help grow your business... ♪ ♪ another way we have your back. ♪ ♪ the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. ♪ morning glory, america. i'm hugh hewitt. on today's show, but after the break, jake tapper joins me to talk about his terrific new novel, the hell fire club set in the era of mccarthyism. but first three members of today's press join me to look back at just the wildest week culminating a conversation of the president and fox and friends, the meeting in korea. tim alberta of politico, courtney kube, and karen tumulty

of the "washington post". i'm wearing my cleveland browns tie because it is the start of the baker mayfield era in cleveland. i thought that was the story. the little known story with general mattis confirming he ordered the annihilation of scores of russian mercenaries. and the biggest story of the week the korean meeting between the two. how do they link up if at all? >> they don't really link up. but you're right, they both came out in the last 24 hours. the russian mercenaries story is something we heard whispers about for some time. what this was was early february in syria, a group came across the euphrates river where forces stayed on their side, russian-backed, you know, syrian regime stayed on their side. they crossed the river and started attacking in what the pent said was an unprovoked attack. they said we're getting hit.

are these russians? the russians said, no, they're not. so the u.s. and syria responded. the number killed is somewhere between 1 and 300. we never got a good sense of that on the record certainly. we know then the russians called the u.s. and said can we come is and pick up some of our guys? >> it's an amazing story but overshadowed by this meeting. would you expand on the reaction in the pentagon especially between president moon meeting with kim jay in. >> i think it is cautious optimism still. we still don't have a lot of definition. so look at for starters the idea that the war on the korean peninsula will now be over. that's not something you can say, okay, war is over. is and that's that. there has to be a negotiation involving the united states, north korea, south korea. china has to have a piece of this as well. but there has to be a treatiy that's signed. this is a good first step towards that. the idea of denuclearizing the peninsula, which we have been

hearing before now for a week or so. we need specifics. what does that mean? kim jong-un, you know, the u.s. -- to the u.s. that means he has no more nukes. does that mean he doesn't produce anymore, he doesn't test anymore? >> a lot of details. >> there's cautious optimism. the pictures that we saw out of m panmunjom are unbelievable. >> this is really extraordinary. how did it rate in your assessment of the week? >> you know, this is one of these things that we're going to have to figure out how it rates in your assessment of the year. because the one thing we have seen with the north koreans the last few decades are, you know, things that look like progress. certainly is this is better than not happening. but whether there's followthrough, whether there's keuflt s consistency. and what the definition is. is it to discontinue test something if it's just to discontinue testing because they don't think they need the tests, we have don't know until we have a further timeline.

you were in the nancy regan era. verify, verify, verify. they cheated on the 94 deal before the ink was on the signature. >> exactly. exactly. and what we know is that kim jong-un is going to be moving in ways he thinks are in kim jong-un's interest. the hardest thing i think is getting inside his head right now and figuring out what he thinks is best for him. >> tim al better approximate ta, how do you rate the stories of the week. has anything come close to this meeting in korea? >> no, i don't think it does, and for the reasons that karen and courtney just laid out. i think it is pretty extraordinary. and the moment that keeps stick anything my mind that i had to watch and rewatch ten times is when the north korean leader asks the south korean leader to step back over the line of demarkation. to me, and i'm not geo-political

foreign policy expert, but it struck me at the western savviness on display by kim jong-un. this is something we have read about, his interest in american sports, pop culture, hollywood. it is somebody that he has started to maybe not warm up to the trump administration but signal some openness. probably has demonstrated a little bit of a different side than many of us on the outside and probably many of his counterparts in south korea necessarily expected. so i do think even in the context of the president's extraordinary phone interview with fox and friends which made news on a number of different fronts and a number of developments in d.c. this week. but none of that can hold a light up next to this potential huge breakthrough. >> it will be the buzz tonight as washington journalists gather at the annual white house correspondents association dinner. the president won't be there. he will be having a rally. i will start with you, tim. it's about the press. we're going to reflect on the

press for a little bit now. it is an article of faith in the conservative world that president obama got a free ride from the media. and president trump is getting hit harder than normal presidents would be hit. comment on that, would you. and in light of president obama getting a nobel prize basic lu on hope. and president trump getting one if indeed the change comes in north korea. do you think it's being reported fairly? >> well, that's a loaded multi-part question, hugh. let me just try my best. i think certainly there has been decades and decades of resentment. politico, if i can did shameless self promotion. its new issue is the media issue. and i have a story in which i talk about how going all the way back to eisenhower and nixon even there has been this attitude of sort of hostility

and distrust of the media. it has morphed into something a little more sinister and a little more than antagonism. what you have seen in the trump era certainly is the media looking into the trump administration with a degree of aggressiveness and scrutiny that conservatives feel was totally absent during the eight years of the obama administration. merits of that aside, i think there is an enormous potential, as i said on msnbc earlier this week, for the to have a significant foreign policy accomplishment but a defining administration accomplishment if in fact, there is a breakthrough with north korea and if, in fact, there is a movement towards denuclearization. i don't think that for all the tweeting and 9 bizarre behavior and all the other scandals, i don't think that could be taken away from trump if that is something that is realized.

