries, but we are not done solving the problem, but we will solve that problem. have no choice.

this is my great priority because it is my first duty as president to keep our people safe, and funding of their terrorism organizations is something i have emphasized all during my campaign and right up until the present. to do that, stop funding terrorism, stop teaching hate, and stop the killing. for qatar, we want you back among the unity of responsible nations. we ask qatar and other nations in the region to do more and do it faster. i want to thank saudi arabia and my friend king solomon, and all of the countries who

participated in that very historic summit. it was truly historic. there has never been anything like it before, and perhaps there never will be again. hopefully it will be the beginning of the end of funding terrorism, it will therefore be the beginning of the end to terrorism. no more funding. i also want to thank the romanian people, for everything they contribute to our common defense and to the fight against the evil menace of terrorism. they have their own difficulties with it. and they have come a long way and they're doing a lot. romania has been a valuable member of the coalition to

defeat isis and the it's the fourth largest contributor of troops in afghanistan. there, 23 of your citizens have paid the ultimate price and america honors their sacrifice. i want to recognize president johy yohanis in committing to increase its defense spending to 1.4% of gdp, to over 2%. we hope other nato allies will follow romania's lead on meeting their financial obligations and paying their fair share for the cost of defense. but i will say this, that because of our actions, money is starting to pour in to nato.

the money starting to pour in. other countries are starting to realize that it's time to pay up and they're doing that. very proud of that fact. as you know, i have been an advocate for strengthening our nato alliance through greater responsibility and burden sharing among member nations. and that is what is happening. because together we can confront the common security challenges facing the world. mr. president, i want to applaud your courage, and your courageous efforts in romania to fight corruption and defend the rule of law. this work is necessary to create an environment where trade and commerce can flourish and where

citizens can prosper. i look forward to working with you to deepen the ties of both commerce and culture between our two countries. romanians have made contributions to the united states and to the world. very notable among them was nobel prize laureate, the man who was born in romania and passes away just one year ago. and earlier this week, the american jewish committee presented president yohanis with the very prestigious nations award. to further the holocaust education in romania. the people of romania have

endured many, many hardships, but they have made a truly remarkable, historical journey. the future of romania and romania's relationship with the united states is very, very bright. president yohanis i thank you for your leadership and i does for you being here today, i look forward to strengthening our alliance with your country and our bonds with your people, the relationship has been good, but now it's stronger than ever. thank you very much. president trump thank you very much for the words you have for the people of romania and for us.