effort is under way to explain president trump's stunning comment that he'd be honored to meet with kim jong-un. president trump called kim jong-un a pretty smart cookie for holding on to power and north korea moves full speed ahead with its nuclear weapons program and a u.s. missile system goes operational in south korea, the president says nobody is safe from the north korean threat including u.s. troops on the front lines in south korea. he adds that even u.s. citizens at home are at risk if north korea gets long range missiles. also breaking, after opposition from gop conservatives killed the first effort to replace obamacare, a revised republican health care bill is now facing strong resistance from gop moderates. vice president pence is up on capitol hill trying to save this latest version but the latest count shows it's in big, big trouble. and in a rambling rant, president trump seems to stick to his claim that he was wiretapped by president obama saying it's been proven very strongly, but then he says, and i'm quoting him now, i don't stand by anything. you can take it the way you want

was his uncle trying to assume power and over throw kim jong-un and that's why kim jong-un killed him? >> i have no idea. who knows why this guy does what he does. i don't know what the reason was behind this. this is a man who has assassinated generals of his own military using an anti-aircraft machine gun. that is as brutal as it gets when you're going to conduct a purge. so whether he's sane or inseaan this is a man who's very dangerous personally and professionally and you have to take him that way. >> the decision the president made, he phoned the philippines controversial president duterte and invited him to come to the white house. there's a lot of controversy. a lot of commotion. i'm sure that sean spicer is going to be asked a whole bunch of questions about this. given the record, the human rights record that duterte has and some of the comments he's made about the former president and other americans. your reaction? >> duterte is -- he can make a corkscrew look straight. that he should be given the benefit of going to the white house is -- i mean, this is the people's house.

whether that's vladimir putin, duterte, kim jong-un, and that's very disturbing.his is the president of the united states. you know, talking about being flattered, having his ego stroked by people who engage in such violent terrible behavior, and want to do harm to us. so i just don't understand, when is the president going to learn that every single word he says has meaning. and it affects how our allies abroad see our commitment to them to protecting them. and this is just a perfect example of that. how do you think people in japan and south korea feel when the president of the united states says he would be honored to meet with a man who want to kill them. who wants it destroy them. again, it is so disturbing. what other word can you use to describe it? >> the white house press secretary said meeting presidential meeting with the philippine president duterte is in the national interest precisely because of north korea. do you believe that president duterte could help when it comes to dealing with north korea? as you know, the president in that interview over th

>> our winner is kim jong-un who craves attention. ld be honored to meet kim jong-un in person and the president's spokesperson said that kim jong-un managed to lead his country forward in both words of praise i don't think he deserves. my losers are the airline industry for reasons we discussed, particularly delta who thinks i'm in fort myers, florida, from the flight they canceled of mine three weeks ago. [laughter] >> my winner is -- everybody needs to watch this video. she is showing off her new prosthetic leg and all of our friends are adorable. the video was posted by bbc midlands, please do not miss this. my losers are the house republicans passing a bill nancy pelosi style to see what's in it. for democrats on the floor talking them with the "goodbye" song, bad all around. >> my winter is jeff sessions for not getting police officers in the alton sterling in louisiana who was armed at the time, by the way, the news agency seems a little bit hesitant to report that fact. -- to appease activists, pandering active -- my loser is s

he can turn on the dime and the next day say he can't stand kim jong-un. at this moment i think he thinks that's part of the courtship of getting kim jong-un to do what he wants. how do you see it? >> absolutely. he's definitely trying to charm him and give him some begrudging respect and standing, as you said. that was telegraphed last week when he was saying he was 27, a tough fight for power after his father died, the regime, not an easy thing to do, smart cookie and it would be an honor. there are a couple of things here. that is a strategy. that, i think, is happening because in the absence of any real signal from china that they are doing it to help. we've seen coal shipments stop from chinese. we're not seeing this great help from china that president trump was expecting from his tremendous relationship with president xi. as we await on china who is not interested in the collapse of the regime in north korea, i think he is trying this tactic of sort of flattering kim jong-un. when he got to the words, i would be honored, that becomes very problematic

