somebody who has been saying that the caucus needs younger leadership than speaker pelosi. he is saying that veterans, military veterans, he's recruited a bunch of them should get this money. the bloomberg side they'll get some of it, but they haven't decide how to divvy up all of it. >> mike allen. live in washington, d.c., we'll be reading axios a.m. in just a little bit. you can sign up for the newsletter by going to signup.axios.com. that does it for us, i'm yasmin vossoughian, alongside ayman mohyeldin, "morning joe" starts right now. . >> extremists, open-border democrats, they're extremist open-border democrats. people are suffering because of the democrats. democrat-backed loopholes. the democrat-supported policies. democrats are causing tremendous damage and destruction and lives. they don't care about the children, they don't care about the injury, they don't care about the problems. they don't care about anything.

they have no policies that are any good. they're not good politicians, they got nothing going. their policies stink, they're no good. they have no ideas, they have no nothing, the democrats. >> just flailing that was president trump yesterday before kindly extending an open invitation for democrats to come to the white house to work togeth together. it's the "art of the deal." welcome to "morning joe," it's friday, june 2 2nd. what a crazy week it's been. with us we have national affairs analyst for nbc news and msnbc, jon heilemann. donny is here, white house reporter for the "associated press," jonathan lemire, white house correspondent for pbs news hour. yamish allison dure is with us. and the chaos, figuring out how to keep track of these kids and reunite them with their families. showing what a massive failure, what a massive failure this is for the white house. and it really is, every man and

woman for themselves in there as the pr disaster rolls forward. >> and of course, the chaos that is reigning supreme. donald trump unbridled, unmoored, untethered again, emotionally. i can't even say intellectually. but i'd like to talk really quickly off the top of the show, about a man who is the antithesis of donald trump intellectually, emotionally, just about every way that everybody had the honor of knowing him, knew, it was charles krauthammer, who passed away yesterday. and charles was beyond an extraordinary man. john pedoritz, a tough man, in his hassessment of others, he said that charles krauthammer was the most extraordinary man that he has ever met in his life.

a man who had a diving accident when he was young. and was lying at the bottom of the pool, unable to move, sure he was going to die. he was saved, in the middle of medical school, he went through medical school. did extraordinary things with his life. and you know, mika, we had an opportunity to meet him. and it was one of the, one of the honors of my life to do that. but i first actually met him like so many million others did, by reading a column of his in 1993. a commencement address that he gave to a university that your father new something about, mcgill university in canada. and don't have time to go into it. i'll just read the summary. and again, in this age of trump, i thought it was relevant in 1993, it's more relevant in 2018 than ever before. and this is what he ends up saying to the students of mcgill. save the best.

look outward. don't lose your head. and he finished by saying, end of sermon, now go and change the world. charles krauthammer did, and we will miss him, and my good the few of us who are still conservatives, the way that charles krauthammer was a conservative, we will miss him badly. >> we'll have much more on the life, the incredible life of charles krauthammer ahead. also the attorney general catching apparently catching the president's sickness, the lying disease. to lying to the american people. >> lyme disease? >> not lyme disease, lying disease. lying to the american people. knowing that that lie will be proven by just pulling the videotape of him speaking before. >> he was talking about -- i think he was quoting bible verses last week. saying that it was jesus' will

that families be separated. and in march he was saying that families were going to be separated. and then i, he went to speak to evangelicals yesterday on the christian broadcast network. that was never our intention -- to separate -- why, i don't understand what you were saying -- maybe i can find another bible verse to twist and wretch from its proper context, let's listen to the sound right now. >> it hasn't been good. and the american people don't like the idea that we're separating families. we never really intended to do that. what we intended to do was to make sure that adults who bring children into the country are charged with a crime they've committed. instead of giving that special group of adults immunity from prosecution, which is what in effect we were doing. so i think it's the right thing. we'll work our way through it. and try to do it in the most compassionate way possible.

>> no, mr. attorney general, you actually did intend to separate children from their families. here's what you said when you meant it before. take a look. >> if you don't want your child to be separated, then don't bring them across the border illegally. it's not our fault. >> our policies that can result in short-term separation of families, is not unusual or unjustified. and it's really a very short period of time. having children does not give you immunity from arrest and prosecution. bringing children with you doesn't guarantee you won't get prosecuted. i would cite you to the apostle paul in his clear and wise command in romans 13, to obey the laws of the government, because god has ordained the government for his purposes. >> well willie, that was the plan. and their plan was to separate. it was a new plan and i think

again, the thing that is constantly maddening to any rational human being, any person who actually gives a damn about the truth is, that you actually could go on twitter or facebook or get texts from friends who are trump supporters, who actually pretend as if this were barack obama's policy. or this were -- george w. bush's policy. and say well, saying all along, oh, he couldn't do anything, he couldn't do anything to change this. he couldn't do anything to change this. with a stroke of a pen -- donald trump change it is and they go, thank god he changed it. you can't, you can't really even reason or debate with people who care so little about the truth. >> in this administration, joe, as we've shown time and time again, words are completely disposable. you can say one thing one day and come back the next day and say something completely different despite the fact it's

all on tape. despite the pact that it's all in the newspaper. and that's exactly what jeff sessions did. not only did they plan to separate families, it was a stated strategy as a quote tough deterrent. it was a way they were going to stop people from crossing the border, by separating from their children. it wasn't like he just threw that out there. that was the goal of this all along, mika. >> and now we have the effects, the chaos, the mystery behind where some of these children are. where some of these babies are, where the girls are, who's with them, what's happening to them? will some never see their parents again? i think there's some distinct possibilities that that, that's possible. they may never see their families again. it is so chaotic and disorganized. instructions to reunite more than 2300 children separated from adults under the policy, are likely to take weeks to draft out and carry out. an administration official told

"the wall street journal," as nbc news reports, adults who are intercepted entering the country illegally receive something called an a file number from dhs that designates their legal case. if they are accompanied by their children, the kids receive the same a file number if parents are separated from their children, however, the children receive a different a file number. which can make it more complicated to pair parent and child in the future. after the migrant parents who were separated from their kids have their cases adjudicated, meaning after they are deported, jailed, or released, they can use these a file numbers to locate their children or arrange communication. that should be simple for them. that's just a portion of the children's crisis at the border. the pentagon confirmed thursday that the department of health and human services had requested they provide space for 20,000 migrant children at military bases in texas and arkansas. >> a senior trump administration

official said yesterday 500 from of the 2300 children separated from families, have been reunited since may and health and human services secretary tells the "washington post" this, quote, we keep in touch with the parents under any circumstances, to insure placement with relatives, or if parents are released. but the anecdotal evidence is mounting that that's just not the case. the "new yorker's" jonathan blitzer reported from a new mexico facility on 50 mothers 0 had been separated from their kids, one m said few moms know their kids are. none of the agencies have explained to the mothers how they can locate their children. the "washington post" has published an account from a public defender who described a hearing from a mother whose child had been taken from her. quote, one of my colleagues asked the federal agent on the stand, about the whereabouts of my client's child. the justice department prosecutor objected, to the relevance of the questions. the judge turned on the

prosecutor, demanding to know why this was not relevant. at one point the judge slammed his hand on the desk, sending a pen flying. this type of emotional display is unheard of in federal court. the judge said i cannot understand this. if someone at the jail takes your wallet, they give you a receipt. they take your kids and you get nothing? not even a slip of paper? or this report from the state of maryland. where many children have been reportedly been sent with little information. one is 18 months old. several are too young to speak to their new caregivers or help social workers track down people who could take them in. 6-year-olds who don't know why they fled their countries. it is clear this crisis is far from over. to put things in perspective, a map compiled by the "washington post" show where children are being sent around the u.s., joe, and if you take a look at this they're scattered, and come from the texas border, places as far as washington state and up here

in new york city. >> it's unbelievable. and you know, the wretchedness of what donald trump has done here -- i must add, those who are supporting donald trump, blindly, claiming that sending young children, young children to to places 2,000 miles away from where their parents are, is like sending them to summer camp? the wretchedness of that? that mindset -- the wretchedness, the depravity. you wonder what's happened to people who speak like that in defense of a president, jon heilemann, that deserve those defense. certainly not in this case. and you know, donald trump said during the campaign, he could shoot somebody in the middle of fifth avenue and his supporters would still support him.

perhaps that is the case. perhaps. but apparently he can't push a policy that tears babies from their mother's breasts whoil they're breastfeeding, that separates 2-year-old children, infants and toddlers and throws them into one, what one intel agent told me, reminded him of black sites where we put terrorists after 9/11. and not have a fierce political blow-back. while we focused on the human dimension of this, let's talk for a second about the political dimension of this. republicans are scared as hell on capitol hill. people inside the trump administration are scared as hell. i smell the fear inside of there likedy during katrina. they know something horrible has gone wrong. the question is, jon, what will the impact of all of this be,

politically? >> i think it's a little too early to say partly because of the fact the story is still unfolding, there's no question, joe, joe, that the president obviously, the president obviously never limes to climb down, he rarely has folded in the face of political pressure, has rarely capitulated in quite the way he did two days ago. and the reason that he did was for all the reasons you just said, primarily. i think he was faced with polling data and intuition that correctly asserted that if republicans were saddled with this policy going forward, they were going to be maybe 100 republican congressional districts that were put in play. the house has already in jeopardy. likely to turn over to democrats in the fall. the political consequences would have turned a blue, likely blue wave into not just, i don't want to use stupid metaphors like a

tsunami, but it would have been a catastrophe, politically, not just guaranteeing the democrats take back the house, but guaranteeing they would take it by enormous, enormous margins. >> yeah. mika, you and i have debated for some time about the long-term impact of donald trump. i've always said, it's actually what charles krauthammer said in his last column. that this president is, this is a test of our system. so far, the system has checked, his absolute worst instincts and they are deplorable instincts. and i'll keep using it. at the same time, deranged. at the same time it's interesting yesterday, was the first time, mika, that you have said that i've heard you say, watching the news -- he's crossed the line. he's gone too far, in a way, you

believe that from day one. you're saying in a way that is going to cost him long term. he screwed up and he's going to pay for this one. >> he will be forever remembered as the preds who traumatized little children. that's his brand now. he's the president. who purposefully traumatized babies and children and he traumatized them for his political gain or to look strong or to look like kim jong un. i mean he has built up to this moment, to the point where now he is the president of the united states of america, who took our country on a collision course downhill. tearing at every seam. being the president who abused little children. and you see in this white house, a sinking ship. you see every man for himself. you see the attorney general now lying, trying to back-flip on his own lies, when he put out this policy.

