this sunday, breaking news. rescue workers have begun tooy pull from that flooded cave. we'll have the latest from thailand in just a moment. also, courtside seat.tr presidenp prepares to announce his supreme court choice. >> you turn in mony at 9:00, i think you're going to be extremely happy. >> demrats hope to stick together in opposition and win over at least one republican to defeat the nomination. >> it would be very difficult for me to support a nomin who did not consider roe vbewade to settled law. >> it's a fight over the direction of the court for a generation or more. my guest this morning, republican senator, roy blunt of missouri, and democratic senator, dick durbin of

illinois. plus, north korea nlear talks. north korea says the u.s. attitude is deeply regrettable, and accuses the o.s.f a gangster-like demand for denuclearization. >> if those requests were gangster-like, they are the -- the world is a. gangst because there was a unanimous decision at the u.n. security counci about what needs to be achieved. >> is this president trump's missionccomplished moment? also, the russia investigation. michael cohen says his famil d country have his first loyalty, and a senate committee agrees thaussia tried to help mr.rump win the election. my guest this morning, president trump's lawyer, rudy guiliani. joining me for insight and analysis are,sh "gton post" columnist, eugene robinson. danielle o pletkaf the american enterprise institute. nbc news senior political editor, mark murr, and susan page, washington bureau chief of "usa today." welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." from nbc news in washington,

the longest-running sho in television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. good sunday morning. we do have a lot to get to today. the troubled nuclear talks with north kouma. president s upcoming nato meeting. and that planned one-on-one witl imir putin after the nato summit. i have my interview with mr. trump's lawyer, rudy guiliani on the latest on the russia investigation and the michael cohen developments. and, ofourse, biggest of all, it's president trump's announcement tomorrow of his pick for the supreme court. the's doing t in prime time. but let's begin with a story that has the entire world's attention. and right now it looks like it could be a good new ding, at least. the effort under way right now to rescue 12 boys and tsoir er coach. they're fighting weather. the big window that the have. four have been rescued so far. bill neely is standing by right now in chiang rai, thailand. bill, what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning,

chuck. from a very rainy northern utailand. and just a few m ago, the third and fourth of those boys went past hern ambulances. so four of the 13 -- the 12 boys and their coach now in the hospital receiving medical treatment. they came down theh jungle p in ambulances. the first twoust a few hours ago. and let me bring you right up to ate. becaus we speak, there is a news conference going on with the rescue commanders. first of all, confirming four children are now free and in the hospital. they say 90 divers inll took part in this operation. 50 international divers, 40 from thailand. ten were at the very apex of this operation. tet w into the -- really, it's a ledge rather than a cave, where the boyra have beened for the last two weeks and one day. and theay itworked, according to the rescue commander, was that one div p one boy literally underneath him as they

we went through the submerged sections of that cave. remember, even now it's possible that there are boys walking or wading or even divg through this absolutely treacherous cave complex. the divers put each of the boys actually beneathhe this has all happened faster than anyone expected, tee hours faster. he now says they have used all the oxygen tanks, and they have to resupply those tanks. so this remains an ongoing operation with nine people still to be got out. d it is still a very perilous journey, because they are going alon what is potentially a death trap. remember, just a few days ago, a highly experienced thai navyed diver collapsed ask died. so stillda a vererous operation for these boys deep down. and the commander launched this operation, saying this is day.

's either now or never. there is no better time. oxygen levels were falling inside that cave. as i said to you, rain falling, as well. there was a torrential downpour a couple of hours ago. so there was a red line for the commander. beyond which they couldn't pump the water out fast enough as this rain thatat fell. so the operation is ongoing. the boys are being taken out two by two. we expect that this could be c overtainly within 24 hours. and four boys now being treated we don't know what condition they're in, and we don't know exactly which boys are out. but an extraordinary operation. >> wow. >> reporter: going on as we speak. chuck? >> bill neely, thanks very much. now joining me is republicar senato blunt of missouri. he's a member, of course, of the republican leadershi team senator blunt, welcome back to "meet the press." >> good to be with you, and good to hear those boys are getting out of that cave.

