eastern. our coverage of the north korea summit in singapore will continue, though, through the course of the day. >> at 9:00 a.m. is when i'll see you next. check us out on social media. right now we hand you off to our friend and colleague andrea mitchell, where she's reporting live from singapore. >> and right now on a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports," live from singapore, face-to-face, just hours from now donald trump becomes the first sitting american president to meet with a north korean leader. the goal -- convincing the world's most brutal nuclear power to give up its weapons. [ inaudible ] >> a tale of two summits on the eve of his sitdown with one of america's toughest adversaries. at the g7, president trump goes after his friends. his top trade negotiator, trashing canada's prime

minister. >> there's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with president donald j. trump. >> there are always irritants in relationships, and very confident the irritants between the united states and g7 countries will move forward on a strong basis. and on tour, kim jong-un has been taking in the sites of singapore, even posing for a selfie, as he projects a different image to the world. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in singapore, where it is midnight. midnight monday night. kim jong-un is just back from touring the night life here in this remarkable city. president trump has not been seen since arriving, but the white house is telling reporters that talks today between diplomats from both sides are going so well, that president trump plans to leave ahead of schedule tomorrow night, right after the summit sessions, which

start with the two leaders meeting one on one. with only translators in the room. >> i'm very optimistic we'll have a successful outcome between these two leaders. it's the case in each of those two countries, there are only two people that can make decisions of this magnitude. and those two people are going to be sitting in a room together tomorrow. >> this all comes after the president's unprecedented attack on a key ally. canada's prime minister trudeau, sending off shockwaves there and in europe. joining me now, kristen welker. msnbc political am linalyst pet baker. msnbc political contributor ben rhodes. and author of the book "the world as it is, a memoir of the obama white house." and correspondent mark lander with me here in singapore. mark, let me go to you first, because it's been such an

extraordinary 24 hours here. the president arrives, he's talking about how well this is going to go. he then is secluded for the rest of the day with advisers. we hear from secretary pompeo. we were at the briefing. you got to ask a question of the secretary. they're projecting such positive vibes towards kim jong-un, and nobody is correcting what peter navaro, what the president himself has been tweeting today and what they've been saying about canada's prime minister. >> it's really a bizarre spectacle here. you've got the president and secret state projecting just incredible optimism about what's going to happen here tomorrow, and brushing aside as though it's almost irrelevant, an absolutely unprecedented blowup between two close allies. mike pompeo saying it's anner ta -- an irritant that comes up and will be settled quickly.

but at the same time, they're probably transfixed, as we are, with the drama of what will unfold here tomorrow between president trump and kim jong-un. >> and kristen welker, you were in quebec. as we set the stage for what's going to happen here in the next nine hours or so, you saw the president signing on to this statement, which had been watered down to get him to sign on. and then being the first president, as soon as he lifted off on air force one, to not only trash the prime minister of canada, but to refuse to sign the document. i've been covering g7s since ronald reagan. i've never seen anything like this. >> reporter: it's unprecedented and a cliffhanger until the very end, because initially, it was unclear that the ud ates was iny going to join that communique, that joint statement. they did. i can tell you officials with the united states, the other member nations, worked overnight to get that language nailed down to convince the president to sign on in the first place.

and then he stunned everyone by midnight on air force one, announcing he was pulling out because of that press conference by the canadian prime minister. justin trudeau, making very similar comments to the ones we have heard before the summit got under way. he says he made very similar comments to what he told the president during their one on one during the g7 summit. so it was stunning. the broader message is what message does this send to kim jong-un? andrea, there's a very real concern that this could raise significant questions, heading into this historic face-to-face. >> it does seem as though -- peter baker, you wrote about this. john bolton was in every frame, every picture frame, the national security adviser, with the president. pompeo, secretary pompeo, much less evident in quebec, joining

in the flight to singapore. i'm not at all clear that secretary pompeo is as happy about thind of trashing of canada's prime minister. >> no. in fact, i think the person i talked to over the weekend made it very clear, this is a white house ging, tthing, the g7, we' really involved in it. you know, this is a big, big moment in the relationship. you don't see this kind of blowup every day. as you said, andrea, i've covered a lot of these g7s. i can't remember anything like this. >> i wanted to ask ben rhodes about this kind of confrontation with our closest allies, especially as the president is saying, if things don't go well in singapore, he's prepared to go back to maximum pressure, which means negotiating with our

