. >> joining me for analysis, amy walter from the cook political report. hugh hewitt, host on the salem radio network. nbc news political analyst elise jordan. and joshua johnson host of 1-a on npr. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. well, it turns out it wasn't somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds. even before friday's indictments of 12 russian intelligence operatives for hacking the democrats during the 2016 campaign, four u.s. intelligence agencies had already weighed in. the fbi, the cia, the dni, and the nsa all of them had concluded that russians interfered in the 2016 election and they did so with the goal of helping donald trump. in fact, you can view the russian hacking of democratic e-mails, opposition research, turnout models as the watergate burglary of the 2016 election. the political crime of the 21st century. now, as in 1972 it's the penetration of the dnc by hostile actor then it

and amy walter, from the cook political reporter. nbc news' elise, and hugh hewitt. want to start of off from the new yorker. most experts ie spoke with w resigned to trump being outplayed by putin. i'm afraid he told me that our guy here is li an amateur boxer going upgainst muhammad ali. >> we heard from the ambassador that it's just a meeting. so it's not a summit. >> hang on. we went from summ to meeting to detailed conversation. >> so already we know where this is. let's fe it. putin has already won. it's not simply that the into his s going over part of the world and having this sit down-o and one-. but the fact is that after these indictments what a president yoould be saying to ev, not just to putin, but to the american public writ large, russia did this to divide us. russia didn't do this simply to make sure somebody won and lost. they did this to make sure we lose trust in the political system and the institutions and that's not going to n.hap we are america. we may be of different parties, we have different views. but we're a united america. that's what i'

amy walter, susan page, thank you very much. you're welcome. >> woodruff: so this confirmation fight will soon consume capitol hill. as we have been hearing, senator majority leader mitch mcconnell said he would like the new jthustice ocourt at the start of the new session, that's in october. senator cory booker is a democrat on the judiciary committee and joins me now from capitol hill. senator booker, welcome to the "newshour". what's your reaction? >> i'm a little surprised that beis was the piccause i guess, if you look at all the people on that list, he literally selected the one person who has a pretty good written record of saying, hey, if you are a president under tvestigation, i don't think you should be allowbe in a criminal investigation. the one guy who could in many ways indemi fy'him of the many challenges donald trump could see go befo the supreme court. can he pardon himself? can he be the subject of a criminal investigation? there's a whole bunch of issues within this mueller investigation that might be decideid

we're joined by amy walter,al natiditor of the "cook political report," and susan page, washington bureau chief for "usa today." amy, welcome. we don't even have a nominee yet but we're already debating the nominee's poitions on issues. >> of course, john, this is where we live now.to we don't havhave a candidate to already have battle lines. we know this in this polarized environment we pretty much know how most peb meers of the senate will vote regardless of who the nominee. is so the actual targets in terms of vulnerable or senators who could flip their vote is very narrow, that is why we are talking so much about a handful of democrats in red states wh are up in 2018 and then a couplr publicans, lisa murkowski from alaska, susan colins fromxt main, the eal fight and i think this is a fietd that will go beyond the nominee and ybe even beyond the vote is is defining the terms of the debate around what this. is you alrdy see democrats talking about this, this say referendum on roe v. wade and on access to health care, for republicans they wanto make this referendum on the quality and qua

a perfect time for politics monday with amy walter of the "cook political report" and susan page of "today." hello to both of you. it's "politics monday." at least it's been a storm of criticism and controversy, but the president doubles down. we have new tolls. let's show the audience numbers. among democrats the approval rating for the president is on among 9%. among independents, 36 approval of the president and how he handled the russian meeting. among the republicans, sky high, 88%. amy, what does this tell us about the voters right now? >> yeah, and this is his overall job aprarovaling, so what it tell us is kind of what we've seen pretty much for t entirety of this presidency. the ovprall apval rating of this president doesn't move that much. it blips up anre down hend there, but especially in 2018, it's prey stady between 39 and 43%. so big things happen, not big things happen, the numbers sort of stay the say. but that number you pointed out that tpublicans united behind the president, this thing people so spend so much time look at. when are theups going to abandon this pres

amy walter, susan page, politics publi"politics onday," thank yo. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: we've become almost inured to the sight: thousands of refugees afloat on the mediterranean, trying to cro into europe. in recent years, a growing number of nigerians have joined this migration. an fact, nigeria is now one of the most drous places for young people who often fall into the hands of human traffickers. william brangham recently traveled to benin city in nigeria to see what's driving so many young people to set off on this desperate journey. >> brangham: this is ehenlyn ? >> yes, this is evelyn. >> brangham: the story o modern-day human trafficking niten begins in neighborhoods like this, in ruraria. places where young people likeog jogbon's daughter, evelyn, dream of a better life for their families-- and give up everything to try d find it. a year ago, evelyn was a happy and ambitious student fishing her last year of high school, but then she disappeared witho warning. days passed before her brother stanley's phone rang. >> i was shocked to see a libya number. who is this? she

trail,m on the campaign i hear families wanting to talk about health care, amy walters' vote for thes tax plan that will worsen housing affordability prices. they want to talk about the repeal of environmental protections. that is where the conversation is. shery: yes, the key question will be, will democrats be motivated enough with all of those ongoing issues to actually come out and vote in november? we saw huge increases in turnout in the primary. it was an open primary in california. republicans declined, but independent and democratic voters turned out, and we are competing for all of the votes, not just democrats. we know all orange county families are hurt by mimi walters' terrible vote on the tax plan against our interest with the health care plan, so we will reach every voter we can because they will be hurt by the policies.what about the supreme court nomination process shery:? you expect it to -- shery: what about the supreme court nomination process? katie: i think a lot of families are concerned we make sure we protect the woman's right to choose.women's health care is

