>> the best signal that north korea could give us that they're prepared to talk would be to stop these missile launches. >> and the president lashing out that his loyal number two isn't that loyal, as mike pence's spokesman chimes in. >> the focus of his entire team, is he entirely focused on advancing the president's agenda and putting him in the position to be re-elected? and summer break, president trump interrupts his golf course get away for a conference call on north korea. unlike vladimir putin's full bodied embrace of his break while spearfishing in see beera. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington where we don't take breaks very often. as the president takes a working vacation in new jersey. he's tweeting about everything from the "new york times" to democratic senator richard

blumenthal to the north korea sanctions, even as his secretary'secretary of state is trying to rally countries against the threat. >> the way that north korea would signal they want to talk would be to stop these missile launches, we certainly want to hear from them if they have the desire to want to talk. >> but today, north korea was only signaling a refusal to curb it's nuclear program and vowing revenge against the u.s. kristen welker is in new jersey near the president's retreat. the fact that he did have a one-hour conference call with secretary tillerson in north korea. >> >> reporter: he's making a point of being on these calls, being a parol of this conversation. as you point out, the white house has described this as a

working va kwags. the president did have an hour-long conversation with his secretary of state and his chief of staff about north korea. and of course what you have talked about, the u.n. resolution to enact new sanctions against north korea, north korea's very strong indication that they want to retaliation. now president trump for his part also had a conversation with the president of south korea last night, he tweeted about that as well. said it was a very productive conversation. but andrea, this continues to be at the forefront and the top of the foreign policy issues that this president is dealing with as he continues on this working vacation here in bedminster. >> and what is the state of stephen miller who is on the

heels of several aggressive interviews and is he going to get the communications job under john kelly or will it be some other post? >> reporter: well, certainly he is one of names being discussed right now and the thinking is he is someone who would work well with john kelly, there are a number of other names that have been batted about, including president trump's former campaign official. i spoke with one of president trump's top advisors who said to me, look, things are going to be different in a trump administration, so they're actually considering what is the urgency to replace and fulfill that role? is it a role they need to fill up in the next few days, or do they just need a strong communications department. sometimes the president tweets things that are in conflict with what some of his top advisors have been saying. but stephen miller is someone

who has the trust of the president and so he is certainly someone we are watching very closely. it's also worth noting, that laura trump, president trump's daughter-in-law has started a sort of online media broadcast. kelly mcnamee, who used to be an advisor at cnn, or a trump spokesperson at cnn is now one of those voices on that online media show. critics say this is like state run media, but trump supporters say it's a way for him to connect directly with his s supporters and they also pointed out that president obama had something somewhat similar when he was in the white house. >> but it didn't imitate a regular newscast in the same fashion. >> reporter: right. >> and what about mike pence? the push back from the pence folks is that that is what he would be doing if he it's running for re-election as vice

president and if he's preparing for the 2018 midterms. >> reporter: well, and it's interesting, his spokesperson mark lauder today confirmed today that he is setting up a leadership pac, and he is holding a number of meetings with high level donors, he is saying that this is offensive and the only thing that the vice president is focused on is getting president trump re-elected in 2020. and the president as part of his tweet storm saying the failing new york timgs has been wrong many times. a lot of people took note that the vice president himself felt the need to react to this over the weekend. the president really starting

this first full week of this vacation on defense, trying to fight back speculation that his vice president is eyeing a 2020 bid. but this is a republican party that is not completely unified, particularly in the wake of the failure to repeal and replace obamacare and any major legislative achievement and you see a lot of different republicans eyeing the possibility of what they might do in 2020, andrea. >> kristen welker in new jersey, take that bost"boston globe," y know who you are, we all love new jersey. and joining us now is the form chief of staff during the obama administration, and also an nbc national security analyst and significantly at this period of time someone who looked closi e with leon panetta. >> i think we're at a very delicate and dangerous moment.

