loyalty, we would be pleased to get otto back to the united states to be with his family, but if we had been able to secure that earlier, potentially, there could have been medical help that could have been rendered earlier. we don't know the answer to that, but i think the president worked really hard to do what he could to secure the release of him. he was clear about that when he spoke to members of the immediate kwa earlier today. >> two questions on otto, the president said that he thinks it's terrible what happened. do you have any more details on specifically what he endured there? >> i do not. and we will not share them at this point. >> and second question. >> yes. >> there are reports that something is changing here at thite house. are the rumors true or not? >> right here. you can keep taking your selfies and -- but look, it's no secret

we've had a couple vacancies, including our communications director who has been gone for a while. we've been seeking input from individuals, meeting with potential people that may be of service to this administration, i don't think that should come as any surprise. we're always looking for ways to do a better job of articulating the president's message and his agenda, and we'll continue to have those discussions internally, when we have an announcement of a personal nature, we'll let you know. >> dave price, in light of tomorrow's visit? >> thanks, sean. you already mentioned the president -- we understand our long time governor and now our ambassador to china will be there with him. the president has already praised his long time relationship with china's president. as you know, the president has a certain style the way he tweets and talks, it doesn't mirror the way terry branstead has had his

career. in light of that, how do you see this dynamic playing out in ambassador bransad's role with china? >> thanks, the president will be joined by governor branstead at kirkwood to not just discuss issues but trade. he's been an ambassador for iowa his decades. his understanding of china, and his dedication to help us support goods to china in particular, is going to be good for the united states. he chose governor branstad because he was impressed with what he had done as governor in iowa and the respect he has for

the people of iowa is going to serve this country well. sean, i want to circle back on the georgia six. the president will be watching with great interest the race that happens tonight? and what's his message? i know he had a couple tweets. what's his message to the people as they consider the direction for that particular district? >> okay, so just so we're clear, i'm not going to comment on political races. that being said, as i noted before, it's no surprise the president is going to support republicans up and down the ticket, especially to maintain our majorities in the house and senate as we move forward. obviously as you noted, he's tweeted about that, he believes there's a clear choice, i'll leave it at that. >> let me ask you about the communications shop here, i know you're probably wearing more than one hat at the moment, and there's been a great deal of unrest, certainly in this room and in other spaces about a lack of press briefings, a lack of commication wi y directly

outside of the office -- i wanted to know if you would sort of unpack the idea behind fewer on camera briefings, to sort of help make sense of what's going on? >> sure. what i'll tell you is, i've said it -- look, multiple times prior to actually taking the job in december and january, i explained that we're going to do what we can to communicate our message. we will -- we have a tremendous respect for the first amendment, your ability to do your job, and report. and seek out ideas. and we're going to work with you, i think the briefing is one aspect of what we do. we're here really early in the morning and really late at night, available to all of your questions, whether it's e-mail or in person, this is one avenue to do that. we've -- as you noted, opened up skype questions to bring more people into the briefing room. we have done multiple more opportunities for people to interact with the president, according to several folks who have been here for several administrations, we've looked at

a lot of data that suggests when you look at the number of availabilities and interviews the president has given, it's pretty significant compared to past administrations, i think that we -- while you gs wil always advocate for greater transparency and more access, i think we have done a very good job of not just providing opportunities here at a daily briefing, but also making ourselves available as a staff, almost 20, 24 hours a day, when it comes down to it. you look at the steps we've taken to give access to reporters, and i do think it's pretty significant. i understand you'll always have issues, you always want more, and that's fair, and that's your right. i think you'll continue to fight for, we'll continue to do our job. i do believe that if you look at it holistically, we have a staff that's very accommodating, very -- tries to get to -- in response to your questions.

