>> james mattis met with the south korean defense minister for bilateral discussions on how to respond to the threat posed by north korea. this event at the pentagon is 15 minutes. pentagon is 15 minutes. >> present present arms. ♪ [national anthem] ♪ >> right shoulder, arms. welcome, good to see you. and military officers, members of the delegation. welcome back to the pentagon. you are most welcome here. thank you for traveling to washington so soon after you were assigned to this post, it is good to meet you in person after we had already spoken earlier this month. [speaking foreign language] >> a great deal of the priority that you and your president would come so soon. [[speaking foreign language] the republic of korea united states alliance has played in enduring role in regaining and maintaining south korea's charity since 1950. >> [speaking foreign language] secretary mattis: as president mont remarked earlier this week, our alliance serves as the foundation of peace on the korean peninsula. >> [speaking foreign language] secretary mattis: you share a commitment of democratic v

secretary mattis: we are never out of diplomatic solutions, we continue to work together. minister and i share responsibilities provided for the protection about nations, populations and our interests, which is what we are here to discuss today. we look at all the areas with where we can collaborate. we look for more collaborations and we are never complacent. interpreter: [speaking foreign language] >> up next, a conversation on iran's nuclear program and the role tire and plays in the middle east. then a look at the future of the republican party. later, president trump pushes changes to the u.s. tax code, he spoke at a rally in missouri today. c-span's washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up thursday morning, the talkswhite house column about the administration's hurricane a harvey response and other news of the day. michael, former fema director bush president george w. discusses the lessons learned from hurricane katrina and recommendation for hurricane harvey recovery efforts. afghan ambassador to the u.s. talks about

mattis: good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. it has been an honor for us to host to pans foreign minute -- japan's foreign ministers here. as you have heard, we just completed warm and productive detailed conversations about the situations facing our nation's we achieved it -- nations. high results. we reaffirmed the trust between us. broadenedepened and our combined military efforts by improving on our bilateral relations and exercises. as president trump noted in february, the united dates commitment to defend japan through the full range of military capabilities is unwavering. under article five of our mutual defense treaty and the x and s the extended deterrence commitment -- and the extended deterrent commitment. the international community also recognizes north korea is a threat to asia and the world. japan and the republic of korea are on the frontlines against the north korean threat. we in the united states recognize any nation with north korea would pose an immediate danger to our allies. today's meeting is a reminder

who takes mattis seriously?eijing, they will hear this and take a step back when they hear mattis rather than president trump. if you think about taking more actions to wield its influence over north korea, because they have to deal with the mess if it actually got to that point, and there's other things they can do in the interim. >> if you take a step back and just look at the last week of events, we had this u.n. diplomatic success, 15-0 vote, and we got russia and china to join with us and sanction north korea. that's a bit of a diplomatic break through and then you have this statement from the president, nobody understood what she was saying, maybe cleaned up a little bit by the secretary of state and then a little bit more dramatic approach of telling north korea what would happen if they do something. north korea has just emerged as this issue and there's all this war like rhetoric and the president hasn't come before the american people and explain what the issue is and what the strategy is. >> i agree,

i know jim mattis. i know him well enough to know he's not willing to risk the lives of american soldiers and marines in afghanistan if he doesn't have some hope for improving the situation there. then we'll hear some of that from the president tonight. let's reduce corruption, let's put pressure on afghanistan, let's improve the quality of the afghan army. these are things that will come from the president. but the americans want this to win, they want this over. but the israelis have been fighting a protracted war for 07 years. i'm not convinced that even the best strategy, even more soldiers and marines added to the fight in afghanistan is going to terminate this thing in any time soon. >> marc jacobson, let me give you the same question about mattis who stands in a league of his own, even in this incredibly polarized presidency of president trump. he's revered around the world. i wonder if you think he could be any sort of x-factor in crafting the kind of strategy that would bring a reluctant comman

mattis: good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. it has been an honor for us to host japan's foreign ministers here. and i think anything better demonstrate the importance our two nations place on this alliance than our counterparts traveling here so soon after assuming their positions. as you've heard, we have just completed warm and productive detailed conversations about the situations facing our nations and achieved highly useful results. we never take alliances for granted. we reaffirmed the trust between us. second, we have deepened and broadened our combined military efforts by improving on our bilateral relations and exercises. as president trump noted in february, the united dates -- the united states commitment to defend japan through the full range of military capabilities is unwavering. under article five of our mutual defense treaty and the extended deterrent commitment. as demonstrated by the un therity council resolution, international community also recognizes north korea is a threat to asia and the world. japan and