>> well said. there is an appetite for serious journalism. courtney, who the journalist who has really shined? >> is i love rachel maddow. she has so much detail. i learn so much from her show every time. but i would say katy tur. people didn't know who she was when she started covering the trump campaign at the very beginnings of it. now she has her own show. she is a well respected anchor. >> she's tough.

>> she's terrific. every time i start to get a little bit waivering or get a little nervous, she just barrels right through. >> i put katy tur down too. i'm going to be like the pulitzer which kept splitting the awards. i think we are seeing an absolute golden age in investigative reporting. >> yes. >> and these are ensemble casts. they are operating at a higher level than we have seen in a very long time, maybe all the way going back to watergate. >> the pulitzer, very well deserved one. >> there are two. >> how about you, tim alberta? who is your person? >> i have to split the award also. they are both friends of mine. josh do'sy at the "washington

post". a guy who had not worked in d.c., covering city hall in new york and came down here and has been an absolute beast first at politi politico. breaking news at least once a week. and jonathan swan. those are two guys who i used to be sort of a breaking news guy and now have the luxury of being a magazine writer and now get teased by those writers. it is hard to break news. you stand in awe of josh and jonathan. >> i think swan was here from an alien planet. he showed up and started scooping everyone. thank you very much. back with another award winner tonight. jake tapper will be honored at the white house correspondents dinner along with some of his other colleagues. stay tuned.

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♪ welcome back. my guest this morning is a familiar face but from a different network. jake tapper of course is joining me, the host of his own show and the author of this terrific new book "the hellfire club." jake and i have worked together before. he was quarterback and i split wide right with dana bash. jake tapper, welcome. congratulations. this is terrific. >> it means a lot to me that you like it. this book is in your wheel house, mccarthyism, communism, the '50s, eisenhower, who you and i share a reverence for. >> i get to ask is the question, was albert a soviet spy? >> he was. whitaker chambers had the good. >> let's set this up for people.

washington 1954. you have a freshman congress man who comes to town via appointment. thriller interview. don't want to give anything away. why did you pick early ike, late mccarthy as the era in which to set your first political thriller? >> we think of it as a time of serenity, benign america, the economic boom, eisenhower was a pleasing presence. as you know, it was awe time of real menace. >> very sinister. >> very sip sister. you had competing groups. communists were trying to infiltrate the united states government. people were acting too harshly. mccarthyites would try to smear based on no evidence. eyes especially hour trying to negotiate and figure out how to protect the united states from both. the '50s is a reach era so

wonderful. but it gets lost. it is sandwiched between world war ii and the 1960s. >> i thought you accumulated a list of things. i knew about dashwood. hellfire is the real deal. explain as much as you want the predicate for the book's premise. secret society in d.c. >> in a lot of ways about the secret societies in d.c. this ruins nothing for people. there was a real hellfire club in the 1700s in england. it was a place where rich men would engage in very debotcherous behavior, too debotcherous for your audience. it was co-ed, if that gives a hypothetical to anybody. but it was also a place where

they forged alliances and would do deals. there was a mutually assured destruction because everybody had secrets on everybody else. and i thought, what a wonderful concept is when i learned about it more than a decade ago. i wonder what would happen if something like that were in d.c. >> there are lots of clubs in d.c. so the premise is believable to begin with. and the debotchery. the boozing in the '50s is real. >> that's real. >> jake has been to parties i haven't is been to. mccarthy. over here you have eisenhower and the dulles brothers. and the democrats are not around at this point. republicans are running congress. and this reptile yap group over here. >> the book can be read in a lot of different things. one thing is the swamp that president trump railed against on the campaign trail, this is the swamp. this is the worst possible

manifestation of the swamp. unaccountable government, business dealings, people doing whatever they want to do regardless of how it will affect the american people. it is the personification of the swamp. as swampy as d.c. is today, and it's pretty swampy, it was much worse back in 1954. much worse before there was the transparent is seu we have. >> and the restraints on hoover and mccarthy. >> absolutely. new about the restraints there are and the debates over james comey or christopher wray, bob mueller. back then there was j. edgar hoover, and he could do whatever he want. >> you covered veterans a lot. the movie the best years of your life" caught the difficulty of the world war ii generation, which you bring up. were when veterans see other veterans getting praised for their heroism. there is a mixture of admiration, envy and resentment. i hadn't really thought about