in july, north korea conducted two missile tests that could possibly hit the united states. and this caused a moment in the white house, oh, my goodness, where are we to deter and conduct diplomacy. some people in the white house had concluded that deterrence had failed that kim jong-un was going to pursue their nuclear weapons and the president said thanks china for trying but you did not make it happen. and last week in the white house, there were serious conversations about the potential need for military action, pre-emptive military action and i think some cooler heads prevailed and said hey, look, we have got two shots here, we have the u.n. path to get the security counsel on board, and we also have secretary tillerson going out to the region this week to meet with counterparts in the asean

meetings. >> they succeeded in getting russia and china on board. you've got to chalk this up to success for diplomacy, short-term, it may not be the final long-term solution, but they got china to stand up, their foreign minister to stand with the north korean and rebuke him in public and say you are isolated, you have to stop this. what made him take north korea seriously. >> they also looked at what was happening at the house and there was a determination that diplomacy had failed and any action on the korean prince would be devastating for them. they don't want to see the korean peninsula reunified by force and they don't want to see the united states control the entirety of the peninsula. they're also looking at tough sanctions by the u.n. i do agree this is an

accomplishment with the administration diplomatically, but it remains to be seen if kim jong-un will change his behavior. if we see less missile tests, we'll continue down the road of diplomacy. but i think that kim jong-un will continue to accelerate his program. >> and the other thing is if china will live up to the sanctions or cheat, because in that case they may be facing second dare sanctions. and after john kelly's arrival in the white house, he can't control the president's tweets, but interestingly, in the near term, what he's zo ee's done ise job of h.r. mcmaster, because the tweets, the breitbart headlines, the russian bots being retweeted are just

ferocious in recent days. >> one is of course the national security professionals wanted to recertify iran's come linplianc the iran deal. and second mcmaster and other national security professionals have wanted to put more troops into afghanistan and others have said no we don't want to do that. kelly has come in and said, look, let's listen to mccamaste he's capable, he's qualified let's give him an opportunity to be heard and let's see if we can get some saner footing at the white house. >> but there was a ferocious debate inside the situation room, over the afghan review, mattis was angry over the president's line of questioning where he was comparing the afghan strategy to what he remembers from the 21 club's renovation of a restaurant in

new york. and in fact tillerson overnight at his news conference in manilla, confirmed there was a third national security meeting last week and it failed to resolve these differences, but the president is still asking very tough questions, where are we going, how do we win? >> i do think it requires some increase of a u.s. presence there, we have to be able to bolster the afghan government. h.r. mcmaster, the other generals who are working this problem hard, know that if we abandon afghanistan, it will only work to our detriment. >> turning now to a new front in the battle against isis, nbc's bill neely has exclusive access to the area where isis captured just two months ago where isis is recruiting and training fighters. this is amazing because first of all most people outside of the military and national security world have not been aware of isis branching out that far.

to southeast asia. >> reporter: no it is quite extraordinary, i have spent three days in this city, it's called mirawi. it's mostly muslim city and a predominantly catholic country and it has been the center of islamist militantcy for some time. it looks like the middle east, aleppo or mosul and the level of destruction, the air strikes by helicopters, the artillery, the constant gun fire day after day, and the death toll means this really is an extraordinarily conflict by any measure.

but this is isis branching out into an area of the world that's very, very dangerous. southeast asia appears to be a new frontier for isis. >> and bill, today, before he was leaving manilla, tillerson was meeting with duterte, some say the murderous leader of the n philippines. >> reporter: ultimately it is everybody's problem andrea, because isis has held the city against the might of a national army, with u.s. help, u.s. spy planes, u.s. special forces, it's held it for three months and counting and killed more than 100 filipino soldiers. next door of course is malaysia

and indonesia, which is the world's most populous muslim country, remember southeast asia has more muslims than the middle east. so if isis grows here, you could say already this is a propaganda victory, because they have held out against an army. isis in the last few days has urged it's fighters, it's supporters to go to this country to join the fight. so there's a potential, as isis loses its ground in aleppo, using raqqa, loses mosul, for it to carry out the most extraordinary diversary tactic and launch into southeasti asia. and tillerson is holding his nose and saying we'll give you more aircraft, more intelligence and more lodge gist come support. >> i know there's talk of grodrs

as well. you can also see more of bill's exclusive reporting tonight on nbc nightly news. tonight amazing pictures from san antonio, rescue teams are fighting major floodwaters trying to help people to safety, pulling drivers from the top of an suv, you can see all this unfolding. we'll continue to monitor the station and bring you the latest. and donald trump house of card cards. it appears that vice president mike pence is gearing up for a presidential run of his own. that's next on andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. (mom) honey, honey, honey, honey! (vo) at our house, we need things that are built to last. that's why we got a subaru. (avo) love.