but i do believe that people in north korea revere kim jong-un. and i believe that the idea that somehow we could -- or that somehow they could rise up against kim jong-un, if the situation in north korea became so dire, i think that might be a hollow hope. i believe that they consider him a god king and they truly revere him as their leader. that's just based on what i've read in the press and reports of reporters who see the north korean people start to cry, all of this, get emotional when he comes out on stage. they seem to be real tears. i think that he has a hold on his people, that they're not going to rise up from beneath and topple him. >> you know, again, i think your perception is much closer to the situation on the ground. but anything we can do to either raise questions, i don't think they'll prompt an uprising immediately. not only questions among the population, but questions among the dear leader, kim jong-un, that his people are being sort of influenced or there might be elements within the country that are thinking and embracing ot

it's one thing to say you would meet kim jong-un or detear day. they're different leaders. but kim jong-un, to say he brought his country forward, you can make the argument, he brought his country backward. there's untold people in political prisoner camps. >> over the last week or so, he has managed to cement himself in power with unprecedented violence by north korean dictatorship standards. there's the famous story with the aaa anti-aircraft gun, mowed down the opponents. like the uncle, the military behind the scenes. strong man and other opponents. he has cemented his rule by this incredible fear and violence. and even the president of china, we read, when he was talking to president trump, in mar-a-lago, had only negative things to say about kim jong-un. and kim jong-un hasn't been to see the president of china. to be frank, nobody outside of north korea really knows who he is. but the idea of meeting with -- well, that's not completely out of left field. you remember president obama did that at one point. said he would meet this person, that person and the other. but

and also asked about north korea and kim jong-un, and donald trump saying earlier today to bloomberg that he would be honored to meet with kim jong-un. not surprising considering he said the same thing on the campaign trail. what was surprising for many was the use of the term "honored." sean spicer asked about that and he, multiple times, also asked about donald trump's affinity, it seems, towards authoritarian leaders, and he came back to the same talking point chls clearly understands the threat that north korea poses, even when he was asked about president tuterte to the white house. duterte has been accused of a number of human rights and the suspended drug dealers in his country. we have a lot to break down. we have former congressman matt walsh to talk about it. guys, he is walking a tight rope out there, and going out and using words presidents tip coal don't use. an honor to talk to a dictator. these are not things we're used to seeing considering the u.s. tries to take the moral high ground when it comes to upholding human rights around the world. >> right. >> does he do an

christiane, it's one thing to be saying you would be open to meeting kim jong-un, or duterte, they're different lieaders, but kim jong-un, to argue that he's brought his country forward, there's argument that he's brought his country backwards. >> to be honest with you, ever since kim jong-un came to power, which is five years ago, almost to this last week or so, he's managed to cement himself in power with almost unprecedented violence. there's the famous story of how he potentially with a aaa anti-aircraft gun mowed down the military chief, and other opponents. so, yes, he has cemented his rule by this incredible fear and violence. and even the president of china, we read, that when he was talking to president trump in mar-a-lago had only negative things to say about kim jong-un. and kim jong-un hasn't even been to see the president of china. to be frank, nobody outside of north korea really knows who he is. in terms of meeting with him, that's not clear. you'll remember that president obama said he would meet this person, that person and another. but obviously every diplomat knows

, isa described the leader there, kim jong—un, is a smart cookie, as he put it. that he would be willing to meet with kim jong—un if the circumstances were right, even going as far as to say that he would be honoured so to do. well, the white house very swift to play down any suggestion that any sort of meeting might be imminent between the two man. and meanwhile there are those who are saying that this is just a sign of and incoherent policy on the heart of the administration, and is only likely to lead to confusion. incoherent policy, but there are those saying who this latest move by mr trump, he wants to keep his adversaries off balance. in terms of having this meeting with kimjong—un, terms of having this meeting with kim jong—un, what would be the conditions imposed on pyongyang for this meeting to materialise, if ever? well, they would have to drop their commitment to these ballistic and nuclear weapons. that is one thing, for sure. you talk about president trump playing his cards close to his chest militarily, and he actually made that point in an intervi

is he trying to appeal to kim jong-un to butter him up so that the tensions will deescalate. you heard sean spicer even say during the briefing that, look, kim jong-un is someone who rose to power at a young age in had his country. he's moved his country forward almost as if he was doubling down. >> i think missing in some of this is the context. it's not like he won a free and fair election. it's not like he's moving the regime forward at all. there are people starving. this is hardly a praise worthy leader or situation here. so it's an interesting choice of words, choice of discussion. i'm not sure it if it's by design or not. it's certainly raising eyebrows. >> like you said, people starving there. north korea has been open about wanting to destroy the united states. let's talk about duterte and this invitation that president trump has extend ed to him to come to the white house. here's what sean spicer had had to say about that. >> did the president know about the comments and his record in human rights. >> the president gets brief ed. the number one concern is to make sur