and hopefully today will be good news for them and all of their families. >> sometimes it's juste n cover a good news story. let me begin in asia and north korea. mike pompeo was there this weekend. seems like the meetings did not go well. i'm sure there are some people thinking, i told you so, when it comes to north koreans. you were skeptical. you were on here right before when the summit wasannounced. you were skeptical. the president tweeted, we have nothg to worry about within 24 hours of the summit. 26 daysll later, they're g the americans gangsters. >> well, yogi bear grew up in stlouis, missouri,nd this is dejavu all over again. this is standard operating procedure for three generations now of dictators and north korea. and iope we at the end come to success. but i think nobody should be surprised by foot-dragging. nobody should be surprised by saying one thing and then apparently that's not what maybe they meant to say when they said . this is -- this has troubled now four u.s. presidents, and i hops

ent trump and secretary pompeo are more successful than anybody has been up until now. >> and i've got to ask -- let me play -- this was the president within hours after meeting with kim jong-un. >> wre going to denuke north korea. it's going to start immediately. s,as soon as he arri he's going to start a process that's going to make a lot of people very happy and very safe. i mean, he's denuking the whole place, and he's going to start very quickly. i think he's going to starte no. theyetting rid of a missile testing site. they're doing so much now. so it's a process, and it's really moving rapidly. >> you know, just the -- is this the naivete of a first-term tpresident? >>nk he's optimistic about anything he is involved in at the time. at the same time, i think whato you've got look at here is actions. and as long as the actions continue to keep the economic pressure on north korea, actions here will speak louder than words. and only those kinds of awiions ultimately bring north

korea to the place we would like thce to be. >> s the president gave -- we gave a lot to the north koreans. international prestige, that moment. is it time for the uted states to -- they threw a high hard one at the united states by calling us gangsters. is it time for the president to an, okay, the military exercises with south korea are back on? >> well, i thought it wasmi ake to give the military exercises up. as you know, when i was on here the last time,ne i said the thing i wouldn't give up would be our presence, ncertainly, south korea. i'd hate to give up our ability to actly interoper with our south korean allies. and the president and the secretary mattis, secretary pompeo have to reconsider that, i would think, at some future time. particularly if these negotiations appear to be going on for a long time. and that's what you would he to expec from the north koreans, is, again, fo-dragging, standard operating procedure, let's see e can ch world attention get. and then at the end of the day, bw much economic assistance the

north koreans wou able to get. >> so the president stopped the hay talkpublicly? is he his own worst enemy here? under-selling, under-delivering? >> ihink what you've got to look at is actions as opposed to his optimism about coming up with ainal solution. i hope the president sticks with the sanctions and continues work with others in the neighborhood to maintain the sanctions a well. that means japan. that means south korea. that means china. >> all right. the president has another tricky summit coming up with another authoritarian figure. this one by the name of vladimir putin. are you nervous, considering how th kim jong-un meeting went, where the president gave a lot more than what was expected, including getting rid of the military exercises? are you concerned, for instance, he's going toang crimea to the russians? well, i would hope not. i would hope not. i think the russian discussion about bocrimea, ukraine generally, particularly the eastern part of ukraine, where e torly the russians conti

have military forces there. what's happening in syria and iran. i think it's fine to talk to the russians, but the presishnt ld clearly understand that neither the russians nord nor dictators like kim jong-un are going to be charmed b anybody. they are very cold-blooded,in calcul putin would be in that category. >> i was going to say, both kim jong-un and vladimir putin seem to have an idea of what they want out of these summits. does president trump know what he wants? >> i think he's surrounded himself with aretty goodeam. >> does he listen to them? >> i hope so.eo po bolton, mattis, all should -- and general kelly all are giving him the right kind of advice. i think he's comfortable with the team he's put around himself for the first time in his presidency, and hopefully that will show u t inse talks. >> i want to ask you about seven of your republican colleagues went over to russia. six -- most of them from the appropriations committee. no democra was with them.

why? well, i think there's merit to talk. >>oo this like russia's attempt, though, to get rid of sanc ons. >> welpefully, it doesn't work in that way. and i don't think it will work in that way. i think there's nothing wrong with talking to thean rus there is nothing wrong with the president talking to putin, there's nothing wrongh w my colleagues talking to the russians. but you've just got to understand who you're talking to. these are people who run a dictatorial government. they're people who are exerting allhe the influencecan, everywhere they can. and they don't have many resources, but they're making the most -- >> were you invited to go on that trip and you declined? >> i did not go on that trip, but i was going to be n missouri for 4th of july parades and reopening the arch, and had a lotea of things a scheduled. >> there's a report this morning that your leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell, is recommending to the president of his four finalists for the supreme court, hes belieat raymond