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we are not engaging in some sort of shallow operation. >> when you have something that appears on "the new york times," it's important that the vice president speak his mind and clear the record on that. >> team pence on offense today denouncing that report from the "new york times" sunday paper that vice president pence is note that loyal. joining me now is msnbc political analyst, elise jordan,

a former white house aid in the george w. bush administration. and communications director under president obama. elise, first to you, why the allout offense from mike pence's team about the report in the times? >> this was really incredible reporting from the "new york times," they interviewed over 75 top republican operatives and strategists and i do think that pence has a fairly strong defense, that this is a lot of -- what a lot of republicans are projects on him, just because clearly the party is uneasy about the instability of this presidency. and it would be political malpractice not to think about what is -- what are the other options if trump eventually implodes. >> and jen, this is in mike pence's defense, just to play devil's advocate here, this would what you would do if you were running for re-election in 2020 as vice president, and if

you were preparing for the 2018 midterms. >> and the thing for mike pence is both of them are probably true, he is probably preparing for re-election and his reaction is that he and his family were offended but i think the audience for that was donald trump and he needed trump to feel that he was being loyal. but you can't fire the vice president. >> actually that has happened in history. >> you can make them resign, but they're actually elected. but i think he can't -- you know, he's trying to -- republicans are trying to stave off the civil war that's probably going to come in their party, whenever this post donald trump era, if that's 2020 or not. >> there really has been a turning point, maybe things are

calmer now with the president's break and his working vacation while the white house is being renovated. but the attack on jeff sessions, which is really offending the base, and his speech to the boy scouts and the senate trip to the white house where it was very clear to a lot of senators who work so very hard on these issues that the president did not know the substance of health care. there was a lot of falling off among republicans. >> andrea, i think you're just seeing how difficult this president makes it for republicans to support him. because this president is so inconsistent on so many levels, not only his personal behavior, but just his policy preferences and so this -- the health care bill was a prime example of the senate k0could not rely on president trump using his bully pulpit to shore up the popularity of the bill, just because president trump really had no grasp of the policy. and i think as it becomes

increasingly risky to embrace trump and to back president trump's own positions, just case in point, jeff sessions as you cited, you're going to see more republicans try to just stay as far away at a safe distans as they can. >> and also what we have seen since john kelly has taken over, a lot of changes, including a different tone about robert mueller, the white house lawyer, the new lawyer that's been hired, suggesting that they want to cooperate with mueller, and this was rod rosenstein, the acting ag, or the deputy ag who's taken over for jeff sessions on all of this on fox news. >> the special counsel is subject to the rulings and regulations of the department of justice and we don't engage in fishing expeditions. >> if he finds evidence of a crime, can he look at that. >> well, chris, if he finds evidence of a crime that's within the scope of what

director mueller and i have agreed is the appropriate scope, he can, if it's outside the scope, he needs to come to the acting attorney general, which at this time is me. >> there seems to be a disconnect of sorts. they seem to be getting their messages black in shape, but now we see the new trump tv, tell me how this is different. let's play a little bit of it. >> thank you for joining us, as we provitd you the news of the week from trump tower here in new york. overall since the president took office, president trump has created more than 1 million jobs. the unemployment rate is at a 16-year low and consumer confidence is at a 16-year high. all while the dow jones continues to break records. president trump has clearly steered the economy back in the right direction. for decades, a steady rise in immigration has depressed the wages of american workers. the raise act will increase wages, decrease poverty and save

the taxpayers billions. americans deserve a raise and president trump is finally putting the american worker first. thank you for joining us, that is the real news. >> the real news. well, mike mcfaul tweeted well, this sounds like third world countries. >> josh ernest would anchor and was a little snippy about the week's events. but he didn't call it real news, it was our take on the president's week and he also stood at the podium and answered questions faithfully, truthfully to the white house press corps, and i think that it's fine for presidents find other ways to communicate with people. you can look for channels

outside the white house press corps, but you have to recognize the institutional importance of having one person who stands up every day, the same person, who's held accountable, who works for both the press and the president that's answering questions in the press every day and that was the balance that we struck with obama. >> jennifer and elise. in texas, emergency teams have apparently rescued that driver who was caught in rushing floodwaters. thankfully, a successful rescue there, and we'll be right back. boost. it's about moving forward, not back.

