treated at a thai hospital. four more and their coach still trapped as efforts are suspended until tomorrow. >> some incredibly strong kids considering they've been through what can only be thought to be an absolute nightmare. high court countdown. the president says he'll decide by noon eastern, which means now. who is his choice among the final four supreme court contenders? >> i've not made it official yet, obviously. have not made it final, but we're very close to making a decision. and diplomatic debacle. secretary of state mike pompeo making a surprise visit to afghanistan today after being snubbed in north korea by kim jong-un whose regime blasted the united states for, quote, gangster-like tactics to get the country to denuclearize as he promised. >> we still have a long ways to go, but the commitment that the north koreans make, frankly that chairman kim personally made to president trump, remains as

we've reinforced. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. it's only just past 11:00 at night in thailand where four more boys are safe and being treated in a local hospital after 17 days trapped in a cave with their soccer team. today's massive rescue effort means a total of eight boys have now been rescued while four more boys and their coach still remain trapped in the cave where heavy rains obliterated their path out 17 days ago. janis mackey frayer is in thailand with the latest. there has somebody a lot of excitement and still trepidation as eight are now out but they have to worry about the four remaining and, of course, the coach. >> they need to also take some time to prepare for this last and what could be the final phase of the rescue mission. they've been employing a system where they've been bringing them out two at a time, but only four

per trek. so they aren't sure if they're going to have the capacity to alter that system that they have in place so that they can bring five out tomorrow. they need upwards of 20 hours where they can replenish their oxygen tanks, what they call rinse and repeat to be in a position where they can head in tomorrow. what we know from today is that the operation is gaining pace. it was much quicker today. they say that things have been going better than expected because the water level inside of the cave has actually been going down. even from the first leg of this operation, there were parts on that first day where the four boys coming out had to swim upwards of half a mile under water. now it's at the point where the water has gone down where they can actually keep their head above water a lot of the time and then make the actual walk out to the cave entrance. so there is this sense growing

that the end is soon in sight and hopefully, if everything goes well tomorrow, it will be the end that everybody has been looking for. >> janis, you've been there since the very beginning and you also were at the hospital. what, if anything, are we hearing about their conditions? the fact that there could be illnesses from being in the caves. how are the other boys doing? >> well, they're looking at a lot of different things. of course, when they first come out, they're looking at their vital signs. they want to make sure their breathing is okay. especially because the oxygen level has been deteriorating in that cave environment. they've been checking for hypothermia. now that they're in this isolation unit at the hospital just behind me, they're going to be worried about infection. there are different fungal infections that the boys have been exposed to in this cave environment. so they want to make sure that they do everything they can, that they're going to have this protected environment within the

hospital. it's why they haven't even had any physical contact with their families yet. their families have been able to look at them through the glass but could you imagine being in that dark environment for over two weeks, hungry and scared and seeing your relatives' faces on the other side of the glass and just wanting so much to hug them. so that day will be coming but they say these kids are going to be isolated for at least a couple of days until they know that everything is stable. and then, of course, everyone still watching this cave entrance to see the last of these boys and that coach finally come out. >> janis, thank you. thanks for your long duty there. 17 days. indeed. here in washington, president trump is deploying the publicity tactics of "the apprentice" to reveal one of the biggest decisions he's likely to make as president. a choice that could change the supreme court for a generation to come. theets replacement for retiring justice anthony kennedy.

the suspense much greater this time than his selection of neil gorsuch last time after the death of antonin scalia because of his role as a swing vote on the court. the final four appear to be four conservative judges carefully vetted by an outside screening group. nbc news is reporting the president's greatest focus appears to be in these closing days on brett kavanaugh and thomas hardiman, both former clerks to justice kennedy. hardiman was the runner-up to justice gorsuch last year. joining me now, nbc's justice correspondent pete williams and kristen welker, robert costa, the national political reporter at "the washington post" and moderator of "washington week." and adam white, research fellow at the hoover institution and director for the study of the administrative state at george mason university's antonin scalia law school. thank you very much. pete, set the stage for us. we understand these are the four finalists. you never know what the president might do.