that. they are everywhere. they all have war stories. >> charlie is a world war ii veteran, the main character. he was in france right after d-day. he is trying to grapple with some of the things he saw in france. this doesn't spoil anything. one of the first things he wants to do, this is in the second chapter, is there was a company that made gas masks that were shoddy. as you know, there was a lot of shoddy work mappship in world war ii. they set up a commission to try to look into some of the companies that profiteered or didn't send their best metal or whatever overseas. charlie is trying to stop that rubber company from getting any government contracts. and then he finds an alliance with this group of other veterans. democrats. >> one of the tuskeegee airmen. african-american. >> isaiah street, a tuskeegee

airmen. they share an is experience. they are jealous of each other. one is pro filed in "this is your life." they are all jealous of him. it's a mixed group. there were a ton of veterans. so many great men fought. >> i knew about the puerto rico ans shooting it up. i'm not high on the popy. but at theened -- or in the middle you make great use of the statues in congress to tell the history of america. it's kind of like a civics lesson. have you been keeping notes on this forever? when did you write this? >> so there is this discussion between isaiah street because he is looking up at people who were part of the confederacy. they had a debate. charlie, who is a history professor, is trying to explain, well, you know, back in the

1700s and the 1800s, eufpt was prevalent thought. and isaiah streets having none of it. it was a resonant issue when we discuss the confederate statues today. i have been thinking about this more than a decade. i did an outline about three, four years ago. and i would just -- i'm just the kind of guy that i would write at least 15 minutes a day. sometimes an hour a day. if i was on a plane, train, a waiting room at a doctor's office. i was just always taking any time i could. you know, you're a very prolific guy. that adds up. >> this is heart. dialogue is heart. i've got to ask you, is president trump -- the work of president trump on on everything? he attracts -- he has a gravitational pull on every event right now. did it change "the hellfire club"? >> it probably changed a page, page and a half. i probably talked a little bit about mccarthy through a 2018 lens a little bit more than i would have had hillary clinton won. but it didn't change it

significantly. the things about mccarthy that i write about lying and smearing, that has happened before president trump. though i think he does some of it. it will happen after president trump. >> we have a minute left. are there any eisenhowers left? anyone in the democratic party who can do to their extreme that eisenhower was able to do to mccarthy? >> is i have hope. i have hope that there is. and i think there are eisenhower republicans waiting in the wings. and we'll see. eisenhower i think could have been under rated. he's usually in the top ten. it's tough to feel too bad for him. for his time, obviously he's a in a flawed lens from 2018. he brought serenity and had a moral clarity that would be welcomed today. >> jake tapper, congratulations. i know there is a sequel coming. i hope. and i hope it sells and sells and sells.

congratulations. >> thank you so much, hugh. i appreciate it. >> i'll be right back. the shameful behave of one senator that left to unjust treatment to an admiral. ♪ whether it's a big thing, small thing, or something unexpected, pnc will be right there when you need us. because when it comes to your finances, if you focus on today, tomorrow has a way of working itself out.

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welcome back. it is is draft day, the last day of the draft. the browns are killing it. way to go mr. dorsey and baker mayfield. welcome to cleveland. i wish i could just be happy. i said something that still is with me. i was condemning the behave of senator jon tester of montana. what he did to the admiral jackson was despicable. terrible behavior had not been verified, not scrutinized. the very essence is of the mccarthyism. it was wrong when he did it to inspect people. it is wrong 65 years later. shame on senator testing for the slamming of an admiral of the united states navy. the voters get to pass judgment in november. i hope they remember that.

he deserved much better than jon tester gave him. thanks for watching today. keep the conversation going on msnbc.com/hugh-hewitt. see you next week saturday morning on msnbc. ♪ ♪ no matter when you retire, your income doesn't have to. see how lincoln can help ensure you still have income every month of your retirement, guaranteed, at lincolnfinancial.com. ( ♪ ) face the world as a face to be reckoned with. only botox® cosmetic is fda approved to temporarily make moderate to severe frown lines, crow's feet and forehead lines look better. it's a quick 10 minute cosmetic treatment given by a doctor to reduce those lines.

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to get illegal guns off the streets and keep kids out of gangs, and on the right path. that's antonio villaraigosa. a governor for all of california. a very good morning to all of you. i'm alex witt at the half hour. we begin with a live picture of the white house. that's where the president is airing new grievances against critics of white house dr. ronny jackson but at the same time threat epping political consequences for one of the red state democratic senators up for reelection. allegations made by senator jon