you have the rather strong statements, especially sigmar gabriel -- especially lavrov. the press conference was almost jovial in terms. tossing questions to each other. beyond that inability to get over conflicts, we heard got real warning about an arms race in europe. despite the differences, trying to improve the atmosphere and seeing if a better mood will lead to greater progress on the issues that remain. brent: as always, thank you very much. tonight, the u.s. says it will continue joint military exercises with south korea, rejecting proposal by china that they stop the drills and reengage with north korea. washington was angered by pyongyang's missile tests earlier in the week. >> just days after pyongyang's latest missile test, washington fired back saying, it is slowly losing patience with north korea and it needs to see positive steps from the regime. >> we remain open to dialogue with north korea with the aim of returning to authentic negotiations on the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. the onus is on north korea to take meaningful actions towards den

way. >> current foreign minister lavrov. >> absolutely.n that sense i think i made good pickups. real professionals and sergei kislyak, both they'rer is gays lavrov and kislyak. they are both professionals. it's painful even for me to see what course they are now serving. th their professionalism is devoted to the putin regime. that's painful for me morally but professionally they are doing a great job. >> the fact that he would be meeting with senator sessions who was so close to donald trump, that would be, what would be the reason to go and set up that meeting? >> for ambassador, it's definition of the job. the job definition. meet as much people especially knowing he was a surrogate for donald trump especially in september, so i mean it's just normal procedure. >> he would then be writing back. he would file a report as any ambassador would? >> of course. >> to moscow. >> but you know what? i guess professionally that the first he would report that sessions apparently didn't tell him to stop the hacking, to stop the interference into a

>> well, minister lavrov had a lot to say about the obama administration.had a number of complaints about the obama administration that the administration had a superiority complex. that the obama administration felt that it had the right to decide how the world was run, including right up to russia's borders in the case of the trump administration, obviously, it's early days. but he was certainly very positive about his initial meeting with secretary of state rex tillerson in bon a few weeks ago. he seemed to be looking for an opportunity to work with the administration in syria. look, i mean, there are people in syria and elsewhere who are actively working to kill americans. the russian government is not trying to do that. if relationship goes bad i think we have to envision a possibility of more russian weapons going to iran, more russian weapons going to north korea. more russian weapons going to china. russian weapons going to the taliban. >> martha: fascinating. >> these are things to be quite concerned about. >> martha: paupaulison ders great to have

the foreign minister sergei lavrov equating it of a witch hunt. then you had the angry spokeswoman who went off at others and cnn as saying the coverage with the russian ambassador and senior members of the trump administration or close to trump, she believes that coverage was unfair. there is frustration here in moscow at the pace of the relations with the u.s. and russia are evolving. it doesn't seem those here are holding the president himself responsible. >>> thank you. a plan to repeal and replace obamacare. president trump scheduled to meet with mick mulvaney and tom price. congressional leaders getting oe everybody on the same page. a block is still discussing so far. the text could be released this week and is expected to include some replacement components for the affordable care act. working through the weekend. >>> hard to imagine to get efrp one on the same thing. >>> north korea launches a series of ballistic missile tef tests. we are live in seoul next. baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? no sir, no sir, some nincompoop stole all

, but he didn't want to do a press difference with la lavrov.went before the american reporters and read a short statement, took no questions. here in washington, he has not been included in allied liters -- important allied leaders' visits like japanese prime minister or benjamin netanyahu. he didn't even present the annual human rights report which secretaries always do to demonstrate how important it is to the u.s., and the state department didn't have a daily press briefing as they've had since the '50s till about ten tas ago. >> woodruff: how much influence is it believed that he has internally? >> that remains something of a mystery, judy. we can't discount him. here's the former c.e.o. of exxonmobil. tonight he's going on a really important mission as you explained in your intro tomorrow, he's having dinner tonight with the president and national security advisor general mcmaster. so far, there haven't been opportunities to see. we know he had influence getting iraq off the muslim country travel ban list, for example, but on other big iss

those words echoed in moscow where russian foreign minister sergey lavrov described it the same way. >> translator: it all looks like a witch hunt. >> reporter: russia clearly on the president's mind today sending this tweet, we should start an immediate investigation into senator schumer and his ties to russia and putin, a total hypocrite. senator schumer firing back, happily talk about my contact with mr. putin and his soergtss. took place in 2003. in full view of press and public under oath. would you and your team? in wisconsin, vice president mike pence facing questions about using a personal e-mail account to conduct business as indiana governor. it was hacked in a fishing scam as first reported by "the indianapolis star." >> i'm very confident that our e-mail practices were in full compliance with all of indiana's laws. >> reporter: on the campaign trail, he often criticized 4k's private e-mail server. >> classified information clou allowed to be on her own private server exposed to hacking. to be honest with you, i'm experiencing clinton's scandal fatigue. >> reporter: pence

