what the trump administration is doing. that is the so-called two-phase strategy of which on the first phase placement of additional economic sanctions on north korea where we urge china's serious implementations. then, on the second phase, to include all necessary means to -- pyongyang. i think this is the right approach to go beyond strategic patience. nevertheless, tokyo and washington needs to consult further on the strategy. all concerned parties, including china and russia, are committed to the denuclearization as a common strategic goal. this is a great asset that five parties need to retain. however, tokyo may disagree if temporary action is produced by north korea's freeze an nuclear tests and icbm deployment. we will -- alleged secret deals struck by washington and beijing. when we talk about the red line, from tokyo and seoul's perspective, it has already been crossed since a long time ago. what we need here is an alliance strategy of long-term containment with north korea. maintaining constant strategic superior

the emergence of the trump administration, but this may be our perception, the trade issue that the trump administration -- they decided not to use the current manipulator as a status for china. -- if china -- takes a different -- oach the artificial island reclamation happen so rapidly. i may be wrong and please correct me, but freedom of navigation operation has not been carried out in the months after the start of the trump administration. while you look at the situation of china and the islands in the fighters seema, to exist. whether they are just in training or they are formerly -- formally deployed for military purposes, but military aircraft exists there, that is a fact and aerefore as time passes, strategic balance seems to weigh more heavily and more advantageously to china. this is not -- >> on stage year and in the front row, we have the best and brightest of japan's national security thinkers. the reality is, we can probably get many more members to fill the rose who would agree with what you are saying -- the ws with people who would agree with what you are saying. wrong,can

storys the environmental of the first 100 days of the trump administration? story the environmental is that donald trump is attack ing environmental protections and that he's made priority.e, huge it starts with scott pruitt at e.p.a. but then rex tillerson, the former head of exxon mobile basically being in charge of our foreign policy. we basically have a government right now that works for the oil industry. is the storyhink, of the first 100 days. and then i think the other story , the other side to that, though, is that that agenda is extremely unpopular with the american people. that's why donald trump lost the popular vote and that's why hundreds of thousands of people rallying at the women's march and then also weekend at the people's climate march. so this really incredible loy un and extreme agenda donald trump is pushinged for and then the america fighting pack. host: and you were at the washington dc climate march. of 200,000mates people here in washington, d.c. with rallies also across the country. far-exceeded expectations on a swelteringly hot da

what will she say about what the trump administration knew? >> she apparently has some information as to who knew what when. >> not without a fight. the former president speaks out for the first time about his namesake health care law. >> it does require some courage to champion the vulnerable and the sick and the infirm. >> as new ads go up targeting members of congress, who voted for the republican bill. plus, republicans facing rowdy town halls after the vote. and one congressman now under fire for saying this. >> nobody dies because they don't have access to health care. >> yes, sir. in fact, lots of people die that way. we will begin this morning with the blockbuster testimony on capitol hill. former acting attorney general sally yates will finally testify, doesn't it feel like forever in front of a senate subcommittee, about russia's efforts to undermine the presidential election. the biggest bombshells may surround former national security adviser michael flynn and her warnings to the white house about him. well, you're in luck, we've g

certainly, folks are going to be watching the elections but that is always a concern either on the trump administrationward view of the nuclear deal and what will come out of it. tracy: ramsey jurdi joining us on -- yousef: ramsey jurdi joining us on set. president trump heading to the middle east and what is on his agenda. this is bloomberg. ♪ the show's about to start! how do i look? like a bald penguin. [ laughing ] show me the billboard music awards. show me top artist. show me the top hot 100 artist. they give awards for being hot and 100 years old? we'll take 2! [ laughing ] xfinity x1 gives you exclusive access to the best of the billboard music awards just by using your voice. the billboard music awards. sunday, may 21st eight seven central only on abc. "bloomberg markets: middle east. " irans will minister says of the nation expects $80 billion in full assessment -- in oil investment. the petrochemical well attract another $40 billion. the nation's deputy oil minister will wait until after the election to sign it to deal with the tall. totall. kept itsl ratings have rating for turkey. turkey's