you see the first lady, trying her best to separate herself from this. because she, too, could have been one of those children, she doesn't look like them but she knows this is bad. so she rushes to the border. and who cares what she's wearing, she probably was talking to her husband. but her husband tried to take that and make it a pr twist as well. which is derange pd and sick, but aside from the point. you have his daughter, the counselor for the president, who is forever revealed as a complete fake on these issues. there's no turning back from it for ivanka trump. you have mattis sitting next to him and pompeo sitting next to him. trying so hard to keep it together, even though the president has traumatized small children, many whose families were seeking asylum. this is not one of those things where maybe or maybe not he's gone too far. he knows he's gone too far. and donny deutsch, you know what this president is thinking. he's pulling back because this is a massive pr failure and

whether ivanka said daddy, this doesn't look good, or trump said that ivanka said daddy, this doesn't look good, that reporting is fascinating. you know why? because that's all they care about. what it looks like. it's deranged. it's abusive. it's cruel, it's evil and the entire world is watching. it is now the time that he has gone too far. question mark? go. >> i want to attach what you just said to the question about politicizing, and i could put an exclamation mark on everything you said. it was particularly reprehensible when ivanka said, it looks a certain way. this can no longer be about who trump is it has to be about who we are. if we are working towards november, we can no longer say trump's the bad guy. if you vote for trump, you're the bat guy, if you vote for trump, you are ripping children

from parents' arms. the mistake that we've made in the past is look at that bad guy over there, look at that bad guy. what the democrats have to do is make the next election a referendum on not who trump is but who you are. and if we all -- that's the big difference, you can no longer now as a voter, because it's not about taxes, it's not even about some abstract term of immigration or nationalism. if you vote for trump, then you, the voter, you, not donald trump, are standing at the border, like nazis going you here, you here. i think we now have to flip it and it's a given, the evilness of donald trump. but if you vote, you can no longer separate yourself. you can't say, well he's okay, but. and i think that gymnastics and that jiu-jitsu has to happen. jonathan lemire. >> this crisis is so overwhelming and these images are so heartbreaking that yes

this does feel like a different moment for this presidency. we will see if this is indeed that defining moment. he got through charlottesville. he has the ability to, he was of course damaged, his moral leadership was irrepairably hurt there, but he survived it. this is the president who has the ability to change the subject. who has spawned off one controversy after another. the moment feels different here. >> you want to know why it's different? because it's going to be a long time before any of these children are back with their parents, if, joe, they get back with their parents. there's going to be abuse, there's going to be problems, that they can't confront. and they can't stop this waterfall of pain that they have inflicted on small children. they can't clean this up. it's a disaster. >> well and following up on what john than lemire said, he started talk about it, you've got charlottesville, where donald trump of course defended

white supremacists, with moral equivalency. even this year, donald trump calling hispanics breeders. just last week, saying that immigrants coming across the border were quote infesting america. and no, he wasn't talking about gang members. he put them as part of the crowd later. in a phrase. you can, you can talk again -- about him denying any knowledge of david duke or the klu klux klan. you can go through two years where people supporting donald trump are not supporting donald trump. cannot say, oh, i'm just supporting him because he's giving them hell in washington, d.c. no, he's been openly racist. like we said back in december of 2015. openly racist. if you support him, then you're supporting that, and you are that. it's that simple. that's what we've come to now.

if you support donald trump after this, yamish, it's very clear that you can't just say -- oh, you know what, the economy has moved on and i'm just sort of disaffected and neither side works and i support donald trump. but last line of my column in the "washington post" following up on what donny deutsch said is that so many republicans still support this depraved man and his malignant movement, could actually be the most damning element of this tragic american tale. and the question remains -- after this, i'm not saying people should support hillary clinton. i'm very conservative. i'm far more conservative than anybody around this table on immigration. people watching this show, would not like how conservative i am on immigration or how conservative i am on entitlement reform or how conservative i am on social issues or how conservative i am on the economy -- but yamish, this so transcends ideology, i have no

idea how anybody can still support this man after what we've seen this week. >> well this week was really the biggest test of loyalty for hardened trump supporters who have followed this president and supported him through scandal after scandal after scandal. i just came back from minnesota at a rally he had in duluth and people were supporting him more than ever. and they're not rare. i talk with so many people who were representative of a quinnipiac university poll that was released this week that said 55 to 35%, 55% of republicans support the policy of separating children. so republicans were as a whole were backing him. people calling themselves republicans. and when i was in minnesota talking to people, i was getting stories from people that said that these children, yes, young children who are now being detained, that they need to be taught a lesson and that they are being taught by their parents to break u.s. laws and as a result they deserve to be in these detention facilities, they deserve to be traumatized essentially and be away from

their parents. and even after the president signed the executive order when i asked people afterwards, what do you make of the president's policy now? they were saying well he's caving into pressure and it's really that he really should stick to his guns on this issue because people are quote-unquote infesting america. a lot of them cast this as, as really defending american culture, as something of being white, frankly. of looking at america and saying we don't need these brown people in our country. and i was surprised by this but also i, in some ways we know that trump supporters have stuck with him in the long-term through all sorts of things. but this was kind of stunning in some ways. >> it is stunning. and we have so much more still ahead on "morning joe," president trump says the governor of puerto rico has quote the easiest job in the world. might have been one of those jokes where he thought he wasn't joking but you really know that that's actually what he's saying. we kicked off the show by showing you what the president said about democrats. wait until you hear his thoughts on mexico. you're watching "morning joe."

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we have to have a very tough policy. otherwise you have millions and millions of people pouring into our country. we can't have that. we have no choice, we have to have a very strong board he. if we don't, you'll have millions of millions of people. look what's happening today, look like child's play, it will be a terrible thing if we ever did that. we have to be very, very strong at the border. if we don't do it you'll be inundated with people and you really won't have a country. you know without borders, you don't have a country. i've said it for a long time. mexico by the way is doing nothing for us. nothing. they have the strongest immigration laws, they can do whatever they want. they can keep people out of mexico. there are 2,000-mile journey, they walk through mexico like they're walking through central park, it's ridiculous. encourage people frankly to walk

through mexico and go into the states because they're drug traffickers, they're human traffickers, they're coyotes, i mean we're getting some real beauties. mexico is doing nothing for us except taking our money, and sending us drugs. >> yeah, my god. >> willie, you don't know where to start. this is now in the past two weeks, you have the president of the united states, bashing our neighbor to the north, canada. and then the fruitiest, most bizarre, sounding like senile guy in a rest home screaming at a television turned off, saying that canadians scuff up shoes and, and smuggle them northward. and try to sell them again. seriously, grandpa simpson doesn't even say bizarre things on the simpsons, and now he's attacking mexico to the south

who by the way just for the information of our viewers, has roughly the same gdp as russia. so here we are, willie, blessed with neighbors to the north and south, with the longest stretch of demilitarized borders north and south, as any country on the planet, and donald trump is going out of his way insulting our most geographic allies. >> you watch that clip again, there's real venom in his voice. this as you peel back the curtain, this is how he feels. these are his deeply held beliefs about mexico, these are his deeply held beliefs about people who come up from south of the border. this is not one of his riffs or rants where he's sort of making it up as he goes, we heard the first day of his campaign, the first line of his speech when he came down the escalator three years ago. this is what he thinks. and you know what, jon, steve rattner was here two days ago with his charts, showing us the apprehensions at the border remain near historic lows. and so donald trump is painting

this picture of an invasion from the south of an easy walk up through central park. and i think if you ask some of the people we've been interviewing at the border this week, the women who come with their small children to escape gangs or pull their sons out of a gang or their daughters out of harm's way from a gang, they're not going on a walk through a park, they're risking their lives for a better life to get out of there. that doesn't mean that some of them aren't breaking the law and we shouldn't handle them. but this picture he's painting isn't supported by fact. >> to your first point, it's interesting as joe said he's antagonized the canadians and the mexicans and the difference in tone is striking. and points to when you peel back the curtain as you said, to the racism of it. because he gets mad at justin trudeau, because justin trudeau is impertinent in his view and he slams the canadians, but there's no anger, harshness, viciousness to it. when he talks about mexicans from the very beginning until now, he talks about them with this kind of, this grandpa

simpson meets archie bunker. this laced-through kind of racism. one other thing about it, i grew up in los angeles and, huge hispanic population there. spent a lot of time in my youth schlepping back and forth to tijuana, have been in mexico dozens of times in my life. the reality of what these people go through, whatever you think about your policy prescriptions are about immigration, border control, et cetera, et cetera, the reason that many of these people come is because they have, are facing horrible life circumstances, violence, crime, terrible circumstances, they are fleeing from. and the journey they are making is as you said, not just, not a walk in central park, but a harrowing, life-threatening thing that is deeply considered by these mothers and fathers who bring their children full well knowing the risk to themselves and their kids, because it is still a better option for them,

than what they face in their domestic circumstances, but they are making fully calibrated calculated life decisions here, understanding the risks. and the risks are huge. >> it is no different, is when jews and christians were fleeing the nazis. they were, when these people are leaving guatemala and el salvador, it is to keep their daughters from being sex slaves, they are fleeing, early 1940s or late 1930s and we had people coming from eastern europe, because they didn't want to be killed. they didn't want to be put in ovens and we said no, it's not who we are, you guys are going to infest our country. that's no, there's no difference, if your family came from anywhere decades ago to escape whether it was from the russians or the nazis or anywhere else, it is no different. yes, they are brown and yes, maybe they speak a different language. it is no different. >> if you think there's a difference between saying and