three officials whose body language and behavior toward kim jong-un are different from the other northby who genuflict in fear. >> job security is what their body language indicates. they can feel comfortable enough with kim jong-un to give bad news. >> cnn is told rival intelligence agencies are watching these three men carefully. they are supernovas in kim's inner circle. the men behind the missile tests. >> at some point they are going to put together north korea's intercontinental ballistic missile. >> a missile that will eventually have the range to carry a nuclear warhead to the u.s. mainland. >> translator: kim jong-un is keeping these techo crats right by his side. it reflect his urgency about missile development. >> of the three young men, a former air force general, has the most important role. >> set one that provides kim jong-un with the situational awareness. he is the eyes and ears of for kim jong-un in the development in research of nuclear weapons. and conventional weapons. >> analysts michael madden is consulted by intelligence agencies on north korean leaders. he said

journalists are the enemies of the people, but he would be honored to meet kim jong-un. "the lead" starts right now. president trump tells congress to get the quote damn health care bill passed. could this be the week, and does the president even know what's in the bill this time? for that matter, does anyone? president trump today saying he would be honored to meet where north korea's despoddic dictator and that's not the first murderous and maniacal dictator he's opened up to in the past day. and more sexual harassment turmoil at fox. fair and balanced coming up. >>> good afternoon, everyone, everyone. welcome to "the lead." the rules of the senate are designed to make sure that the minority party is able to exert some influence regardless of which party is in charge called the filibuster dating back to the early years of congress. it's part of the american system of checks and balances, but frustrated by his inability to pass any major legislation in congress, president trump is now starting to talk about changing those rules as he threatened during the campaign. >> t

dogs. >>> president trump's surprising comments to bloomberg about not ruling out a meeting with kim jong-unirring controversy and confusion. press secretary sean spicer tried to clarify the president's remarks. >> how could he be honored to meet with kim jong-un? >> the president understands the threat that north korea opposes. he will do whatever is necessary under the right circumstances to protect our country from the threat they pose. >> how could that be an honor? >> i guess because he's still a head of state. >> joining me now jeremy peters from the "new york times" and msnbc contributor. and jennifer jacobs, bloomberg white house reporter who interviewed the president. jennifer, what was it like sitting with the president and hearing him say he would be honored to meet with kim jong-un. >> we were a little surprised to hear him say that. he wanted to say it. he was expecting the question a little bit. he made that clear. before he started speaking he paused. he said, north korea is causing all manners of serious troubles. then he paused for a full seven seconds and said, if it would

kim jong-un is different. it irritates the chinese leaders. the confucius society of respecting our seniors and elders, they expect that. he is like a renegade, arrogant teenager that refuses to talk with them. nuts.ives them it should. he is their neighbor and they have been his protector for many years. be so disrespectful and unengaged from the chinese leadership, it is not helpful for them and is concerning. that is why they are willing to challenge and now, when in ways they weren't before, or challenge his father. host: in 2013, a story looking at the ship held by north korea, ueblo, a u.s. electronics ship. virginia,o dan in democrats line. caller: can you hear me? host: go right ahead. caller: i thought it was disturbing enough when we found chinese parts in the ocean where north korean rocket crash landed . it is disturbing because china is undermining our economic partnership with them militarily. howhe event of a conflict, ?hina will react economically if they will cut off food supplies to north korea and military equipment? guest:

out, you're going to embolden north korea, kim jong-un. i'm concerned about it but if it does work, i think there's a clear message. bottom line, trump's rights. we need china to get on board fast. >> eboni: in this tweet, very deliberate coming from president trump saying what is disrespectful to you, china. you are trying but is eric right? does china need to try harder? >> ben: that's why donald trump is no longer calling them a currency manipulator. north korea and kim jong-un becoming bombastic, much more -- that's why what happens north korea is so stabilizing what donald trump did regarding nato. we need our allies more than ever before and i understand we pay over 3% of our gdp. we need our allies to know where we are coming from.