. >> i think it was amy walter who tweeted something to the effect of this is 2018 in a nutshell, this president back-to-back breaking into the bachelorette with a supreme court pick. i want to read to a piece ruth marcus wrote this week about roe v. wade. of all the potential supreme court nominees the president is considering, the one who seems most inclined to undo kennedy's work, is amy barrett. she has the shortest paper trail, her academic writings are the flashing neon sign, i'll do it. this is already a court that has proved its willingness to overrule in convenient precedence by a single vote, adding barrett would pose a clear and present danger to abortion rights. >>> so, ruth, kind of explain where you're coming from here especially people who may see she's the only woman on the short list. why is she the biggest threat to abortion rights? >> it's important for us to understand that you can be a woman and a pro-choice -- i'm sorry, you can be a woman and oppose abortion rights. and many women do. so -- and it would probably be politically easier for a court majority with a w

with me in studio to share their reporting, cnn's dana bash and amy walter of the cook political report. why is the question. a pre-midnight tweet from the president of the united states. all capped, shouting at iran, shouting to the world. we do know he was coming back from bedminster. >> there's a host of possibilities. one possibility is it was just a distraction ploy. he's had a bad couple of weeks, especially last week in terms of headlines. this is one way to shift the attention of the media, get us talking about something else. the other possibility is he's trying to run a play, a foreign policy play that in his mind has been successful. that was the north korea play where you demonize and ratchet up the rhetoric against iran only to then, you know, sort of create a crisis that you then sort of come in and try to solve. i think bolton is sort of suggesting the latter. the evidence seems to suggest maybe the former since there was no evidence that this was sort of something that was being discussed at the white house that we know of before this. but i think we'll have to sort of s

amy walter and tom rogan, commentary writer for the "washington examiner." s white house is feeling and hearing from republican lawmakers and farmers in the midwest. this seems like at least one check on the board to kind of move the relief. >> i thought that was a really good piece that you played about one of the farmers saying i don't know if this is going to come in time, i don't know what i was supposed to be planting, i don't know if this is an election ploy, what are we supposed to do, so it's pretty clear that the white house getting that message both in the package that they announced the other day, the $12 billion or bailout for these farmers and then an agreement to make an agreement about something in the e.u. and the president of course hyping the word soybeans a lot. when we first heard about the e.u., what most people were waiting to hear about one's auto tariffs. instead we heard a lot about soybeans, which suggest that the real focus is on the farm belt much more than on the e.u. >> bret: charlie. >> when you want to ask about china operating

first up judge andrew napolitano and amy walter, national editor for the political report.ge, first i want to get your take care. there was some pushback from conservatives that this pick really doesn't fire up the base. your thoughts on this? >> i am part of that pushback. it doesn't fire up the base because of some missed opportunities that judge kavanaugh had when he sat on the court on which he now sits. doesn't fire up the base because of a very, very significant about unleashing the nsa to capture metadata and content without a search warrant, and it doesn't fire up the base because it comes from the establishment, which the president used to call the swamp. he's not the outsider that the president promised and delivered with respect to neil gorsuch. he's a guy, with the exception of his seven years at yale, has spent his entire life within a mile or two of where he's going to be working come october. it's not the fresh blood, it's not the new face, it's not the change that we thought donald trump would deliver. >> bret: is it safe, judge? >> yes. i think it is safe.

geoff bennett, amy walter and dan balz. okay, saul, i want to start with you because i'm trying to understand to see if you have an idea of what you think michael cohen's strategy is this week and what -- in trying to get the very public attention of the special prosecutor? >> i really don't know what his strategy is. i think it's just as likely that he's still trying to get a pardon as it is that he's trying to get the southern district or mueller interested. i mean the southern district -- typically what happens in a case like this, when the u.s. attorney's office is investigating a case, when they feel that they know enough, they call up the defense attorney and say come on in and we'll tell you what we've got and you can tell us what your guy can offer us. my understanding is that southern district has not been ready to talk to mr. cohen yet, so it's -- as other people have pointed out, it's very weird if you want your guy to be a government witness, it's very weird to be going out and talking about what he's going to s

. >> brangham: judy, to talk about the politics surrounding this and more, we're joined by amy walter, national editor of thepo "cootical report," and susan page, washington bureau chief for usa today. good evening. >> hi. so we still don't know who the president has chosen for his nominee to the supreme court, buthere's already a huge political fight brewing, a lot of political crourrents. currents. amy, take us through what you've seen so far. >> the first isow difficult o easy it will be to get the nominee through the process, getting the arings and a vot before the midterm elections. i think regardless of who the presidentics p, republicans will rally around the person. there may be one or l twoike susan collins or senator murkowski could defect, but i think you will get all republicans on board and thmoe is muc pressure on democrats from red states, three at least under intee.e press so this seems more likely than not that whoever the nom going to be a unifying figure for republicans, will make it through the prloocess. ho it drags out and how contentious is hearings are will be