doing something while he's saying it and he's doing it now, with these children at the border. >> i've said before, the moment when he said last week when he used the phrase "infest" it was the moment when it was clear to anyone with ears to hear, that he regards brown people as vermin. that is the language of, it's the language of, it's like i never like to go to the nazi analogies, but when you start talking about a class of people as being the source of an infestation, you are talking about people as if they are subhuman. you're talking about them as pests. >> we have to draw a very firm line. >> that is what his language conveys, you have to hear it, it's all there. >> joe mentioned his comments about canada the other day, let's take a look at those right now. >> and by the way, canada? they like to talk. they're our great neighbor. they fought world war ii with, us we appreciate it. they fought world war i with us,

and we appreciate it but we're protecting each other. there was a story two days ago in a major newspaper, talking about people living in canada, coming into the united states. and smuggling things back into canada, because the tariffs are so massive. the tariffs to get common items back into canada are so high, that they have to smuggle them in. they buy shoes and they wear them. they scuff them up. they make them sound old or look old. no, we're treated horribly. we can no longer be the stupid country. we want to be the smart country. >> well, if we don't want to be the stupid country, then we may want to consider who speaks for us. because as jonathan lemire, a couple of things, first of all, certainly under barack obama, we

had a trend, a negative trend at the border, actually of immigration. people were going back to mexico. and so donald trump when he talks about mexico, says millions and millions of people would be flooding in. no, the last years of barack obama's presidency, they were going back to mexico. there was a negative net flow when it had to do with illegal immigration so if it's so bad now, then my god, why is donald trump, maybe they see him as a feckless, weak leader, i don't understand that. secondly, see what he just did -- it was remarkable, he dismissed canadians fighting and dying with us on the beaches of normandy. but said hey, they're scuffing up their shoes, so he said they will sound old. it's really -- these are the times when it is impossible to dissect what the president of the united states is saying. because to borrow his language,

it just sounds so stupid. >> and that story in the major newspaper that he mentions there, is a column in the "new york post," about one anecdote, which he's using to make this larger point. as has been discussed at the table, he's making the argue. about canada, about framing in these flawed economic terms and he does it differently when it's with mexico. it has a much harder edge to it i would like to pair the comments we heard him say yesterday at the meeting at the white house with his rally in minnesota, where he invoked his kick-off speech at trump tower, which was three years ago this week, in which he said mexico was not sending their best. he brought that back at that rally in duluth. which the executive order that he signed this week to reverse himself was mentioned once in that speech. it's something that he, clearly tried to gloss over. tried to move past. and then spent minutes after minutes, sort of with thunderous rhetoric talking about how hard-line he is still on immigration. as if he was still trying to prove himself to the crowd. this is who i still am.

this is still my identity, this is why you elected me. this is why i've been saying, this is a good issue for republicans this fall. as poorly as that polls. but that's what his instinct is saying. he doesn't have advisers around him to steer him otherwise. this is still who he is. he gets, it's a rare reversal for this president to back down on anything, particularly with immigration. we saw it this week, not for a moral reason, but because the pr was so bad. the optics were so overwhelming, he had no choice. in his heart, the seriousness of his policies, his immigration, it is this -- it is hawk, it is this hard-line rhetoric and it's not going away and that crowd in minnesota? ate it up. >> yamish, i'm wondering, we know about some of these people, but donald trump, mike pence, krifrts kristen nielson, ivanka trump

and stephen miller, how could they be remembered as anything but people who put forward an unamerican cruel policy that was abusive to small children? >> i mean i think that overall this is, is a white house that is still i think led and focused on donald trump's version of policy and donald trump's version of immigration. so all of these people, i think do have their own beliefs in this policy and the idea that president trump puts forward. i think it's clear that the president, someone said this president is now reigniting what he said when he kicked off his campaign, i venture to say he never let that go. he has always governed that way, he's always talked that way, he's always surrounded himself with people who believe that there's a lot of talk about the influence of stephen miller and steve bannon. but they weren't standing next to him when he launched his campaign calling mexicans rapists and criminals. i think the people surrounding donald trump are just influencing him in a way that's

really like doubling down on with a he already believes. i think i want to add, when i was in minnesota, there's this idea that all of these officials are able to say one thing and switch it off quickly. the supporters of donald trump believe in his alternative facts. the people that i talk to, when i was trying to ask him about the policy, they were regurgitating everything from donald trump's tweets, they say we love the fact that he's tweeting and speaking directly to us. so when we can play these videos of jeff sessions saying one thing and saying another. but his supporters believe him, they believe everything that he's tweeting and as a result that's why the media reporting doesn't really get through in the same way. >> so coming up, what the president's comments about our allies as a backdrop consider this -- the trump administration is pressing ahead for plans with a summit with vladimir putin next month. despite the intelligence assessment that russia is still meddling in u.s. politics. mike allen joins us with more on

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joining us the co-founder of axios, axios taking a sneak peek at president trump's planned summit with russian president vladimir putin. before i ask you my question i'll allow you to address the audience. >> of course this is a happy summer friday, happy friday of summer. >> officially summer. >> so speaking of summer, you write about a summer test for donald trump. and perhaps a summit with vladimir putin. is he really going to do this? >> he is really going to do this. they're going to have a summit in july, in europe probably in vienna. when he's over there, anyway. and this is the president's chance to confront putin about what we already know is happening. and that is russians trying to cause disruption, interfere in the mid-term elections, we know from that intelligence assessment you mentioned, in the dts, that they are trying to cause both hack into states across the country.

interfere with tabulation, registration. and of course, we know that they've already wrapped up the facebook games and the other things online. national security officials tell us that there's no way the u.s. can have a normal nonantagonistic relationship with russia, until this is fixed. so this is the president's chance to do a face-to-face. we know he doesn't like to talk about it we know that he thinks that any time it comes up, it can cause questions about the legitimacy of his win and so that's why we're saying this is his big test. >> despite the perception that he likes to give off, the president of the united states, he actually doesn't like confrontation. if you talk to people around him. we saw that with kim jong un. it was mostly back-slapping. is there any reason to believe that he actually will confront vladimir putin on something that he hasn't confronted him about publicly and only in a limited way privately over the last couple of years? >> so what his national security advisers are going to be telling him is that he has a significant

carrot here. and that is, that he's been ramping up plans to both rejuvenate and expand america's nuclear arsenal. and officials tell us, this is a red light for the russians. they know that if we invest significant will i in our nuclear assets, they cannot keep up. they have a slower, lower military budget than many other countries. this is a place where we really have leverage. and as he looks ahead to '18 and to '20, this is his chance to say we know that you tried to hack in to a number of states. and we know that what you're doing is beyond, what we do in other elections, what china does in other elections. this is one time. this isn't normal. this has to stop. >> mike allen, we'll be reading axios this morning, happy friday to you, sir, we'll see you soon.

jonathan, you're going to be on that trip? >> i am. the timing of it is so striking. he's going to be in europe already because he's going to the uk. just rattled at the g7. if he does, sits down with vladimir putin before sitting down with the organization, mostly formed to stop russia. >> it's a big problem. still ahead, just as promised, the european union is hitting back at trump's trade policy this morning. with billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs, the details coming up on "morning joe."

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joe, we have to talk world cup for a minute. we have a lot to cover here. >> let's do it. >> argentina, the runner-up last time around, lost to germany in the world cup, got smoked 3-0 by

croatia, likely going to get bounced out and not advance to the round of 16 and messi who some people believe is the best player in the world, either him oro naldo, th or ronaldo, totally absent. didn't get a shot on goal. he's getting a reputation as a guy who disappears in big games. >> well, yeah, there's always been a debate on who's the greatest player in the world, ronaldo or messi. there's no debate. if you just watch this world cup, it summarizes their entire careers, especially in all of the world cups. messi and argentina have always performe ed messi always seems disappear. you take what ronaldo did in his game against spain. portugal's biggest rival, a team that should have beaten them. his three goals, a hat trick against one of the greatest

teams in the world just shows what an extraordinary player is and as you said yesterday against croatia, once again on the world's biggest stage, messi disappeared. >> they totally shut him down. so you believe the debate is settled? it's ronaldo? best player in the world? >> i believe the debate is settled and that will carry great influence with myself, my dog and my cat meat ball. this debate will continue. as a liverpool fan that came to this beautiful game watching ronaldo destroy liverpool's hopes in the 92nd and 93rd minute, i despise him. i loathe him. there's not a yankee that i hate more than i hate ronaldo. he's just simply the great nest the world. and messi's not a close second. >> i like pele.

>> i like pele. [ laughter ] i like pele. >> anyhow, still ahead, trump's ability to stoke fear about illegal immigration helped win him the white house. and that cynical strategy might work for him again. the question is, who wants to be standing by him when it happens? do you really want to do that? we'll talk about that. also the "new yorker's" susan glasser joins us with with her latest piece, plus new york city mayor bill de blasio was in texas yesterday to see the crisis at the border firsthand. he joins us on set with what he saw coming up on "morning joe."

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>> it hasn't been good and the american people don't like the idea that we're separating families. we never really intended to do that. what we intended to do was to make sure that adults who bring children into the country are charged with the crime they've committed instead of giving that special group of adults immunity from prosecution which is what, in effect, we were doing. so i think it's the right thing. we'll work our way through it and try to do in the the most compassionate way possible. >> if you don't want your child to be separated, don't bring them across the border illegally. it's not our fault. our policies that can result in short-term separation of families is not unusual or

unjustified and it's really a short period of time. having children does not give you immunity from arrest and prosecution. bringing children with you doesn't guarantee you won't get prosecuted. i would cite you to the apostle paul and his clear and wise command in romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because god has ordained the government for his purposes. >> jeff sessions from last night meet jeff sessions from the past few months. welcome back to "morning joe." it is friday, june 22. john heilemann, donny deutsch and the a.p.'s jonathan lemire are still with us. and joining the conversation, pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor of the "washington post" eugene robinson. washington anchor for bbc world news america, katty kay. and staff writer at the "new yorker," susan glasser. good to have you all on this hour.

