thank you very much for watching. "deadline: white house" starts right now. everybody, it is 4:00 in washington. i'm peter alexander in again for my friend nicolle wallace. president trump touching down in brussels ahead of the nato summit. it's now the latest background in the president's war of words with long standing american allies. president trump spending much of this day enroute to nato, attacking nato countries. calling them delinquent for many years, complaining the u.s. is spending many times more than any other country in order to protect them.

very unfair, he writes. our allies appear to be bracing for this fight. "the washington post" reporting leaders converged on brussels, fearful of what the combative u.s. president might say or do to rupture the liberal world order, with some european diplomats privately predicting calamity. there are fears mounting on the fears of war of words. take a look. >> i have nato, i have the uk, which has been somewhat turmoil, and i have putin. frankly, putin may be the easiest one of all. >> would you say vladamir putin is a friend or foe? >> i really can't say right now. as far as i'm concerned, a competitor. i think that getting along with russia, getting along with china, getting along with others is a good thing, not a bad thing. i said that many times for many years. >> maybe the president cannot say whether putin is a friend or a foe, but his intelligence

agencies can. and they have. four concluding with high confidence that russia attacked the 2016 elections in order to elect donald trump. just last week, a bipartisan investigation in the senate concluded the same. joining us now from brussels, jeff bennett, my colleague at the white house where the president just arrived, joyce vance, and with me here, matt miller, ron clay, former chief of staff for al gore and joe biden, and michael steele, former senior adviser to jeb bush and form er speaker john boehner. nice to see you all. matt, let me start with you. we sort of describe this as the president's defiant love of vladamir putin. i'm reminded of a tweet you wrote in 2013, vladamir putin, is he going to miss america, will he be my new best friend?

>> the question you asked at the white house was so telling, this friend or foe. it shows the disconnect whether vladamir putin is a friend of the united states, and whether he's a friend of donald trump. i think donald trump doesn't look at this as whether he's a friend of the united states. he doesn't look at vladamir putin's intervention in the u.s. election as an attack on the united states, he looks at it as an attack on hillary clinton and the democratic party and something that helped him. that's why you see him not just refusing to hold vladamir putin accountable, but making excuses, denying the attacks exist, and going to europe and try to drive a wedge through nato. >> and joyce, a past conversation we had with the president at the white house, he blew off russia's invasion of crimea, saying that was president obama's failure, not vladamir putin's aggression there. what do we make of the president's continued embrace of vladamir putin?

>> the best you can say about it is that it's unusual. you would expect someone who knows that he and his associates are under investigation to avoid doing anything that could appear to make them look as though they acted with criminal intent. and here the president seems to run towards putin instead of trying to distance himself as he has from virtually every other player in this entire inquiry into russian interference in the election. >> ron, we heard the president say no collusion with russia new york collusion, no collusion. we'll get to that at some point, robert mueller will determine what the president did or did not do in the past. but the president is certainly right now trying to create a new partnership with vladamir putin. >> sure. and we had confidence that he was pursuing national interest and not his personal interest, of course the president should have diplomacy with russia and try to negotiate with russia.

the problem we have, trump is under a cloud, and if he isn't guilty, he sure looks like it the way he interacts with putin. and secondly, he's a horrible negotiator. he got his clock cleaned in north korea, and we'll be lucky, at the end of this meeting in putin, is alaska is one of the 50 states. >> michael steele, you're a republican. he said vladamir putin may be the easiest meeting i have, based on our experiences with the president and his negotiating, as a president, should we have confidence that putin is just fine? >> no. i think this is one of the biggest areas of disagreement with most republicans and the president. the president has a very particular and peculiar affection, bromance with president putin, and that's one of the things that makes everyone very, very nervous, even with the possibility of the president meeting one on one with the president of russia. >> let me give you some new reporting from "the new york times." i'll read part of what they're