what can we do about kim jong-un? another deck day over north korea? it's a complicated question. >> i would give him a decent haircut. jesse: how would you deal with kim jong-un? >> city wouldn't deal with him, to be honest. jesse: what should we do about kim jong-un. >> we should take kinds people like yourself and myself and give him a hug. jesse: if we hug the dictator, he will kill us. >> if you buy me a flight to north korea, i'll be the first one happy to give him a hug. jesse: how do you think the president is handling the north korean crisis? >> is he taking care of it? >> trump promised he would take care of america first. let's take care of things here. he's crazy. he doesn't know what he's doing. the. jesse: how does trump deal with kim jong-un in. jesse: rough careful with your hair? >> it groves out of my head this way, all natural. jesse: do you think we should send dennis rodman to north korea? jesse: how would you stop north korea from nuking up? >> i think everybody needs to take a little load off and light up and maybe have a cocktail

it's always difficult to assign motivation when it comes to someone like kim jong-un, especially when like kim jong-un who may not be the most rational of world leaders we have seen. but all that said, however, the north koreans have tended to favor anniversaries, strategic dates, summits, fourth of july of july, for example one year in the united states to do these type of tests. i do not think it's a coincidence we're seeing this launch so close on the heels of inauguration of -- >> i have to stop you there. we got to go. thank you so much for that information. we'll continue to follow this breaking news out of north korea all night long here on msnbc. we'll go back to our program right now. >>> since the president fired the director of the fbi, james comey, three days ago now, we've now got multiple reports that the fbi's investigation of the russia issue, the russian attack on the presidential election last year and the question of whether or not the trump campaign was involved in it somehow, we now have multiple reports that at the time that the fbi director was fired by the pres

opening a door to a meeting with dictator kim jong-un. if it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, i would absolutely. i would be honored to do it. no sitting president has ever met a north korean leader. >> this is probably the most brutal dictator in the world and it would elevate his status well beyond what's deserved. >> reporter: president trump crediting kim jong-un for being a survivor eliminating rivals including his uncle. >> so obviously he's a pretty smart cookie. >> reporter: mr. trump defending his white house invitation to another brutal leader, the president of the philippines. who could help the u.s. isolate north korea even though he is widely condemned for ex-cuting people in his own country. >> there is a huge aspect into this. it's a balance. >> reporter: the president also creating confusion at home, misstating one of the key changes of the republican health care plan with a vote as early as this week. >> preexisting conditions are in the bill and i mandated it. i said it has to be. >> reporter: in fact, the l

president trump has said he would be willing to meet the north korean leader, kim jong—un, despite weeksf tough talk against the pyongyang regime. in an interview with bloomberg, mr trump said he would be honoured to meet mr kim in the right circumstances. in a separate interview with fox news, the president himself reverted to a stronger line. he called north korea's stance on its missile programme inflammatory and very threatening to the united states. he said he would take action if he had to. barbara plett—usher has more. during the election campaign, donald trump said he might be willing to sit down for a burger with kim jong—un. but the drop that notion of burger diplomacy after the north korean leader declared he was working on a missile powerful enough to hit the united states. you do you have to do, and you don't talk about it. so when people say, i was asked a question yesterday, exactly when would you go in? at what time would you go in? i mean, it is ridiculous. i don't want to talk about it. i can say this. he is very threatening, he isa say this. he is very threatening, he

we heard in barbara's report there that he referred to president kim jong—un as a smart cookie, and nowat he would be willing to negotiate with kim jong—un directly. he would be willing to meet him, and would be honoured, in fact, to do so. now, the white house very swiftly had to say, well, this is not imminent, and there are no plans to go ahead with this. but it has led to some saying that this sending of different signals, if you like, is rather confusing, and it demonstrates a sort of lack of coherence, as far as the trump administration is concerned, in its dealings with north korea. now, the white house very swiftly had to say, well, this is not imminent, and there are no plans to go ahead with this. but it has led to some saying that this sending of different signals, if you like, is rather confusing, and it demonstrates a sort of lack of coherence, as far as the trump administration is concerned, in its dealings with north korea. that particular word, david — does the north korean leader, who starved and imprisoned thousands of his own people, threatened to destroy the united s