j joe/kn joe, i know we're all clear about donald trump and what his policies are and his views towards people and race, but what about the people around him? what about mike pence? want the secretary of homeland security who was trotted out there to bumble like a lying fool in front of the cameras for this president? with what about vaupg? what about jeff sessions. the list goes on. what about every member of his cabinet? what did george bush say? fool me once, shame on me. fool me twice -- won't be fooled

again. [ laughter ] in this case, you don't have to go back to 1967 to pick up a trend, to decipher a -- you don't have to be -- have a beautiful mind and connect all the pictures with strings and headlines and decode things. donald trump uses people. he trots them out like kirstjen niels nielsen. he humiliates them, he shams them and then he fires them. you go back over the past 1517 months. you have destroyed the careers and reputations of anyone who has gone through here. we've all decided, mika and i, the only person who left with their reputation as intact as when they got there may have been deena powell. maybe she's the only one but beyond that everybody gets destroyed. mike pence, does he really

believe if he just rides behind the foul fumes of donald trump for four years that he's not going to get completely destroyed by nikki haley in a republican primary? how do these people think the story ends? >> right. you ride behind a garbage truck for four years and you expect to come out smelling like a rose, that doesn't happen. in terms of the way he deals with people and treats people and uses people and throws them away, this is donald trump, this is who he's always been. it is who he will always be. and anyone who doesn't see that is a fool, i think. and in terms of this obscene policy of separating families, that's who donald trump was on immigration, that's who jeff sessions was on immigration,

that's who stephen miller was on immigration and that's who they were. that's who they told us who they were. as maya angelou once said, when somebody tells you who they are, why don't you believe them the first time? why do they have to be 19 times before you actually believe what you see in front of your eyes? >> and, again, the racism is that is inherent in everything that donald trump does when he talks about mexico and like you've said, when somebody shows you who they are, believe them the first time and again it reminds me of the line in gatsby about the foul dust. let's show this clip from mexico

and then we'll talk on the other side of it. i don't understand who wants to be associated with this because donald trump is going to leave, he's going to have billions of dollars and he doesn't give a dam of what anybody thinks about him. let's look at this clip. >> mexico, by the way, is doing nothing for us. nothing. they have the strongest immigration laws, they can do whatever they want, they can keep people out of mexico, they have a 2,000 mile journey through mexico. that i walk through mexico like it's walking through central park. it's ridiculous. they encourage people, frankly, to walk through mexico and go into the united states because they're drug traffickers, they're human traffickers, they're coyotes. we get some real beauties. mexico is doing nothing for us except taking our money and sending us drugs. if we took zero tolerance away you would be overrun as -- you'd

have millions of people pouring through our border and you took zero tolerance away everybody would come right now. there would be getting their little belongings and they would be heading up. you would be -- you would have a run on this country the likes of which nobody's ever seen. >> gene, let's dig through this, he talks about mexicans as being rapist when he starts a campaign. he calls hispanics breeders this year. he's now talking and infested and we shouldn't use hitler references and nazi references or fascist references or marxist references but when you talk about people coming in and infesting a society, infesting a culture, that's straight out of adolf hitler's play book so you can be offended if you want but

that's out of hitler's play book. but you talk informs about infe. he talks about them "bringing their little belongings." how does mike pence, how do karen pence, how do any of these people continue being associated with a man who is now openly bigoted against everybody who is not white and rich. >> that's right. mike pence stands there and he puts on a frown and he nods sagely at the most sort of racist vile comments and sentiments coming out of the mouth of the president that he serves so loyally and unquestioningly. i certainly hope people remember. this should leave an indelible stain on mike pence and his career and on the others around

him. this is the most naked sort of white supremacy. that america is a white country and that brown people and black people and people of color who come here don't belong here. they don't belong in the maga that he's trying to inhis mind recreate that never really existed but it's the america in his head. >> we've been talking about how the president doesn't mind having this fight. he view this is as a cultural wedge issue not unlike the nfl kneeling scandal where the people who support him will rush to his side because in their

hearts they believe he's right. it's titled trump's cynical immigration strategy might work for him again, you write in the "new yorker." how could this play to his benefit? >> the reality is he's talking in these striking and to us shocking terms not just because he has some animus towards mexican which is he clearly seems to have but because it works for him politically. you played this clip earlier this morning. it's very relevant. he talks about his initial trump tower speech in 2015 when -- remember when he called mexican rapists and said you guys criticized me but that's the reason i won, 100%. so he delighted in a sort of warped way, i think that we're talking about immigration now and there are democrats who worry as well that this is the case. i talk with one strategist this

week, this is the one wedge issue that works for them right now so in a midterm election that's all about turning out your base voters, there's a really cynical play going on here, not so much the pictures of weeping children being ripped away from their parent but i think turning the story into a general conversation around immigration, you notice trump isn't backing away from that, he's doubling down on it and he sees political advantage for him in doing so. >> and, in fact, mika that rally -- go ahead, joe. >> i was just going to say, he's jumped the shark, though. he sees everyday he told his workers the day before he got grated mika that everyday was like a reality show where he has to win everyday but sometimes reality shows go too far.

the fact that donald trump is new to politics shows he's a one-trick pony and this trick went too far and i'm going to say, mika, his supporters have no excuse anymore. there is no excuse. he is a racist, he is blatant about his racism. he's not using a dog whistle to send out his racist messages, he's using a foghorn and anybody that cheers for what he is saying about mexicans being breeders, about hispanics infecting america, about people who are not white infecting america, about denying he knows who david duke is, defying he knows the kkk was a malignant force in american history, equating neo-nazis and white

supremacists to democratic protesters, trying to undo democratic progress across europe. you cannot support this man and just look at the tweets you want to look at and ignore the other racist comments and to your point, mika, nor can mike pence, nor can karen pence, nor can kirstjen nielsen, nor can anybody else in that white house. >> and that's the question. i want to get to a point that we might want to consider given what you just said but donald and ivanka trump have made this their brand. they haven't walked away from it. melania symbolically stepped away from it yesterday but she's still in there. mike and karen pence. it's a good question. kirstjen nielsen, the team. do you want to stand by silently next to the president who will be the president remembered in history as the president who traumatized children.

this is the question we ask. do you want to stand by silently or even shill for this president as some of you have. but to your point, though, consider this. reporters at president trump's wednesday night minnesota rally spoke with some of his supporters about the controversy and ben jacobs wrote he got a range of responses about child separations about trump supporters in duluth. quote, some say it's terrible, some say it's fake news, all agree, though, that it isn't trump's fault. so the messaging and some of the lying is penetrating the base and they are refusing to see that the president has done this. the "new york times" katie rogers wrote, common theme, a trump supporter in duluth waiting in a line outside trump's rally location told me she has compassion for separated families but ultimately believes

the detainment center photos are fake and photoshopped. and this is the thing, joe. these videos and photos are provided by the government and we're not allowed in there so it is a frightening time that this ability to brainwash people about what is happening, can i use that word because it appears the truth is in jeopardy here. these people are willing participants. they're government photos provided by the trump administration. these people who are saying that those are photoshopped or that it's fake news are willing participants, nobody is brainwashing them they know exactly what they are doing and they know they're lying. katty kay, it's so interesting. i supported george w. bush, voted for him twice.

i had a lot of reservations about that but so did most of my friends during northwest florida. i remember during hurricane katrina the first couple of weeks when nobody was doing anything, our church got together we got a drive together and took water over and diapers and all the things that the children across mississippi and louisiana were not getting at the time and one by one i saw people tearing off their bush/cheney bumper stickers on the back of minivans as we went over there. they could not believe the federal government wasn't stepping up and that we were having -- we were the ones ensuring that children were getting clean diapers and water. that the churches were. the question is does that ever happen to donald trump? do the facts ever matter to his supporters or can he truly shoot

somebody in the middle of fifth avenue as he brags about and will his supporters blindly say they deserved it or it's fake news? >> you know, it's starting to look like when he made that comment during the course of the campaign he really did understand the power of hanging on to his base and how much loyalty there was and we see this with populist leaders around the world, they demand and get a huge amount of loyalty, to the extent that push legal bounds far beyond the norms. but i think trump is doing something else here which is deliberately reminding his base to be angry. he won by stoking fear and anger and he doesn't want them going into the midterm elections feeling complacent about the direction of the country and we're seeing polls suggesting americans are feeling much better about the direction of the country than they have done for the past decade. the irony is things are going well in to america in terms of

the economy and that could lead to complacency amongst people. i don't know if that's the strategy but there is a real push on donald trump and it comes partly from his own visceral feelings about mexico and you hear it time and again with this ridiculous claim that he has to build luxurious hotels for these kids on the border as well but it's also a strategy to make sure people are still fired up. to make sure his base is fighting. he likes a fight. he likes to have an enemy. he likes to be angry and that's how he wants his supporters. he wants them in red meat mode and this gives it to them. >> compare how this -- what's happening here is happening across -- especially central europe that you're seeing this in poland, hungry, all across europe. >> systems on both sides of the atlantic this week are under huge pressure on this very hot issue of migration. it could be that migration leads to the unraveling of the

european union. we thought it might be financial. we thought it might be the euro system. i wouldn't be surprised if it's this issue of immigration. you have east european countries pulling out of a key summit. you have italian leaders, the new populist italian leaders saying they're going to have a census of the roma people who see who can be there legally and who can't be and unfortunately we'll have to keep the ones who are there who are italians. talking in the trumpian language about the great days for immigration and migrants, they're over now, we're going to stop all of that. sounding just like donald trump and that's coming out of italy, not the united states so you're quite right this issue is put egg more to mouse stress on political systems in european union here in the united states as well and policymakers as we saw yesterday on capitol hill totally incapable of coming out with solutions. >> susan, it's john heilemann i

want to get back to the politics of this. you have donald trump who as katty said, he's trying to energize the base, keep turnout up. when you see the blue wave coming, you see the emt theic base fired up, how do you counter that? you get your oin base fired up. on the other hand there's something joe pointed to. have you gone too far to the point where you've alienated enough moderate mainstream suburban voters in the kind of districts that are vulnerable that democrats have a chance to take back. have you done so much damage with these images? . it seems that's the competing political calculi. how do you think it comes out in the wash and may have trump caused more damage on the backside than benefit on the

front side? >> i think they've been fairly skillful at using the techniques they have deployed all along this week to start to not clean up the mess of this policy but to obfuscate, to confuse and to move on. think about the dizzying news cycle. how much are we going to be talking about this child separation policy in november at the elections? it's not clear to me, i can't believe it but this north korea summit was only one week ago so trump has proven quite skilled at overwhelming with us the narrative. i'm struck by the fact that the house is close and it's the democratic strategist with whom i've been talking over the last few weeks who are very concerned there's almost an overconfidence about the blue wave among some circles and a sense that, hey, wait a minute guys, trump's approval rating, for example, has never collapsed.