allies to toughen sanctions. certainly it's going to get tough to get russia and china to join in. but if they can't get the g7 to join in, where is the future pressure on north korea? especially after we have gotten out of the iran deal. i want to -- as you start talking, let's take a look, all of us, at the image of this g7. angela merkel staring down the president, the president with his arms folded. bolton looking either shock eed orangery. everyone else in that tense standoff with our european allice. ben? >> yeah, this is unprecedented. i mean, i was in all the g7s summits with president obama. the fact is, the world is watching president trump go into this summit with kim jong-un. that's the time when you would want to be allied with your closest friends in the world. you would want to show a united front. my concern here is, you have countries like china watching this, and thinking not only are we going to try to potentially

pick off our trading partners in europe and canada, but in fact, with japan and south korea, maybe thos countries will start looking at president trump and think, this is not a reliable ally. and china could try to take advantage of those splits between the united states and our traditional partners in the world. because the fact is, when you go into a complicated negotiation like this, as we did with iran, you need to have that united front. both to apply pressure through sanctions, if it doesn't work out. but also to come in behind the type of deal that you want. they're going to have to bring in international uncs to get those inspections in north korea. >> and of course, he's been all smiles here today in working sessions, hosted by the singapore regime, as well, working sessions with the nuclear experts on both sides and a lunch for the president by the singapore leaders.

but i want to also share with all of you what it was like when mark asked the secretary of state, mark, you asked him whether there projecting by saying that they're going to give new security guarantees to north korea if they denuclearize th entire peninsula, whether there's a change of policy. let's take a look. [ inaudible question ] >> there's no shift in the policy. it is the case that we are prepared to make secured assurances necessary for the north koreans to engage in that denuclearization. that is, we're prepared to take actions that will provide them sufficient certainty that they can be comfortable that denuclearization isn't something that ends badly for them. >> so mark, what kind of assurances, based on your

question and what sounds like a shift of policy, are we willing to take troops out? are we willing to pull back our dual use bombers that are based in and other weapons that are a lot closer to north korea? in other words, denuclearize the entire peninsula. >> mike pompeo wisely declined to comment. but president trump has been clear he wants to withdraw american troops from foreign engagements and south korea is one of the places. i think ultimately troops are on the table. it's possible north koreans will ask for aircraft carriers not to be as close and they might get a receptive here to president trump, in a way that previous presidents may have been reluctant, out of a fear that it would alarm our allies. i thought what was interesting about mike pompeo's answers, he said, we're in a different time and the types of security

guarantees we're going to be offering are unique and different than what our predecessors have offered. so he was opening the door to something bigger. and i think it all goes to the question of, how much is president trump willing to give in order to get a deal from kim jong-un? nothing that mike pompeo said today persuaded me that president trump isn't willing to give quite a bit. >> but at the same time, ben, you would have a perspective on this, because the president rejected the iran deal precisely because it did not cover missiles, never was intended to, but that was a strategic or tactical decision on your part in the obama white house. so that multinational agreement did not cover missiles, it didn't cover other bad behavior by iran. he's now raised the stakes so that this deal has to cover missiles, it has to cover north korean terrorism, north korean human rights abuses, all of the things that he rejected, and a

real accounting and verification that extends beyond what was achieved in the iran deal. >> that's right, andrea. first of all, my concern with this summit is kim jong-un could make an empty commitment to denuclearize at some point in the future, but there's no clear road map to get that done or clear inspections to make sure they are giving up the nuclear weapons. second, the iran template is a good thing, it had the most intrusive inspections in that nuclear agreement. that would be a good baseline to start with. if he applies same test he did to the iran deal and demanding that all other forms of north korea's behavior with on the table, the missile program, support for terrorism in other countries, we've seen them assassinate people in other countries and human rights abuses, that's a tall task to be taking on. my concern here is that this has