he won't talk to kim jong-un. he's a crazy die who wants to see people dead and likened himself to hitler, hitler killed 3 million jews and it was 6 million and he feels he can kill 3 million of his own people and he came and said that. >> you have someone like president chi of china. look at the human rights violations in china going on, yet we're practically begging china to help us out with north korea. >> yes. i'm not saying we should never meet anybody we find unpalatable. there are lots of countries in the world we disagree and systems we disagree. i think duterte is beyond the pail. i don't see anything positive. you can deal with people that may be distasteful if you think something positive can come out of it. i don't know what duterte could have that would be positive or how he could help us in any positive way. i think he's a killer, murderer, a thug and belittles the president of the united states to meet with him. you know, greta, what i really object to, it seems president trump just kind of makes fo

what kim jong-un is trying to do a say i wanted t normal relationship and nuclear weapons. notwithstanding it is most heavily sanctioned country on earth right now, there is a building boom there, the economy has stabilized. that is all about china. the president has the right target here, but realistically, how far will china go? not as far as he wants. tim: p.j. crowley, thank you there were violent scenes on the streets of the french capital today during the traditional mayday march please officers were hurt in skirmishes as the fight for the presidency grows more intense. both candidates used campaign events to launch a stinging attack on their rivals on issues that are central to the future of france and europe at large. lucy williamson has this report from paris. lucy: the second round of french elections has been the graveyard of far right dreams of power. used to facing a united front of all arrivals, marine le pen is calling on voters to unite against someone else, or liberal opponent, emmanuel macron. pen: the enemy of the french people is still the world of finan

and there is a strong view among many that doing so the standing side by side with the likes of kim jong-un would only benefit kim jong-un, that it would serve to legitimize him on the world stage, even as he continues to consolidate power by any means internally and threaten his non-nuclear neighbors like japan and south korea. not even the president of china has sat down yet with kim jong-un. having said that we did hear from north korea's state media. they accuse the united states of threatening -- bringing the area to the brink of nuclear war after two u.s. bombers flew over the peninsula today. the u.s. military says this is a routine military exercise with japanese and south korean partners, south korea said it's also a deterrence. frances, yasmin. kelly, thank you. >>> president trump's remarks on north korea after he made these stunning comments about president andrew jackson and the civil war. >> he was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the civil war. he said there's no reason for this. people don't ask that question, but why was there the civil war? why co

this is not exactly the pattern under kim jong-un's leadership.e seems really invested in a nuclear program. he is bent on completing it. he sticks his entire legitimacy on perfecting this nuclear arsenal. he sees achieving this capability to be able to hit the united states as the final guarantee, so i don't think there's any -- what really concerns me is whether you are for maximum pressure or engagement and i happen to be for pressure and i happen to be in terms of maximum amount of sanctions and other measures to try to get to the regime to change, but what concerns me is -- none of these measures were likely achieved. then we want to achieve which is to get north korea to give up nuclear weapons to give up its nuclear arsenal. whatever we do, sooner or later, i think sooner rather than later north korea will achieve that capability. and then i have many concerns once north korea achieves that capability. the two main concerns i have , first, miscalculations. you can hold u.s. cities as hostages and then they could be more provocative acts and

because this morning, reince priebus was asked if the president would meet face-to-face with kim jong-un. he says not right now, i can't see that. but not right now. it's not going to happen unless kim jong-un is willing to disarm and give up what he's put on the mountainsides across that country. so reince priebus said one thing, donald trump is saying another thing to bloomberg. are they now scrambling to back the president up for this comment? >> reporter: i think that sean spicer will have to answer a lot of questions about this. this just broke a few minutes ago. this is a former candidate, now a president who very much marches to the beat of his own drum. so i wouldn't be surprised if there are a number of conversations going on about what specifically the public messaging is going to be in terms of meeting with kim jong-un. again, it's important to underscore, this is something that he has said as a candidate, that he would be open to meeting with kim jong-un. it's also something that former candidate obama said back in 2008. so there have been a pretext for this, and the question