secretary of defense james mattis was asked about this on sunday. he gave no indication except to say that he wanted to allow the president to explain the decision to the american people himself. here's secretary mattis. >> i was not willing to make significant troop lifts until we made certain what was the strategy, what was the commitment going in. in that regard, the president has made a decision, as he said. he wants to be the one to announce it to the american people. so i'll stand silent until then. until that point. >> reporter: it will be interesting to see what the president emphasizes moving forward. this is something that the white house has been working on for months. finally tonight, we will get to know what the president has decided to do with that war that has gone on for so long and cost so many lives. >> boris sanchez, so many lives. in afghanistan, 2,216 service members killed. 20,049 injured in the longest war. as boris mentioned, the president has many options on the table. the plan for moving forward in afghanistan has been a lo

that's general mattis's message. the president tweeted, my first order as president was to modernize and renovate our nuclear arsenal. it's now stronger than ever before, we hope we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that the united states is not the most powerful nation in the world. >> number one, he did order a review, that review is still under way. you do not modernize nuclear -- so you see again, in mattis's statement, he kind of walks it back and said here's what the president did do, he said his first order was to emphasize our readiness of our nuclear defense, yes, let's up the readiness, but the president has not successfully executed an order to modernize our nuclear forces. it's going to take several years and hundreds of millions of dollars. >> they may have 30 or 60 nuclear bombs, the united states has 7,000? >> it's an overwhelming capability. but the review is something you do all the time. it's congressly mandated. it doesn't mean that the nuclear arsenal isn't ready an

mattis krigting that saying, no, actually they can. we're going to study it.at which mattis risks getting on the wrong side of the president here? president trump is known for not exactly liking disloyalty in the ranks. >> mattis has towed this really -- it's quite skifl skillfully, actually -- when you get readouts from people who are in the room both mattis and mcmaster push back on the president where mattis does it in a way to not offend his ego. he's doing a study. he allows trump an exit ramp. oh, i asked for a study or whatever it was. the reality is when trump tweeted that, we tried to do a particular to come of how it happened and it was very hard to do because no one knew about it from the top level of the white house. it was mark mode owes make ago a phone call. it was literally the loosest thing you can possibly imagine. it was amazing. >> it's troubling because on the policy the secretary is right. the president, on the other hand, was elected to be commander in chief, and on this issue the secretary is right, but it sets a dangerous precedent of

secretary mattis reiterated that the u.s. would continue to put pressure on russia to withdraw troops from the ukrainian territory. this is 25 minutes. president poroshenko: it is great that you would come to ukraine for the celebration of our independence day. today, we have this important and symbolic visit. this is not just the visit of the secretary of defense of the united states that we haven't had for 10 years. this is the visit for celebration of the independence day. your participation in the military parade today, when the representatives of our allied countries together with the ukrainian military servicemen marched in the parade testifies our unity and our solidarity. i'm still under the impression after our meeting on american soil as for the level of trust, the understanding, the candid nature and fairness -- and really from the first minutes of my visit in washington experienced that and felt mr. secretary is a real and genuine friend of ukraine. it is really symbolic on the number of clocks in the office of th

you know general mattis well, how does someone like general mattis explain his boss to his counterpartsand china? >> i don't think it's explainable. i think, you know, we had vice president pence in europe, eastern europe sounding like ronald reagan, we've got mattis being frank and hr mcmaster with his ph.d. and his experience, so we've got some very stable people, thankfully, involved in this, but, you know, john kelly can't control a president, and that's not his job. he's supposed to organize 2,000 people at work in the white house and be a sensible point of contact to the cabinet. i think he'll do that, but i think we have what we have in president trump. >> well, if you can't control -- i guess my question is, i want to believe that secretary mattis can get on the phone and calm the nerves of other militaries around the world, but if no one can control the president, what assurance does general mattis have that the president isn't going to get on twitter and ratchet up this language even further? >> well, i think they expect this sort of thing day-to-day. you know, mattis has righ