in fact, on monday in the midst of this escalating controversy over the family separation policy, gallup found he was at the highest rating of his presidency. again, it's a very close race and the democrats could take the house, you're only looking at 23, 24 seats so it's absolutely possible that immigration is still a winning issue for trump regardless of how distasteful those pictures are to people. >> and gene robinson. let's end this block talking about your colleague and friend charles krauthammer who passed away yesterday. john podhoretz said he's the most extraordinary person he had ever met. so many people that worked for him -- except for people who were his editors.

charles had a rule, you don't edit me, i edit myself. but he was an extraordinary writer and i remember i was saying i remember reading in "time" magazine in 1993 a column he wrote based on a commencement speech he gave to mcgill students and it left such an impact on me that -- god, how many years ago was that? 25 years later i immediately said, wait, that's the first time i remember krauthammer's column and i remembered the end of it which was "save the best, lookout ward, don't lose your head. end of sermon, now go save the world." then, of course, marcel, my brother, which so many people love that, i want to read it quickly, talking about his brother when he died in 2016, there's a black-and-white photo of us, two boys alone. wherever i look at that picture, i know what we were thinking at

the moment, it was taken. it will forever be thus, ever brothers, ever young, ever summer. tell us about charles. >> it was -- i can just say that it was an honor to know charles and to disagree with him. he was a good man to have among your friends. he was generous with his time, attention, advice. he was -- he obviously overcame enormous obstacles to achieve what he achieved and i say as a columnist who's been doing this for a while, the thing that enraged you about charles if you had to compete with him on the

same page, on the same day, is that he never took a column off. he always brought that rigor and that force behind his opinions, he was that clarity of thought. so on weeks -- we both had columns that appeared on fridays so on weeks when i knew that we would probably be on the same subject i'd always give it another -- my columns another read or two because i knew that charles would pre-attack all the weak points in the argument and pick them apart. he was an extraordinary journalist and honest, always honest in what he wrote and thought and i cannot say about all of my column nest brethren.

i can say that about charles. >> extraordinary. mika? >> eugene robinson, we want to thank you for your thoughts and insights on everything but especially on charles krauthammer. we'll read your column on the "washington post" entitled "trump and sessions have created prisons for spanish speaking children." susan glasser, thank you as well. we'll read your latest dispatch from trump's washington at the noew yorker.com. and joe i'll never charles krauthammer coming to your small book party dinner and how much that meant to you that he showed up, sat next to you and faulked about conservatism. talked about everything you were fighting for. his voice will be missed.

especially now. >> it was a great honor and there were a lot of noted people there who i was honored to have at that event but sitting next to charles and being able to talk to a guy i admired so much was the thing about charles, though, as gene said, he put so much into every column into every book, everything he wrote and did that he will remain with us. and when conservatism comes back, mika, when we move beyond a stage where there's a personality cult, where all the things he fought for his entire life were actually on the run.

his words will inspire future people to look at what saving the best really means. still ahead, the president tweeted just moments ago republicans should stop wasting their time on immigration until after the quote red wave this november. we'll ask an endangered republican incumbent what he thinks about that next on "morning joe." when did you see the sign? when i needed to jumpstart sales.

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president trump tweeted a few minutes ago this "republicans should stop wasting their time on immigration until after we elect more senators and congre congressmen/women in november. dems are just playing games and have no intention of doing anything to solve this decades old problem. we can win this red wave. joining us now, congressman len

lance from new jersey. what's your reaction to the president's tweet? >> i respectfully disagree. i think we should continue to work on it. work on it today in the congress and work on it next week. i want to solve this problem as quickly as possible. >> what is a workable compromise within your republican caucus? as you know well there are republicans who say that by giving a pathway to citizenship you are granting amnesty. >> i disagree. i think we need a path for citizenship for the dreamers and the compromise bill would do that. it's still a work in progress. i was one of those who signed the discharge petition and i don't think we will -- as you know, i'm also a member of the

problem solvers caucus, these are moderate republicans and moderate democrats and we try to work together on these important issues confronting the nation. >> you said "i oppose the zero tolerance policy, i call on the president to end it." the president said yesterday in a media gathering that zero tolerance is still on, the only way to keep our borders safe. what happens in the short term to 2300 children that have been separated from their families because the executive order does nothing to address those kids and that's what people want to know, some of the faces and the kids that we've looked at. what can we do to change that? >> congress should demand the administration return those children to their parents as quickly as possible and this is the responsibility of several departments of government including homeland security and we should demand officials at those agencies, that those children be returned to their

parents as quickly as possible. >> congressman, it's jonathan lemire. the president's tweet this morning calling for republicans to delay acting on immigration comes just a couple days after he was at capitol hill talking about this and suggesting he would support a plan. can you talk about how this mixed messaging is hurting you but also this idea that with immigration being such a hot button issue the only way a deal could get done considering the president and his strong supporters would be if trump went to them and said this is a bill i can get behind. is he abdicating leadership on this issue? >> he has indicated that he would sign the compromise bill and i hope he would do so. i'm encouraged by what i see in the senate on the issue regarding the children where apparently senator feinstein and senator cruz are working together and i think that's a hopeful sign and i hope that that continues and we should be addressing that issue in the house as well. >> congressman, the president said time and again and

continues to do so even after the signing of the executive order that the problems we are seeing on the border are the product of democrats in congress. do you agree with his assessment? >> i think this is a challenge for the entire nation and i want to work with democratic colleagues and i hope democratic colleagues will work with us and i challenge democratic colleagues to work with us because we have to resolve this situation. >> but do you agree the democrats brought about this problem or do you believe it's a policy put in place by the trump administration? >> i think it's a policy by the trump administration, the most recent situation but certainly this is a long-standing issue and we have to work together to improve the situation. >> congressman leonard lance, republican of new jersey, thanks for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you very much. joining us at the table we have democratic senator tammy baldwin of wisconsin. good to see you, how about your reaction to the president's tweet that republicans ought to stand down and stop working with

democrats on immigration. >> it's ridiculous. there are numerous crises we have to deal with, not the least of which is essentially -- it's like the u.s. government has kidnapped 2300 kids and we have to figure out a way to reunite those children. many at a very, very young age with their parents. the president needs to take the leadership on doing that now that he's signed the executive order of limited impact but if not as was mentioned all 49 democrats in the house have signed on to senator feinstein's effort which requires the government to do that. it shouldn't take legislation from congress to have these children reunited with their families but if it does that's what we need to do and we need to do it quickly. >> you don't know who your opponent will be in wisconsin but i ask you now because we're trying to figure out among the many important issues related to

this, there is a political component to this, is this an issue you'll be discussing in your race come october. is this going to be a live issue that matters to wisconsin voters five months from now? >> this administration does not do a good job of reuniting these families it will be an impression on everyone's mind. part of how this got political momentum to get the president to reverse his policies and i've gotten more information on this than i can recall in any other topic. i've gotten more calls. >> what are they saying? >> reunite these children, do whatever you can. it's focused on this issue of stripping children away from their parents. >> can you put into perspective the depth of the problem here?

it appears the president might have stumbled into this pr nightmare for him but for these kids it's a nightmare because the complications of reunion are many. >> right. i want to acknowledge that and say there's a pattern of using children as pawns for political results so this is about a wall, the dreamers was about a wall, delaying reauthorization and funding of the child health insurance program was also about a wall. but on the immediate issue, the political ramifications are huge but the trauma that these children are going through is lasting and horrific. >> so it's all about a wall, right? he wants congress to fund? >> and he can't take yi for an answer because we're offered it before. >> and just to keep in mind,

it's a ridiculous thing to say at this point but it's a fact, he said mexico is going to pay for the wall. everything about it is so many layers of lies. >> his speech in duluth, minnesota. i can't tell you how many times he said we're building the wall, rest assured we're building the wall, i have a few billion dollars to build the wall. >> senator tammy baldwin, thank you for coming on, best of luck to you. >> thank you. >> a difficult time. up next, at the start of the trump administration, vaughn hillyard left washington's figurative swamp and headed to literal ones in louisiana to speak with crawfishermen who put their faith in president trump to clean up their bayou. this week vaughn went back there and spoke with those same trump voters a year and a half later. >> you and i met a month after trump was inaugurated. you told me you needed the trump administration's help. have you gotten that help yet? >> not yet. no. >> that is next on "morning joe."

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in crisis. nbc's vaughn hilliard visited the basin that once supported 3,000 fishing jobs now whittled down to 300. >> oh, there's my baby. >> ben lives off of louisiana waters. >> this is my front yard. >> reporter: forri ifishing ame most expansive swamp. when we visited in march of last year the swamp was suffering. >> crawfish have to have current to be able to move and survive. >> reporter: the result they say of oil and gas pipelines changing the waters. >> you can't sell a dead crawfish. >> i learned my schooling in this basin. >> reporter: jodi mesh showed us how decades of development redrew the swamp. this should be full of water. >> there should be water flowing across this whole swamp area right here. >> reporter: instead, miles of dams created by old pipelines. >> good flowing water makes everything produce. now we produce probably about maybe 20%, 30% of what we used to produce.