. >> sergey lavrov says he believes economic cooperation is a key condition for signing a peace treaty between the two countries. japanese prime minister s shinz abe and r russian president vladimir putin tououched on t t subjecect when they met i in decembmber. they agreed to start talking about joint economic activitiei onon four russian controlled islands that japan claims. tomomi inada and sergei have held first meeting of japanese and russian defense ministers in momore than three years. >> translator: i expect to frankly discuss defense policy as well as geographic discussion araround both countrtries, especially at a ti w when japap is in a sesevere security situation. >> said their countries should deal jointly with common threats. the two ministers expected to exchange views about north korea. they repeatedly carried out provocative acts such as missile development and nuclear tests. in a press conference said they would visit for talks. >>> shinzo abe arrived in germany, the first leg of his four-day european tour. abe says he wants to hear the views of his european counter-p

and his secretary of state, rex tillerson, met with lavrov at a g-20 summit in germany.nwhile, uncertainty over mr. trump's intentions toward russia is rattling american allies in europe. vice president pence and defense secretary james mattis tried last month to reassure nato partners of washington's alliance solidarity. one nato partner-- german chancellor angela merkel-- now plans to visit washington on march 14th. for the pbs newshour, i'm margaret warner. >> woodruff: a broader look now at the state of u.s.-russia relations and what is at stake for these two countries we get two views. andrew weiss worked for both republican and democratic administrations as a staffer on the national security council, in the state and defense departments. he's now at the carnegie endowment for international peace. and paul saunders, he focused on russia at the state department during the george w. bush administration. he's now the executive director of the center for the national interest, a foreign policy think tank. and we welcome both of you back to the program. andrew weiss, to

as my colleague from florida has suggested, when foreign minister lavrov talks about a worltd order de-- world order, he's challenging what we in the west stand forks what we in america stand for. i believe what we stand for is the universal values on which we forged the trans-atlantic alliance, for stobility and good in the world, which has secured peace in western europe, north america every since the close of the world war but a trans-atlantic alliance that is rooted in values of freedom of speech, freedom of press and on opposition to authoritytarian. we support american leadership because a stable and prosperous wrorld makes us safer and more economically secure. so i would ask my friend from florida what he views as the agenda or the objective of russia and whether or not we can be hopeful in any way that vladimir putin's russia as an agenda that is harmonious with ours, that can be put in the same direction as ours or whether it's fundamentally at odds? mr. rubio: i would begin my reminding everyone that when we're talking about russia, we are not talking about the russian peopl

the meeting, the foreign secretary is expected to hold talks with his russian counterpart, sergey lavrovbeware'. discussions will focus on the uk—russia relationship, as well as current international issues including syria and ukraine. borisjohnson will be the be the first british minister to travel to moscow for an official visit in more than five years. with me is our political correspondent, ellie price. this is going to be interesting, borisjohnson has this is going to be interesting, boris johnson has been this is going to be interesting, borisjohnson has been quite rude about the russians in the recent past. yeah, makes for a quite awkward visit, i suspect. we've had borisjohnson suggesting that moscow has been guilty of war crimes in syria. he suggested that there's no case for relaxing sanctions over ukraine. 0f case for relaxing sanctions over ukraine. of course, the suggestion that russians have been up to dirty tricks with regards to cyber attacks. the russian embassy have countered that by suggesting that borisjohnson countered that by suggesting that boris johnson wants to c