how do you see the -- them stacking up in these closing hours? >> yeah, i don't even know if they know who he's chosen. remember last year the president went to great lengths to conceal the fact that it was neil gorsuch. and the way they sort of sneaked him into town. i don't know if they've done that with these folks yet. brett kavanaugh if you look at individually, he's the only one with an ivy league education. that's something president trump has said it important. kavanaugh is a yale graduate. solid conservative. 12 years as an appellate judge. he worked for president george w. bush, someone trump has frequently criticized. not sure if that's a negative for him. thomas hardiman was the finalist last year. the first in his family to go to college. he drove a taxi the summer before going to law school here in washington at georgetown. he's on the 3rd circuit court of appeals in pennsylvania where his sister served. she's put in a good word for

him. raymond kethledge. grew up in michigan. an appeals court judge for ten years. got lots of plaudits from conservatives with rulings against the irs and the eeoc. tea partiers wanted more information about groups singled out for audits. and last year wrote a book with an army officer about the importance of solitude. that's important for him. he describes himself as an introvert and solitude is something he seeks when he retreats to his office in a converted barn overlooking lake huron. and amy coney barrett, the only woman on the list. also the youngest at 46. a former scalia clerk. she's a devout catholic and questions about whether that would influence her judging have galvanized her supporters, especially after a question from senator dianne feinstein. she's been an appeals court judge for eight months. has no government experience and that could count against her this time. >> and kristen welker, when we look at the white house, what is

the mood there today? any hints as to what the president might be doing? and how do they explain this primetime decision, the announcement which is quite different from what prior presidents -- previous presidents have done. >> it is quite different, andrea, but we know this president likes to build the suspense. and the drama. and so it fits into that pattern that we've seen from this president. of course, he announced neil gorsuch in primetime as well. in terms of what the president is doing today, he's preparing for this announcement. and so is the white house. the war room getting ready to really roll out their campaign to push any one of these judges who the president does ultimately end up choosing. there's a political calculus to this. mitch mcconnell behind the scenes has been pushing the president to choose someone who can get through an easy confirmation process. and he has really pinpointed

thomas hardiman and raymond kethledge as the two people who would be able to do that. but for all of the reasons that pete points out, this is complicated. all of these folks have a very robust background. and kavanaugh is someone who has gotten a lot of buzz with hardiman getting a lot of recent buzz in these final hours. so this remains a suspense here at the white house. we're just waiting and trying to drill down on who the president is focused on at this hour. >> robert costa, is the president more likely to listen to much mcconnell about who could be easiest to confirm, or is he looking for a fight to gin up the base? >> this is really a personal decision for the president. mcconnell has been careful, based on conversations with his associates to not nudge the president in a certain direction. just giving him the political outlook in a narrowly controlled opinion controlled senate. the president is looking hard at hardiman and judge kavanaugh, but at this point, he really wants the drama of today. remember with judge gorsuch,

they flew him in from colorado on a military plane. tried to keep that secret. the president's closest confidantes tell me he's probably decided at this point. it's the afternoon on monday. but he wants to really only tell don mcgahn the white house counsel and a few others involved in the logistics. >> and they were preparing roll-outs for all four, the staff was at the white house because the president, as of yesterday, was still saying he was not firmly decided. adam white, let's talk about these potential nominees. all of them had been cleared by the federalist society. all of them are reliably conservative. are there differences among them in terms of who would be most favored by the president's base? >> it's hard to stack one against the other relatively speaking. there are good things to say about each of them from a conservative perspective. judge kavanaugh has been one of the leading judges on the d.c. circuit. a court that hears a lot of cases involving federal power and agency power. so he's built up a strong record