>> reporter: we returned this week to find the state and federal government issued new permits. this is the newest pipeline under construction. >> right. hopefully they're going to pull the dirt back into the excavated trench and not leave it like they did in the past. every company they've dealt with, they never provided any relief. >> reporter: last year they hoped to have a champion in this fight. >> yes, i did vote for donald trump. >> reporter: believing he would protect the basin. >> i think he's bold enough to make the right changes. >> reporter: a year later, the swamp is still waiting. you and i met after trump was elected. you said you needed the trump administration's help. have you gotten it yet? >> not yet, no. >> reporter: the environmental protection agency absent amid deregulation of oil and gas companies under scott pruitt, knee deep in a different swamp. >> luxury can doe. >> ritz carlson. >> soundproof booth. >> first class travel. >> the epa director is supposed to see to it that our environment is taken care of and

making sure we're leaving something for our next generation. >> if president trump and scott pruitt are listening, what's your message to them. >> please help us. i pray for you everyday. do the right things for the right reasons. this filter was put here by god to fitter the water. it can't filter it no more. it's just a big rotten bowl of water. it needs the administration to come and help us. >> reporter: the folks in these communities have been neglected by the government for decades. the swamp's deterioration is accelerating but president trump promised to look after those who are what he called the forgotten people. but like the corn farmers in iowa and the coal miners in west virginia, they're waiting and hoping a year and a half in. they wanted to hear the swamp drained but they want their own cleaned up first. vaughn hillyard, louisiana. >> good piece, katty kay, from the president's promises to those in louisiana to his ability to do his job even

remotely in a way that has positive impact, look at puerto rico, more than 5,000 people di died. he's left behind a humanitarian crisis there as well. >> at some point you wonder whether there is a competency issue with the administration. maybe partly it's just that there's so much staff turnover and partly there are so many dramas in a get created and there are also real challenges sucking up a huge amount of people's time but this doesn't come across as an administration that is incredibly effective at getting things done. they were elected because they hadn't been in government before. they didn't know how government worked. but the down side is you get people into government that have never run government before and then running government seems hard and getting things done, whether helping people in puerto rico or helping people in louisiana fix their swamps isn't

as easy as it looks. it's hard running government and joe knows this, you have to know what you're doing. it's great to say we're outsiders, but you have to know how the mechanics of things work. >> it's hard to help people when you're in charge but also to cut through the red tape, we're asking him not to hurt people and he's hurting children. >> he's very -- i want to go back to this. he's competent in -- the people he's forgotten, the people, the coal miners, the people he remembers are his fellow real estate guys who in the latest tax bill which people understand, if i buy a building in new york for $10 million and sell it for $100 million and then i flip into another building i don't have to pay taxes so that $09 million that goes to those fishermen -- so he knows how to protect people. it's just the people he's

screwed, even that fisherman who says he hasn't helped us yet. and to your point about the children know he's ripping peope off, but there's so many but voters in this country. this is what the people had to be held accountable and where i get scared that we are racist in this country and 40% of the people say, well, they are ripping children, but. he's saying those things about mexicans, but. they believe him. that's the scary part. we are the boogie man. they say, yes, he's ripping the children, but how many people, deep down believe we have to keep those mexicans out? you know, it's wrong, but. but. it's on us. >> joe? >> you know, mika, two years ago, charles krauthammer explained to readers why he could never vote for donald

trump, predicted the tragedies that happened this week along the border. let me read this line quickly for you. donald trump, krauthammer said, quote, he has a shocking absence of elementary decency and of natural empathy for the most profound of human sorrows, parental grief. two years ago. charles krauthammer wrote this of donald trump in august of 2016, saying why he could never vote for him, a shocking absence of elementary decency and natural empathy for the most profound of human sorrows, parental grief. and how much that played out this past week as donald trump decided to use the ripping of children from their mothers and fathers arms as a bargaining chip in a political game that,

today, he's tweeting out, he's no longer interested in playing. >> well, joe, you remember the moment you knew you would never vote for him. it had to do with race. it had to do with this gut instinct about his humanity. you couldn't do it. you made it very clear on the air, in realtime. for the record. >> december, 2015, a couple months before the first primary, what i don't understand is why more republicans didn't immediately say that december 2015. now, most establishment republicans were against him at that point, but not because of all the racist comments he made about muslims, about the kkk, about david duke, about hispanics, about mexicans. paul ryan talked about what a racist donald trump was and a couple days later, endorsed him. that's just something i still

can't understand and something that i think its safe to say charles krauthammer never understood. coming up, new york city is 2000 miles from the southern border. like so many cities, it's on the front line of this immigration crisis. after receiving hundreds of children separated from their parents. the city's mayor, bill deploz owe joins us straight ahead.

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still ahead, attorney general jeff sessions now says the trump administration never intended to separate children from their families. that claim is easy to disprove. more on the immigration after claiming only congress can fix the border issue. he's now telling republicans not to bother, until after the midterms. "morning joe" is coming right back.

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they are no good. they have no ideas, no nothing, the democrats. >> just flailing. that was president trump yesterday before kindly extending an open invitation for democrats to come to the white house to work together. it's the art of the deal. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it's friday, june 22nd. >> oh, my lord. >> what a crazy week it's been. with us, national affairs analyst for msnbc, john heilemann. donny is here. jonathan la mere. white house correspondent for npr is with us. joe, i have a lot of reporting this morning on the chaos that is ensuing, trying to figure out how to keep track of the kids and reunite them with their families, showing what a massive failure, what a massive failure this is for the white house and it really is. every man and woman for themselves in there as the pr

disaster rolls forward. >> right. and, of course, the chaos that is reigning supreme. donald trump, unbridled, unmoored, untethered. i can't say intellectually. i would like to talk, quickly, about the man who is the antithesis of donald trump in just about every way that everybody had the honor of knowing him knew. it was charles krauthammer who passed away yesterday. charles was beyond an extraordinary man. a tough man in his assessment of others said charles krauthammer was the most extraordinary man he ever met in his life. a man who had a diving accident when he was young and was lying

at the bottom of the pool, unable to move, sure he was going to die. he was saved. he went through medical school, did extraordinary things with his life. you know, mika, we had an opportune toy me opportunity to meet him. it was one of the honors of my life to do that. i first, actually met him like so many million others did by reading a column of his in 1993, a commencement address he gave to the university that your father knew something about in canada. don't have time to go into it, i'll read the summary. again, in this age of trump, i thought it was relevant in 1993, it's more relevant in 2018 than ever before and this is what he ends up saying to the students. save the best. look outward. don't lose your head.

then he finished by saying, end of sermon, now go and change the world. charles rakrauthammer did. we will miss him. my god, the few of us who are still conservatives the way charles krauthammer was a conservative, we will miss him badly. >> we'll have much more on the life, the incredible life of charles krauthammer, ahead. also, the attorney general catching the president's sickness, the lying disease to lie to the american people. >> lyme disease? >> not lyme disease, lying. lying to the american people, knowing that lie will be proven by just pulling the video tape of him speaking before. >> mika? >> yeah. >> he was talking about, i think he was quoting bible verses last week saying it was jesus' will that families be separated.

in march, he was saying families were going to be separated. then he went to speak to evangelicals yesterday on the christian broadcast center saying that was never our intention. well, i don't understand what you are saying. maybe i can find another bible verse to twist from the proper context. let's listen to the sound right now. >> it hasn't been good. the american people don't like the idea that we are separating families. we never really intended to do that. what we intended to do was make sure that adults who bring children into the country are charged with the crime they have committed instead of giving that special group of adults immunity from prosecution, which is what, in effect, we were doing. so, i think it's the right thing. we'll work our way through it and try to do it in the most compassionate way possible. >> no, mr. attorney general, you

did intend to separate children from their families. here is what you said when you meant it before. take a look. >> if you don't want your child to be separated, then don't bring them across the border illegally. it's not our fault. our policies that can result in short term separation of families is not unusual or unjustified. it's really a very short period of time. having children does not give you immunity from arrest and prosecution. bringing children doesn't guarantee you won't get prosecuted. due to the apostle paul and his clear and wise command in romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because god is ordained the government for his purposes. >> willie, that was the plan and their plan was to separate. it was a new plan. i think, again, the thing that is constantly maddening to any

rational human being, any person who actually gives a damn about the truth is, you can go on twitter or facebook or get texts from friends who are trump supporters who actually pretend as if this were barack obama's policy or this were george w. bush's policy and say, well, saying all along, he couldn't do anything to change this, he couldn't do anything to change this. then, with a stroke of the pen, donald trump changed it. thank god he changed it. you can't -- you can't really even reason or debate with people who care so little about the truth. >> in this administration, joe, as we have shown time and time again, words are completely disposable. you can say one thing one day and come back the next day and say something different despite the fact it's all on tape. despite the fact it's all in the

newspaper. that's exactly what jeff sessions did. not only did they plan to separate them, it was a strategy as a tough deterrent. they were going to stop people from crossing the border by separating children. that was the goal of this all along. mika? >> now we have the effects, the chaos, the mystery behind where some of these children are, where these babies are, where the girls are, whose with them, what's happening to them. will some never see their parents again? i think there's distinct possibilities that's possible. they may never see their families again. it is so chaotic and disorganized. instructions to reunite more than 2300 children separated from adults under the policy are likely to take weeks to draft out and carry out. an administration official told "the wall street journal," as nbc reports, adults who are

intercepted receive something calls and a file number from dhs. if they are acocompanied by ther children they receive the same affile number. if they are separated, it's a different a file number. after the migrant parents separated from their kids have the cases adjudicated, after they are deported, they can use the numbers to locate their children. that should be simple for them. that's a portion of the children's crisis at the border. the pentagon confirmed, thursday, the department of health and human services requested they provide a space for 20,000 migrant children at military bases in texas and arkansas. >> so, a senior trump administration official said yesterday, 500 of the 2300 children separated from their

families at the u.s./mexico border have been reunited since may. they tell "the washington post" this, quote, we keep in touch with the parents under any circumstances to ensure placement with relatives or if the parents are released. the new yorker's jonathan blitzer reports from a mexican facility. one mom told him, quote, few of them know where their kids are. mothers are going to leave with psychological problems. none of the agents explained how they can locate their children. "the washington post" published an account from a public defender who has a hearing with a mother whose child had been taken from her. quote, one of my colleagues add the agent about the whereabouts of my child. the prosecutor objected the the relevance of the question. the judge turned on the prosecutor, demanding to know why this was not relevant.