>> thank you, sean. yesterday, he met with secretary ross and the governor of kentuc kentucky. the governor said that he needs good quality -- they need good quality soft wood lumber. is the president open to discussions. >> you mean with respect to canada? >> yes, i think they've made it clear they want to get a better deal for our country. i understand the governor's point. we're going to continue to work through the proper channels and dispute resolution settlement, and make sure the concerns we have are settled correctly through the mechanism that

exists. speaking of kentucky i'm going to. >> world refugee days, does the president feel refugees are a threat to american security? >> i think the first and foremost thing the president is concerned about, you take an area like syria, for example, he's been focused on trying to get countries to agree and work together on creating safe zones, because refugees for the most part, a lot of areas, would rathere in their country where eye from safely. have a place to raise their family and not be reset elled. that's our number one goal for them, in those cases, number two, i think the president has been clear, his number one goal is to protect our country, our homeland and our people. and he needs to make sure the people coming into this country are doing so through peaceful means. his number one priority, the number one priority of any leader is to protect their people first and foremost. >> as we look throughout the

globe. we've tried to work through diplomatic and economic channels and create solutions. >> i want to go to will clark who's at wahs. >> my question is about the administration's position on coal. the administration had during the campaign, said they wanted to bring back coal jobs to eastern kentucky. now there's a lot of those coal miners in that part of the state who say they want tech jobs, they're going back to college to get the skills for those jobs. does the president still support the return of coal to eastern kentucky and west virginia. what is the president's relationship with the kentucky governor. i know he was at the white house last week, and he was at the nominating convention in cleveland among other places. >> he's been here a few times. they have a fantastic relationship. he's done a lot in kentucky to grow jobs and really fight for innovation down there.

i know his ideas and input have been well received at the white house, and we want to continue to work with him. it's not really a binary choice, the presidenten watts to continue to, and has supported several measures to bring the industry back. and to touchn the theme of this week, we want to do what we can to focus on technology, helping our government bring back jobs. create new opportunities for our country, for our jobs. we talked about this a couple weeks ago, part of it is to make sure people have the training and the skills they need. whether that's going to a vocational school or another training that gives them the skills in an area like high-tech and technology. to pursue a new change in life or a new career or just out of high school, but we need to make sure we have the training and the support, the system that will support people that want to go into these fields. i don't think it's a choice of one industry over the other.

the president has and will continue to do a lot to support coal, especially the clean coal industry, at the same time, make sure we have opportunities to give the workforce of the next century, or the americans, the skill set to compete, and that's something that secretary costa spoke from this podium on extensively last week. >> has the president seen a draft of the senate health care bill? >> i don't know that. i know there was chatter today, i know the president has been on the phone extensively with the leader and with key senators, i don't know if he's seen the legislation or not. but i know they've been working extremely hard. and the president has been giving his input and feedback to them. he's excited about where this thing is headed. >> do you know if anyone on the staff has seen the draft bill? >> i don't. i know they are working hand in glove with them. to the extent -- i don't know.

where we are in terms of the final plan. i know the sta has been working closely with the leader staff, with senate finance and others, so i don't want to get ahead of an announcement on senator mcconnell saying when that final product is done. i will refer you back to him. >> jennifer? >> i have kind of two questions. >> of course. >> in the last few minutes, gary kohn spoke at a meeting and laid out a september time line for a bill on reform to get to the floor of congress. is that realistic as far as time lines go? we heard a lot of different things, we keep getting push back, we haven't gotten to a final vote on health care, let alone all the other things that we've been talking about, is that -- do you think in a is a realistic time line? >> both talk about this, the speaker and vice president. there's a strong commitment to

doing it. i saw senator warner from virginia earlier today talking about his concerns with the corporate tax rate and the need for it to come down to the 20s, that's great. we would love his support on a package like this, i think there's going to be very bipartisan support for tax reform, as we move forward on this, the degree to which we can get some of those individuals to join on and craft a bill will determine the schedule, that's mostly a congressional timetable that we have to move with. >> i think they've already met withome democrats and they'll continue to, i don't -- that has been part of the plan. they'll continue to reach out to members of congress that share these goals. >> today ford announced they're going to be building a new factory in china. the president was very -- declared victory when -- when does he -- is there an

administration reaction to go there? and two, there's some signs the administration wanted to get tougher on china. are we going to see that? >> well, with respect to your first question, secretary ross has put out a statement with respect to ford's decision, and i think the general consensus is that the president wants to create a tax system that companies want to come back and bring back jobs and manufacturing here in the united states. once we can have that plan that you just asked about, that really gets our companies more competitive doesn't bleed them with the highest tax rate and also, deals with other aspects of our business tax code that puts them at a disadvantage to their foreign competitors, you're going to see more and more companies not just go to the other countries, but come back to the united states, grow in the united states, and that's where i think overall we continue to see the need to have tax reform to achieve those results. sarah? >> thanks, sean.