reporting right now. during a phone call with mr. putin in march, when the president was urged by aides not to congratulate vladamir putin, he did just say, saying that russia and the u.s. should get along better, and described stupid people who tried to prevent the call from happening, according to a person with direct knowledge of the conversation. joyce, bringing you back on this right now. so the president wants a one on one with vladamir putin to take place less than a week from now. that means it's the president and vladamir putin and nobody else to keep on eye what happens between the two of them. >> this shows that the president is not listening to anyone on his staff. certainly no one on the intelligence side of the house. it opens up so much possibility of misconduct occurring. it leaves the united states open, you can take your pick of the sorts of untoward

consequences that could result from this sort of unstructured, undocumented meeting. >> i'm sorry to interrupt, but he called these staffers stupid. why do staffers stick around? >> the idea that they wouldn't tender their resignations after being called stupid defies relief. surprised we haven't seen it after these comments leaked. >> he says he only hires the best people. so if these are stupid people, what does it say about the boss? >> that's right, this is more telling that donald trump is about his staff. if he thinks he hires stupid people, that's his problem. really not their problem. and if the president is not willing to willing listen to hi what is the point of a team at all? the president with an uncertain

agenda, one on one with vladamir putin, alone with him, who knows what will come out of that? who knows what they'll agree to? >> we'll find out a week from now, but we may never find out. let me show you what bill crystal wrote about this, whether it was -- >> matt, your answer to that? >> this goes back to this question of motive. one of the things about trump, he doesn't have a lot of long-held policy beliefs. it's hard to see that he really believes strongly about what -- >> he believes in a relationship. >> but he doesn't care from a global perspective what kind of influence russia has on the globe. so why does he have this relationship with putin? why is he constantly buttering up to him? the best explanation is that he just likes strong men, the same

way he likes the president of the philippines or kim in korea. the worst explanation is something far darker. none of them are good. so you go to this issue of his staff constantly trying to police him, trying to keep him from making decisions that aren't in the interest of the united states, but because he's making them for some either completely inappropriate reason, you know, related to his private business dealings or something that just has to do with his love for these strong men. >> does congress have a greater responsibility here? the president's allies in congress, should they be saying, doing, standing up more? >> i think they have. and let's remember a couple of things. one, both president george bush and president obama sought a better relationship at one time with russia. the difference here is that president trump seemed willing to do that at the expense of our traditional allies in nato and europe. congressional republicans have passed additional sanctions on russia. the president did sign them.

they're continuing to hold the russian regime. >> what are the examples the republicans standing up to the president? this is richard shelby, got back from a trip to russia. he said, we could be competitors, we are competitors, but we don't necessarily need to be adversaries. it sounds like a lot of these republicans are speaking the president's language. >> this was an issue in the primaries and he campaigned on openly about a warmer relationship with russia. he won the presidential nomination. he was elected, and so he sets the tone in many ways for party. but not at the expense of our national security or our traditional alliances. most republicans on the hill are very careful to mark those right lines and differences. >> i just want to disagree with mike. they passed sanctions on the hill, but we know that the russians are trying to interfere with our lekioelections again. where are the hearings from

congressional republicans? the republicans continue to not hold the administration accountable for its lack of tough action. >> let's get to jeff bennett on the ground in brussels. you have a front row seat to all of this. now for the president, the eu saying dear america, appreciate your allies after all. you don't have that many. these allies have to be petrified by what they're witnessing. the president telegraphs it, and almost on an alarm clock, there's a new tweet antagonizing them. >> reporter: i lost track of the number of tweets the president sent today, peter, where he's lashing out against allies, really casting member nations as dead beats who respect pulling their fair weight, who respect meeting that threshold spending, that 2% gdp on their own defense. but look, talking to foreign diplomats in the lead-up to this summit, they say nato is not some diplomatic garden party.