now we know from secretary mattis this very key information. president trump was informed of the growing threat last december. on taking office, his first orders to me, says general mattis, emphasize the readiness of our ballistic missile and deterrent forces. rex tillerson is urging all calm right now. he says he sees no imminent threat of attack. >> i think the president -- what the president is doing a sending a strong message to north korea in language that kim jong-un would understand. he doesn't seem to understand diplomatic language. >> we have team fox coverage now with military analysts and retired lieutenant colonel oliver north. let's begin with rich edson with the diplomatic piece of the puzzle. rich? >> secretary of state rex tillerson says americans should sleep well and have no concerns about the escalation rhetoric over the last couple days. secretary of state is just returning from a trip to asia where he conducted several days of diplomacy, north korea consuming much of that. by the way, as he was speaking there, that was just

when you look at what mattis said about the troops, when you look at what mattis said about the transgenderng clanean-up. >> he's going to go his way and he's not going to go when the president is wrong. >> except for the fact, john, that trump is a new york democrat and has been his entire life. he's a republican now, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, but this is a guy who has grown up surrounded in a culture that would not have him at 71 years old suddenly supporting a transgender ban. so if he has somebody -- he's allowed to tweet that and say he's fighting for it and he has somebody at the pentagon saying hold on and it actually part of the order that they're going to conduct a review, everybody wins. >> that's really generous. >> nosh it's n, it's not generoa reality. >> i think it's generous. >> no, it's not. donald trump is being cynical about this. he wants his base to think he's doing one thing when actually mattis is playing clean-up. that's not being generous to donald trump. >> are they on the same page on this issue. >> that's what i meant. >> i'm not sure they're on the same pa

secretary mattis said the u.s. will continue to put pressure on russia in living up to its commitment to withdraw troops from ukrainian territory. this is about 25 minutes. it is great that you would come to ukraine for the celebration of independence day. today we have this symbolic meeting. your participation today in the military parade, with our allies come together with ukrainian , marched invicemen the parade, testifies our unity and our solidarity. i'm still under the impression after our meeting on american soil as for the level of trust, the understanding, the candid nature and fairness -- and really from the first minutes of my visit in washington experienced that and felt mr. secretary is a real and genuine friend of ukraine. it is really symbolic on the number of clocks in the office of the secretary, the kiev time was just in front of him. that prioritizes the cooperation with ukraine. during today's negotiations, we touched upon the counteraction against the aggression of the russian federation agains

james mattis is expected to speak on this accident any moment from now. right now you can see the damage to the "uss john s. mccain" named after the arizona senator's father and grandfather. it collided with a much larger oil tanker. despite the damage, the destr destroyer was able to reach port under its own power. the search for the missing soldiers covers 100 nautical square miles in one of the busiest shipping lanes on earth. ryan brown joins us now from the pentagon with the latest what are you learning? >> this ship, the "uss john s. mccain," made it back to port in singapore after suffering heavy damage and flood damage, including several areas of the ship flooded with sailors having to do damage control in order to prevent additional flooding. the "uss american" has arrived to help with rescue and recovery efforts and assess the damage to the "uss john s. mccain." we are told the navy has, in addition to the ten missing sailors, five sailors injured, nonlife-threatening injuries. they're receiving medical attention. this massive search operation c

even defense secretary mattis are being a lot stronger in their words. i don't know why anybody at the white house would be trying to undermine or undercut the secretary of state. it's just a bizarre turn of events. again, this is a white house and an administration where there is so much infighting out in the open i guess it's par for the course. >> since i have you and we're listening to the president, you know, the other big piece of news made was his comments on the senate majority leader, right? we've seen the tweets. toss them up on screen of just the last 24 hours of how the president has characterized the mitch mcconnell and his inability to follow through on his seven-year promise, to repeal and replace obamacare. here is the president today. you know, doesn't understand why it's taking them so long. asked whether the senate majority leader should resign. and he said, see if he can get repeal and replace done and then ask me. then ask me. again, another, jake, another republican who the president is publicly criticizing. is that working out for