of judicial opinions. analyzing the proper balance of power between the administrative state and the rest of government. judge barrett has been on the court only a short time. she has a very long record of academic writings where she carefully parses the balance between precedent and constitutional text. the institutional power and responsibilities of the court. and so she would bring a different flavor to this court but more academic one that i think raises interesting opportunities in the vain of her mentor justice scalia. and then judge hardiman has won the favor of the white house and president trump through his performance in the last round of nominations. the one that eventually went to gorsuch. and i think he's come to impress conservatives with his own record on the bench, as has judge kethledge. >> does a long record on the bench from judge kavanaugh, is that a strength or weakness in that thererulings that can be pored over in terms

of the relationship between the government and the people, the role of government, the role of the state, if you will? >> it cuts both ways practically speaking. on the one hand, a long record of judicial opinions is a bonus to those who want to really scrutinize the record of the nominee and know up front his or her judicial instincts. on the other hand, a long paper trail is an administrative burden for the entire confirmation process. for judge kavanaugh, his record of judicial opinions. there's all the papers in the file of the bush archives from his time in the bush administration, and even before that, his time as judge starr's deputy in the whitewater investigation. kavanaugh comes with the longest paper trail, for better and for worse. >> pete williams, we always look forward to these confirmation hearings, but in recent years, at least they've been much less dramatic than one might expect because of the sort of recent rules of not disclosing anything about how they would rule on the

most controversial issues of the day. >> well, you can be sure they'll follow the playbook there. the rule is don't say anything that would make anyone mad or that could produce a vote against you. it's frustrating for the senators but it's what these confirmation hearings have turned out to be. the most dramatic thing comes if there's a slip of the tongue or some personal anecdote. i think of sonia sotomayor talking about how she was impressed growing up watching perry mason. john roberts saying the job of a supreme court justice is to be like a baseball umpire and call the balls and strikes. neil gorsuch was very much flawless in his performance, almost some thought almost robotic, but that's the style. that's what they've come to be. >> kristen, when we look at the president doing this, i think back to previous presidents, democrats, as well as republicans, conservatives and liberals. they've never outsourced it to

the extent this president has. >> andrea, i'm sorry. would you repeat that? i didn't hear the last part of your question. >> i'm sorry. i think you may have some interference there on the lawn, but i've never recall a previous president outsourcing at least the initial selection process to an outside interest group the way this president has to the federalist society. >> there's no doubt about that, andrea. and that group, of course, came up with that list during the campaign. so this was very much a part of what he campaigned on. and so when that first opening came up, he pointed to that list. he did so again this time around. and, in fact, he was encouraged by some senators to expand the list that he was looking at. no indication that he actually did that. what we are seeing, andrea, in these final hours, though, is you have outside groups preparing to back up the president's choice, preparing to sort of pour millions of dollars

into tv campaign ads to make sure whoever he picks gets through. and there's going to be a lot of focus on those red state democrats. those like heidi heitkamp, joe donny, joe manchin who voted for gorsuch the 50 tifirst time aro but the calculations a little different heading into the midterm. >> it strikes many people that the selection of gorsuch and the process in selecting a supreme court nominee has been the best run operation of any of the operations in this white house with all the chaos in the cabinet and all the changes and the like. is this what we're expecting again? they know how to do this? >> you never like to predict in politics. yes, the federalist society and white house counsel don mcgahn came up with the list. yes, it worked with judge gorsuch. even how justice kennedy got on the court in 1987, after robert bjork, after ginsburg go through their whole episodes.

they're trying to formalize this to keep the president focused on a list of four to five people in the last week and to let him be at the golf club, work with a few aid enes, not make too many calls. >> the bjork and clarence thomas nominations were the least successful in execution. bjork the worst, of course, example in how it all played out. thank you so much. thanks to all of you so much for kicking us off today. coming up -- gangster's paradise. secretary of state mike pompeo responding directly to north korea as the regime blasts the u.s. for using gangster-like diplomacy during high-level talks this weekend. leon panetta is joining me next here on "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us. , we walk. carrying flowers that signify why we want to end alzheimer's disease.