the meeting, the foreign secretary is expected to hold talks with his russian counterpart, sergey lavrov policy towards russia is to ‘engage but beware'. discussions will focus on the uk—russia relationship, as well as current international issues including syria and ukraine. borisjohnson will be the be the first british minister to travel to moscow for an official visit in more than five years. the headlines on bbc news. sinn fein make big gains in northern ireland's assembly elections. the dup is still the biggest party but with just one more seat than the republicans. there are fears for the future of vauxhall plants in britain after a french car company which produces peugeot vehicles reportedly reaches a deal to buy general motors' european operations. mercedes is recalling 75,000 cars in the uk because of a risk of them catching fire. it follows the discovery of a fault in a fuse in some models. a parliamentary committee says britain wouldn't be legally obliged to make a final budget contribution to the eu after brexit. the house of lords study said the uk would be in a "strong" le

the meeting, the foreign secretary is expected to hold talks with his russian counterpart, sergey lavrovpolicy towards russia is to ‘engage but beware'. discussions will focus on the uk—russia relationship, as well as current international issues including syria and ukraine. borisjohnson will be the be the first british minister to travel to moscow for an official visit in more than five years. reports from france suggest the owner of peugeot and citroen has reached an agreement to buy vauxhall and 0pel from the american car maker general motors. the deal will raise concerns about the future of vauxhall‘s two uk factories which employ more than four thousand people. andy moore reports. vauxhall builds the vivaro van at luton. around 70,000 rolled off the production line last year. and at elsemere port about 120,000 vauxhall astras are built every year. as well as those employed directly by gm, thousands more work in the supply chain. and there are also 15,000 people in the pension scheme, one of the uk's largest. they have already been told that they will be no worse off under the new de

the meeting, the foreign secretary is expected to hold talks with his russian counterpart, sergey lavrovcussions will focus on the uk—russia relationship, as well as current international issues including syria and ukraine. borisjohnson will be the be the first british minister to travel to moscow for an official visit in more than five years. earlier, our political correspondent ellie price told me it could be an awkward visit. we've had borisjohnson suggesting that moscow has been guilty of war crimes in syria. he suggested that there's no case for relaxing sanctions over ukraine. of course, the suggestion that russians have been up to dirty tricks with regards to cyber attacks. the russian embassy have countered that by suggesting that borisjohnson wants to re—open the cold war. it would seem much to talk about during this visit. we're told that this visit will be, during this visit, borisjohnson will be robust. there's no suggestion that this is cosying up to moscow, but it might be in britain's national interest to engage with russia, as you said there, not to engage but beware. so

charles: ben, russia today, lavrov, they issued a warning to america to be careful.ble considering how recklesshey were particularly in syria, nevertheless, the world is watching us. >> yes, and like you said, laugh able, this is russian are those who bombed you know a convoy filled with medicine and food. look at raqqa today it is destroyed. but i will say, look i think it will be very tough if we have not learn our lesson from the first go round, you know we not the ones capable of being the stabization force. not with turks and shia and sunnis, we have to think about how that war will end without us in the middle of it. charles: thank you very much, at home if you for watching, now here is lou dobbs. right here on fox business. lou: the trump administration cracking down on sanctuary cities, attorney general sessions announcing that sanctuary cities will lose billions of dollars in federal grants if they do not ep % o force enforce immigration laws. >> when cities and states refuse to help enforce immigration laws our nation is less safe. lou: best testing author

and sergey lavrov said ted this all looks, in his words, like a witch hunt.ord the it the used. what's your reaction to that? >> first of all, this from president trump who spent years basically accusing barack obama of not being legitimate because of his birth certificate, because he was born in kenya, which, by the way, as we learned from ted cruz's campaign wouldn't have even mattered, give than president obama's obama was clearly a u.s. citizen. even if he had been born in kenya, he would have been eligible to be kenya. i guess president trump knows something about witch hunts. in this case we have evidence that the russians hacked in to democratic computers, to try to throw the election to president trump. we have a whole series of trump trump administration officials who have not been honest about the campaign meetings they've had with various russian officials. it may not turn out to be anything. but right now we are not getting honest answers from anybody in the trump administration. which is why, again, i think we need a special prosecutor to look in