kethledge orhomas hardiman would be easier. and recommending he go in that direction. where are you? >> i'm looking to se who the president nominates, not trying to anticipate who that might be. i haven't talke to the president about this, nor have i talked to senator mcconnell t it. but i think we can confirm any of the four names being mentioned, shall there are reasons to look in both the pennsylvaniava- the pennsa and michigan nominee -- >> that's kethledge andha iman. you lean more towards there? >> i'm not sure i'm leaning anywhere on the fourne no. i think they'll all be -- they're good judges. i think they would be fine justices of the supreme court. asi do think the presidento think about who is the easiest to get confirmed here. and i expect we'll do that on sort of a normal timetable of a couple of months. >> your colleague,gr lindsey am here last week says he believes roe is essentially settled law. he believes in precedent and wants to see a nominee that also believes in precedent.

where are you on this? >> well, i think these judges, which everyone has nominated, should follow theg ginsb strategy, which is no hence, no foretelling -- century.he 21st i think the american people should know, no? >> you don't think the norious rbg standard is good enough? >> that's -- this is the 21st century, where we expecting everything -- >> i think we expect judges to judge the case that before them. i'm not a lawyer. this is maybe a pretty gooo month not a lawyer. but precedent is important, but precedent is not the oy thing. we have had bad precedents that were reversed after decades. >> that's not a nonstarter for you. >> what is not a nonstarter? el the idea -- that if somebody doesn'tve in that -- >> i think judges need to look at the case, the court needs to t the case and determine that case on the facts of the case. >> senator roy blunt, i have to leave it there. >> good to be with you. >> thank you for coming on and sharing youviews. joining me from the other side of the aisle and actually from the state next door in

chicagoti is democ whip, the number two in the senate, dick durbin of illinois. senator d welcome back to "meet the press." thanks, chuck. >> got the illinois/missouri rivalry right in front of me here. let me startith the supreme court. mitch mcconnell has said he would like to see it go in the directionf thomas hardiman or raymond kethledge, believing ey would be les controversial perhaps than the other two. what's your assessment of that, sir? >> before i get into that, hearts and prayersbore with thos in thailand trapped in the cave. i hope our hearts and prayers are also with thousands of children, toddlers and infants, removed from their parents by under mp administration zero tolerance. they're trapped in a bureaucratic cave, too. so let's not forget but to your question, all of these nominees have been precleared by something called the federalist society. this is aroup thatooks carefully at each one of the

nominees to make certain they can check all of the boxes when it comes to the most conservative political agenda in america. so whoever is nominated by the president, i was told by the white house, they'll come off that list. leonard leo,he leader of this group, is the one who made the key decision. >> so what i the democratic party strategy in the senate? you have -- you canat do the you know you have 49 democratic senators. first let me ask you this. is everybody going to be united? >> i can't that until the president announces his nominee. obviously, each senator understands this is an histori decision. it will decide the future of this court for a generation or more, and so i know they'll look carefully at each nominee. i lln't predict how of my 49 or 48 colleagues in the senate on the democratic side will vote. i will tell you, though, simple john mccainou, if is absent, it's a 50-49 senate.p onelican senator can decide the fate of any supreme court nominee. >> in 2016 -- i'm going to play

a quoou of in september of 2016 about that -- thesu other eme court vacancy that we were dealing with back then. here's what you said. >> in a few weeks, the supreme court will start its new term justices. we need nine. major legal questions hanging in limbo because the court is deadlocked on 4-4 votes. >> there's been some talk among some of your colleagues for democrats to push for a delay until after then. elect obviously, you didn't like that in 2016. where are you on this? >>well, i asked senator mcconnell when kennedy made his announcement whether he was going to be consistent. he said during the cou the vacancy at the end of the obama presidency, let's wait and let the people decid in an election. many of his colleagues came to the floor on the republican shee and saideople of this country are going to vote. they'll decide the future of the supreme court. well, i asked senator mcconnell, are youoing to use the same standard this go-round? and obviously, he is not. theet result of that, of