the president said that if ott to warmbier had been brought sooner, the results would have been a lot different. does the president believe that the obama administration is partly responsible for what happened to otto warmbier. >> the president was pleased he was able to work with the state department everyone got otto home as soon as he could. but i think when you realize what happened, the president believes that had it happened sooner or quicker, potentially there may have been additional resources that could have been provided. he's saddened by this entire situation, and would have hoped that it could have been resolved earlier. >> thanks, sean. i want to ask, the house caucus and gop senators have -- shortened until more of this can be done. for sure obama care repeal care

bill through. is that something the president would support. >> i think that's going to be up to the house and the senate to determine their recesses. they don't -- we don't get involved in their schedule. i'll let speaker ryan decide what's appropriate in terms of their -- >> is the president concerned with the case? >> if we continue to move forward with health care, the way that we have been told we're going to, i think we're great, we have our priorities, we want to get health care done, tax reform done. and obviously the president has spoken extensively about infrastructure. if we can get those done, i think we'll feel very good about it. >> h can you get -- >> we'll go as quick as congress wants opinion it's a little out of our hands. as soon as congress can do it, we'll do what we can.

you saw when the president had the house bill up, the president worked feverishly to do everything he could to get it over the finish line. >> i'd like to follow up on health care there. you were around -- the republicans were criticizing democrats for it being -- as you put it, jammed down people's throats, you said it was rushed, secretive, that was the criticism. how is this happening now, behind closed doors any different from what republicans criticize democrats for doing? >> i think we wanted to be part of the process back then. >> you look at what senator schumer said in february to moveon.org call where he said that no one's going to be -- no democrat is going to go near this, he said no democrats will be part of an effort that would repeal obama care. so they have chosen to take themselves, to not make themselves part of the process. >> when senator mcconnell brings the bill forward, i'm sure there

will be plenty of time to debate in the senate. >> you said last week -- >> i'm not going to get ahead of -- i'll let senator mcconnell determine the schedule he sees fit. let's not mistake ourselves with how they approach this thing. their leader made it clear, on at least two separate occasions, they didn't want to be part 6 this process, they didn't want to repeal and replace obama care. we believe obama care is failing, we want a better system for the american people, a patient centric health care system that brings down costs and gives more accessibility to people. that's it. they chose not to engage in this process. to turn around now and second guess -- that's something they should take up with their own leader. >> does the president support a travel ban to those heading to north korea? even senator mccain's comments that otto warmbier was murdered. >> i think the state department is mulling additional advisories

and i'll leave it to them. that's how our travel restrictions and such is run through the state department, i'll refer you to them. i don't want, to before anything further goes on with respect -- i'm not going to comment on whether or not his situation, how he's handled it until we have further information on that. >> thanks, sean. two questions for you. from the perspective of the administration, how transparent have lawmakers been on capitol hill when drafting this health care bill. >> i think we've had a robust discussion with lawmakers, first in the house, and now in the senate who have ideas and input. ultimately, each of those bills is the product of their own chamber, the house we had plenty of sessions with with members of the house as they move forward. we've done a lot in the senate, but each of those chambers runs their own chamber respectively by the leadership they have,

it's not our job to go in and dictate how they do it, we've been trying to be as helpful as we can throughout this process, by highlighting the need for repeal and replacing a failed system, and we'll continue to do that, but it's not for me to get up and talk abo how their process works through each of r respective chambers. >> follow-up on steve's questions on russian sanctions. plainly, a yes or no answer. does president trump believe that the russian government interfered in the 2016 elections. >> i have not sat down and talked to him about that specifically, we've been dealing with a lot of other issues today. i'd be glad to touch base -- >> this conversation about russian interference in our elections, there's 16 intelligence agencies that say that they did. the former fbi director said without a doubt -- >> i understand, i've seen the reports. >> does the president share those views. >> i have not sat down and asked him about the specific reaction. i'd be glad to touch base with

him and get back to you. >> didn't he say it was fake news? >> regarding the cuba policy. yesterday it was said it's a grotesque spectacle. does the president have any reaction to that. >> the policy the president laid out for cuba is something that will help the cuban people, it will stop making -- encouraging payments to the military and help them economically lift themselves up. that is the greatest form of human rights -- to make sure those efforts we do, and the american citizens who travel or do business in cuba follow the law. our goal is to make sure the policies from this government, first and foremost help the cuban people. that's what the president has done. and we will continue to advocate for it. >> the tapes between the president and james comey. were those tapes made? do they exist? and will the president be releasing them to the house intelligence committee by friday? >> the president has said he will make an announcement on