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secretary of state mike pompeo is on the road. he just left afghanistan a little over an hour ago. after a previously unannounced five-hour visit with political leaders and u.s. troops. some of whom even asked him about his weekend visit to north korea. where he was snubbed by kim jong-un who did not meet with him and whose regime later accused him of gangster-like demands for denuclearization. >> i am determined to achieve the commitment that president trump made, and i am counting on chairman kim to be determined to follow through on the commitment

that he made. and so if those requests were gangster-like, they are -- the world is a gangster because there was a items decision at the u.n. security council about what needs to be achieved. joining me now is leon pa net aformer secretary of defense and former cia director under president obama who was also chief of staff to president clinton. thank you very much, leon. i've been wanting to talk to you to drill down on this and some of the other breaking news on this related subjects because it strikes a lot of people that this was utterly predictable. this result this weekend. after the inflated claims from singapore. it's one thing to have a meet and greet with a foreign leader. perhaps unusual to do it with the korean leader. but to do it and then come out of it claiming that there is no more nuclear threat people can sleep at night. the president made it very hard for pompeo, really. i think weakened his hand in diplomacy. >> well, no question he's made

it extremely difficult for secretary pompeo. it's up to the secretary to really try to determine whether or not north korea is serious. i think the problem here is that every successful summit that i'm aware of developed a relationship of trust. and that trust is based on honesty. and honest discussion regarding goals and what's to be achieved. i don't think that ever took place here. i think it was all based on perceptions. i think that the president had a certain perception of what kim jong-un was willing to do, and kim jong-un had the same perception with regard to trump. but there was no substance behind it. and now the challenge is to put substance behind some kind of agreement. i think what mike pompeo has to

do is to, frankly, have a very honest discussion with north korea as to whether or not they truly are committed to irreversible denuclearization. and unless he gets that kind of commitment, they can dance around this for the next two years. but they won't accomplish anything. >> but secretary panetta, the problem here is that's exactly what he was supposed to be doing in pyongyang on this mission. he was supposed to be finding out -- this was a reality test. what your willing to do? how do you define denuclearization? what are the details behind those promises? he came away arguably empty-handed. >> yeah, no, i think what he found out was that north korea, very frankly, is not there. and from the intelligence that we've been gathering, it's pretty obvious they're doing just the opposite. they're continuing to develop their nuclear capability and

they are basically sending a clear message that they aren't that willing to give up all of their nuclear weapons. and i've always felt that was the case because, frankly, the strength of their regime rests on their ability to maintain nuclear weapons. and i have never had the sense that north korea was going to totally surrnder all of their nuclear capability. what we're doing right now is finding out that north korea is hesitating to fully denuclearize. and if that's the case, then i find it very difficult to try to see any kind of path forward in terms of working out some kind of meaningful negotiation. they can work with other details. they can try to build the relationships. i think there's some sense in that. but, frankly, the bottom line here is, will they or will they not denuclearize? that's the fundamental issue. >> now there's a tweet from the president today, and he has

tweeted that i have confidence that kim jong-un will honor the contract that we signed and even more importantly our handshake. we agreed to the denuclearization of north korea. china may be xerexerting nevati pressure on the deal. he seems to be putting this on china, blaming china for what we would argue is a retreat from the promises of singapore. >> i think the fundamental problem here is the president has treated this kind of high-level summit as if he was working with some business associates in new york and that, you know, if suddenly they said something that he agreed with, they thought they could ultimately have a deal. and, look, diplomacy, especially at that level, doesn't work that way. what normally happens is that

you have individuals like mike pompeo and others determine the substance of what's going to happen in an agreement. determine what exactly is at stake, and then you have leaders come together to confirm that. that didn't happen here. and so now, what's going to happen -- what we're seeing is that the president is going to keep trying to defend a position that he assumed was the case. and so he's going to criticize china. he's going to criticize others. he's going to ultimately say that it wasn't his fault when the bottom line is, it was his fault because, frankly, they should not have arrived in an agreement without some backup negotiations to determine exactly what both sides would be committed to. that never happened. >> i wanted -- i've been wanting to ask you another question about our troops. our immigrant troops who, according to all reports, the pentagon is now breaking the contracts and dismissing

immigrants who have signed up because of, among other things, a path to citizenship. the record that i understand from many of these troops is that they are, first of all, needed, valuable volunteers and they've had exemplary service. what was your experience as defense secretary? >> that was my experience as secretary of defense. these are individuals who were courageous, who were willing to serve our country. what better way to achieve citizenship than to be willing to put your life on the line for the united states of america. and that's exactly what these individuals have done. men and women who were very courageous. i've seen them in posts from afghanistan to iraq serving this country and serving well. i hope we stand by our word that these individuals will have the opportunity to achieve citizenship. they're good soldiers.