secretary mattis was over here not too long ago.aving spoke within secretary tillerson and these other counter parts. we talk about the chinese, the south china sea, and other matters as well. >>. >> united nations security council unanimously passed the new u.n. security council. china voted along with that means they have toen for enforcr sanctions. >> i have been suggesting you could have waiting longer to bear fru before threatening fire and fury. how long do you think it will take before we will see more from this? >> we talked yet about the pressure campaign. we had many countries, countries we are close friends with. that is because the world recognizes the severe threat they face. >> the pressure campaign, is it to seek isolation of north korea. they have been invited to attend next year's tor forum. was there a failure to isolate them or futility -- >> my understanding is that the conversations are on going. we are not part of asean. we do not have the ability to extend or rescind an enviation. the nationing all joined us i

but if north korea actually goes through with it james mattis promised swift military action. andrea mitchell has the story. >> reporter: tonight defense secretary mattis confidently telling reporters the u.s. would know within moments in a north korean missile is fired at guam and we'll take it out. adding if they fire at

defense secretary mattis putting a statement today.the united states and our allies have the demonstrated capabilities and unquestionable commitment to defend ourselves from an attack. dd prk should cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people." state department making every effort to resolve the global threats, must be noted that the combined allied militaries now possess the most precise first and robust defensive and offense of capabilities on earth. the dprk's resume actions will continue to be grossly overmatched by hours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates. the only time we heard from the presence they were through twitter where he tweeted "my first order of president -- "my first order as president was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. it is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before. hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!" with tha

you've got jim mattis who famo s famously was the first one on the ground after 9/11. and number two, work with the allies, we should continue to pressure our nato partners to come with us, if we're going to put 4,000 in, we're going to look for 4,000 from our european nato allies. number three, i these we can make some progress with afghanistan, with david's point, it's the nut we haven't been able to crack and we're going to have to able to crack that nut. and the rise of the islamic state in afghanistan and whether that can be part of ultimately bringing the taliban to a negotiating table as they see a competing entity. it's an unbelievably complicated situation, as you' eeheart from general mccaffrey, we're going to see -- >> and what about negotiating with the taliban, is there any appetite in the current national security team to do what had been envisioned under president obama to sit and talk in the emirates and talk about this strategy for afghanistan? >> reporter: i don't see that as the forefront of this strategy, but i think it continues to be something the

mattis: good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and what a day. this is a day that will live long in my memory. to feel the refreshing sense of independence, of freedom, and a reminder to me as an american not to take something for granted because our country has had it for so long. mr. president, it is an honor to stand alongside you on your independence day. i have no doubt that the united states stands with ukraine in all things. we support you in the face of threats to sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to international law and the international order at large. we do not and will not accept russia's seizure of the crimea. despite russia's denials, we know they are seeking to redraw international borders by force, undermining the sovereign and free nations of europe. russia put its reputation on the line when it accepted the minsk cease-fire agreement which called for an immediate cease-fire, withdrawal of all the heavy weapons, and to grant the organization for security and cooperation in europe unfettered access under the minsk agreem

is this something in line with the jim mattis you know?hink that while the president exercises quite a lot of sale and reckless rhetoric, we haven't seen him make reckless foreign policy choices. in fact, on afghan strategy, on isis strategy, and even on north korea, the policy choices he's making are a lot better than the talk he's talking about them. so i think he's more restrained in action than he is in rhetoric. and i also think that the cabinet, the national security cabinet, is extraordinarily calm, cautious, and deliberative. and that's a great thing in a crisis like north korea. >> kori schake, appreciate your expertise on this program. there's been a lot of talk today about weapons attacks. but what about acoustic attacks. have you heard about this one? americans working at the embassy in cuba forced to return home in one of the most bizarre stories of the day. at panera, a salad is so much more than one thing. more than one flavor, or texture, or color. a good clean salad is so much more than green. and with panera catering, mor