this, i expect it this week. when he's ready to make that announcement, we'll let you know. >> see you tomorrow. thank you. >> did russia interfere intohe election in 2016? it is june 20th, president trump has been president trump since january 20th. it's been six months. sean spicer was just asked by a reporter if the president believes that russia interfered in our election. sean spicer said, he hasn't had a chance to talk to the president about it. again, this president has been president for six months and we still can't get a yes or no answer on that. this was sean spicer's first on camera briefing in eight days and we got a whole lot of comments on a whole lot of news. the briefings have been a lot shorter lately, even off camera. here is what we learned from today's on camera briefing. sean spicer said trump's spoken clearly about the death of otto

warmbier, and said they'll continue to apply pressure to north korea of health care. trump wants the health bill to have heart based on comments the president himself made late yesterday. and following the comment the president made calling the white house mean. they've done a good job at transparency, but skirted questions about his own rule. given that this is the first white house briefing in a week, our word of the day is transparency. spicer was confronted today over the administration's apparent whack of it. >> there's been a great deal of unrest certainly in this room and in other spaces about a lack of press briefings, a lack of communication with you directly outside of the office, i wanted to know if you would unpack the idea behind fewer on camera briefings to make sense of what's going on? >> sure. what i'll tell you is, i've said

it multiple times prior to actually taking the job in december or january. explain that we're going to do what we can to communicate our message. we will -- we have a tremendous respect for the first amendment top report and seek out ideas. i think the briefing is one aspect of what we do. we're here really early in the morning and really late at night, available to all your questions. this is one avenue to do that. you guys will always advocate for greater transparency and more access, i think that we have done a very good job of not just providing opportunities here at a daily briefing, but also making our sfs available as a staff, almost 20, 24 hours a day. >> we're going to debrief all these headlines and more with our team of headlines and analysts. first, a correction, donald trump has been presint for five months, not six. sean scer has not had a chance

to ask the president yes or not whether or not he believes russia hacked into our election, despite the analysis and conclusion of all the different various intelligence agencies that we have in this country. hallie jackson is in the white house press briefing. tell us a little more about what sean spicer was saying when he was asked about whether or not he smoke to the president about russia hacking into the election. >> sure. regarding the issue of whether or not you heard it from a colleague of ours in the briefing room sean spicer talking to the president about whether the president believes russia meddled. all the intelligence agencies have concluded has happened. the press secretary has said he has not spoken with the president about it. it's been five months, this is an answer we heard before from sean spicer, i think about climate change, i think about the idea whether the president has seen a draft of the health

care bill. these were all in the last 48 hours. i haven't spoken with the president about it. >> what is his job if it's not to answer those questions? >> that's a question for the press secretary. he's the president's spokesperson. he comes out here on a regular basis to answer the questions from reporters on the behalf of the american public. i will note that on the russian interference point. this is something that has dogged the president throughout his campaign and transition as well. his discussion on whether russia meddled and why that has not been more of a topic of conversation from him. >> the question that you asked, whether or not this add men trace would say the administration murdered otto warmbier. were we expecting to get a more definitive answer from this

administration? >> members of congress have now said that what happened to him was tantamount to murder by the north korean regime. you heard the press secretary kick it over to the state department on that. >> hallie jackson, thank you very much. >> we have jonathan swan and a political reporter with politico. sean spicer was talking about how his white house, donald trump has been transparent. for a time, there was quite a bit of press access to the president, it's changed a lot lately. even jason chaffetz, the chairman of house oversight outgoing soon. was saying that in many ways it's almost worse, because we're getting nothing, he was talking about, initially his feelings toward the obama administration,

but then saying, with all due respect, the attorney general has not changed at all. i'm sorry, this is the wrong quote. basically, he was saying that he felt transparency at the white house was bad during the obama administration. talk to us about the trans appearancecy you've seen. >> you know, i think that the trump administration had an opportunity to distinguish itself from the obama administration, which was not particularly transparent and which was maddening to reporters in that record, the trump administration hasn't capitalized on that opportunity. they've decreased the number of on camera press briefings. they forbid reporters from making audio recordings of their press briefings.