only been a couple of months. i was a part of the team that normalized relations with cuba. i must have met 20 time with castro's son before we put president obama in the room with raul castro. so they're having this meeting quickly. it doesn't seem like president trump has done a lot of preparation, and they haven't been clear about what they're ying to achieve. they keep saying they're going to succeed, but we don't know what that test is for them, and there's a lot of uncertainty coming out of this. >> and to peter baker, how damaging do you think the president's treatment of the allies was to people trusting him on the world go one on one against kim jong-un? >> yeah, it's a great question. look, if you're a negotiator coming into this, what you saw this weekend is an american delegation that came to an agreement on a communique, they were very hard on a couple of the points that they wanted to

make, and in the end, all seven signed off on it. and then suddenly, the president at the last minute, unsigns off on it in effect. so what trust do you have in a negotiator other than the president? what that tells you, the only person that can make a deal on behalf of donald trump is donald trump. and that's why this summit is so important, because you're going to have the two leaders, side by side, not just pompeo with his counterpart in north korea, not some lower level negotiators the way it would normally work. only one person can make a decision in this administration, and that would be donald trump. >> peter baker, we're going to ben, thank you for joining us today. and mark landler, of course, right here at the summit, up all night, up all day. coming up, the silent treatment. why aren't republicans saying anything about the president's attacks on allies? much more ahead from singapore on "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. es this map show the

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theverything's changed. we're not on an island anymore. genetic power has now been unleashed. we've entered a new welcome to jurassic world. [ scream ] rated pg-13. welcome back to singapore. president trump's unprecedented slam of canada's prime minister justin trudeau, a close ally, and his refusal to sign the g7 final statement, has created a diplomatic firestorm around the world. and an unusual backdrop to say the least for his high stakes summit tonight with one of an's chief adversaries, kim jong-un. senator john mccain tweeted his

rejection of the trump message to the allies, writing -- >> but other republicans have been noticeably silent about the president's comments. joining me now is republican congressman mike mccaul. thank you very much for coming on. >> thanks, andrea. >> i have to ask you about what happened over the weekend in quebec. the president not only refused to sign a document that american diplomats helped negotiate, but then comments of his top trade negotiator saying there's a special place in hell for the prime minister of canada, whose troops right now are serving in afghanistan with ours. what's going on? >> right. so a littl bit of a surprise

this weekend. i think the president has talked about the trade deficits with other countries, and he's delivering on that campaign promise. but i do think that -- i was a crit critic, because i didn't feel like he was treating our friends as friends and enemies as enemies. you can make a similar analogy on this one. the speaker of the house and myse, chairman kevin brady, all sent a letter out cautioning him on sanctions and tariffs. it seems to me you ought to be focused more on our enemies and not our friends. where i come from in texas, our nafta agreement, mexico is our largest trading partner in texas. so we don't want to see that document shredded. >> and there are plenty of

republican republicans and trump democrats in michigan and ohio, are going to be hurt by these tariffs and the retaliation from canada. >> and i have an energy sector in my home state of texas, obviously the steel tariff also impact there. i talked tohe people in my district, and it's not the outcome they would like to see. >> you need steel for those pipelines. here's secretary pompeo being asked about the president's very harsh criticism and what trade negotiator navaro had to say on sunday's talk shows. >> there are always irritants in relationships. i'm very confident the relationships between our countries, the united states and those g7 countries, will continue to be -- move forward on a strong basis. i'm unconcerned about our

capacity to continue to do what we need to do to get the outcome we're looking for in north korea. >> do you have any concerns here in singapore that the president might be projecting too much of a positive nature with kim jong-un? why should we now trust the north koreans after they cheated in 1994 against bill clinton and again in 2002 against george w. bush? >> that's a great question. they have deceived three prior presidents, administrations. they don't have a good track record. they are deceptive. they pulled out of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, as you mentioned. so i would urge a bit of caution going into this. i know mike pompeo very well. i served with him, and i have to say, his bit of optimism, though, but at the same time maximum pressure to get to a good result. i think the difference between this and say president obama and iran was they didn't -- they weren't prepared to leave the

table, and they just wanted a deal, not a good deal. i think they got a bad deal in iran. i don't think that you see tt happen in this case. and i do think mike's optimism, pompeo's optimism was somewhat surprising. this could be a very monumental, diplomatic breakthrough. >> well, we'll of course be seeing them sitting down, one on one, in about -- a little less than nine hours from now. so thanks for joining us, mike mccaul, congressman. >> thank you, a very historic meeting today. >> indeed. points of no return, what jeff sessions plans to do about asylum seekers at our southern border. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. prepare for your demise, yrst, doctoingsley!