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president trump's call to mexico's president was previously acknowledge it. mr. trump was all but pleading with his mexican counterpart to help him get off the hook from his biggest campaign promise that mexico would indeed pay for

the wall. how is all this playing south of the border? the former ambassador to the united states joins me now. mr. ambassador, how would you have felt if you were still the mexican ambassador, trying to explain all of this? >> well, it's certainly a mess because one of the things that does not serve either government well is when transcripts like this get leaked because imagine what this will do for any foreign leader who calls the president in what's supposed to be a private conversation and you find out weeks or months later, the full transcript has been leaked and it does diminish the role that these meetings play in diplomacy. >> how is it read south of the boarder? how do people react? >> there was really no surprise because there was already the impression that here's a president that doesn't understand the nuances, the diversity of the relationship with mexico and this approach to

mexico has been this slash and burn, my way or the highway approach to the relationship. but it did certainly bolster pena nieto because pena nieto holds his ground and he became like the elephant in the room in this relationship. and this has given nieto a boost when it comes to public opinion. what trump clearly didn't take in during the campaign, the immigration from across the border is m coming from central america, that in fact mexicans are leaving and pursuing new opportunities in mexico. >> this is one of those place where is hard facts do seem to not stick in regards to this issue. mexicans are leaving the united states, and we have more mexicans leaving than those

coming over. but the problem with the transcript itself, andrea, it shows that the president doesn't understand how complex and diverse many of aspects of this bilateral relationship. this is the sort of thing that you sort of responsible for the problems that we have in this country. it sort of begs for the antiquated retort that serves neither country well, that mexico is a springboard for all drugs coming into the united states and the mexicans saying if we're the frinspringboard, t you're the pool. it doesn't stand well on either side of the border. >> where does the nafta negotiations go now? >> there's already a second round that's been announced in mexico city in the fist days of

september. i think here we have some good news where i think the administration has understood that a slash and burn approach to nafta would be a known goal, or a self inflicted wound for trade goals. we'll add pressure to the timing of the negotiation because, remember, you have midterm elections in november, but mexico goes to choose a new president in july of next year, so with two important electoral processes in mexico and the united states, the last thing you want is a negotiation as complex as this playing out. >> unless you're looking for a issue to rally the base, and here in the united states, which is, you know, a trade issue against mexico. >> certainly, and given that we have seen because of the transcript that the president did use mexico as an electoral

pinata during the campaign season, this is a risk we may face in the coming days and weeks. and coming up, family legacy, the son of a long-time republican senator denouncing his party, starting his own independent bid in an all red republican state. joining me next right here on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ [brother] any last words? [boy] karma, danny... ...karma! [vo] progress is seizing the moment. your summer moment awaits you, now that the summer of audi sales event is here. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the summer of audi sales event. it's just a burst pipe, i co(laugh) it. no.

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from his hospital bed, senator bob bennett said he wanted to see us treat muslims with kindness. a long-time republican left the party shortly after trump was nominated. he's now running as a third party candidate in utah's special election to fill the seat vacated by justin chaffets. he won that battle. tell me about the legal battle and why you left the republican party. >> well, the republican party,

ronald reagan used to say he didn't leave the democratic party, the democratic party left him, and i feel the same way about the republican party, the republican party is now the party of trump, which is a party that i didn't want to be associated with anymore. but with regard to the legal battle, i went and tried to file according to the dead lines for the special election and the state threw up every possible road block to keep me off the ballot and we had to take this to court and we were confident that the law was on our side and a federal judge agreed with us. >> you talk about the republican party, in what way do you think the republican leaders, let's say mitch mcconnell, the speaker and paul ryan, have they failed you as a republican? >> well, the entire party has failed me, i think, by unitie i behind a president who is unfit to hold the office. you look at the fact that you have both houses of congress united with one party and they are on track to be the most