the obama care bill in 2009, 2010, republicans are doing the same thing right now, and perhaps more so, they're writing this bill in a shorter amount of time than the obama care bill s put together. mitch mcconnell is writing this bill alone with his aids, and this is precisely what republicans criticize democrats for, you know, seven years ago, and republicans are doing it right now. the white house is complicit in that. >> let's give jason chaffetz the proper credit. i was frustrated the obama administration held things so close to the vest. i haven't seen any change with the trump administration, in some ways i find it worse. but on the note of health care, sean spicer was pushing back at whether or not the democrats should be able to seal legislation. why should they? they'v said over and over again they wouldn't be involved in any sort of repeal of obamacare, blaming them for not being a part of this negotiation, the reality is, republicans haven't seen this bill either.

>> right, and there is no good answer for that, they obviously all criticize obama for lack of transparency, and now we're seeing an incredibly clandestine operation for mitch mcconnell, to the extent that -- really is impressive in some respects, the amount of proof. sort of barriers they've managed to construct around himself, it's been extraordinary, we're seeing a few details leaking out here now. i can tell you a lot of the senate offices that we're in touch with, still very frustrated they don't have information. i'm not referring to democrats, i'm referring to republicans. >> if republicans are frustrated, why don't they do something about it, if they wanted to, they could. >> i think there's a recognition, even though there's frustration, from most of the conference that mitch mcconnell knows what he's doing. he has a huge amount of respect in that conference.

and there's a huge -- he has a big runway people give him the benefit of the doubt, mitch mcconnell is probably the only person to do it. i saw a quote recently, i don't know how to get to 50, i'm kin of glad mitch is in charge. there's almost an internal joke that mitch mcconnell is the only guy that can get this thing to 50 votes. >> thank you very much. >> matt miller is a chief spokesman for the justice department. john mcglocklin is an msnbc national security analyst. thank you for joining me. i want to get back to what i think is the massive headline out of that news conference. maybe i'm taking crazy pills. after five months of being the president the president's spokesperson can't say definitively whether or not the

president agrees with all of the intelligence. that russia hacked into our election. it seems to be a simple yes or no question. and we can't get a straight answer. it's june 20th, he's been president for five months. take a listen to what sean spicer just said. >> question on russian sanctions, very plainly, a yes or no answer. does president trump believe the russian government interfered in the 2016 elections? >> i think i have not sat down and talked to him about that specifically. we've been dealing with a lot of other issues today. >> there's 16 intelligence agencies that say that they did interfere with our elections. the former fbi director said without a doubt -- >> i understand, i've seen the reports. >> does the president share those views? >> i have not sat down and asked him about the specific reaction to it. i would be glad to touch base and t back to you. >> i have not sat down and asked him. >> it's hard to respond to that,

look, obviously there's a public assessment released in october and december. the president has access to the most classified intelligence underlying those reports. he can look at the intelligence himself, i think what this goes to is this entire mind-set the president has brought to this issue of russian interference in the election. it's the mind-set that's led him to where he is today. not just publicly questioning the accuracy of those reports, but asking intelligence community leaders to come out and deny that he or his campaign had any role in including with the russians. a question we don't know the answer to yet. when the investigation got too hot and wasn't going into a direction he liked, firing the fbi director. it all comes from this mind-set that he refuses to accept what happened in the election. he could have accepted that conclusion, and looked past it,

he has never taken that path. >> nobody disagrees with the assessment that russia tried to interfere in the election. no one does, the only person that does is president trump. other people that don't agree with it are the russians. >> the interesting thing is, i was struck too and agree with you, that's the headline here. the other day i rered the information given by the intelligence community. a couple months ago. the extraordinary thing is, it's very detailed data rich testimony on precisely what the russians did it's a rare case. looking at classified material. the russians did interfere in

the election. that's about as certain at this point as the sunrising in the morning. the only theory i can come up with, it's one of the enduring mysteries is that he's so sensitive to this, he thinks russia interfering in the election, somehow takes away from the legitimacy of his election victory, and i have to assume then that people like spicer are afraid to raise it with him. >> can you think of anything more selfish than that. this is not somebody who's accused of something in their personal life. this is the president of the united states, who could be -- i'm not saying is, could be too wrapped up in himself to admit that this country is under threat from a foreign power, and it's only potentially getting worse, if you talk to the cyber analysts and experts, those that are studying this.