now talking about, honored relating to kim jong-un. if he ends up winning by a squeaker, people will say trump got him elected. >>> what is the implication of that? how important is south korea as a u.s. ally? >> absolutely important. nothing good ever happens with south korea and washington have different policies on north korea. in the laugh years, there was no daylight between seoul and washington. now there will probably be an enormous gulf and trump will have to work enormous diploma stoi manage that. it may not even be possible. the last thing we want to do is elect someone who doesn't like us. >> i want to and but the missile test. we're calling it a failed test. it didn't reach the sea. you're saying this may not have been failed. >> this may have been a test of just the first stage motor maybe the separation of the first and second phases. when they do, they put a ballast in the second phase. if it were in the sea, we could recover it. this was designed probably to fail over north korean territory. >> and that's an issue. we d

different set of situation as this new president will try a very different approach to handling kim jong—untry a very different approach to handling kim jong—un and the try a very different approach to handling kimjong—un and the north korea problem. which influenced you think a liberal human rights lawyer will have with the trump administration? i think that the trump administration is hurtling down a dead end in terms of their north korea policy. we saw them try military threats, got a lot of attention, you know, there has been much media focus on some concern but at the end of the day it does not work. there are too many vulnerabilities. i am with unite hillary fire here in the city of seoul, a city of io hillary fire here in the city of seoul, a city of 10 million, 25 million for the larger metropolitan area. there is really not a military option. you cannot pre—empt their nuclear arsenal. they have many weapons are multiple means of delivery. there is no military play. sanctions is what we have been trying and what the obama administration tried for eight years and north korea has only

kim jong-un is more dangerous than his father and his father was no sane. -- saint. nducted a lot more missile tests than his father. the trump administration is looking at all sorts of potential scenarios. >> eric: and the president of china was at mara laggo when donald trump launched the missiles into syria. you would think china would say back off, kim jong-un. >> guest: they should be doing. and the chinese play a big role. a lot of technology transfers are baseed in china going to negotiate new york city. -- in north korea. the chinese need to be a lot more cooperative. >> eboni: everybody knows what would cost us. they think i that are testing it. >> guest: and china too. >> eboni: china calling president trump's bluff? >> guest: china likes to appear line they are being helpful wile doing nothing. >> guest: they are not doing nothing. >> eric: call downs for rallies in the wake of a stabbing attack. how is this the answer? don't go away. safety isn't a list of boxes to check. it's taking the best technologies out there and adapting them to work for you. the ul

he said under the right circumstances he would meet kim jong-un. sean spicer in his daily briefing pointed out that a lot of conditions would have to be considered before that happens. it is quite unlikely it will ever happen of course. but once again, the problem often seems to speak from his -- the problem is the president often seems to speak from his gut. it could be he is trying to flatter the north korean leader. he said he would be honored to meet him. yesterday he called him a smart cookie, whatever that means. and he commended him in being so successful in taking over the family business of being a dictator of north korea. in a way, he is showing that he is treating him like an equal. he is not calling him a madman or a blood thursday dictator. perhaps he is trying to get him to relax and step act from -- step back from the brink, and refrain from doing another nuclear test. host: last year, trump said he would be willing to have a hamburger with the north korean leader. let's talk about what we are seeing militarily. japan just a ploy to

the problem is you really are excusing bad behavior at this point. >> gordon, also, kim jong un. sident trump seems to be taking a sympathetic view of kim jong un. here is what he said this weekend about the north korean leader. >> he was a young man of 26 or 27 when he took over from his father when his father died. he's dealing with obviously very tough people in particular the generals and others. at a very young age, he assumed power. a lot of people i'm sure tried to take that power away. whether his uncle or anybody else. he was able to do it. obviously he is a pretty smart cookie. we have a situation that we cannot let -- we cannot let what's been going on for a long period of years continue. >> what do you think, gordon? >> you know, i think what trump is trying to do is set the ground work for negotiations with pyongyang. this will not help. kim jong un works with incentives in that system. the only way diplomacy with north korea will work is when the north koreans realize they have no choice but to disarm. this is policy on the part of trump. he said nice things about ki

how could he be honored to meet with kim jong-un? >> the president understands the threat that north korea poses. >> the bottom line is the president is going to do what he has to do. he's building a coalition in the region to isolate north korea economically and diplomatically to get the threat -- to take that threat down. >> what did he mean when he call called him a smart cookie? >> he went over this in the interview. he assumed power at a young age. there's a the lo of threats. he's managed to lead a country forward. despite the obvious concerns that we and so many other people have. he is a young person to be leading a country with nuclear weapons. and so that set aside the president recognizes the threat that he posed and doing everything he can to isolate that it threat and to make sure we bring stability to the region. >> lots to discuss. margaret, when president trump said that he was, quote, honored, how did you perceive that at the moment he said it? >> pamela, this is perhaps another example of president trump speaking in