course, is we are going to move forward quickly to fill the vacancy, and i think it's pretty clear senator mcconnell was seizing theme , stopping obama from filling the vacancy with an extraordinarily qualified man. >> i understand, but where are you on this now? do you want it delayed? i understand you want to point out hypocrisy on mcconnell's side. but there's hypocrisy on your side on this, too, right? do y i think -- ifwas wrong to delay in 2016, is it wrong to delay now? >> well, come on, chuck. get real. senator mcconnell invented this new rule, and wouldn't even consider a meeting with merrick garld and now says we have to hurry through. totally inconsistent. the net result ts he's tryin play to his political advantage. >> what did you guys do wrong in the merrick garland situation? if you could redo it, how would you do it? >> i'm not sure we could have changed it. when it reached the pointhere the senate republican leader refused to even meet with the

nominee of president obama, a man extremely well-qualified, it ixs clear that the was in. they were going to keep this vacant in hopes they could put a republican in the white house. it happened. now neil gorsuch, chosen by the federalist society, as well, has ne to the bench, is voting in lockstep on the republican conservative side. and they want to fill this vacancy to give them an advantage onny future rulings. >> i've got to ask you, though, now goingve backwards before garland, let's go to the harry reid decision back in 2013, when you decided to scrap it for everything but the sreme court. the filibuster. there were predictions this would slippery slope, a here we go. in hindsight, mistake? >> i think at that time harry reid faced an impossible decision. they had announced -- the republicans a not fill the d.c. circuit court of appeals, which is a critical court,econd only to the supreme court in its importance. they were facing all of these filibusters dayfter day,

jurist after jurist, and harry reid made this decision. he did m fe an excepti the supreme court, which mitch ell swept away. chuck, let me tell you, though. we look at this decision in general terms tnd talk about process. but let's get down to the heart of it. this supreme court is going to decide whether or not people and families withcoreexisting itions can have access to affordable health insurance. that's it. it's real. and it's a constitutional challenge by the trump administration this court will face. >> right. >> this court wl decide the future of women's health care. and the freedom of women to make choices about the future their families. that is a critical decision this court will fhee. so beyond procedure, beyond the gamesmanship, it is a life and d death importaision to be made by this court on so many issues. >> and yet you have this political dilemma that stares i think you and chuck schumer really in the face as the two leaders, which is this. staying united to stop thepr e court pick could cost you red state senators.

not fightg it as hard might allow the red state senators to get re-elected and gettremocrats in c of the senate. that's your dilemma. >> it is a dilemman one respect, but not in another. i will tell you, the men and women that i work with on the democratic side really take this seriously. they understand it's an historic decision. it's about more than theext election. it's about what country the united states of americain is to chart as its course in the future on this supreme court. think each and every one of them take that seriously, that personally. it goes beyond theon next elec >> all right. and final question. of brought up the issue trying to reunify these kids with their parents, the migrants at the border. a crurt -- the administration is trying to buy more time. the court doesn't look like they're going to give them that more time. what's the recourse, though? if the court says, y know, no, you're not living up to this commitment, it's not like you hhn put in jail or something. what is the actual >>recourse? can tell you this.

what we see in this process, forcibly removing children from tharents at the border, and then putting the adrift on a bureaucratic sea where they can't even find them.hi if you take a into a hospital for treatment, the first thing they do is strap aa et on the wrist to make sure they aren't lost in the hospital. it is a convergence of cruelty and incompetence that brings us to this moment. and now a judge in san dgo -- >> how do you enforce it? sayinghe administration we only have so many resources? >> i can tell you they have the resources to get it chuck, this is not an accident. this is a policy of deterrence to stop future flow, to be mean to these kids and their families, to say tothers, don't even try it. and that to me is cruel. it's not what america is a about. >> senator dick durbin, i have to leave it there. democrat from illinois. senator, thanks for coming on and sharing your views. much appreciated. >> thanks.

>> by the way, nbc news will provide live coverage ofum president s supreme court announcement tomorrow evening at 9:00 eastern, 6:00 p.m. on the west coast. later on the broadcast, we'll talk to president trump's lawyer, rudy guiliani. next, the fight over the supreme court and a reality check on north korea. the panel is next, so stick around. i wa able to turn the aircrafound, a, and was able to save two men's lives that night. my first job helped me to grow up pretty quickly. that'll happen when you're asked to respond to a coup. in 2001, i signed up for the air force. two days later, 9/11 happened. l.this is your wake-up c if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion.