there are a lot of things the trump administration can do to undermine it or support it.hat to watch out for going forward, because there are some seismic events that might shake up things, including elections and -- iir. how much of a factor is that and what else are you watching? obviously, the elections in iran are very important but they are always important regardless of trump's position. i think critically, you see that trump has announced his of -- first foreign visit abroad is going to be saudi arabia and israel, the two -- two biggest critics of the nuclear deal. we need to watch out for the boeing and airbus deal, what happens with that, it is a little bit of a barometer and litmus test because those two companies are in constant communications with the u.s. government. it gives us a little bit of insight into what the thinking is on the part of the department of treasury and sanctions. and obviously, there is a lot of sanctions legislation in congress. there is always sanctions legislation in the u.s. congress, but what has hped is there was always president ob

maybe i think that is our perception only that trump administration security, and trade issues that trump physician made, use different trade, the deal. and that decided not to -- currency money later status to china. and while that is done, the security -- the picture is that china takesc the different approach unless that is check last during the obama administration the artificial island reclamation underrace so after the burst ofi that trump administration i may be wrong if i may be wrong correct me. freedom of negotiation has not been carried out once even after the trump administration. while you look at the situation of china, and the island in south china sea, fighter seem. further they adjust in training or diplomacy. they say aircraft will not be used but military aircraft exist there that is the fact. and therefore as time passes, strategy balance weigh more heavily to china. and therefore, this not a deal in it should be taken care for the best to great interest. >> stage here and then in the front row we have best and brightest of japan's national security thinkers.ve th

with the trump administration coming in and the elections, there has been a lot of focus.dministration will go ahead and extent those waivers with little fanfare, but they will keep up the rhetoric come in the key is, what else did they do? to the beat of out of congress, a they undermined the jcp oh -- jcpoa? there are a lot of things the trump administration can do to undermined it -- undermined it or supported. -- support it. eventse are some seismic that might shake up things, including elections and iran. how much of a factor is that and what else are you watching? >> the elections in iran are very important, they are ported position. of trump's i think critically, you see that trump has announced his of foreign visit abroad will be saudi arabia and israel, the two biggest critics of the nuclear deal. we need to watch out for the boeing and airbus deal, what happens with that, it is a little bit of a barometer and let this test because those two companies are in constant communications with the u.s. government. it gives us a little bit of insight into what the thinkin

sessions was forced to recuse himself from the investigation of russian collusion with the trump administration because of his close connections with the trump campaign and communications he himself had with mr. kislyak and other russian officials. when they made the decision to fire director comey, was the white house aware that director comey had reportedly just asked the justice department for more resources for an adequate investigation? and perhaps the most important question of all: when will republicans in congress agree to support a special prosecutor and an independent commission to get to the bottom of this russian collusion in our last presidential election? mr. president, december 8, 2016, is a day that will live in cyber infamy. it was that election that the russians set out to change the results. it is the first time we have seen an overt effort by a foreign party do this. and many on the other side of the aisle havetain taken a ho-hum attitude. oh, it is just another example of kids being kids. i don't think so. when one of our major adversaries in the world decides to try to imp

the budget released by the trump administration is shockingly extreme. the anticipate -- antithesis of what the american people wanted from the government. he has left no question about what he values. greater gains for special interests at the expense of american families, he economic progress -- economic problems -- congress. but we saw with the republican health care repeal bill and the administration's tax proposal. both of which have been overwhelmingly rejected by the american people. assistance targets for people with disabilities, cutting social security disability insurance. despite the president's pledge to not touch social security at all. yes, the president's budget is a betrayal. a line by line tally of broken promises made to the american people. above all, it is a trail of broken dreams and the loss of hope and opportunity for millions of families. this budget starts by taking away health care than food, then housing, then education than job opportunities. when nearly every american family is struggling, this budget makes it harder if not