unproductive congress in 140 years, so the republican party has demonstrated that it's incapable of overcoming the divisions with the party. and i want to get back to washington and show that it's important to solve problems, not just please your party. >> not just in your district, but in the state, donald trump won with 45% of the vote with a three-way race. so the opposition to trump got divided. >> there's a local polling firm here in utah that conducted a poll after our party was formed and before i had announced my candidacy, asking would you be willing to consider a candidate from the united utah party? and the answer was 63% of people in utah said they would. that included 39% of republicans. i think in the era of trump, people are looking for an alternative, and a lot of people like me who don't feel like they have a political home in one of

the two political parties and that's one of the reasons why we created the united utah party and we had a number of special elections to introduce this party to the state. >> let's say you're successful in this election is your plan to run in other congressional dibl districts? >> our plan is to be a viable party in the state of utah where republicans have given up and we want to not necessarily be the third paerl, but the second party. we began this prior to the special election, we began this party and we plan to be around long after the special election is over. we're in it for the long haul and we want to recruit candidates for local office and state office and for federal office as well. >> did you and your dad ever talk about getting into politics, following in his footsteps? >> not really.

in fact i thought my political career was over after he lost his election to 2010, i thought i was done. but in political party and the unique political climate in which we found ourselves drew me back in. >> what about republicans who many people say either rolled over or are only quietly protesting, not going along with the president on all of his initiatives but not taking a stand? >> my message is, you have a new home at least this is the message to republicans in utah. you don't have to go along with the party of trump. you can go along with a centrist utah party who represents what you believe and who you are. >> just on a point of personal privilege, i covered your father a lot, and we all miss him in public life and i know it's a profound loss for all of you. thanks for being with us today. >> thank you, appreciate the

tonight. and this weekend the pro football hall of fame honored it's local inductees. ladainian tomlinson stole the show. >> this is the story a man i never met, my great, great grand father george. 170 years ago, george was brought here in chains on a slave ship from west africa. his last name, tomlinson was given to him by the man who owned him. i firmly believe that god chose me to help bring two races together under one last name. on america's team, let's not choose to be against one another. let's choose to be for one another. my great, great, great grand father had no choice. we have one.

i pray we dedicate ourselves to be the best team we can be, working and living together, rech representing the highest ideals of mankind, leading the way for all nations to follow. >> a true hall of famer in every sense of the word. and coming up, country first, new white house chief of staff general john kelly has a message for his troops. but can we rein in the commander in chief? this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. no, please, please, oh! ♪ (shrieks in terror) (heavy breathing and snorting) no, no. the running of the bulldogs? surprising. what's not surprising? how much money aleia saved by switching to geico.

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before fibromyalgia, i was a doer. i was active. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. she also prescribed lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. woman: for some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function, so i feel better. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. with less pain, i can be more active.

ask your doctor about lyrica. president trump's new chief of staff john kelly is with him in bedminster. telly insisted that anyone who wants to see the president must now go through him. so let's get the inside scoop from bloomberg's jennifer jacobs who wrote that story and robert costa, monitor for pbs's

washington peek and msnbc political analyst. getting to your story, he did not waste any time bringing that whole team together. >> it was an important thing he wanted to do before they flew off for this staff -- more than people, one staffer said 400 people. not sure -- >> where did they all meet? in the executive office building? >> yeah, they did. there wasn't a room big enough in the executive office building, so he had them gather in the hallways and stairwells and had a podium in the middle of the stairwells. and he gave what was described as a very charismatic speech. he introduced himself. he talked about how one of his favorite job in his life has been as in the marine corps sergeant. every job since then has been less fun. but then he laid out his expectations for them. as you said, he talked about how he wants them to think of their priority as country first. and staffers told me, if you have the urge to do something that's counter to the president,

just remember that, you know, your duty here is country first, the president comes second. >> and that message could also be interpreted, robert, as the president is the commander in chief, the chief executive, but we are americans before we are trump staff. >> we all are. and we're also watching general kelly really try to manage the staff, rather than manage the chief. he is -- he's well aware, i'm told, by my sources in the west wing that when it comes to twitter and other aspects of the president's life, he has a limited range of options. but he can do, like jennifer said, efforts to try to get this staff in line, to stop all of the factions within the white house. >> and at that realization is also -- and it's not that easy to get the staff in line, jennifer and bob. because the staff includes a son -- you know, a son-in-law and a daughter. so those are people who have access, obviously, to the president off hours.