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they thought someday it could become fuel and power our cars wouldn't that be cool? d that's why exxonmobil scis not small at all. energy lives here. welcome back. panel is here. eugene robinson, theuru e ief of "usa today," susan page, daniepletka, and mark murray. welcome, all. let's stt with supreme court. what we're learning this mornint is tha senate republicans have a preference. they would prefer less of fight. raymond kethledge. thomas hardiman. susan page, those who are two mitch mcconnell refers, essentially, kavanaugh is too

much of a paper trail, and amy barrett would spark a culture war. >> he is associated with the last republican president, right, with george w. bush. who knew that would be a liability with the next republican president? the argument for barrett is the same for and against. she'd spark a culture war. some republicans think it'd be great. the question is, will president trump think that, as well? she's 46 years old. that's an assena her to the court, she's confirmed, she could be there four decades. >> eugene robinson, let me put p -- each one of these has a conservative concern about them. sort of, as susanentioned with brett kavanaugh, it is the bush connections. one calledim the low-energy jeb bush pick. kethledge, i think,is called an open border zealot. barrett iscu thure war.

is that good or bad? a seems conservatives have way of killing any of them. >> what are they suppose --what are they looking for? an iron-clad guarantee, in writing, that we will uphold the entire conservative agenda, as you see it, by the way. not as other conservatives migh it. i think if conservatives take a breath and look at the candides, they'd see,hey're all really conservative, as far as we know. as far as we can tell from anything they've written. there's nothing i've seen pointed out in any of their writings that indicates they're closet liberals. when judges get to the supreme court, guess what? they take their job seriously and actually look at the cases. sometimes they don't decide in a way that their prior idealogical leanings would indicate. >> markury, thomas hardiman, i think, has an advantage over all of the others wi president trump, for one reason. >> yeah. >> his relationship with the

president's sister. explain. >> yeah. those relationships do matter, particular we wily with preside trump. the aument also for thomas hardiman is he doesn't have the paper trail. to me, the biggestio que about the supreme court pick is who ends up having the most pressure on them? is someone like susan collins and republican senator lisaow mui, or is it the manchin, democrat of west virginia. the rdiman and kethledge are not big paper trails, more rists, and the pressures would probably be op the donnellysand manchins. if rrett, it could be pressure on collins and . murkows >> the president, i suspect, doesn't really care whether it is a win ot. a fi he wants somebody who he can sit down and have a beer with. isn't that what the reporting said yesterday?

>> that's notmy barrett, apparently. we're told it didn't go well? rs i have no unnding of why it might not have gone well or what the president is asking each of thendividual nominees. i think he said the right thing. they're all conservatives. they've all kwa they're all qualified people. the fact someone has a paper trail shouldn't be diskwaul f disqualifying. they're serious about the law. >> eugene, what kind of fight do they need to put up in order to make t voting issue? it seems it's never been a voting issue for the left the way it is for the right. >> i don't know the supreme court is ever going to be a voting issue for the left as it is for the right. unless and until roe v. wade is overturned. then it might be. roe is really what sparked, i hink, the conservative -- not obsession, because it is real, but the conservative focus on

the supreme court. >> yeah. >> the ft that that is a voting issue for so many consthvatives. then issues hang off of that. i think roe v. wade is the centra trunk of that tree. t think it's going to ge there unless something happens to roe. i think they do need to fight because the base expects them to fight. even people who are now going to vote, they're excited, they want to see afight. >> they want somebody to climb the statue of liberty. >> isn't part of the problem here that the democrats are stuck in the last decade? they want this. they're trying to make this a fight about roe v. wade and abortion. that's not what this is going to be about athe end of the ay. what's interesting to me is that the courts have become so important in the last few years be congress stopped doing anything, because thee execut branch was under siege by obama and trump. it surprises me democrats

don't want to get to the 21st century and recognize the power of the courts. >> this is a good thing for republans in the short term. this is going to help them with turnout. either way, they'll have a big fight. republicans and conservatives both on the court. watch out what your wish for o the long term. if you are credited with overrning roe v. ade, or with accepting a lot of new state restrictions on abortrin ts -- >> with five men, by the way, doing it, especially if it is not amy barrett, right? >> you could pay a cost with women voters, with millenials who are clear where they stand on this issue. over the long m, this could be the seeds of problems for the gop down the road. >> this all comes down winning elections. if the republicans have been much better in recent elections democrats have been, you ask, you know, senator durbin, at was the biggest mistake democrhs made wit merrick garland? it was get iting mitchto mcconn ake over the senate. democrats held on to a majority, you'd have supreme court justice garland.