that is a very, very dark thought that the president of the united states cares more about how he's perceived than he does about the safety of this country. the sovereignty of this country. >> i completely agree. the fact that the russians did this right now, this should be among the one or two or three top goals for the united states to figure out precisely what they did, and to keep them from doing it again. in a sense, what they did is, they kind of a low grade act of war, it wasn't kinetic, it was done with key strokes, it attacked the essence of who we are as a country and who we are as a set of values and principles. and there objective is to make our systeook illegitimate so that there's cannot be criticized for all of its flaws. this is -- this should be a number one priority for any

president. >> john, matt, thank you very much for joining us. the president has been the president of the united states for five months. it's been nine months since the election, you just heard sean spicer, the president's spokesman say he hasn't talked about with what the president agrees, russia tried to interfere into our election, tried to hack into our election. sean spicer hasn't had a chance to ask the president about it. senator al franken joins me next, stay with us. ...it starts a chain reaction... ...that's heard throughout the connected business world. at&t network security helps protect business, from the largest financial markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyber-attacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. keeping the world of business connected and protected. that's the power of and.

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i mean the president clearly wants a bill that has heart in it he made it clear from the beginning that those -- that was one of his priorities. the senate works its way through this bill as the house did. any ideas are welcome to strengthen it and deliver the care it needs. >> that was sean spicer moments ago. joining me to direct one of the democrats that spoke on the floor last night. al franken, the author of "al franken giant of the senate." thank you very much. what do you know about what is in this current health care bill?

>> i don't know anything really. i think it's based on the house bill, which is horrible, mean said a wiseman many are you referring to the president of the united states? >> no, i'm referring to someone who quoted him. >> got it. the president did say it was great when he had a celebration in the rose garden for the house passing it. >> he likes to be on both sides of things. >> evidently. evidently. >> senator, sean spir said, why should the democrats b involved in this -- they have said repeatedly they don't want to be involved in anything that is a repeal of obama care, why would republicans bother talking to them. that was his argument.

>> when we took up the affordable care act. we had scores and scores of hearings, 130 amendments out of the health committee. this should be a bipartisan effort. but again, most republicans don't know what's in this bill. they have kept this un believably secret. this is one sixth of the american economy, we should do this in order, like we did the affordable care act. we should be having hearings and working to deliver the american people the best health care possible. not cutting medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars which by the way, during the campaign of course trez trump said he wouldn't do. and so now he's -- i guess he does reverse himself a lot.

>> understatement. senator. there's a lot of talk about how this bill is going to essentially try to circumvent senator collins and senator paul, if they're able to do that, they don't need those two senators, mike pence can break a tie, if they lose senator murkowski, they're not going to be able to pass this bill. if all eyes are potentially on murkowski right now. are the democrats talking to her behind the scenes? are you talking to her behind the scenes to fry to convince her not to go along with this. >> of course we talk to our republican colleagues. we don't know, you know, senator murkowski is not among the 13, senator kolbs is not among the 13. there's a lot of other senators in this mix, republin senators. an heller is running for re-election in a state that went for hillary clinton.

there's senator lee who is sticking with rand paul. there's a whole bunch of -- senator portman who is in a state where his governor is saying, don't vote for this. there are republican governors who expanded medicaid are saying, if you're getting rid of that don't vote for it, to their senators. this -- there's more in play than you might think. >> on another topic, you've been talking a lot about mike pence, essentially warning democrats to be careful what they wish for. you call pence a zealot, you told the international business times in an interview, he's ideological, i consider him a zealot, in terms of a lot of domestic policies, he would be worse than trump. expand on that. >> i get asked this all the

time, what i -- my answer is, first of all, we have a process and order. robert mueller is the special prosecutor, he is going to get to the bottom of this, i trust robert mueller, so does pretty much everyone in washington, and we need to go -- we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. so -- we need to find out what happened. we do know that the russians interfered with theelection. and i can't believe that in the last five months that sean spicer hasn't had that conversation. i can't believe that the attorney general sessions hasn't had that conversation. they should be -- you know, if they have nothing to hide. what they should be asking, what the president should be asking, what sessions should be ask is how can we prevent this from happening again? we should learn as much as we

can about how they did this. >> yet we're not seeing them do that? we're not seeing the president do that period. >> i wonder why? >> the president did just tweet, senator, this is on the subject of otto warmbier. >> breaking news, he tweeted? >> yeah, breaking news. you heard hallie jackson ask sean spicer if the president would consider it murder what happened to otto warmbie are r. i greatly appreciate the efforts of president xi and china to help with north korea, at least i know they tried. what's your reaction? >> i don't know why he put the exclamation point on there, i don't think he knows that. i don't know, in terms of this young man, if xi did anything.