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and we'll have more from singapore in just a moment. but first, attorney general jeff sessions taking new steps in the administration's crackdown on immigration. he says the asylum process is being abused with far too many claims. take a listen. >> asylum is available for those who leave their home country because of persecution or fear on account of race, religion,

nationality or membership in a particular social group or political opinion. asylum was never meant to alleviate all problems, even all serious problems, that people face every day all over the world. >> nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joins me to break it down. so pete, not a surprise here. this fits into the trump attempoghen the broader boarders, but what are the implications of this move? >> we don't know what the attorney general is going to call for specifically. he says the asylum process is out of control. he says, for example, only 20% of asylum claims are ever verified and allowed, and that the number of asylum seekers has exploded in the last few years. 5,000 of them in 2009. 94,000 in 2016. so he says theord has gone out

apparently if you claim asylum, it's a way to get into the country. uslly people who claim asylum are released until their hearing comes out. so he wants to tighten this up. his part is the immigration courts, the initial decision is made by border officials. so wll findut later in the day what he has in mind here, kristen. >> pete, inow you've been tracking the supreme court's decisions for the past several weeks. today they ruled in the case of ohio's voter purge systems, making it easier to purge the voter rolls, right? >> ohio has the most aggressive program here. ohio says it's trying to make the registration process more accurate, trying to keep people off the list who don't have the right to vote. what they do is, if you skip an election, that triggers a process where they start to track you, they send you a postcard. if you fail to vote a couple more times, then they remove you from the list. challengers said that violates a federal law that says you can't take someone off the list for

failing to vote. but the supreme court said 5-4 that is legal, because what the law says, according to sl alito, is you can't take someone off solely for failing to vote, and that's not what ohio does. so other states, and we're watching this decision, to see how it would come out, and they may decide to copy what ohio does here. the reason that civil rights groups opposed it, they say this process tends to disfavor poor and minority voters. >> as we continue to track the supreme court, what other big cases are you looking for? obviously the travel ban hasn't been decided yet. >> we've got a couple more decisions. usually the supreme court finishes by the end of june. the travel ban, internet taxes, the future of public sector unions and whether the police need a search warrant to track you using your cell phone are among the big ones we're watching. >> pete williams, thank you for breaking that down for us. we do have a little bit of breaking news out of singapore.

dennis rodman, former nba star, has just touched down and i bhooef hebelieve he's taking questions. let's take a listen. >> it could have been a disaster. trump could have said something different. something different.ve said buth of them just want to see where this is going to go. so people should not expect so much for the first time. so the door is open. >> what is it like for you to be here? >> it's exciting to be aart of it. that's the main thing. just exciting to be part of it. [ inaudible ] >> you know, this is up in the

air right now. i guess bigger things to worry about. [ inaudible ] every time i see him -- maybe tomorrow it's the same thing. maybe i'll see him tomorrow before he leaving. [ inaudible ] >> and that was dennis rodman, just landing at singapore's airport there. and i want to toss back to andrea, who is in singapore tracking all of these extraordinary breaking news developments. andrea, i heard him say that people should. expect so much, but he does think that this summit is going to go fairly well. some of his audio a little bit difficult to hear. what did you make of this remarkable scene that we just

witnessed? >> well, it is a circus. if you needed any more -- any more crazy events to take place in singapore on the eve of this summit, the arrival of dennis rodman, who we now has gone and done basketball exercises and tourneys with kim jong-un and is a favorite of kim jong-un. the he is getting on the train at the airport. i mean, excuse me, getting into the -- getting into a car here at the airport after arriving at singapore's airport. it's only about a 20-minute drive into town. presumably he will not be going to the st. regis hotel and meeting with kim jong-un tonight before the big summit tomorrow. but he's been one of the few team until now, when few westerners or one of few americans have had any time that they spent with this young north korean leader. michael liter joins me now, former director of the national