being able to win in mid-term ections and presidential elections gets you control of the court. >> exactly.d. >> okay. but, what does joe donnelly do? he's the only one of the three that has a democratic base towo y about. >> i'm veryuch in terms of winning elections being what mocrats need to do. they're out of power. they're out of the white house. theye out of control o state legislature. they need to win elections. you let joe donnelly vote however hes to vote. >> if the choice is -- >> cortez, you know, she would vote her way. she can have her issues. let joe donnelly have his and vote his way. >> we have a lot of foreign policy to cover. i can't wait to hear what danielle thinks about what happened in north korea we'll be back with the russia investigation with president trump'slawyer, rudy president trump'slawyer, rudy giuliani.my mom's pain from

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♪ can i get some help. watch his head. ♪ i'm so happy. ♪ whatever they went through, they went through together. welcome guys. life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you. welcome back. there were two pretty big developments related to the russia investigation that flew under the radar this holiday week the first was the official

report from the senate intelligence committee supporting the conclusionu.of thre intelligence agencies, that determined that onald trump was helped by the russians in the 2016 election. the other story was the apparent chge of heart by president trump's former personal lawyer, michael cohen. cohen once said he'd take a bullet for the president. this week, told abc news, quote, to be crystal clear, my wife, my daughter, my son, and this count have my first loyalty. joining me is the president' current lawyer, rudy giuliani. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you very much.to happe with you. >> you'd said the fourth of july was basically a deadline of sorts, for you to determine mewhether or not you'd rec president trump sit down with robert mueller. it is now past the fourth of july. ere do we stand? >> well, i think we're pretty much decided where we are. we await the dision of the independent counsel. we wnduld not recomn interview for the president unless they can satisfy us, that

there's some basis for this investigation. it is our firm belief, and we think nothing contradicts th t, th president did nothing wrong. all the leaking that's gere on, s been no leak of any fact that says the president conspired with anybody in ss . i know from having been on the campaign, there was no contact oth russians, discussion with russians. we've got to see something. i mean, somethng started investigation. what we're asking them for is, is tis the witch hun that a lot of people think it is, or is there a factual basis for this? you did the big, long counterintelligence investigation, which seems very, ve questionable, with very bias people who hated trump and wanted to stop m. what did they find? show us something.el r has been at it for 13, 14 months. 1.4 milliondocuments. 29 witnesses. what did he find? is there somebody o says there cya meeting where trump

discussed conspio do this? there's nothing. >> actually, mr.e mayor, in public record, and you and i had a discussion about one of these, in the public record, we have the president admitting that he misled the "new york times" on the donald trumpr. statement when it came to his role in the infamous trump tower meeting in june of 2016. you saidhere's nothing. this is a public record of the president contradicting. i know it is not a crime for the president to lie to us in the media. however, how is that not itself probable cause for mueller to want to question the president? >> well, because the fact is, also in the public record is the conclusion of thatmeeting. that is, nothing was done about it. the person came in under the guise of having inftmation ab clintons, but also to talk about adoptions. all she did was talk about adoptions. >> wait a minute. first of l, we don't know that. >> we do know that.

established.'t been the story changed three times. >> no, no, no. >> how are we sure? look, your own legal partner here in the president's team, jay sekulow, misled me. you said he didn't intentionally do that. i take your wod. >> he dn't. >> i take your word at that. somebody misled him then. clyournt may have misled him. >> they already have all these facts. they can do with them what they nt. they don't need -- i can tell them that the testimony will be exactly the same as he said about this. >> which part, what he said in the public record? we don't know what he said privately. >> he has had an opportunity to think about it, to refresh his recollection. he's given a statement about it. it is clear that there was no discussion with him about this. and, nothing happened from it. >> what's the president afraid of? he's not afraid to sit down with kim jong-un or vladimiputin. why is he afraid to sit down with robert mueller? >> the president is anxious to

testify because he knows he's done nothing wrong. it's us, hisla ers, who have real hesitation about it. look how bias the people who started this investigation were. >> you think robert muellers a biased man? >> i think he is surrounded by biased people. almost exclusively. a guy o donatr $30,000 to hillary. he has someone who was cing at her loss party, whatever you want to call it, and he was the lead investigation who i ggoing to jail. the fbi agent who said, you have to stop trump. i meanhas there will been an investigation of this magnitude with souh ob indications of extreme, disgustingbias,with totally corrupts the process? can i expect these people to be objective about donald trump? >> it sounds like you think robert mueller is corrupt. >> i do not think he is corrupt. >> you're alleging then that he was willing to have -- yma're