and i think that -- may i say that the president might be gullible when it comes to china. >> do you think -- >> that's a guess. >> do you think that he was murdered? >> i think this is the equivalent to murder, yeah. they had him in their custody, and they -- we hadn't seen him until he comes back in this coma. yeah, that's -- that's the equivalent of murder to me. if i were the parents i would consider that, and i would consider that, yeah. >> minnesota senator al franken, really appreciate your time sir. thanks for coming on with us. your book is out now, and once again, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. more on the death of otto warmbier next. is president trump going to take action. or is he going to keep pointing a finger at president obama like he did earlier today? -we gotta .

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state for east asian and pacific affai affairs. thank you so much for joining us. let's look at this tweet. he said while i greatly appreciate the efforts of president xi and china to help with noerk moerth korea, it has worked out. at least i know china tried. what does it mean? sarcastic or mean he's going to go in another direction? is is a sort of thing you like to get a little bit more information from rather than 140 characters. >> yeah, you bet. i think it signals that he realizes he's under some rising criticism. after all, he sort of front loaded all of his concessions and said no, we're not going to do a trade war. we're not going to accuse them to be a currency manipulator and we're going to put north korea right at the top of the agenda and they promised they're going to take care of it. i think the chinese always signaled they have some limits to what they could do and clearly, we've seen those

limits. it seems they weren't able to do anything with otto warmbier. able to understand, it's not working and trying to defend himself or justify himself by saying at least they tried, presumably, as opposed to others who not even tried. >> ambassador, we have nbc's peter alexander. are we getting anything prosecute administration about what's behind this tweet? >> some more information, not from this administration, the timing of which this tweet came out still remains unclear, but we are hearing now for the first time from president obama's team from his former national security council spokesperson ned price. i hung up with him moments ago and part of the statement in response to this president's criticism of the obama administration accusing of, in effect, it being a total disgrace in the way they describe the handling of otto

warmbier's situation. is is what ned price said on behalf of the events. we had no higher priority than securing the release of detains. posed unique challenges but worked through every avenue available to us, including the swedish, our protecting power as well as representatives in new york to secure the release of mr. warmbier and go on to write these tireless efforts resulted in the effects of at least ten americans in custody and it's painful that mr. warmbier was not among them but our efforts on his behalf never ceased, even in the waning days of the administration. our thoughts and prayers are with mr. warmbier, mr. warmbier's family and all those who had the blessing. and national security council team in the last administration and even as we're hearing from the president, barely five months into the term saying we tried as best we could with

china in terms of our tough policy with north korea. >> peter alexander at the white house. thank you very much. "the washington post" had an interesting story out today, an editorial talking about the 1 hundreds of thousands of political prisoners enduring unspeakable atrocities. the gulag of the soviet union, they have been replicated in north korea. the whole world knows this. the u.n. report is a public d k document and the regime lives on. how can north korea continue to do this, treat an american, a young man, a 22-year-old there just visiting there for a few days who may or may not have tried to steal a propaganda poster, how can they send him 18

months later in a coma? how are they capable, allowed to do this? what can world leaders do? what can americans do? >> well, first of all, dealing with north korea, i did it for four years, it's one of the most frustrating experiences in anyone's life. i mean, they agree to one thing one day, they pull it back the next day. they don't seem to feel they have to live by any rules and they frankly don't care what we think or what anyone else thinks. it's a huge problem. but the issue comes back to the same issue we grapple with every day which is, what do we do about it? if you're suggesting that because of the human rights, by the way, the worst in the world, we should somehow invade them, well, image th think that gets the question, is america ready for that sort of thing? 20 million south koreans in range and they want some say in that or their government might. this is not an easy problem to deal with. it probably involves keeping

other countries engaged and when there's an opening, when we can do something and when there's something available to do, i think we need to do it and by the way, obama spokesman and whoever from the george w. bush administration before that, we all tried to get these hostages out. that was number one priority and to insinuate anying else than a full effort is really ridiculous. >> former ambassador chris hill, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. 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 advantage in a turbulent world. and we're looking for a few dreamers to join us.

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