morning, dave, we're getting denials from all corners here in russia, the foreign minister sergey lavrovhas no information about it. the defense ministry saying there are no russian forces in egypt. this was, of course, reported by reuters. calling it a hoax about no information about the government or a drone in libya. but they are saying at the kremlin that they are keen to see the situation in libya stabilizing and having contact with all sides there. but there is no suggestion, at least from the kremlin that they are planning to intervene in that process. however, we have certainly been seeing a closer engagement from russia in libya in recent months, not only with the internationally backed government in tripoli. but in particular, with the head of the rival administration based in the eastern city of tul tullee tulleert. and joined in early january having a conference call there with the russian defense minister. and that, in particular, is raising concerns with the u.s.ing that russia may be looking to install or prop up a russian-backed leader in libya to perhaps cement its influ

british oicials say johon has spoken to his russian andterpart, sergei lavrov, "looks forward to reinstatingit as soon as possible." canadian prime minister justin trudeau reportedly will move to legalize marijuana by the summer of 2018. cbc news says his government will introduce the marijuana legislation next month. it would follow through on one of trudeau's campaign promises. global news 24 hours a day powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i am mark crumpton. this is bloomberg. david: looking ahead to what is on the agenda in washington this afternoon, the white house daily press briefing is scheduled to begin any minute. they will bring you updates on any headlines that come out of that come especially the health care bill and tax reform. at the rick clock p.m. eastern time, president trump is scheduled to sign 4 bills. the campaign trail candidate donald trump promised to provide the coal industry and tomorrow he is set to sign an order promoting cold and domestic natural gas. congressman ro khanna from silicon valley in telephone it took a trip to e

lavrov as well. we are engaged but in a very measured fashion. nato issay that presently there in order to ensure the stability and security of the north atlantic and europe to a certain extent but the north atlantic as well and the biggest threat for that is russia. i think nato needs to be configured to meet that threat. this is not an aggressive posture but we do need to make sure it is proper for the threat. isis, i think we can progress on the ground now to feel confident that that that ground or will -- wonnd war will be won and relatively soon. the task will then turn to make sure upstream interventions will not allow insurgents or that kind of violence in the future. i talked about the .7% that we spend on international development. for sure we need to think very carefully with our colleagues in further -- foreign offices in international development so we can set direct funds to make sure this scourge does not reappear. trying to exterminate every single last element of it to the exclusion of looking beyond understated.ably >> chris mcnu

sergei lavrov, has called it a pitch hunt, exactly the same. so there are similarities in language that are being adopted by the trump administration and the kremlin. a lot of frustration and anger in russia, the administration they believed was going to be a pro-russian administration and recognize crimea as being part of russia or do a deal over national terrorism in syria or criticize nato, which is what the russians do, is not materializing. that is because there is this poisonous atmosphere in american politics when it comes to the russian issue. it is politically impossible for donald trump to carry through on his election pledges to build a better relationship with the kremlin. any idea that existed a few months ago that this would be a new era has basically vanished, at least from a moscow perspective. >> one month into this presidency. matthew chance, live from moscow. thank you, matthew. official u.s. presidential retreat, camp david, seems to befalling out of favor, after decades of hosting vacations, peace talks and summits. the get

russia's foreign minister, sergey lavrov said the same thing last night. >> do you see this as a witchunt? >> i don't think what was said about that meeting i had with the russian a

it's what the russian media is saying is going on and what serg serg serg serg sergey lavrov has said. there's a fake news website which the russian foreign ministry has set up. over the reports that sergei kislyak is engaged in espionage activities, something we've been reporting over the past couple days. the foreign ministry saying this is a provocation. but when i spoke to the spokeswoman yesterday she said stop cnn, stop spreading lies and false news. which is obviously, again, a very familiar refrain to us. >> where does the diplomatic relationship with the u.s. and russia stand right now? >> reporter: well, i mean, i think from the kremlin point of view, it's a confusing picture. they were expecting donald trump to come into office with a pro-russian agenda, the kind of stuff that he'd bokspoken about during his campaign, doing a deal over ukraine. but the issue of russia and its connection with american politics has become so toxic in the united states, none of that has followed through. now there's an understanding with the press a lot, that donald trump is not going to be th

he speaks for sergey lavrov, the russian foreign minister and speaks for vladimir putin. >> is he a diplomat or is he a spy? >> well, it's always hard to know with some countries, especially the russians because president putin is a former spy. once a spy, always a spy. kislyak has been a diplomat for a long time. we have to have our eyes open when we deal with the russians. they are adversaries of ours. the russians are trying to defeat the united states and limit the united states and they have been for well over a decade since president putin turned against president george w. bush back in 2006 and '07 and throughout the obama presidency. you have to understand they don't wish us well. we have to defend our own country. michael, i take you back to all these contacts that the trump campaign apparently had with the russian government. i think the major point here is we have a president who is very weak towards russia at a time when russia is trying to redivide eastern europe. we have to have a strong policy. president obama deployed nato troops into eastern europe. we have sanctions on, tho