. >> reporter: defense secretary mattis bluntly warned north korea to "cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people." that doomsday warning came a day after north korea threatened to rain nuclear missiles on the american airbase on the pacific island of guam. the governor of guam tried to assure residents the island is american territory and will be protected by the american military. >> i've reached out to the white house this morning. an attack or threat on guam is a threat or attack on the united states. >> reporter: north korea made the threat after b-1 bombers had flown from guam over the korean peninsula in what has become a standard show of force in response to north korea's missile tests. returning from asia, secretary of state tillerson was asked if americans should be worried. >> no, i think americans should sleep well at night. >> reporter: mattis issued his warning shortly before touring the uss "kentucky" a ballistic

to a certain degree mattis insisted on that.is not going to be something he delegated to the generals and could blame on the generals. now he has ownership of it. i think the pakistan stuff, that could be significant. we'll see. it's certainly going to cause ripples. my question and i hate to go straight to the operational side of things but so many of our lines of communication and reply run through pakistan. it will be interesting to see how they thread that needle on the one hand dependent on pakistan for logistics and on the other hand taking them to task. >> it was interesting when we got some of the supporting reporting about what was going on in the administration to prepare for this speech and we got word that the vice president was speaking with the afghan president and that rex tillerson, secretary of state, was speaking with his equal number in afghanistan and pakistan and india. and i thought, uh-oh. is this the sort of thing -- are our relations with pakistan so tender and fragile that bellicose words like this from

mattis comes in. president says my advisers tells me something else.lerson used the word dialogue. it showed up in the north korean statement. tillerson is giving the president an identity to say the president is i'm concerned but my advisors say we ought to take another step or two. but if it goes south i'm going ugly. the critical step in the next 24 hours his advisors saying you better chill out. >> will ripley the statement says the unprecedented step the north koreans are taking will give certain victory and courage to the korean people and help them witness what they call the wretched plight of the united states imperialist. but this specific athlete to the u.s., you have 160,000 plus u.s. citizens living in guam, get ready because these four ballistic missiles could be on the way. >> reporter: it is. and, you know, we should also point out that north korea has made personal attacks on u.s. presidents and u.s. officials before, everyone from former president obama to secretary clinton. but this kind of analysis in this statement about president t

secretary mattis was over here not too long ago.ecretary tillerson and our chinese counterparts about many of these issues. among the issues we talk about, the chinese, south china sea of course but also dprk and other matters. >> does it hamper the pressure campaign? >> you know what happened at the united nations. united nations security council u unanimously passed the new u.n. security council resolution on the dprk. china was one of those countries that voted along with that. so that means that china has to enforce its sanctions. they have said that they would. we look forward to and expect them to enforce the sanctions as well. okay? okay. and welcome back. >> thank you. congratulations on the u.n. security council sanctions. it's been suggested you could have given them longer to bear fruit before threatening fire and fury. was it -- how long do you think it will take before we see some -- we see north korea backing down thanks to these sanctions? >> i can't speculate as to what north korea is going to do. we talked yesterday

you saw mattis.s a muscular statement from mattis about america's military power but it didn't draw a red line saying if you threaten us again, watch out. it was more generalized. so there was clearly a recognition that something had to be said after the president. if the president had not spoken, i don't think you would see those two statements from these two men today. >> doug, just in terms of history, what precedence of any do you see this? white house spokesman sebastien gorka compared this to the cuban missile crisis. >> we are talking about potential nuclear weapons being used against guam or the united states. the way john f. kennedy handled that crisis is instructive. there was an embargo. we did do back channel diplomacy and were able to defuse that crisis and become stronger than ever. in 1949, when the soviet union got the atomic bomb, we were startled. we didn't know how they did it. then china got it, then pakistan. we never like it when a country that's anned a ve ca ed a vadve nuclear

i think both secretary mattis and hr mcmaster are delighted he's over there. he can't control the president. that's not his job. but there is a couple of thousand people working the white house. i think what he will be able to do, i hope, is provide some sense of structure so that the decisions get made, not by tweet, but by policy analysis. so we ought to be hopeful that he succeeds for the country's sake. >> carol, the president also has been tweeting today about russia after that extraordinary signing, two signings on statements that came out yesterday when he did reluctantly sign the sanctions bill and blamed congress, not vladimir putin. today, he's tweeting about putin a relationship with russia is an all time low and very dangerous low. you can thank congress, the same people that can't even give us health care. >> there is one thing congress agrees on, something that the president does not agree with at all. and to me what that reflects is the legislation reflects is this deep distrust between lawmakers and the president over russia issues. they had no