and north korea and startling comments about kim jong-un. >>> stabbing attack on campus. a deadly scene as a man unleashes a sudden violent rampage at the university of texas. >>> dramatic rescue, we hear from the strangers who banded together to free a family from raging flood waters. a baby brought back to life with cpr. >>> terrifying turbulence, broken bones as passengers are violently tossed. the lesson from a bloody scene on board. >>> hollywood hacked. a popular netflix show stolen and released on the web. cyber thieves threatening more studios demanding ransom. >>> inspiring america, >>> tom brokaw with a reunion all these years later. nightly news begins right now. >> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening. president trump and the white house are speaking out about two controversial world leaders today in ways that are surprising some. the president is not ruling out applying his negotiating skills in a sunday face-to-face meeting with north korea's kim jong-un and standing by his inv

, to say that you are willing to meet with president kim jong—un, 0k, willing to meet with president that, under certain conditions, but take that word out of it. he is not entitled to be referred to as an honourable individual. if there was one word donald trump would take back, it would be that. in terms of strategy, can we reconcile on one side the demand for tighter sanctions, further isolate a shin, —— further isolation, and then on the other side, calling him a smart cookie, saying he would be honoured to meet him. that is the way in which donald trump keeps people off—balance, he is showing a steel fist, on the other he is saying, i would be happy to meet with you, not honoured but happy to meet with you, to discuss how we move forward, we had that approach made during the clinton yea rs, approach made during the clinton years, president bill clinton considering whether he should meet with the dictator's father. and we decide at the last moment, the president decided at the last moment that the north koreans were not ready to make a concession upfront, but only wanted to talk

that will embolden kim jong-un. fundamentally what kim jong-un is looking to do, he is looking to get more out of using these dangerous weapons. i think these comments tonight handed him exactly the leverage he is looking for. >> eugene, do you think it's true if you sat down to pick the die metric opposite of the aspect of the policy of the previous administration this would be about it? >> just about it. and the opposite of the foreign policy of a whole punch of previous administrations, every previous administration or in the modern era. i mean, to speak about kim jong-un in that way -- you know, if he really is a smart cookie, as trump said, then perhaps he's smart enough to realize that a whole lot of random stuff comes out of the mouth of the president of the united states. and it's unclear whether it means anything beyond what he is saying in that instant. now, that is no way to run a foreign policy. and certainly it could be misinterpreted. but one wonders if a certain numbness to this doesn't set in at least

least of all, kim jong un. and how would president trump, who has been unable to negotiate the passage of a health care bill with his own party in congress, how would that president have been able to negotiate a way the civil war. joining us now, washington columnist for "the boston globe." she is with the pointer institute for media studies. also with us charlie sykes, editor-in-chief of right wisconsin and an msnbc contributor. indira, the press briefing every day involves a series of questions to essentially what did the president mean when he said or what does the president mean and where does he stand, and every day as sean spicer offers no more clarification of wherever the president had left the confusion point. >> well, in this case where you're talking about trump's position on augthoritarian leaders, this is something where president trump has been pretty consistent even since he was candidate trump. he has been consistent in the words he used about himself. remember at the rnc, at the republican conv

all the interviews he's given regarding north korea never has this idea of sitting down with kim jong-uns a leader, kim jong-un who hasn't yet met with competent jinping the president of china. this is an extremely isolated regime right now. there are no good releases really on any side. i think the south korean presidential candidates a couple of them talked about potentially sitting down across the table from un but no other leader has sat down and tried to negotiate some sort of reproachment with kim jong-un or talk abouting there nuclear program. and you know, this comes at obviously at a very tense time here and aside from the one statement by the vice president sometime ago, some weeks ago now i think that there is a possibility leaving the window open for negotiations with kim jong-un. i don't think we've heard this from president trump since the campaign days. andrea? >> and in fact, kelly, just this friday at the u.n., the secretary of state tillerson was arguing that the allies now have to isolate north korea and consider downgrading their diplomatic relations with the north. >