it is the premiere security organization in europe. so when the president seems to signal that he might not have the u.s. intervene on behalf of one of the member nations should they need it, it is a remarkable shift. when you add to it this one on one with vladamir putin, there are people who are very concerned that putin will flatter the president, and that the president will ultimately give in, he'll give some concessions without notifying nato members first. remember, the president went into that meeting with kim jong-un just last month, agreeing to end military exercises in south korea without notifying south korea or his own pentagon officials first. so you have this resurgent russia that leaves russia vulnerable. you have a russia that annexed crimea, russia is accused of these nerve agent attacks in the uk, and a russia that attacked the u.s. democracy, trying to tip the election in favor of donald trump. so there are a lot of concerns

here at nato about not just what will happen here but next week in that sitdown. >> not just concerns of what happens in nato, but what will happen, i guess, just days from now. the president on the south lawn as he prepared to board marine one, antagonizing the british prime minister theresa may, who we know will visit just days from now. praising boris johnson, who just stepped down as the foreign minister, as it were. so this is going to be a week-long parade. >> reporter: it's a week-long parade that, depending on what the president says and does, could up end the past 70 years of global world order and common defense policy. so usually this is sort of a ritualistic event. you have the symbolism that will be heavy tomorrow. there's going to be what they call a family photo. lots of hand shakes, back patting. last year, the president pushed aside the president of montenegro to get to the front

of the back. we'll see if there's a repeat of anything like that. talking about putin, last year, when the president met with vladamir putin on the sidelines of the g20, he walked away, and in the face of international recur rebu rebuke, the president had to walk away. at the g7, the president suggested that russia should be invited back to that gathering. >> literally as he was boarding the plane. jeff bennett on the ground in brussels. we'll be watching your reporting. we'll fact check one of the president's tweets in a moment. but the president has proven he's not as tough behind the scenes as he is on twitter. >> there's a pattern we've seen here, he flies in with a bunch of tweets saying i'm going to be tough. he gets there, he doesn't have the knowledge base or the courage to actually stand up to

them. and as he leaves, he tweets mean stuff again. so i think we should expect some time on the ground of him being nice trump. and as soon as he leaves, the craziness will start again. >> let me show you one of those tweets from the president. >> michael, he doesn't understand the way this works. >> this always happens with president trump. he has a kernel of concern, that our allies don't hit the 2% gdp spending that they committed to do. >> this is not a lone sharking operation, this is an alliance. it's an issue, but far from the only one.

>> we in nato to defend the united states of america and our people this alliance has protected us from the threat of russia for 70 years. the only time -- the president's whole premise here is dead wrong. >> stay with us. plenty more to do. coming up, president trump's supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh on capitol hill where he's facing some tough questions, especially when it comes to his prior positions on precedence and investigations. plus, to be in the middle of that conversation. rudy giuliani spotted at the white house last night exchanging words with rod rosenstein. raising plenty of new questions today. also ahead, michael flynn is back in court, what his appearance tells us about where the mueller investigation stands right now. business up to speed,

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donald trump's pick for supreme court justice brett kavanaugh on the hill today, meeting members of congress ahead of what is sure to be a tough battle for confirmation. he is sure to face questions about how he sees special counsel robert mueller's investigation. kavanaugh, who worked on ken starr's team investigating bill clinton, warned about a sitting president facing prosecution. he views it as a distraction. democrats have pledged to do everything they can to slow the confirmation process down, including demanding more records

whether he his views whether a president should face criminal investigation. >> why brett kavanaugh? because the president is obsessed with the mueller investigation. >> he picked the one fie that has written that a president should not be the subject of a criminal investigation, which the president is right now. this seems to be of all the people the most self-serving person to protect himself from this criminal investigation. >> joining our panel, harry linden, appreciate your being here. let's go around the room. how troubling are some of kavanaugh's past comments right now? are we really into it too far, that the president was working out of self-interest? >> it seems like a remarkable coincidence. i don't think donald trump is

reading judicial opinions when he was make thing choice. i guarantee you he was aware of this. he would have had to have been. it's a thing, as chuk schumer said, we know he cares about the most. out of the main stream position that judge kavanaugh took in this law review article, he's not just saying a sitting president can't be indicted, that's a main stream position. it's the position of the justice department. he's saying a sitting president can't even be investigated or shouldn't be investigated by the justice department. if that were the case, richard nixon would have never been impeached. it was a criminal investigation led by the justice department who turned the evidence over to congress. it is a fairly radical position for judge kavanaugh to say. >> to be fair, this is what he wrote in 2009.