trump he was making a big mistake. the first question the administration has to answer is why now.f the administration had objections, they had those objections the minute the president got into office, but they didn't fire him then. why did it happen today? we know the house is investigating russian interference in our elections, that benefited the trump campaign. we know the senate is investigating. we know the fbi has been looking into whether the trump campaign colluded with the russians, a very serious offence. were these investigations getting too close to home for the president? it is troubling that attorney general sessions, who had recused himself from the russian investigation, played a role in firing the man leading it. so what happens now? deputy attorney general rosenstein sat in the judiciary committee and promised to appoint a special prosecutor at the appropriate time. that time is right now. the american people's trust in our criminaljustice system is in rosenstein‘s hands. mr rosenstein, america depends on you to restore faith in our criminaljustice system, which

the trump administration does it may be more than most but all administrations do this. this past friday night they waited until after 10:00 p.m. eastern to announce that the epa was pulling all of its climate data off of the epa's website. that was a classy friday night news dump last week. we got two more epa friday night news dumps tonight that will be getting to later on in this show. but in addition to the friday night news dumps where they just hide stuff late on a friday thinking no one will notice it, the other thing that happens with the trump administration on friday, and this, i think, has to be a coincidence, this is just god hates me, it's that news about them tends to break on friday night as well. and that is the case tonight in "the washington post" and the associated press. "the washington post" was first. they front page the mike flynn and all the apparent warnings he was given about his contact with russian government officials during the transition. so, between the election and when president trump was actually sworn in. according to tonight's front p

phase of the trump campaign during the beginning of his administration is critical. obviously, the witch hunt is still on, trying to figure out if you can link up trump officials to russia. as we keep seeing with hillary clinton, she's not going to give up the narrative that it was russia to lost her the election. >> if it is a witch hunt and we are talking about the fact that michael flynn clearly had conversations he shouldn't have been having with russian officials, doesn't it justify it in and of itself? i'm not saying russia won the election. >> i say go forward on the investigation, absolutely. but the mere fact is there's a constant assumption especially from congressman like adam schiff, where he's gone other networks to make the case that there is collusion there without there being an actual finding or conclusion. many of these congress men have jumped the gun and just made that assumption, saying there is collusion, without going with the facts at this point. >> maria: right. that's just politics driving that sentiment, nothing more than that. no evidence

eric, this was not a good day for the trump administration. >> eric: why do you say that? i didn't hear any links. >> you have two career officials that have served in republican and democratic administrations, basically one, enormous collusion by russia. two, i am talking about in general. clapper talking. >> eric: he said there was no evidence of collusion. >> in the election, there was. i'm not talking about flynn. number two, sally yates talking about the potential compromising of general flynn. sally yates, a 27 year career prosecutor, talking about a number of instances where general flynn misled his own administration. >> eric: that is not illegal. >> that's not the point. >> eric: also sally yates, we need to point out, she was appointed by barack obama and during this time, a question the trump administration was pretty hard on the obama administration. >> 27 years she served under george bush. republican and democratic administrations. a career prosecutor. just because she was acting attorney general at the time, she did what she thought was right. to tell the whi

as specific as possible, but not all the te detail e of somebody sounding the alarm to the trump administration and i think we have to also step back here. combine this sally yates testimony with what we learned today about president obama delivering this message of concern about flynn to president trump in their first meeting. you had the most inexperienced person in these matters elected to the presidency surrounding themselves with a team of the least experience d people in dealing with the matters in terms of the closest advisers. and you have from president obama to sally yates, you have people steeped in this starting to raise red flags and sound alarms and to glorious point, what some senators are going to look for is is what did you do about those alarms. what were the steps you have taken because this was not anything that donald trump encountered in his entire life. so he receives this information, so what as a very inexperienced person, what do you do with that information in that moment you get it? >> she can't go into classified information, but we reported this and why is that she