counterterrorism center and ambassador wendy sherman, who served as a member of the.s. negotiating team with north korea. both are msnbc contributors. wendy, you negotiated with kim jong- jong-un's father, kim jong-il, but never had to deal with dennis rodman. >> just watching this, i feel like president trump and kim jong-un are going to be members of "celebrity apprentice." this just feels like a sitcom of some sort as opposed to having the gravity that this is about the security of the united states of america. the president's obsession with looking strong and powerful and tough, which was what he thought he was doing at the g7, making sure his base is secure, which he believes he does when he pushes back, and even our friends and allies. now he finds himself in the middle of a rodeo with kim jong-un, who knows exactly what

he wants and has a game plan he's going to follow. and dennis rodman, who is cheering from the sidelines. it's quite unusual. >> michael liter, one of the big challenges here is to figure out if there were a deal, if they come out with some statement, and pochmpeo said it's going so well we're going to wrap it up quickly and the president is going to be leaving tuesday night singapore time. quite a bit earlier than originally planned. how do you verify an agreement that comes out of these talks? >> i think what we know for sure is the president will declare this a victory, regardless of what the substantive outcome is, andrea. i have to say, in terms of verification, there are so many steps between this first initial meeting, and ever actually ever producing a safer korean peninsula, upping up north korea. it is many, many years of work that has to go into this.

so i think -- i've been very critical of the president. i think it is good that he's sitting down. i wish that there were many more months of preparation that the president took the details of this seriously, that he understood what the real strategy was. but if we can have this meeting, and it sets the stage for follow-on substantive meetings, i think the president will deserve some credit. i hope dennis rodman is not part of it. but this is at least a step towards reducing the tension that we've seen escalate over the past two or three years in the korean peninsula. >> wendy, the secretary of state said they were prepared if things go well, to offer a new kind of security assurance to kim jong-un regarding his denuclearization -- excuse me, if he denuclearizes from the peninsula, that we are willing to do something that is a

parallel gesture. more than a gesture, a security assurance. what does that mean to you? >> well, i hope it doe mn that the president would agree to remove u.s. troops early on or that he would take away the nuclear security umbrella we have for japan and south korea, or we would realign our forces in northeast asia. those are steps that shouldn't even be contemplated until north korea really tells us where all the nuclear weapons are and what they're going to do to dismantle their program. where all the ballistic missiles are and what they'll do to undo that program. those are really the yardsticks whether there's success here. and i agree with michael, it's going to be a very long negotiation to get there, as early as 1992, north korea and south korea issued a joint declaration on denuclearization. we know today that didn't exactly work out. >> and the other piece of this

is that north korea kicked the ieae inspectors out and also dropped out of the nonproliferation treaty, as well, years and years ago. so are there even enough inspectors to begin trying to verify the baseline, the ti ty give of their nuclear program, wendy? >> well, they'll have to probably plus up the number of inspectors they have. even though the united states has pulled out of the iran agreement, it's still ongoing, as the europeans, russia and china try to keep it going. and that takes a lot of resources from the iaea. but the international atomic energy agency is able to increase its capacity. but you're quite right, andrea. this would be a declaration that would have to have all kinds of inspections to it. maybe even some any time, anywhere inspections, which no one has agreed to because north korea is a very mountainous country, and we're not sure where everything is.

>> michael, we have known so little about kim jong-un up until now. yet he arrives in singapore and goes out on the town tonight, going sightseeing until about midnight, looking at the sites here in singapore. he's completely remade his image in the last couple of weeks, since agreeing to this summit with president trump. what do you make of it? >> i think this is -- kim jong-un has been, and north korea has been one of the targets for the u.s. intelligence community for decades. and i think that's one of the reasons why it's so hard to know, not just because of president trump's unpredictability, but it's hard to know where this all goes, because we in the west are still trying to understand what kim jong-un wants. i think the financial times had a very good piece today, commenting on kim's statement in april of this year, talking about the need for economic