they're devoted to the united states of america and, very frankly, they have served well in terms of defending the united states. that's what counts. and that's what people ought to keep their eye on. >> leon panetta, a former cabinet member multiple times, former house budget chairman, the child of immigrants. thank you very much. thanks for being with us today. >> thank you, andrea. coming up -- deadly exposure. the investigation intensifying in the uk after a british woman dies from the same nerve agent used against a former russian spy and his daughter. that's next on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. it was here. i couldn't catch my breath. it was the last song of the night.

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a british woman has died after being exposed to the same type of nerve agent used to poison a russian double agent and his daughter earlier this year. london's metropolitan police are launching a murder investigation into the death of 44-year-old dawn sturgess. sturgess collapsed at her home in amesbury england, about eight miles from where the russian family had suffered their attack in salisbury. they eventually did recover.

they believe they were exposed to novichok and they must have handled a container, something that had the nerve agent on it. kelly cobiella is in london. this mystery gets worse and worse. >> it does. police are struggling to find one key piece of evidence that container that you mentioned. they don't believe that the skripals knew sturgess and rowley, that there was any sort of personal connection there, but they are working under the assumption these cases are connected. they think possibly sturgess and rowley found some kind of container with novichok inside, that deadly military grade nerve agent. possibly it was thrown away by the would-be assassin. the person or people who attacked the skripals. and they still can't say whether it was the same batch of novichok that poisoned all four of these people. until they find that container. that's the real sticking point here. but now with the death of sturgess, they say they are more

determined than ever to bring someone to justice in this case. four months after that poisoning of the skripals, no suspects, no one has been arrested. >> and while we have you there, i wanted to use your expertise on what's happening in the government in the uk because boris johnson, the -- their secretary of state basically, has resigned. there is a real conflict here and a crisis over brexit and over the strategy. i want to play a little from the house of commons today. theresa may under fire. >> to recognize the passion that the former foreign secretary demonstrated in promoting -- in promoting -- >> order, order. unseemly atmosphere. i want to hear about these important matters. i do. and i think the house should. the prime minister. >> thank you. >> the former foreign secretary demonstrated in promoting a

global britain to the world as we leave the european union. >> a lot more raucous than our congress. what's going to happen next? >> well, boris johnson is a face of brexit. he's the guy who campaigned to leave. he's the guy who clashed with the prime minister over the government's strategy. once the minister, another minister resigned overnight, he sort of had to step down as well. if he wanted to maintain that personage of being the guy that is pro-brexit. but, you know, what does happen, the question, the big, big question is will theresa may now face a vote of no confidence. will boris johnson and other ministers try to organize some sort of vote? they need 48 mps to call a vote of no confidence. if it comes to that, the prime minister's spokesperson said she will fight it. she has no intention of stepping down but a crisis point here in

the british government just ahead of a big nato meeting as well as president trump's visit. it's not great timing for theresa may. >> indeed. especially with such an unpopular reaction, at least from the brits to president trump coming. that's going to be another potential crise solic. thank you so much. double duty, kelly cobiella in london today. coming up -- mother's milk. how could thabt controversial? why did the trump administration fight a global resolution endorsing breastfeeding? the inside scoop coming up next. stay with us. then i learn type 2 diabetes puts me at greater risk for heart attack or stroke. can one medicine help treat both blood sugar and cardiovascular risk? i asked my doctor. she told me about non-insulin victoza®. victoza® is not only proven to lower a1c and blood sugar, but for people with type 2 diabetes treating their cardiovascular disease, victoza® is also approved to lower the risk