>> harry, you know the judge. so sort of your take on this thinking from him, this is not a legal analysis, this is his own writings about it. this was not the form of an opinion. what are we to make of that? >> it could inform the analysis. first, the point is well taken, he's making a policy proposal. nevertheless, it's the exact opposite. it's very interesting that brett kavanaugh is making it, because there are two brett kavanaughs here. this is a mea kulpa for his conduct as attack dog for judge starr in the '90s when he was doing exactly what he thinks should be prechuded by legislation. so in a way he's saying i spent time in the white house, i now understand it. but if he believes that the constitution provides the real

remedy for presidential misconduct, you can imagine us taking that a step further as a constitutional argument saying if the president pardons himself, you know, that's okay. if it's a criminal indictment, he's able to do that. the real remedy would have to rest with impeachment. he may think of it as limited in that exact ray. >> mitch mcconnell, who is going to try to keep the republicans together on this for a clean sweep of republicans, and then this is the next justice to the supreme court. he questioned elena kagan, saying she demonstrated bias. >> for the past couple of weeks, we've been talking about the first mcconnell rule that you shouldn't consider a supreme court nomination in an election year. apparently that rule is dead. in 2010, the rule was that someone who had been a white house policy adviser was too political, was too biased to sit

on the supreme court. that was the reason he said he was against elena kagan. now brett kavanaugh, who spent several years working in the bush white house in legal and policy positions in that white house, and suddenly that doesn't seem to be a factor. how it will be a factor, senate democrats, and hopefully the judiciary committee, will demand to see all the memos that kavanaugh wrote to president bush, to find out what we know about his policy and legal positions. w when kagan was dominanominated,s put on a database. >> when he was serving on staff secretary, there's e-mails to and from. joyce, one of the questions -- what are the questions democrats should be drilling down on as it relates to this, or will they be drilling down regarding criminal investigations and the like? >> i think they'll have to drill down. it will be important to do it,

because one to have bedrock issues that is at stake with this nomination is the integrity of the court. you know, we sit here and we debate as lawyers the finer points of constitutional law. but for the american people sitting and hooking at the court, they need to be able to trust in its integrity, that it is a body above politics, even though justices are appointed through the political process. so it will be important for senators as they perform their function of advising and consenting to the president's nomination. to find out whether or not this nominee is an institutionalist who believes in the law and precedent rather than simply implementing the political agenda of the groups who put him in place to get the nomination. >> what are some of the questions? can a president pardon himself? in real terms, what are the questions kavanaugh may come across his desk? >> that's a very real one that could have been. we know the sort of dance in advance on that, anything -- i

can't opine on that because it could come before me. but there's precedent for more general questions that you can probe on his views. what is your thoughts about presidential power? what is your view of whether something is good precedent? tell us about -- you've written these things about executive agencies. what were you thinking there? but he will be very well rehearsed, and he will be able to shy away from anything that can be construed as a possible question that could come before the court. >> why will it be that much harder in your eyes for this confirmation process to get through than it was for gorsuch's? >> first of all, this is the seat that determines the balance on the supreme court. in the end, the gorsuch for scalia swap didn't change the balance of the supreme court. this is the first time in 30

yea years, since judge bourque was defeated, that the balance is up again. there will be fight about the dockets about what the senate gets. judge kavanaugh is the only one of the finalists who wrote on the two topics that democrats want to make this confirmation about. a woman's right to choose, and the affordable care act. with conservative opinions on both those issues. that gives democrats a tool in the confirmation process they didn't have with judge gorsuch who hadn't written on those topics before he came. up next, new insight into how michael cohen interpreted rudy giuliani's comments about him over the weekend. my new reporting, that's next. 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.