those words echoed in moscow where russian foreign minister sergey lavrov described it the same way. >> translator: it all looks like a witch-hunt. >> reporter: russia clearly on the president's mind today, sending this tweet. we should start an immediate investigation into senator schumer and his ties to russia and putin. a total hypocrite. senator schumer firing back. happily talk about my contact with mr. putin and his associates. took place in 2003 in full view of press and public under oath. would you and your team? visiting wisconsin today, vice president mike pence downplaying concern about russia, saying he didn't know sessions met with the russian ambassador. >> he is a man of integrity as the president said, he could have answered the question more clearly, but it was clearly unintentional. >> reporter: as there is no question the attorney general still is on very good standing here at the white house and inside the administration, no one is closer to this president, no member of his cabinet is, than jeff sessions. a bigger question is on capitol hill. republicans largely s

russia's foreign minister, sergey lavrov said the same thing last night. >> do you see this as a witch hunt? >> i don't think what was said about that meeting i had with the russian ambassador was legitimate. i think it was hyped beyond reason and i think it was unfair. i was glad to be able to address it today. >> this morning vice president mike pence is also facing fire. he right now heading to wisconsin for a meeting with business leaders. of course he was a fierce critic of hillary clinton for her e-mails. now "the indianapolis star" reports that he used a private e-mail to conduct business, at times discussing personal matter and that personal account was actually hacked. we begin with hans nichols at the white house. let's start with attorney general jeff sessions. the president is defiantly defending him. what's the white house position now? >> reporter: well, what's interesting about the president's defense is normally in washington when you have the president or the press secretary says they have full confidence in a cabinet secretary, that usually means they're about to get

. >> she seemed to enjoy a good relationship with lavrov, at least it seemed that way publicly. >> again the things i was proud of her for, she always spoke out. that is exactly why vladimir putin did not want her to become president. >> secretary clinton was in scranton, pennsylvania, on friday on st. patrick's day. so everyone's buzzing. what are the odds we'll see her run again? >> i'm going to let her answer for that. >> do you want to guess? >> here's the thing. i think what happens right now, we've got to get to the bottom of what happened in 2016 then we can start worrying about the next cycle. but we've got to make sure that this cannot happen again in two years or four years to anybody else. >> indeed. i realize you didn't answer my question, but good job. thank you, robby. nice to see you. >>> confirmation fight. will he be independent from president trump? former senator kelly ayotte is chairing the fight. she joins us. and will the health care plan pass? and developing right now, ivanka trump is taking a new role at the white house. we have the latest on that. a lot of action

-back leader based in western libya was in moscow meeting with foreign minister sergey lavrov. >> translatorelations with russia are strong and deep rooted. we plan to intensify relations at all levels and in all areas, including the economy, politics, security, and military affairs. >> reporter: more worrisome for the u.s., libyan strongman, khalifa halftar, straighting to get the eastern oil fields under libyan control. he's visited moscow twice and the russian planes and personnel are close by if he needs them. so now the trump administration looking one more time at the possibility of having to deal with the russians on a new front. wolf? >> serious situation in north africa. thanks very much, barbara starr, at the pentagon. that's it for me. thanks for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." "erin burnett out front" starts right now. >>> next, one by one, republicans abandoning the gop health care plan that the white house says talk to the speaker. is paul ryan being set up to take a big fall? >>> plus, team trump admitting today no one was spying on the president through th