mattis. >> what people in the pentagon are talking about is the mattis touch. this is the ability of a trusted man who the president reveres being able to turn the commander in chief to an all out, to an all-in strategy. he did it with patience. he did it with careful arguments, flying intellectual top cover for him was h.r. mcmattis. and general joe dunford is pretty much joined at the hip. interesting to note, all three of these men fought in the same battle in the same war. of course, it was iraq. but the bottom line is they under what they're doing. we have mature leadership running the ship right now and we should feel good about that. >> what about the short-term immediate effect. you heard hans talking about putting these troops potentially closer to the front line. obviously, significant. but how? >> this is important to understand. a little strategy here. our vulnerable center of gravity for americans is dead americans. the one thing that will blow this strategy up if our casualty lists get too high. that's just the way we are as a nation. by putting a

this time it's secretary of defense james mattis, saying very clearly, that diplomacy is the u.s.y right now with north korea. have a listen. >> my portfolio, my mission, my responsibility is to have military options, should they be needed. however, right now, secretary tillerson, ambassador haley, you can see the american effort is diplomatically led. it has diplomatic traction. it is gaining diplomatic results. and i want to stay right there right now. the tragedy of war is well enough known. it doesn't need another characterization beyond the fact that it would be catastrophic. >> mattis, of course, has commanded u.s. forces in war. he knows the consequences of military action. president trump as well earlier today also mentioned the possibility of a diplomatic off-ramp for north korea. but that comment, of course, lost in the more incendiary rhetoric we're hearing from the president as well. >> very different message. jim sciutto, thanks. i want to focus briefly on what the president said today. it's not the first time the facts of the matter contradict him. here he is today s

james mattis says he is pleased with the new u.s. war strategy there.o not giving specifics either as reports have been saying up to 5000 more u.s. troops could be deployed. general mattis attended that meeting on friday with the president and the white house advisers where they discussed and made those decisions on war-torn countries. on board a flight this morning, secretary mattis said the president wants to be the first to share the details of the new plan with the american people. >> the president had to make strategic decisions. [inaudible] whence he really did come in, different courts -- [inaudible] tree into this weekend, top afghan official said our forces out of the country would be a total failure. the tribe administration as you know has been at odds in recent months on exactly what to do. more on afghanistan, which is now going on for 16 years. arthel: the fight against isis ramping up as the country's prime minister warned the terror group to render or die. we reclaim all the territory from the terrace, plus the people continue mourning v

what do you make of mattis' role in all this? >> i think mattis was right. he had a president who was of two minds about this. a large part of him wanted nothing to do with afghanistan and to get out. under those circumstances with that kinds of uncertainty surrounding the president, mattis was right to hold off until he had a president who looked at his options. almost always in foreign policy there are no good choices. they are almost sales between bad and worse. the president walked up to this option and saw the better part of wisdom is reversing the deterioration that resulted from president trump's operations against the taliban to get much more aggressive in this fight and try to continue to build up these afghan security forces to a point where they are at least minimally capable of stopping that country from becoming a staging ground for attacks against the united states and our allies by the taliban, al qaeda, and other jihadists. neil: if they are having such trouble keeping these key elements under control, what is an additional few thousand soldi

>> absolutely. >> the pentagon says mattis does have confidence in nicholson's leadership.white house declined to comment on internal conversations but said no decision has been made. bottom line for america's longest war, the wait for a mu plan stretches on. halle jackson, nbc news, the white house. >> thank you. >>> still to come, how would you like to live in the most beautiful house in the world? where to find it and how much it costs. plus, seven priests walk into a bar and they get kicked out. we'll tell you why here on "early today" next. where's gary? 'saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico. goin' up the country. later, gary' i have a motorcycle! wonderful. ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. the bathroom. when things go wrong here, you remember. quilted northern is designed to work so well, you can forget your bathroom trips. but daddy gator can never forget. "i've got to motor out of here. this is no place to raise a child." so find a