ng allegations that he was willing to have corrupt fbi agents on his team. >> well, no, no. that's a fact. he had abi corrupt agent on his team. >> he fired him. >> he put him on the team. >> he got rid of him. >> after other people found out about the corruption. he never bothered to ve him properly. he remains with the chief, assistant, and several others very close to him, who have extraordinily close ties to hillary clinton. if we'd not lookedt the other guy's texts, we wouldn't have known how much hehad trump. maybe they shouldte see ths of other people working for him. but we're willing to do they can satisfy us that there is a bases for this. john dowd started this in january. since we started it, ge don't an answer. i'm sorry, chuck. as a lawyer, it makes me suspicious. please be clear. president trump wants to testify. have to hold him back. the only thing they've been --

wee been able to do is, it fecomes easier as evidence of the corrupt naturehis investigation becomes clear. >> let me ask two other yoquestions. arconcerned michael cohen is going to start cooperating with the d? in fact, if he wants to cooperate, it is great. we've been through all his records. michael. there's no -- he has no evidence of, nor was he involved in anything euntorred with president. michael has been a victim here, like a lot of other people. >> you want michael cohen to cooperate with the feds? you think it is a good development for the president if he does? yes. it'll lead to nothing. mueller gave it away. if this had any chance of leading president trump, don't you think mueller would have kept this? i have every indication there is nothing in this investigation that has any ability t touch the president. i think if michael testifies, o cooperates, i don't know what's involved, but i'm hoping he'll be able to convince them that

this was not a wise investigation to start with. >> the president is going to be latting down withmir putin in just over a week. he's at the center of al of this, the senate report out there. i mean, he has bn an influence to the campaign. apparently, it was approved by vladimir putin. as the president's lawyer, would you recommend your clientdo sittin with the person who is sort of at the center of this russian investigation by bob mueller? >> well, one thing as a lawyer, another as an ameccan izen. i'm interested in foreign policy and the safety of america and the world. he has to sit down with vladimir putin. vladimir putin happens to run one of the most powerfulun ies on earth. probably has the second or third biggest nuclear arsenal. >> right. been very aggressive. on the other han hasshown himself willing to negotiate. i don't think he has a choice. i think it is a sign of how confident the president is, that he didng wrong. he's not going to be stopped by this. mean, this is the reason the investigation -- >> you don't think he's ham

strun hamstrung, if hewi capitulates putin -- doesn't it put him in a box, that either way, won't seem genuine? >> as his lawyer, i'd like to say yes. it is a good argument executive privilege. they're interfering with the president and presidency. however, if you know donald t trump, it's oing to stop him one bit. any moreulhan it w stop him from doing any other thing. he's ready to tryo regularize things with putin. putin has to meet him more than halfway. to udy giuliani, i ha leave there. >> thank you, chuck. >> thank you for sharing your r.ews. much appreciated, >> thank you. when we come back, our growing trade war with china. who wins? who wins? who gets hur us. who wins? who gets hur it's what this country is made of. but right now, our bond is fraying. how do we get back to "us"?

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neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works in just one week. with the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce wrinkles. neutrogena®. welcome back. data download time. esident trump kicked his global trade war up a notch, targeting another 1,000 plus chinese products this week. the economy has been strong for mr. trump. a mbooming stockket and low unemployment. the impact of this trade war is going to startin hi american consumers in the coming months. you may also know these folks by a different name. voters. look around your home.

a good 20%,n one five, of the furniture and household items you see has a made in china label, according to a 2011 report from the san francisco fed. now, go inside your closet. the number is closer to 36% when you add clothes. tariffs being slapped on chinese goods by the administration will be passed on to the consumer. the company doesn't pay it. we do. it'll likely take a few months for consumers to feel the pain. here's some of t specific chinese products where you could see a price spike. remote controls, batteries, tool sets and usb drives have been targeted, though it is unclear what that dollar increase will be. remember, they're parts of other bigger products. imported solar panels could go up between $500 a 1,000 per installation. the price tags for home applia appliances, like mini fridges, water coolers and thermostats, are predicted to go up as much as25%. notably, some consumer favorite items, like flat screen tvs,

were takenff the tariff list after public outcry. if this trade lingers on, tvs could be included in another round ofif t on chinese products. on top of this, president trump is considering a 25% tariff on all foreign cars. thatould cost consumers an average of $5,800 per vehicle. the impact of these cost would be much broader than china's targeted tariff on soybeans that we talked about a few weeks ago. present trump's greates eest strength has been the free. according to a cnbc poll from last month, president trump's approval on the kpeconomy is 51. s,me american industrike aluminum and steel, are expected to benefit from this trade war. it's conmers right now who are paying the price. the problem for president trump as he pursues this strategy, he risks damaging a strong economy in trt term which has kept