at one point, the judge slammed his hand on the desk, sending a pen flying. this type of emotional display is unheard of in federal court. the judge said, i cannot understand this. if someone at the jail takes your wallet, they give you a receipt. they take your kids, they give you nothing? not even a piece of paper. this, from maryland, one is 18 months old. several are too young to speak to caregivers or help track down relatives to take them in. lawyers are trying to figure out how to put together a claim for 6-year-olds, 6-year-olds, who don't know why they fled their countries. this crisis is far from over. to put it in perspective, a map shows where children are being sent around the u.s. if you take a look at this, they are scattered from the texas border, places as far as washington state and up here in new york city. >> it's unbelievable. you know, the retchedness of

what donald trump has done here, and i must add, those who are supporting donald trump blindly, claiming that sending young children to places 2,000 miles away from where their children are is like sending them to summer camp. that mind set, the retchedness, you do wonder what actually happened to people who speak like that in defense of a president, john heilemann, that deserves no defense, certainly not in this case. you know, donald trump said during the campaign, famously, he could shoot somebody in the middle of fifth avenue and supporters would still support him. perhaps that is the case. perhaps. but, apparently, he can't push a

policy that tears babies from their mother's breasts while they are breast-feeding, that separates 2-year-old children, infants and toddlers and throws them into one. what one intel agent said reminds him of where we put terrorists after 9/11 and not have a fierce, political blowback. we focus on the inner dimension of this, talk about the political dimension of this. republicans are scared as hell on capitol hill. people inside the trump administration are scared as hell. it's -- i smell the fear inside of their like i did during katrina. they know something horrible has gone wrong. the question is, john, what will the impact of this be, politically? >> well, i think it's a little too early to say because the

story is still unfolding. there's no question, joe, that the president obviously, you talked about this on the program yesterday. the president never likes to climb down and rarely folded and capitulated like he did two days ago. the reason he did is for all the reasons you just said, primarily. he had, i think he was faced with polling data and intuition that correctly asserted that if republicans were saddled with this policy going forward, there were going to be maybe 100 republican congressional districts that were put in play. the house is already in jeopardy, likely to turn over to democrats in the fall. but, the political consequences of this would have turned a blue, a likely blue wave into, i don't want to use stupid metaphors like a tsunami, but a catastrophe politically, not just guaranteeing the democrats

take back the house, but guaranteeing they would take it by enormous margins. still ahead, president trump compares the migrants harrowing journey through mexico to a walk in central park. more on how he views this humanitarian crisis, next on "morning joe." ends of our friends. and we found others just like us. and just like that we felt a little less alone. but then something happened. we had to deal with spam, fake news, and data misuse. that's going to change. from now on, facebook will do more to keep you safe and protect your privacy. because when this place does what it was built for, then we all get a little closer. at bp, everyone on an offshore rig depends on one another. that's why entire teams train together in simulators, to know exactly what to do before they have to do it. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better.

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mexico, by the way, is doing nothing for us. nothing. they have the strongest immigration laws. they can keep people out of mexico. there's a 2,000 mile journey. they walk through mexico like walking through central park. it's ridiculous. they encourage people to walk through mexico and go into the united states because they are drug traffickers, they are human traffickers, coyotes. i mean, we are getting some real beauties. mexico is doing nothing for us, except taking our money and sending us drugs.

>> willie, i don't know where to start. this is now, in the past two weeks, you have the president of the united states bashing our neighbor to the north, canada, then with the fruitiest, most bizarre, sounding like a senile guy in a rest home screaming at a television turned off saying canadians scuff up shoes and smuggle them northward and try to sell them again. seriously, grandpa simpson doesn't even say as bizarre things on the simpsons. now he's attacking mexico, to the south, who, by the way, for the information of viewers, has roughly the same gdp as russia. here we are, willie, blessed with neighbors to the north and south with the longest stretch of demilitarized borders. north and south as any country on the planet and donald trump is going out of his way,

insulting our most important geographic allies. >> watch that clip again. there's real venom in his voice. this, as you peel back the curtain, this is how he feels, his deeply held beliefs about mexico and beliefs about people who come up from south of the border. this is not a rift or rant where he makes it up as he goes. we heard the first line of the speech when he came down the escalator. this is what he thinks. you know what, john? steve rattner was here two days ago with charts showing apprehensions near the border are near lows. donald trump is painting a picture of this invasion from the south, an ease su walk up through central park. if you ask people we have been interviewing at the border, the women who come with their small children to escape gangs or pull their son out of gangs or daughters out of harm's way,

they are not going through a walk in the park, they are risking their lives to get out of there. this picture isn't supported by facts. >> to your first point, you know, it is interesting that he's antagonized the canadians and the mexicans. the difference in tone is surprising. the racism, he gets mad at justin trudeau and slams the canadians. there's no anger, harshness to it. when he talks of mexicans, he talks with this grandpa simpson metes archie bunker. one thing about it, i grew up in los angeles and a huge hispanic population there. i spent a lot of time of my youth going back and forth to tijuana and i have been to mexico dozens of times in my

life. the reality of what these people go through, when you think of policy preskipcriptions, border patrol, they come because they are facing horrible life circumstances, violence, crime, terrible circumstances they are fleeing from and the journey they are making is, as you said, not just not a walk in central park, but a harrowing, life threatening thing that is deeply considered by these mothers and fathers who bring their children, full well knowing the risk to themselves and their kids because it is still a better option for them than what they face in their domestic circumstances. they are making fully calibrated, calculated life decisions understanding the risk. coming up on "morning joe," some 700 migrated kids are in new york. the children seen in hospitals here are, quote, despondent.

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president trump returning triumphantly from singapore. president trump has now accomplished what no other american president has had the vision or courage to attempt. [ speaking foreign language ] >> only days ago, president trump ushered in a new era of diplomacy. [ speaking foreign language ] >> this is something that many analysts thought was totally impossible. >> the president's continued success in his every undertaking. domestic politics, domestic trade. president trump standing taller than ever on the world stage. [ speaking foreign language ] >> donald trump has instincts.

>> i can't tell the difference between that and the reporter. >> the north korean stuff -- >> was real. yeah. she's real, too. so is lou dobbs. amazing. joining us now -- >> lou dobbs is not real. he's a -- >> okay. inside his sweater. i don't know why we are hearing that on the air. don't talk. don't talk. >> that's the audio man. welcome back. >> good to be back. >> joining us now, a reporter that's been in the front lines of the family separation story. nbc's jacob. founder of the ceo nonprofit seed global health dr. vanessa. good to have you on board. >> thank you. >> jacob, you have been trying to see what you can see inside these, what will we call them,

facilities? >> detention centers. one place they call a shelter. normally, we have a great time. over the past few days, i just got back yesterday. i noticed one of the most despicable things in modern history. i saw kids locked supervised by a watch protector. i will never forget it. i don't think the american people should forget what happened because this should never, ever happen again. it's the worst thing i have ever seen in my entire life. >> yeah. >> your reporting has been incredible. laura ingram referred to them as boarding schools and summer camps, which is disgusting. take us inside. >> it's wildly inaccurate. the first place i went is a former walmart where kids are inside 22 hours a day. they got out two hours a day.

that was luxurious. i just wish the first lady, when she was there would have been able to see that facility, not the new hope shelter, where kids are well taken care of. hhs takes care of the kids. they are social service providers. that's what they do. the border patrol, where we saw the cages a horrifying. it's 55,000 square feet on one side of parents and unaccompanied minors and a huge number were taken from their parn parents and sitting there by themselves. what happened to those kids? where are they now? some of can kids, we don't know where they are. the 500 that have been reunited, there's still 2,000 of them. >> joe, jump in. >> yeah, jacob, talk about the access that reporters are able to get to see these kids locked

in cages. what are reporters allowed to see? >> it's nonexistent as far as access. i'm lucky i was able to get in. the only reason i got the call on saturday, i left saturday night at midnight, slept on the floor of the dallas airport to get there father's day. i left my on father's day to get there. dhs wanted us there before the democrats got there. they expected a huge backlash, a barrage of attacks when they went in on monday morning. that's the only reason, in my personal opinion, that we get let inside this facility. no other journalists, no other people were allowed to lay eyes on that group of kids other than what i went in there with. >> dr. vanessa, you work on training doctors around the world to deal with their own

humanitarian crises and epidemics, yet, you want to lend your voice on this one. you reached out to us. we loved working with you on seed. tell us what is striking you and what is striking so close to home for you as a doctor, in terms of this separation story. >> it's a couple things. you know, i'm a physician. i'm also a mother. you know, when i have been holding my own children so tightly over the last week, thinking about the anguish, not only that the parents are going through, but what the kids are going through. there are years and years of data that show the psychological, physical and lasting impacts of separation of children from their families is. even if they are reunited, the kids are going to suffer a lifetime of effects from this. we are creating a vicious cycle. as we are sitting here having this debate, thousands of children and families are being traumatized. this has been one of the most

egregious exploitations of a human rights issue this administration has done. it is morally indecent and unacceptable. i'm watching this country go back to its darkest days. as a physician, my job is to nurture and heal patients. as a mother, it's to nurture and protect my children. that's what it means to be a global citizen and part of the world we will not only give to, but benefit from. this hits me in the deepest core of anything. >> joe? >> yeah. jacob, tell me, when you were describing what was going on, tell me about the people that are taking care of the kids. were you able to talk to the border agents? it's obvious they are put in an extremely, extremely difficult position right now, because of

the policy. what can you tell us about that? >> you make a really good point, joe. the border patrol agents, many are parents themselves. 50% of them are latino, themselves. i was told inside that facility, they didn't have the manpower, they were overloaded. the system was wearing thin. even if they supported the policy. when i was there, when the policy was in effect, there were only four social workers that were contractors outside this pen, basically, this cage where the little kids were. the border agents are not licensed social workers. they are only supposed to hold families and kids for 72 hours, the kids could ultimately be left up to 24 hours when hhs is supposed to pick them up. the border patrol agents were not allowed to touch them, pick them up, change a diaper or whatever the case may be. they were relying on four social workers for what could have been hundreds of kids and it is just

the manpower issue. then, also, the human issue. these are real people, too, that have to go out and execute their operators, their policies of donald trump in washington, d.c., on the ground. >> vanessa, what is your general assessment? obviously, you haven't treated any of the kids or worked firsthand with them of what the impact could be on them? the lasting impact of being taken away from your mother. as you point out, a very young child is painfully aware of what is happening at that moment. >> through the work i have done overseas and through seed global health, i have spent a lot of time working with families that have endured trauma, in one form of another, whether poverty or directly having experienced a trauma. you know, it has very lasting impacts for children in terms of mental health, depression,