. >> i would love if both secretaries tillerson and mattis could answer a question on north korea. you wrote in your op-ed last week that, obviously, the u.s. prefers a diplomatic solution to the crisis in north korea. but you said that that diplomatic and economic efforts and pressure were, quote, backed by a credible military option. in recent days, steve bannon called the diplomatic and economic ratcheting up of tensions with north korea a sideshow. he said there is no military solution and that the real issue is an economic war with china. does this reflect some kind of new opinion by the administration? or was he speaking for himself? and are you afraid that comments like this might dilute the credible military deterrence backing your diplomatic and economic efforts? thank you. sec. tillerson: i don't really have a comment on what mr. bannon's remarks were in that particular interview. i read those. i think we have been quite clear as to what the policy and the posture toward north korea is. and i think secretary mattis and i, in that op-ed, wanted to inform, as best we were a

to be honest, general mattis may have taken a step beyond what i said. there are no mixed messages.ust stating the views. here is the view. at that yesterday, i don't have to say it again. i will tell you this. it may be tougher than i said it, not less. how about one more? the people of this country should be very comfortable, and i will tell you this, if north korea does anything in terms of even thinking about attack of anybody that we love or we represent or our allies or us, they can be very, very nervous. i will tell you why. they should be very nervous. things will happen to them like they never thought possible. he's been pushing the world around for a long time. i have great respect for what china and what russia did at those 15-0 white poet i have great respect for china and russia. what they did on sanctions. i believe that will have an effect. i don't believe it will have the kind of effect, even we were the ones that got it, and nikki haley did a great job. we all did a great job. but i have great respect for what they did an great respect for the 15-0, but it won't be

but mattis says no. he says our focus must always be on what is best on the military's combat effectiveness. >> this is quite unusual, isn't it? >> yes, it's very unusual. >> we were discussing the president's reaction because it was unusual. this, secretary of defense telling a president thank you so much for your input. we will take it under advisement as we decide what to do with our armed forces. >> the whole way the policy had been rolled out was unusual. remember it was the tweets and the white house had the announcement. there's a sense that mattis is being a little freer and feels like he can challenge the president a little more. >>. >> so the president's second order give mattis the discretion to implement this policy. and given the whole way this was rolled out, first with the tweet, which came out of nowhere and then with the second policy and now with mattis's announcement, i have to wonder if this was kind of the point, that the second stage was intended to back up the president's tweet and

i think general mattis was more of a caution to the north koreans and not a threat.esident was clearly using a threat yesterday. i'm sort of siding to where rex tillerson is. it's a problem. it's a serious issue, but we don't need to hyper ventilate about it right now. we have a little bit of time. there are other things going on. so serious, need to work the issue, but i don't think we're facing some imminent catastrophe. a good sign, we haven't changed the watch condition for u.s. forces in korea, we haven't changed the defense condition for u.s. position in korea, we have not moved u.s. forces in the direction of korea. i think those are the real indicators, jake. >> watch retired general jake clapper and anderson talking about this crisis. >> we've heard this for decades coming out of north korea and typically we ignore it. certainly at the presidential level, we ignore it. so the rhetoric itself is not helpful. >> you wrote an article for the new yorker recently about everything president trump doesn't know about the job he is doing and his lack of curiosity. ho

what mattis is saying, if there is a missile launch at the u.s. or our allies or our troops or guam, we are not going to wait for it to land. we are going to see it as a declaration of war and we are going to attack. that is a kinetic action. that's not just threats. i think that's quite real. and if it doesn't deter -- i happen to believe kim jong-un is not irrational. he's reckless, pushing it, extremely ambitious but extremely smart. this is a guy who came out of nowhere and managed to take control of the country of which he was putting much of an alien. got rid of all the power threats to him and is now in charge. whether he would go -- i find it hard to believe he would actually launch at guam but if he does, we are looking at something extremely serious and i would imagine the u.s. military is quite prepared with plans for a massive attack where that happen. >> bill: it should be stated that we don't know what north korea can hit. we know it's shown increased capability. but there's a lot of other ifs in this analysis. but it was a quiet wee

what is interesting is the words of defence secretary mattis.cials remind people yesterday that they tried to get back to negotiations between the countries. that is what the relatively new president of this country, president moon once. the relatively new president of this country, president moon oncei the relatively new president of this country, president moon once. ijust wonder whether people are funny difficult to make sense of those mixed messages coming out of washington, the contrasting state m e nts washington, the contrasting statements from donald trump and defence secretary mattis. look, i think there has always been to tracks here. they are prepared, as we re tracks here. they are prepared, as were reminded yesterday, prepared for swift action. they have a closed military alliance. people have lived here for decades knowing that a few miles away is a barrage of missiles lined up and their country. but at the same time, they don't see anything in congress, in the words of secretary mattis, because these two countries have talked befo