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are you concerned that michael cohen is going to start cooperating with the feds? >> no. fkt in fact, if he wants to cooperate, it's great. we've been through all his records. i know michael. he has no evidence of, nor was he involved with anything

untoward with the president. i don't know what's involved, but i'm hoping he'll be able to convince them that this was a -- this was not a wise investigation to start with. >> the president's attorney rudy giuliani this weekend apparently daring donald trump's former fixer michael cohen to cooperate with federal investigations involving around president trump. but a course with knowledge of michael cohen's thinking is now telling me that cohen viewed those comments from rudy giuliani as effectively a threatening message, telling me "be a good boy, tell what we define as the truth, and if we don't, we're going to destroy y you." the source says michael cohen would no longer be a silent punching bag, that he's hit the reset button and will continue to speak the truth. he said this is his fourth of july, his declaration of independence. it comes as rudy giuliani is under heightened scrutiny for this, showing up at last night's

announcement of the supreme court pick, even though as trump's personal attorney, he holds no administration position and there he was side by side with rod rosenstein. our guests are back with us right now. matt, just your reaction to rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, being in the room having what sefkttiis effe having a private conversation with a man running the investigation into his client. >> i don't have a problem with him talking to rod rosenstein. he's the attorney for donald trump. the justice department's job is to talk to people they're investigating. i have more issue with rod rosenstein talking to donald trump than rudy giuliani. but for rudy giuliani to be in this room, for the appointment of a justice who may sit and decide a number of issues that are at stake in this investigation. we talked about them earlier in the show, whether a president can pardon himself, whether a president would have to submit

to a subpoena if he receives one from the special counsel. it's not just the appearance of impropriety, it is improper. >> joyce, sit possible that rudy giuliani was consulted as they came up with a pick for the supreme court? >> you know, i guess anything is possible in this administration. we heard judge kavanaugh last night saying that the president had consulted far more widely than any prior president. so i suppose that one is up for grabs, as well. >> the strategy behind these attacks right now, sort of muddying the water. we've seen the president go after the special counsel repeatedly. rudy giuliani has gone after him repeatedly, almost as if he's speaking on behalf of robert mueller. we really don't know what mueller knows, what his thinking is right now. what do you make of that? >> first, that is the huge point. all this, we have no evidence, what's going on. robert mueller will speak when

it's time for him to speak and will speak volumes. but the strategy with rudy giuliani, you know, he's baffling to me. is he his lawyer, a buddy, a policy guy, just someone who won't go away? every time he opens his mouth, to me he steps in it. he makes factual statements, legally preproceosterous claims does it in a half sinister way. it seems like he's freelancing, then it seems like he's speaking for the president. it is true that these kind of statements to cohen have a sinister tone. that's what they are intended to do. >> and again, we're hearing from michael cohen. they're taking this as a threat right now at this point. certain hi starting to sound like threats. >> i don't think rudy giuliani is functioning right now as an attorney to the president, he's functioning as a spokesman. he's the attack dog on cable

news, taking the fight to the president's enemies, which may include michael cohen. that's his role and function. the sad part, is it's working. public confidence in the investigation is going down. he's chipping away at the credibility in the public's mind of this effort. >> i think there's a lot of truth to what michael says, but really what's happening is republicans are rallying behind the president. confidence in the investigation by democrats and independents remains strong. the president is bringing his base back. the whole thing has the appearance of like a high school drama club staging "good fellows." rudy giuliani is on television making these untrue statements. he's kind of clownish. president trump tweeting these ridiculous things. in the end, this is just the overture. in the end, robert mueller will speak. it will be professional, legal, and precise. and we'll see what it is. >> now playing at montgomery

high school right now. let me give you new reporting from "the washington post" about rudy giuliani, who continues to have foreign clients. here's part of the report -- >> harry, i think this should be obvious, but why is it so problematic for rudy giuliani to represent the president and then represent all sorts of others on the side right now? >> first of all, you know, representing the president -- the president does everything in essence, and therefore, previous presidential attorneys knew they've had to withdraw. and giuliani, he's not representing foreign clients, it's the same pro-russian and ukraine portions that got manafort in trouble, a group that was considered -- call it a terrorist group. he's taking on all kinds of

unsavory engagements. and his excuse for being able to do it is, well, i'm not getting paid by the president. but that's a complete nonsek which for. >> the foreign business clients become problematic, because they may have competing interests, and rudy giuliani is effectively representing both of them before the president. and the last conversation, he said yeah, i'm still not getting paid, i'm vom lun tilunteering. does that change anything? >> it really does. . he misses many of the points. your conflict of interest isn't generated by the money relationship, it's because you are in essence working for people on both sides of the equation. and you can't represent everyone fairly. even if you're that rare and exceptional person who can separate yourself into two people and represent them fairly, the appearance is such