physical implications, increased cardiovascular disease, hormonal changes. there's lasting effects. we also know through research that children who are separated from their families are more likely to live in poverty in the future to have social disturbances. so, when we are talking about, you know, we are effectively damaging a generation for years to come. that's going to be on us. >> yeah. it certainly is. dr. vanessa carey, we appreciate your voice on many levels on this. jacob, thank you for your reporting. >> can i ask jake one last question? do i have time? it seems to me, joe raised this yesterday, it continues to trouble me that although there have been pictures, in some cases you got access. no cameras are allowed to shoot real footage in places you have

toured and other places where there are no cameras, no pictures come out. what do you think can be done by the profession right now to try to get the accountability that americans deserve because we are paying for those facilities. >> one example, photos of girls and tender aged children in facilities in virginia and florida where there is a tour today at 9:00. i'm not going to share the pick when ypick -- pictures. it's not good to talk about photos handed out by the government until we are allowed to lay our own eyes on them. if you are not allowed to bring our own cameras in, at least we have to get in and see and give our version of the photos they are giving out. >> it's hostage video. it's incredible. it's where we are at. joe? >> again, it's something i wrote in the post this morning, talking about this situation, a conservative former intelligence

operative grimly recounted to me on thursday how much the handling of these displaced children reminded him of the cia facilities where terrorists were held and interrogated after september 11th. quote, this reminds me of our black sides except we were holding 100 or so adult terrorists for the killing of american citizens. now, 2300 kids are held in unknown locations with unknown individuals inside and no outside observation. this is happening in america and that statement came from a top intel official, a hardened conservative who believed you had to do what you had to do to get information from terrorists who find what is happening this week absolutely despicable and un-american. and this is -- they are treating

these children sites like black sites. to get in there. we don't -- we don't need to get propaganda from the federal government. donald trump's centralized state has thrown infants and toddlers and babies inside facilities. they are not letting us see inside of there. >> so, mike pence, pompeo, mattis, these are people we know know this is wrong. dhs secretary, that remains to be seen. this is a presidency that is t roton at the top. this is un-american. we will watch "the dividing line" 7:00 eastern sunday night here on nbc. up next, new york city mayor, bill de blasio is next after they use darkness to drop off

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with us now, just back from his trip to the u.s./mexico border, the mayor of new york city, democrat, bill de blasio. what did you see and what are your reactions? >> i saw something un-american. i saw you are government taking kids from their parents and not letting any of us know what is going on. what's so interesting, when you go there, it is literally a remote location, government facility where no one is allowed access. it should be eerie to democrats and republicans alike. elected officials are not allowed in. i will tell you, on the silver lining, the outcry, which has been profoundly bipartisan. i was down there with a group of 20 mayors, republicans and

democrats alike. they said it is broken and we need a different approach to immigration. i see a silver lining in that people are coming forward in moral outrage. >> yeah. >> wanting to see american values and how we approach immigration and want to see american values in how we approach these kids. also, no one took debate. the president did the executive order with the big signature. he thought that would be the smoke screen. no one took the bait. they said, this isn't over until they are back with their parents. >> even his wife didn't take the bait. melania flew to the border to ask questions. she wanted to know how the children are doing and how they are going to be reunited with their families. melania trump wants to know how her husband is going to reunite these children with their families. for some children, it may not be possible. this could be extremely complicated. since the first lady, herself, is asking, are we getting

answers? >> of course not. there's no plan. if the president wanted to acknowledge the error of his ways, put together a plan in 30-60 days, whatever it is, we will reunite the families, here is how. what is happening, mika, we have seen it in new york city, we are working with the social service providers taking care of the kids to get the kids lawyers, to get the kids, thousands of miles away lawyers, so they can navigate the process of reuniting as a family. the government is not doing it. we all, in cities around the country are trying to help get the families back together. they don't have guarantees. they don't have legal representation. >> it's incredible, jonathan, the first lady is asking questions there are no answers to. the first lady of the united states is asking the president, where are the children? how are they? how are they going to be reunited? she goes public. this is embarrassing.

he doesn't have the answers. we are not getting answers. >> you alluded to it. new york city is now playing a role here. how many, a couple quick questions, how many children do you believe are here? when did they arrive? was the government given any kind of notice that was happening and what happens to them now? >> jonathan, you are going to be shocked as i was to hear the answer. there was no notification, no facts have been given, no plan has been given. let me give you one example that the powerful. at the center of east harlem, a young boy named eddy, he fled a violent situation, taken from his mom in eagle pass, texas, 2,000 miles away, put on a bus with a federal escort sent to new york city. no sense, at all, for him when he is going to see his mom again. this is happening in this country how un-american. how are tax dollars going to

separate mothers from children and not a semblance of accountability of when it ends. no, we were never told there were kids in our city. i found out by going to the center directly, sitting down with social service professionals trying to help the kids. it blew me away. i said how many are here because of the policy in may? with absolute straight forward, they looked me in the eye, said 239 kids, at that moment, were in that center. that's one of three centers in new york city. now, what we are seeing around the country is, i talked to my fellow mayors, republican and democrat, they are finding what they thought was they had no kids, turns out they have dozens. they have hundreds. none of us have been given the facts. we are demanding of the federal government, lay out where the kids are, the kind of help they are getting and when they will be reunited with families. not a single answer. >> we don't know if they are okay. >> we don't know.

we know the health providers are telling us this, these kids, obviously, any of us, if you are a young child separated from your parent the trauma you go through, alone, is they physica unfortunately because they were in government facilities with lots of other people, some came with bed bugs or lice or chicken pox. it's incoherent, it's inhumane -- now, again what i appreciate in the moment of this crisis, what we're seeing all over this country is people are seeing something very human, very direct and intense about american values right now and are speaking up across the spectrum. this has, in some ways, brought out a feeling that maybe other outrages and crises didn't. >> right. >> there's a demand now for change. i am seeing a lot of fellow republican voices. who are saying this transcends

party. in crisis, we may see people arm in arm, democrats and republicans standing next to each other in literal common cause. >> a nightmare for little children. mayor de blasio, thank you very much. up next, president trump reflects on the, quote, very tough hand his administration was given. ng with seemingly impossible cleaning tasks? using wipes in the kitchen, and sprays in the bathroom can be ineffective. try mr. clean magic eraser with durafoam. simply add water, and use in your kitchen for burnt on food, in your bathroom to remove soap scum, and on walls to remove scuffs and marks. it erases 4x more permanent marker per swipe. for tough kitchen and bath messes, use mr. clean magic eraser with durafoam. brand power. helping you buy better. it's not theirs, it's mine. the new rx 350l with three rows for seven passengers. lease the 2018 rx 350l and rx 350l awd for these terms. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

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we have a lot of things. look, i've been given a very tough hand because i came up here, we had an economy that was going down. we had an iran problem. we had a middle east problem. take a look at what was going on in the middle east. a lot better right now, a lot smoother right now than anyone in the last eight years. one of the bad cards we're given this immigration mess. and it was made worse by all of the different contradicting and -- contradicting laws that have been passed. >> joe. >> don't know where to start actually. but let me just take it off as quickly as i can. first of all, on the issue of the day, immigration, we've said it, in fact, we've said it during the campaign, said the wall made absolutely no sense. because actually in the last 2 or 3 years of the obama administration, there is

actually a net negative flow into the united states and more immigrants going back into mexico. in part because their economy is strengthening, in part because of nafta. you can talk about our economy. we had a seven-year recovery. the last seven years of barack obama's presidency, we had a recovery, an economic recovery that has continued and let's all be grateful for that. as far as iran goes, we're in a worst situation now. i was against the its ran deal but, you know, the fact is right now it's just the iranians and the europeans now are working together and we're pushed to the side. we have effectively negotiated our way out of any relevance in the future of iran's nuclear program. if donald trump thinks running away from a problem is the correct answer, so be it. i've had so many foreign policy people predict to me at some

point donald trump will turn on north korea because north korea got what it wanted. you build up to a summit where the north koreans are sitting with the president of the united states because that sort of credibility is all they ever wanted. donald trump gave it to them right out of the gate. so if that success, then donald trump is certainly grading himself on an extraordinarily low curve. again, most importantly, the economy has been given better for seven years. it's been getting better on a straight line. you know, mika, also as we say again, this immigration crisis that donald trump talks about is made up. >> yes, no, and you really -- it does impact this humanitarian crisis, let alone immigration crisis. it does impact our national security as well, our standing in the world, as we go to final thoughts to end this week. this president has created a

negative news cycle he cannot turn over with the tweet, the lie, or the release of a stooge. it won't work. because this is much better than him. it won't take week or months to rectify. if only. this is going to be a lifetime of pain for thousands of children. and it will go down in the records of history. that he was the president who put out this cruel, humane, inhumane and deranged policy that traumatized children. and this is not one that he can turn over in a tweet or deflect with a crazy statement or have someone step up and lie for him. you see the attorney general of the united states lying. even though everybody has tape of him saying exactly the opposite. you can get your stooges to lie for you, but this negative news cycle is not turning over in a tweet or a lie.

john hellman, final thoughts? >> to go back to jacob and joe scarborough, at this moment, there's no more urgent thing in the country, urgent, then the plight of these kids. it is essential. we must get in. and i believe that jacob is right. we should not be broadcasting the propaganda video. we need to band together as a profession and do whatever we can to demand access to these facilities so we can shoot them with our cameras. >> news executives should get together today and ban together on that. >> the fate of the children is obviously paramount but the politics here, despite what the president says this morning in a tweet, republicans should abandon the idea of an immigration fix. this is not something he's going to let go. this allows him to perhaps even continue to, incorrectly, but blame democrats for the lack of progress. he'll continue to use his incendiary rhetoric going forward. >> it is for the soul of america. you're either voting for ripping

children out of people's hands or you're not. it's on us. >> so we'll end the show, joe, quoting melania trump. she wants to know how the children are doing and how they're being reunited with their families. we, the media, want to know where the children are. we want to see them. we want to see the babies. we want to know what is happening. and that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage. >> thank you so much, mika, thank you, joe. i'm stephanie ruhle with a lot to cover today. starting with a whole lot of confusion at the border and really across the country. the administration so far has absolutely no answer for how it plans to deal with or reunite the nearly 2,000 children separated now getting back together with their parents. first lady melania trump takes a trip to the border cloaked, you, you heard me, in controversy. president trump uses the crisis to hammer democrats. >> they don't care about the children. they don't care about the