changes in north korea. i think that's probably motivating a lot. but they have been so reliant on the nuclear balance for so long, that it's very difficult to say what his endgame is. this goes to a point that wendy raised. this is not ultimately just about the united states and north korea. this is about the united states and how we work with our allies in south korea and japan and how we work with a partner in this in china. and working with those counterparties and being predictable to our allies in china is so important. and it's not something this administration has proved itself especially good at yet. >> and speaking to that, wendy, angela merkel today gave an interview to german television and said -- asked about president trump, she said it's depressing. >> well, i feel somewhat depressed by it myself. so i can only imagine what it

felt like to be there. you know, the president thinks this makes him look tough and strong and in charge of everything. it doesn't do that. it makes him look like he's not clear about what he's about, that he's nice to people when he's with them and then he goes into a tweet storm as soon as he gets on the airplane. kim jong-un will be very clear about what he wants to get done here, and he won't leave his script. he not going to operate out of instinct. he knows where he's headed here. the president may be nice and open and willing to talk about all manner of things in his one on one, and then when his staff finds out what he does, indeed he may throw a tweet storm from the plane again. so not only kim jong-un doesn't know what to expect, now or later, but more importantly almost, r allies, south korea, japan, even china and russia, don't know whether we are credible or reliable and whether what happens today will make any sense tomorrow.

>> wendy sherman, thanks so very much. michael, thanks to you. good to see both of you. thanks for joining us. coming up, men in black. what more do we know about the reclusive dictator from the hermit kingdom who surrounds himself with a wall of security guards wherever he goes? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports," live from singapore, only on msnbc. stay with us.

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very little is known about north korea's young dictator, other than what dennis rodman has told us. but now msnbc has tracked down one of kim's former teachers, when kim was a young student in switzerland. >> reporter: this former high school teacher's experience may hold crucial lessons for president trump. 20 years ago, his student, he believes, was the future leader of north korea. >> he started school here in the seventh class. he was about 14 years old. >> reporter: in his first english language interview, he

says he taught sports, math, and german at this school. he was even his home room teacher. >> he was a good student, but he wasn't extraordinary. >> reporter: the school says from august of 1998 to fall of 2000, a north korean teenager was at our school. he left on short notice. the boy was well integrated, di ambitious and his hobby was basketball. soon president trump will sit down with him. what is your advice? >> try to find a sense of humor. >> back with me now is nbc's kristen welker in washington, jeffrey lewis from middlebury institute, and here in singapore, shauna thomas, washington bureau chief for vice news. welcome all. kristen and jeffrey, let's talk first about the young kim

jong-un and what we know about him. to you, jeffrey, how surprising is it that he was a young sports fan and basketball fan, learned some german and english? >> well, it's not terribly surprising at all. the north korean leadership tends to send their children abroad, and for many years, there have been reports of family members at posh boarding schools. you know, i think it's not all that unusual when you think about it. there's a lot of cosmopolitan elites from around the world who live two lives. one cosmopolitan life when they're traveling abroad, and a traditional life at home. >> can you see the roots, the fact that he was westernized as a young boy, that he had an education, do you see the roots of how he may not be transforming himself on the world stage? certainly the propaganda value of what he's done in the last weeks and months really is quite extraordinary.

>> well, you know, i'm a skeptic that he plans a significant transformation of the north korean economy. but he is savvy. he understands how western media works, and i think he's doing a pretty effective propaganda job. so i do think that he's intelligent. he's aware of how he's perceived abroad and he does have a natural feel of how we react. i'm not sure i'm willing to imagine he's a north korean gorbachev. >> that comparison, of course, when i think back to 1985, being in geneva, watching gorbachev and ronald reagan taking a walk alone to create a personal relationship, that seems to be almost what the white house wants in this one on one meeting, you would think to get something done, rather than a one on one meeting in this case you would