that you can't do that. and again, it's so important for people to have a high comfort level in the integrity of government and government function. this is a no-fly territory for any lawyer to a united states president. >> joyce, good guidance on that. still ahead, michael flynn, he was back before a judge today. does this mean he's giving robert mueller everything he needs? we're back. you're watching "deadline: white house." needles. essential for the cactus, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options.

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talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ president trump's former national security adviser michael flynn, back in court today for the first time since december, when he pled guilty to lying to fbi agents, looking into russian meddling. the federal judge today did not set flynn's sentencing date that flynn was eager to push up, his lawyer saying he's ready to get this chapter of life behind him. the charges allege that flynn made false statements to investigators about his contact with the then russian ambassador

serge kislyak, but is one of the first trump associates to cooperate in the investigation of russian interference. and now new reporting by "the wall street journal" finds that flynn has now joined a global consulting firm. his new partners say they are confident mr. flynn won't face jailtime, though they said he would need to at least temporarily step away from the firm if he does. joyce vance and the panel are back with us right now. harry, let me get to you quickly. what should we read into the fact that they have not set a sentencing date. they said hey, we're going wait a little longer here if >> although it was initiated by the government and the -- and flynn making a joint request, let's start to get the process for sentencing going, at which point the judge said, that's unorthodox, i want to see michael flynn in court and see him eye to eye. so i think we can take two

premises from it. one is, they're hm doalmost don. they envision his cooperation won't last much longer. but there's still a little more to do. >> let's drill down on this. is the end on sight for michael flynn here? >> i think the end is in sight. the reason the government -- this is just my suspicion -- the reason the government tried to move up this presentencing report, which happens once you set a sentencing hearing, michael flynn wanted a job and they wanted to speed up the process by which this ends. so don't set the date far in advance. now we see him taking a job. the weird thing about this story about him taking a job, michael flynn is not under criminal investigation anymore, he's pled guilty. one of the partners in the firm he joined is this in sordid scandal where the trump associate who was representing the government of the uae had his e-mails hacked. he has sued michael flynn's new partner 234 court, accusing him

of being involved in the hacking. so michael flynn is in some sense jumped out of the pan into the fire. >> among the clients right now, a candidateialbania. ron, to you, for michael flynn right now, what is going on here? what is he trying to accomplish here? >> only the best people. i mean, you listen to matt describe the situation, that phrase comes back. what he is trying to do is move on with his life. but he pled guilty of lying to government investigators. he had, as part of what he pled down from, charges that he had been an undisclosed foreign agent while he was the principal national security advisor to the president of the united states. in any other administration, in the history of the united states, this would have been the worst scandal any president had ever seen, and is just one more

data point on a long line of horrible data points. >> you talk about the president saying he only hires the best people. this is how the president described michael flynn less than a month ago. >> now, i feel badly for a lot of those people. i feel badly for general flynn. he's lost his house, he lost his life, and some people say he lied, and some people say he didn't lie. i mean, really, it turned out maybe he didn't lie. >> you say you feel badly. is there any consideration at any point of a pardon? >> i don't want to talk about that. look, i do want to see people treated fairly. that's what it's all about. >> he's going after the justice department. this was totally unfair in the crackdown on michael flynn. >> in his mind, he did nothing wrong. there was no collusion, as he says over and over and over again. so anyone who is being impacted by this investigation is ipso facto innocent and wrongly

accused. >> but there's a difference between the facts in your mind and the facts as they exist. joyce, what struck me is that there was an announcement from the white house as soon as the president took off from nato is he was pardoning some cattle ranchers in oregon. just this idea of pardons was reignited by that headline today. a pardon doesn't do michael flynn a lot of good at this point, does it? >> it's an interesting question. the president today pardoned people who were involved in what many will remember the bundy ranch issue, where there was a long occupation of government property by people who essentially were spitting in the face of the united states government. so is this a last-ditch signal here, trying to tell general flynn perhaps to limit any testimony he might be giving or cooperation? we don't really know. but it does at least leave hanging this idea that if flynn -- in the president's inner circle, that there's still