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>> announcer: "end game" brought by boeing. continuing our mission to prnnect, tect, explore, and wspire. back nowh "end game." okay. as i promised you, danielle, north korea. 26 days later. the president told us we had nothing tory w about from nuclear weapons from north korea. there are a lot of people this morning inking, i told you so. >> yeah, well, i think those people are right. the president came into office campaigning on the fact that the oba administration signedn iran deal that was the worst deal ever done. it was flawed. the iranians were e cheating. esident pulled out of that deal this year. ngw, he is tal the way barack obama did. even more liberally, i would say, about north korea, without anyacts to back him up. the problem here is very straight forward.re thedent says denuclear

lie,denuclearize and he means one thing, and kim jong-un means another. >> he thinks we should denucl r denuclearize, right? >> he doesn't mean, i'm going to take apart the plans i am working on, the missile centers, nuclear plants. they have been expanding and working on those in the last week, as secretary pompeo was winging his way over to pyongyang. >> just to note, in the iran deal, obama did get virtually all the material removed from iran. take it out of the y,coun the bomb material. it's gone. whereas, in north korea, they continue with the development of their nuclear program. their missiles, you know -- this was never going to they talked, at least, which is someth many years.'t done in i think it is probably a good thing. >> the surprisin headline in the world, north korea talks not

come to fruition. i think you see after a year and esident n office, p trump's foreign policy coming to fruition. you see less concern about our the itional alliances with nato summit coming up. you see a friendlier attitude toward russia. this is a president who has left his mark on t u.s. role in the world. >> all right. as george said, the north korea summit was a disaster, iin what do we think is going to happen with vlir m putin? let me play president trump's greatest hits when it comes to putin. >> he's been a leader far more than our president has been. it is better t get along with russia than not. president putin really feels strongly that he did not meddle in our electio you know at? putin is fine. he's fine. we're allfine. we're people. >> nato allies a already nervous about this meeting. they're already offended that m theeting got planned after the nato summit, exactly the way vlad mimir puti

would have wanted >> contrast that rhetoric with the rhetoric about trump on the nato allies. you need to pay up. you're killing us on trade. there is the split and contrast thatas a lot of people, at least, pause. the least with trump meeting putin in helsinki is his continued denial of the interference in the election. despite other members of his team, pompeo, other people in the nationale intellige community, said, yes, they did meddle. the president still doesn't admit it. >> is he going to hand them crimea? >> i hope not. i really do. >> doesn't it look like they're setting that up? k >> i donw that they're setting that up. i don't think there's anybody on thedepre's national security team who is going to recommend this. i think they're explitly going to say, mr. president, you cannot be okays.ith t

agree to disagree. >> do not congratulate. will they write it? >> first of all, let's be fair. one hing, we expect more of our nato allies than we do of the russians. it is important to acknowledge that, in fact, our nat allies don't spend enough on defense, and they deserve a lot of criticism for this. i'm not going disagree with the president on that, although i don't like his tone and ike don't he contrast. but the crimea thing highlights something much more important this is this awful meeting of the bernie brop and the tr people, on this question of eating away at other country sovereign. oh, it's fine. what do we care? crimea, they have a lot of russians anyway. bernie sanders took that position. president trump takes that position. i n't understand why it is that the center and the center left are not more forcefule on issue. >> putin comes into the meeting having already succeeded, he has a situation where there is less pressure on crimea ands a, behavior in both places. he comes out of a nato meetinga

s divided, and a president who is friendlier to him than any u.s. president has been to a russian since wrld war ii. it'll make for quite a week. starts with the supreme court. ends with putin. unbelievable. thank you all. thank you for watching. we'lxt be back n week. as we said, it is a busy week coming up. if it'ssunday it's "meet the press." >> announcer: you can se more "end game" and "post game" sponsored by boeing on the "meet the press" facebk page. duke'sfos the perfect companion.

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