the president saying he would be willing to meet with kim jong-un under the right circumstances. sean spicer saying we are not seeing the right circumstances. >> this is a total absolute rehearsal of how everybody has handled kim jong-un. he said you want to talk? let's talk. it also helps if you kill people with machine guns and turns dogs on them. turns out maintaining power is easier. he is trying to get kim jong-un to take the bait and get into the discussion and come out of the hermitage and into some larger discussion. it is a dramatic departure but maybe one with the chinese could work. >> sandra: sean spicer added to that the president doing everything they can to prevent a north korean threat. chris, charles, thanks to both of you for being here. tens of thousands of protesters expected to hit the streets in cities across the street for may day. the annual rally typically focused on workers rights world wide. but this year many of the protesters are also teeing off on the policies of president trump. allison barber live in washington for us. allison? >> reporter: organize

not safe either. >> martha: the president gets blowback after saying he would consider talking to kim jong-unand any location," said kim jong-un. the white house's movement tells a story.

look, for the past seven years while the kim jong-un military is in power. we've created a strong military and alliance in the region, worked as best as we can to try to contain north korea and hopefully modify their behavior. inarguably, none of that has worked. >> they have made a lot of progress, they have gotten the nuclear weapons. >> and north korea will continue to march along this path. the president of the united states should not be honored to meet kim, not a single bit. what has to happen there has to be at the lowest levels of diplomatic exchanges, we have to start to build a foundation where there can be trust and we have to be able to see there is behavior modification going on, we haven't seen it. >> a flip-flop of u.s. policy, although a lot of it has not worked it's a flip-in respect for donald trump, direct and specific. here he is, candidate trump, and now the honor trump. >> i would get china to make that guy disappear in one form or another very quickly. >> how do you make it disappear -- >> let me just tell you, well, there are worse th

could kim jong-un be taking advantage of all therefore to push his agenda forward of trying to become a nuclear power? >> north korean leader kim jong-un testing the patients of two world powers, the strongest ally china and who he sees as his number one enemy the united states. new images show north korea's supreme leader all smiles, supervision the test of what pyongyang calls a new kind of nuclear-capable ballistic missile. north korea says it can hit the mainland u.s. and its pacific operation, a claim most analysts say is exaggerated but still highly troubling. sunday's missile test recommends a level of performance never before seen from a north korean missile says think tank 38 north and sunday's missile reached 1,300 miles or 2,800 kilometers, higher and further than other recent launches of traveling from a launch site near the chinese borders to the water off vladivostok, psh, home to the russian pacific fleet. the launch, coming at a highly embarrassing time for china, north korea's chief ally and economic partner, chinese president xi jinping hosting a major global trade f

he's called smart cookie jim kim jong-un.sident obama did pbusiness with all the people you're seeing on screen, but sisi was invited into the oval office. he called erdogan and complimented him. even since that referendum has passed, we've seen more steps. and again, i want to be fair to the president, united states presidents for years have done business with bad actors. it's part of the job. you have to do it. but what is it about the public praise of them? >> it is interesting because -- you're right, they always -- they put the line someplace. president obama put the line no oval office visit for bad guys who are that far over. we obviously don't have that ln anymore. as you mentioned erdogan got the call about a referendum taking away power. you don't normally a fellow leader to say hey, congratulations on seizing more power. you call and say i need your help on syria. what is it about him? he does seem to like strong leaders. he's praised putin to the skies. he's gotten along well with xi jinping. >> called him a good

i'm sorry, trump's foreign policy period that is what is embolden kim jong-un. >> eric: he wasn't in eginning. he is getting progressively crazier. as time went, the leader got crazier and crazier in that war movie. that's what's happening with kim jong-un. he >> ben: we need our allies more than ever. >> eric: we don't need them. what do we need our allies for? we have three carrier strike groups in the area. >> ben: we need to have our allies, our military installations. it's massively important. >> kat: although it may be strained, our allies with trump. i think trump made it clear we will be there for our allies in nato and that we will continue to be. i can't imagine any scenario where we wouldn't be there for them. if something like north korea reared its head, that would be a different story. >> eboni: i don't think president trump is going to say we are abandoning our allies. up next, time to wake up, america. eric bolling is ready to sound off about patriotism and honoring memorial day. stay with us by the time you head to the bank and wait to get approved for a home loan, th