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in a move that really shocked the world health officials, the trump administration report eedly tooa strong arm approach in a global initiative recommending breastfeeding. u.s. delegates went against decades of research saying that mother's breast milk is healthiest for children. up ending deliberations over a resolution thought to be not controversial. widely expected to be approved by hundreds of government delegates. instead, backing the interests of infant formula manufacturers. based on accounts from more than a dozen participants, the times is reporting that american officials sought to water down the resolution by removing language calling on governments to support breastfeeding. when that failed, they threatened to unleash punitive trade measures and crucial military aid against small ecuador which had planned to introduce the measure forcing

other countries to retreat over fear of retaliation. the move ultimately failed after russia stepped in. russia. to introduce the issue, reintroduce it and the u.s. had to back down. let's get the inside scoop from jeff mason, reuters white house correspondent and kimberly atkins for the boston herald and dr. natalie azar, nbc news medical contributor. first of all, kimberly, we've seen lobbying from lots of big lobbies. guns and tobacco. this is primarily nestle and other breast formula operatives. we believe it's behind this? >> yeah, pushing the u.s., the administration on trade? >> yeah, the baby formula lobby doesn't get as much media attention but it's very strong. for decades it's really pushed the united states from the health and human services to the w.h.o. to really not adopt these standards that really encourage

preft d breastfeeding, despite the countries that support it. in third world countries it's really important because when formula is given and pushed into a lot of these countries you see a rise in infant mortality rates because they're mixed with water that may not be clean and people may not know the benefits of breastfeeding. it's an important initiative but the lobby is strong enough to have a strong influence over the united states and growing given these strong-arm tactics. >> you've raised some of the medical issues. let's talk to dr. natalie azar. what is the benefit? i don't think people really need to be reminded of this, but let's go over what the obvious benefits are of mother's milk. >> i think it's important to remember that the american academy of pediatrics has a very strong viewpoint on this. they do think that breastfeeding is the optimal way to feed your child for a number of reasons. there is evidence to suggest that it can improve the child's

immune system. prevent infections. there may be a lower incidence of allergy, asthma, diabetes, being overweight and also can improve the health of the mother by reducing the risk of ovarian and breast cancer. but i think importantly, the aap also states that in the case where breastfeeding is not an option, and it isn't an option for every woman, that formula feeding is an appropriate choice. that it's safe and nutritionally sound but may not offer some of the other benefits that milk does. >> and, jeff, what about these trade issues? the administration has a very checkered career, to say the least, on trade with the president's claims about tariffs and not seeming to understand aspects of this. here he's worrying about the trade deficit and about corporate interests over the medical facts as dr. azar has just explained. >> it's fascinating the way that the president and this administration have used trade as a blunt instrument.

in this case, they're using it as a blunt instrument against a small country, ecuador, over breast milk. which is fascinating. the other fascinating piece that i thought in that "new york times" reporting about this is the fact that it's russia who ended up going ahead with that resolution and they quote a russian official saying, hey, we just don't think it's appropriate for big countries to pick on smaller countries. this, of course, being russia which annexed crimea and the president -- this is happening in the context of the president about to go over to europe and meet with president vladimir putin in helsinki next week. >> and you'll be on air force one tomorrow morning. you've got so many things on your plate coming up. i wanted to read the hhs saying that the united states was fighting to protect women's abilities to make the best choices for the nutrition of their babies. many women not able to breastfeed for a variety of

reasons. she's woman shouldn't be stigmatized by supported with information and access to alternatives for the health of themselves and their babies. nobody is saying that women who cannot breastfeed should have alternatives. >> just as a voluntary -- a voluntary resolution. it did not bar access to formula. certainly recognizes that women have choices and that their specific situations. it was an encouragement for them to and information about that. about the benefits, the health benefits that the u.s. objected to. >> and, jeff, this is not the first time we've seen them use very tough tactics in these international forums at the united nations. >> it's another example of sort of attack on multilateral organizations. in this case, the world health organization but the president very early on withdrew them from the paris climate agreement. he's about to go to nato