-- their advisers with them. what are the risks? >> there are risks with president trump, just in that it is unclear if he knows if right thing to say. every word matter information these diplomatic situations. mae situations. i have done with those in singapore, done work with the north korean before. the thing north koreans need,o try to get a level of trust with people. it's really difficult for them beuse it is not country that trusts anyone and the people don't trust anyone. there might be something there in this idea of them being one on one and president trump trying to develop some kind of little spark of a relationship with this man s that kim jong-un' advisers feel they can go ahead and do those other meetings. >> and, in fact, a meeting is very, very smart. >> it might be. >> for this president, to try to connect with kim jong-un on a personal level. >> and then lead ve it to his advisers to do the rest after

that one of the thing so surprising, of course, is the run-up to this. kristen welker, as you were in quebec and w see angela merkel and others still responding to president trump and president trump wouldn't threat go. here in singapore. five tweets this morning after he arrived still going after justin trudeau. maybe the most -- takeaway quoted by jeffrey goldberg who writes in "the atlantic." the best distillation of the trump kodoctrine came from a direct senior adviser and his talking to the president a couple weeks ago, by way of introduction, it might be too early to discern definitive trump doctrine. no, the official said. definitely there's a trump doctrine. what is it i asked? here's the answer i received. the trump doctrine is, we're america, bitch. that's the trump doctrine. i mean -- you've covered him so

closely. he really does feel he needs go into a negotiation with perhaps the fire and fury of the first 15 months or 14 months of this administration and rocket man and now we see the transformation of donald trump. into trying to develop a personal relationship with one of america's toughest adversaries. >> no doubt, andrea. that description is so remarkable, because i've been trying to pin down the president's doctrine since he first took office and i haven't been able to do it, and yet that does seem to get very close based on what we saw after the g7 summit. this about-face. the tweets that you are talking about that he's been tweeting out since he's been in singapore. think about some of his early conversations when he firstable to office, andrea, angry phone calls with some of the america's closest allies. imagine if at end of this summit he does in fact sign something. whether it's simply in agreement to keep talking.

the ability and the fact he may be willing to enter into something with kim jong-un, one of america's oldest foes, and yet pull out last minute of an agreement with some of americ s oldest allies a remark and and speaks to the fact he very much stands alone in many of these instances and is increasingly isolated not only as a leader but making the united states increasingly isolated, andrea. it speaks to that quote. >> jeffrey lewis what security assurances could the president offer to kim jong-un as secretary pompeo said this morning? >> well, i think it's really quite difficult, because you know, a security assurance is a promise. and it's very hard to imagine a promise that's going to offer kim more comfort than the weapons themselves. i mean, i think from a north korean perspective, they're not really offering give up anything yet. what they're really talking

about doing is freezing their program. and so i think they'll probably take what they can get. they're looking for a reduction in tension. a reduction in rhetoric and possibly eason of sanctions to allow south korean and chinese money to come in. i'm expecting promises. kind words. but i don't actually think that there are credible ways to convey if we change our mind we can't then turn around and threaten kim. >> jeffrey lewis and shawna thomas, thanks so much. coming up a must-see moment back at home. stay with us and kristen welker.

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and on this very busy day of foreign policy we want to take a moment to share with you a very powerful moment from last night's tony awards in new york where marjory stoneman douglas high school drama teacher celebrated along side broad waip best. honor for saving dozens of lives hunkering down with students in a classroom during the deadly shooting at her school in february. it was the surprise performance by some of her students singing "seasons of love" from the musical "rent" that won a standing ovation from broadway's top performers. ♪ measure, measure your life in love ♪

seasons of love ♪ of love, of love ♪ love ♪ of love ♪ ♪ love [ cheers and applause ] >> a well-earned standing ovation. incredible. i want to send it back now to andrea in singapore. andrea, when you look at those students, you're reminded of there talent and the fact they are not going away. >> and i'm choked up just watching it. didn't play here for some reason. thanks for sharing that. see you tomorrow. that does it for this "andrea mitchell reports" and keep it here tonight for the nuclear summit. brian williams, rachel adams and

in nicolle wallace leading the way. follow us on facebook. andreamitchellreports and chris jansing is next. >> what an extraordinary hour you had, andrea. thank you, i am chris at msnbc headquarters in new york. countdown to history. in a matter of hours president trump will meet face-to-face with kim jong-un, arguably the most high-stakes meeting nos of just his presidency but any presidency in modern history, and he walks into it short on international ally whose will have his back and a lot of the unexpected happening, ebb clinc the late arrival of kim jong-un buddy dennis rodman. and diving into the president's strategies at the g7 and the position it leaves every day working americans in. as he lobs attacks at our nation's closest partners. also, the 2020 whisperer. the behind-the-scenes meetings