-backed leader based in western libya was in moscow meeting with foreign minister sergey lavrov. >> ourions with russia are strong and deep rooted. we plan to intensify relations at all levels and in all areas, including the economy, politics, security and military affairs. >> reporter: more worrisome for the u.s., libyan strong man who is fighting extremists to get the eastern oil fields under his control. he has already visited moscow twice and those russian planes and personnel are close by if he needs them. now, the u.s. has shied away from working with him who is even closer to moscow, but this may be another case where the russian agenda takes the lead. jim? >> well, we see those little green men there as well. barbara starr, thanks very much. >>> just call him wayne tracker. that's the secret e-mail alias of the secretary of state that he used while he was ceo of exxon/mobil. our panel weighs in on exactly what he was e-mailing about under that name. tech: at safelite, we know how busy your life can be. mom: oh no... tech: this mom didn't have time to worry about a cracked windsh

it's what theussian media are saying is going on, as well and what sergey lavrov referred to as beingind these investigations and allegation between the trump administration and russian officials. >> there's also a fake news website wit foreign russian foreign ministry set up and cnn is on the top of that website over the reports that the russian ambassador to the united states is engaged in espionage activities is something we've been reporting over the past couple of day, the foreign ministry saying this is a blatant informational provevation. the spokesperson was much more forthright and said stop cnn, stop spreading lies and false news which is obviously again a very familiar refrain to us. >> where does the diplomatic relationship with the u.s. and russia stand right now the? >> well, i mean, i think that from the kremlin point of view, it's a confusing picture. they were expecting had donald trump to come into office with a pro-russian agenda. the kind of stuff that he had spoken about during his campaign about for instance, doing a deal over syria, doing a deal over ukraine. co

sergey lavrov was responding to debt controversy over u.s. attorney general jeff sessions and his meetings with the russian ambassador to the u.s.. russians has recused himself from any investigation into russia's meddling in the presidential election. joehe 50's, u.s. senator mccarthy let a search for communists in the u.s. government. vice president pence used his personal email to it -- conduct state business lobby governor of -- while he was the governor of indiana. it was said last year that the count was -- account was compromised by hackers. this says fences emails and not deal with class that information --s email did not deal with pence's emails did not deal of classified information. and civilians are fleeing basel, as rebels are hooking up with the militarized police forces. many of the civilians escaped from a part of mobile -- mosul held by islamic state. if spokesman says over 28,000 since left western mosul military operations began last month, and a quarter of a million people remained trapped inside the area. your parade in t

foreign minister sergey lavrov compared marine le pen to donald trump, saying they were both realiststt: thanks very much. caroline connan in paris. kit juckes is with us, will strategist at societe generale. there's much been made about this asymmetric risk around a lot and victory. apparently unlikely. at the same time, if it were to happen, possibly very damaging to the markets. what do you make of it? kit: i think the risk is still there. were she to win a referendum on ditching the euro and having a franc, where she to start pushing on what the european union is about, i think the euro is in really big trouble. we still have that risk. at the beginning of the year, i thought euro-dollar would get to parity between the first of january and the election. where we are in the polls, the risk is just as big but she's now not in first place in the first round balls. so she's more of a tail risk than she was before. the markets are two thirds of the way to saying that she just can't win. anna: we had jeffrey yesterday from ubs on and we were surprised by the percentage he would attach t

last month, russian foreign minister sergey lavrov didn't mince words. he looked forward to a creation of a post-west world order. that is a russia-influenced order that stands opposed moat bo both to democratic ideals and free market economies. senator graham and i scheduled these hearings, means and methods russia uses to undermine democratic government. their toolbox includes cultivating politicians through corrupt business deals and then threatening to expose the elicit arrangements. it includes acquiring control over vital economic sectors like energy to threaten and control dependent governments. fake news and social media attacks based on network penetrations and information illegally gathered from them. the declassified intelligence assessment released in january asserts that russia, quote, ordered an influenced campaign in 2016 aimed at u.s. presidential election. senator graham and i intend to hold public hearings to understand how russia operates, what objectives it is pursuing, how those objectives may threaten our political system and democr

missed the case because i remember in -- a couple of months ago in security conference, both minister lavrov're very positive and now there's a group of experts, the international organization that are studying the case and they have promised to take up also transponders in their discussion and that is a military question. so we haven't lost the case but i think the most important, it's a small step but if you can take a small step, that is an indication that you can make even a bigger step someday. and that is the whole idea. >> and i think to president putin's point about the cooperation that is taking place in syria with forces very close to each other, it is clear there is operationally a requirement for both american and russian forces to talk to each other. president trump believes he's going to launch a new campaign against isis. he talks about wiping them off the face of the earth. would this be something that you would, if mr. trump, president trump reaches out to you, is this something where you could find common ground and work together early on? >> translator: we definitely have