a dangling pardon in his future. >> it would do michael flynn some good but maybe not the president if michael flynn has cooperated. >> michael flynn has already told mueller everything. all he has to do is send him a subpoena. >> one of the people who said he lied was michael flynn. >> yeah, that's a problem. thank you very much. when we come back, the federal government is now missing the deadline set to reunite the youngest children, children under the age of 5 with their parents. today was that deadline. they're not going to meet it. what the president is saying about it is next. ch may cause trouble with recall. - learning from him is great... when i can keep up! - anncr: thankfully, prevagen helps your brain and improves memory. - dad's got all the answers. - anncr: prevagen is now the number-one-selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide.

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>> i have a solution. tell people not to come to our country illegally. that's the solution. don't come to our country illegally. come like other people do. come legally. i'm saying this very simply. we have laws, we have borders. don't come to our country illegally. it's not a good thing. and as far as ice is concerned, the people that are fighting ice, it's a disgrace. these people go into harm's way. there is nobody under greater danger than the people from ice. >> part of my exchange with the

president on south lawn before he departed for nato today, he responded to the question i was posing about why his administration is still struggling to reunite so many children separated from their parents at the border. just this afternoon, a judge ordered the administration to explain why they are blowing past today's court-ordered deadline to reunite the more than 100 children under the age of five. listen to that again. more than 100 children under five still separated from their parents at the boarder. right now the government only expected to have 38 of those children reunited by the end of today, the deadline. they are not able to locate all of those parents. it is unclear whether they will set a new deadline. joyce, to you on this, here we are weeks later and with no better certainty, no better clarity on how they're going to put these families back together. >> you know, this should be an all hands on deck kind of

exercise. these are tender age children, the youngest children who will be permanently damaged by prolonged separation from their parents. the government has incredible resources that it can martial for a situation like this. it hasn't marshalled those resources, and that's why i think we see the governor going line by line in each case. why can't you reunite this kid? where are the parents? there is a report that there may have been one child who was a u.s. citizen who was detained. the government has a lot to answer for here. >> here's what the health and human services secretary, alex azar, said on this topic a matter of days ago. take a listen. >> there is no reason why any parent would not know where their child is located. i could, at keystrokes, i sat on the orr portal with just basic k keystrokes and within seconds i understand find any child to

hook up with any parent. >> they're to the deadline and yet there are still about 60 kids without their parents. >> it's baffling to us why they can't do it, but the real scandal is this policy. this zero tolerance idea flooded the system with people it couldn't handle and separated them out. now the eggs are broken and i'm sure it's hard to put them together, but it's their mess. >> just to check what the president said to me on the lawn today, he said, interrupting the question i was asking about missing the deadline, they should come here legally. they're coming here illegally. seeking asylum, is that illegal or is that a legal process? >> there is a right under international -- well, there is a right under u.s. law to come seek asylum in the united states. >> it's legal. >> it's legal. it's one of the reasons why this country was created.

the history of our country is a place for people who are being persecuted can come to be safe and to live the american dream. and what's more, these are children under five. they didn't come here at all. they were brought here by their parents, ripped from them, and let's just be clear, there aren't 100 kids looking for their parents. there are still thousands of children looking for their parents. 100 of them are under the age of five. there are six-year-olds, seven-year-olds, eight-year-olds still separated, nowhere near seeing their parents since this process was put in place. we're going to be back after a short break.

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my thanks to nicole for letting me fill in for her, also all of you, thank you for letting me be here on this day. that's going to do it for this hour. i'm peter alexander. katy tur starts now. i hand over the reins. >> peter, thank you. i love having nicole, but i love having you a lot as well, so she's got some competition. if it's tuesday and the story is not about russia, the story is actually still about russia. >> reporter: tonight confirmation bias. democrats are zeroing in on brett kavanaugh's past