i think mattis has this right. get it in diplomatic channels, start to move it back. look for face-saving ways out. nothing to be gained by anyone in a confrontation at this point. >> cory shocky, so back channel talks, no preconditions at all? >> well, i think starting talks iss is in everybody's interest, no preconditions would be a reasonable way to start the conversation. i agree with john that it would be really helpful to have people in the white house stop talking nonsense. i have noticed two important messages that begin to emerge from the administration from all quarter, including the white house. the first is that american military threats on north korea, the end of the regime, are threats to prevent a north korean attack on us or our allies. the president emphasized that. others have been emphasizing this. we are threatening a retaliation against north korean attacks, not a preemption. that's an important message to go into negotiations with. the second really important message is that an attack on japan or inseparable to a attack on the united states. ther

we have just heard now from general james mattis. let me read part of what he has written here. "north korea should cease any consideration of actions that will lead to the end of the regime and the destruction of its people." it's a tone and tenor echoed initially by president trump who vowed to bring fire and fury if north korea continues to threaten the u.s. and if president trump stoked fears of imminent war yesterday, he did little to ease them this morning. he took to twitter to boast the u.s. nuclear arsenal, writing this, "my first order as president was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. it is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before." he goes on. "hopefully, we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world." now, the state department is holding a briefing any moment. there's a live look inside there. we're ready to take it and we will as soon as it begins. it's expected to respond to north korean threats that are new, attacking the small u.s. territory of guam where the u.s

>> absolutely. >> reporter: the pentagon says mattis does have confidence inl.the white house declined to comment on internal strategy, but they say no decision has been made with options still being developed. bottom line, for america's longest war, the wait for a new plan stretches on. hallie jackson, nbc news, the white house. >> hallie, thank you. >>> just ahead, why did tv's highest paid actress take it all off? >>> plus, a major travel warning from the naacp. you're watching "early today." (hard exhalation) honey? can we do this tomorrow? (grunts of effort) can we do this tomorrow? if you have heart failure symptoms, your risk of hospitalization could increase, making tomorrow uncertain. but entresto is a medicine that was proven, in the largest heart failure study ever, to help more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or

this is what jim mattis had to say when asked by reporters about his assessment of the situation.on't need to be trite, but there has been a war of words so far. says it could escalate into were very quickly. that's called war. if they shoot at the united states, i'm assuming they hit the united states. i'm assuming they had that and then it is game on. this follows what we heard from cia director mike pompeo and what we heard from h.r. mcmaster kind of ratcheting down the rhetoric we have had from last week with donald trump talking about fire and theory -- fury and being locked and loaded when it comes to an attack on guam or u.s. land. a news agency saying kim discussed an attack on guam yesterday in a review with his military commanders in north korea. now we are also getting reports out of north korea that they are perhaps backing down on carrying that out. lots of reports and rhetoric still going on. rhetoric, wet the were watching a meeting in seoul between top u.s. military brass president.th korean is that less hawkish than what came out of the american president? reporte

mattis was following an earlier warning by president trump.as threatened to launch missile strikes on the u.s. pacific territory of guam. you are up-to-date on "dw news." i am sarah kelly. thank you for watching. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >>> even as china experiences ongoing economic decline, housing costs in beijing now surpass those of new york. and, according to an april 2016 announcement from the uk's global cities business alliance, they have become the most expensive in the world. a reason for this is that investors who have given up on stocks have returned

now we know from secretary mattis this very key inform

james mattis winning the battle, one might say. next stories interesting, but in wondering if it could plug capability gaps, although we are understood to be reluctant to send more troops. sounds like we would the bare minimum, help with bases in the bare minimum, help with bases in the region, sent their cargo planes, with the unpopularity of trump in the uk i can't see anything involving britain pushing into an american led war to be a good look at the moment, even for a tory government. and there's talk of trump saying to afghanistan, stop harbouring jihadists. barack obama made those comments clear in 2009 when he did his last prime—time address in afghanistan so it is rehashing an old argument although quite an important one. indeed. now to the daily telegraph. larisa, would you get us off on this story. keep fit to get money off your weekly shopping! it's brilliant. this phenomenon at the moment of people wearing the fitbit and some supermarkets say they could get discounts on their weekly shopping if they meet the step targe