tomorrow and he's been very critical of nato. very critical of u.s. allies in the g7. all of this is consistent with his broader approach to these multilateral organizations that have been key partners for the united states for decades in terms of diplomacy. >> dr. natalie, they've also, under the state department, have withdrawn money and support for a number of other medical choices for women, including contraception in terms of these international agreements. >> yeah, which will only add, i think, fuel to the fire. you know, we've been talking for some time now that women's health issues are always at the forefront these days. >> dr. natalie azar, thank you for joining us. kimberly and jeff mason, safe travels. you'll have a very interesting time at both nato and then in london, especially given what's happening right now with the british government. >> with brexit. yes, it's going to be a big story. >> i'll be seeing you in

helsinki a week from today. >> look forward to it. coming up, fractured families. why is the trump administration fighting tomorrow's court order, a federal order to reunite the youngest migrant children with their parents. that's right ahead on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. atme, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. xeljanz xr is a once-daily pill for psoriatic arthritis. taken with methotrexate or similar medicines, it can reduce joint pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma, and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts, and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common,

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as the deadline nears for a court order demanding all migrant children under the age of five be return to their parents. fewer than half of those toddlers are back with their mothers and fathers. government officials are asking for more time they have not located their parents. their whereabouts are not known. the assessment conflicts wiale alex -- >> there is no reason parents do not know where their kids are. >> within seconds? >> linda chavez under president

reagan and director of becoming american initiative. so good to see you. >> it has been a while. >> i was watching you closely and commentary and someone that's advocate for immigrant rights as well as border security. i don't know how we can reconcile this demand for more time to reunite. >> it is unfathomable. >> the sheer level of incompetence of this administration in dealing with this issue that you could literally take babes ies in arm that put them in other form of care and not keep track of where their mothers were is beyond comprehension. it was almost as if it was planned or they don't care. they're not treating these

people as carefully as airlines treat dogs who you ship overseas or luggage. >> which is tracked with bar codes. >> many of these people are asylums. and that is not taking place. >> the president does not want more judges hired in order to process those cases. he seems to believe they're entitled to such a hearing and it is again as if they are not treated seriously. of course the refugee policy of this administration is dramatically different than

previous administration. you know that's down 75% from the hundred thousands that we are used to seeing. it is in cocomprehensible. >> one can't figure out. >> to make an example of them so that it becomes a deterrent to future asylum seekers or immigrants. people are being given a choice. give up your rights to a asylsyr get your child back. >> many of these people do have good reason to believe that they should be released and they do fear persecution from their own countries and face incredible violence in those countries and they can make those claims and

we can either agree or disagree. during that process, they have their children taken away. some of these people may never see their children again. if they are put in the foster care system about 18 months in most places the parental rights are aborigated. those children can be set up for adoption. >> some of these kids are as young as a year old. >> we are talking about babies here. this is not the united states that most of us believe chavez, have you with us. coming up, a big buzz at starbucks, stay with us. stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill.

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and before we go, a major announcement from starbucks today, the coffee chain announcing they'll eliminate plastic straws from all of its stores in 2020 in a big effort to reduce pollution. the company will have special design lids like the one we see here. follow us online and on twitter @mitchellreports. >> chris jansing is up next. >> gangster, the latest round of the nuclear talks and more name calling as president trump gets ready to meet with our allies.

the question is now is, is he being played by kim jong-un or is he unaware or unwilling to admit. . an innocent man, restlaudy giul is defending the president, another round of television appearances. this time he wants michael cohen to testify but tells investigators when it comes to the president, they have to come to grips with the fact that they are investigating an innocent man. dramatic rescue that's been trapped for two weeks. four more boys and the coach is still stuck. we'll take you inside of the investigation. >> north korea with a complete different take on mike pompeo's meeting with north korea officials. the north is calling it a denuclearization with the u.s. regrettable and accusing the u.s. of