but the fact that he did not try to edit or censor that west virginia speech, which was a purely political speech, and had new language about attempting to discredit robert mueller, very tough speech, or the twitter account. i mean, he knows what he can't accomplish. >> right. he's not trying to use a heavy hand with the president. he obviously -- he knows that the president can't be controlled and the president is going to do what he wants. but the thing is, that's orb important to remember, president trump is willing to listen to general kelly. and reince priebus people have said has gotten a bad rap. one thing that is true, reince priebus was never fully in charge. whereas it seems like people are taking trump's lead here and general kelly really is truly in charge of this white house and people are respecting him for now. the key thing is, for now. that staff is used to having those walk-in privileges. they are used to being able to walk in and drop off anything

they like on the president's desk, just having face time with him. it all depends on whether trump continues to set this ideal, which is kelly is in charge and listen to this guy. >> bob, what about hr mcmaster? there was a fierce campaign led by breitbart, obviously coming from bannon and company against hr mcmaster. has kelly managed to silence that? >> this is going to be a crucial test for general kelly. can he balance these two different voices, steve bannon and general mcmaster inside the white house when it comes to choosing the path forward in afghanistan. will he present the options to the president in a way where that noise on the outside doesn't overwhelm the process. and i think this is -- when you really think about kelly's role, it's not just to manage the staff, it's to really present the president with policy, procedure, whether it's on afghanistan or the debt limit or the budget in a way that's more orally than we have seen in the past. >> and what about steven miller

and whether or not he's going to have an expanded role in white house communications, bob? >> we keep hearing miller's name. in part, andrea, because there are so few names who are being bandied about as actual possibilities to come in as communications director. if you think about it, back to the transition, jason miller, the republican operative, was supposed to be communications director. he dropped out. fell to sean spicer. then it went to michael dub key, who resigned and then back to spicer and briefly to anthony scaramucci. and so it's been a tumultuous position, to say the least. and stephen miller has stepped up as someone, i'm told, internally, who could have that -- those possibilities be part of his portfolio. but he wouldn't be in a sense taking that job just to take that job. he would take on the responsibility. >> and jennifer, we've seen a big change now as john kelly has taken over as you have reported. but, again, the president is still his own communications director. >> right.

although costa is right. they really do like the idea of stephen miller leading communications. several administration officials told me over the weekend that nobody knows what the president thinks better than stephen miller. he's one of the few people who really understand him. he writes his speeches. he's a 30-something guy who just really gets him. he's got a little bit of a contentious relationship with the press. >> a little bit? >> he likes to deliver self righteous lectures. but trump just loves that. and stephen miller is really liked in the west wing. so, yes, president trump is his best communicator. but stephen miller is somebody who gets what he wants to drive at. and he actually -- he really is being considered for communications -- not necessarily to step into the exact role of communications director, but to oversee the communications job. >> so interesting, bob, he comes from jeff sessions' staff, after the president has been maligning his attorney general. >> well, sessions raep is so complicated, andreas because the recusal by the attorney general has inflamed these tensions, has

infewer rated the president. but when it comes to the trump agenda, the attorney general is still there working with stephen miller, working with general kelly. there still is this stephen bannon, stephen miller populism within the white house that hasn't gone away. >> bob costa, jennifer jacobs, two of the best. thank you so much. and much more ahead. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. liberty mutual stood with me when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. i just snapped a photo and got an estimate in 24 hours. my insurance company definitely doesn't have that...

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mitchell reports. chris jansing is up next right here on msnbc. >> andrea mitchell, thank you so much. good afternoon, i'm chris jansing at msnbc headquarters in new york. tough talk. north korea blames the u.s. for tough new sanctions. threatening to launch thousands-fold revenge against the united states. will those sanctions do anything to get the regime to the negotiating table? 20/20 vision. reports that vice president mike pence and several other members of the republican party have started a shadow campaign for president for 2020. how mr. trump is firing back. and 200 days of the president. nearly seven months into the trump presidency, his biggest failure may be his inability to unite his party. has the president missed his opportunity? but we start with the korean sanctions. this rare case in foreign policy where the u.s. is on the same page with china and russia. imposing sanctions against north korea for its threatening missile