so what the trump administration could do to facilitate the flow of commerce via trucks is to boost funding for such programs and the trucking associations are opposed to tolling and tolling is funding proposal the administration is actually pushing, so not only does ata, but other trucking sector companies will like to see tolling not to be a big player or not be included in a major fund prog posal for highway infrastructure. host: to the first part, when it comes to the highway trust fund, what is the trump administration signalled as far as interest in making changes to that? guest: for the highway trust fund, we should take a step back. the trump administration is doing, proposing a 10-year infrastructure funding plan. this is a $1 trillion proposal that in the fiscal 2018 budget request, they are proposing $200 billion to jump start that and have $800 billion, we don't have details of that to promote private sector funding, so what the trump white house is calling for is a series of public-private partnerships or going down the line going through tolling proposal, like i mentioned. ano

discussed the federal role in education and the level of change that can be expected by the trump administration in areas such as school choice. randirs include weingarten, who heads the american federation of teachers. this for him is part of a conference of journalists posted by the education writers association. >> all right. i think we will get started. we are giving people a little bit of time, because it is a mzae to get here. --maze. president will be joining us as soon as we get here. i'm the education reported at u.s. news. you are at the changing politics of k-12 panel discussion. thank you for being here. e w rankled a pretty awesome panelists tot -- discuss and answer your pressing questions, because there's nothing really going on in dc, right? i will leave the bio in your programs. i will run down the line. we have lindsey burke. she is the education policy director for the heritage foundation, which were those of you outside the beltway, it is a conservative think tank in washington dc. the president of democrats for education reform. he's also a civil rights leader. next in him i

significant changes that we have seen so far in the approach to education policy between the trump administration and obama administration? the budget that the trump administration proposed this onk is on that doubles down what was one of donald trump central education campaign promises and has long been a primary focus of secretary devos, which is school choice, and the budget makes some new investments in school choice policies expanding charter schools, allowing students to choose the public school that they want to attend from within a public school district, and it also make some cuts elsewhere throughout the education department. some steep cuts in some cases, so the overall topline numbers are pretty big cut from what the obama administration had been proposing and what congress had been funding the last years. host: the administration's budget released this week, particularly on education, laying out five programs that the trump administration once to eliminate in the proposed budget . the gifted and talented education program, funding for foreign language, native olympics -- special olym

delegitimises his presidency and has called it a hoax that there is any collusion between the trump administrations. president trump has been forceful to counteract this narrative. what we have seen from several testimonies, directorjames comey of the fbi is looking into connections with the trump administration and russia. the director of national intelligence revealed today that an american, whether it was a member of the congress or the trump transition team, has been revealed in the incidental collection of evidence and they were investigating that individual. while president trump tries to highlight some parts of the testimonies today in this hearing, it still does not really close the door to the overall investigations that are ongoing. it doesn't clear this issue for him and that's what's really frustrating to the president. he wants to move on from this. there seems to be more questions raised then answered. he's the youngest french leader since napoleon bonaparte and today emmanuel macron has been trying on the trappings of office, a day after his decisive presidential victory. mr macron,

the trump administration has made clear that the trump administration is going to return u.s.eign policy towards a saudi centric, gulf centric vision that sees saudi arabia and many gulf kingdoms as allies and keeps tehran firmly in the camp of enemies. >> thank you so much for that report. >>> as president trump is now on the ground in saudi arabia, russia continues to haunt him and all of the controversies. what's interesting is how russia is reacting. it may not be front page news in moscow, interesting to see that you and i have been told for months russia is resigned to the fact this won't be a reset with the united states, even though it is a trump administration, but yet with the oval office visit, they still seem to be willing to project some type of affinity with the trump administration. >> that's something that's really remarkable. if you take a look at the amount of controversy, the fact that top officials in the trump administration, the defense secretary, the secretary of state described the relationship with russia as adversarial and warned about national securi

lou: let me ask a question, should not the trump presidency, the administration be finding this out? know it may to some seem, well, unseemly, but it's a national security issue amongst other things, and a matter of law. shouldn't they be holding the hearings and carrying out the investigations to find out who did this to them? >> absolutely, they should and at some point, let's hope that we find out who is behind it and that there is a full accountability held. i don't think the hearings today produced a lot, other than some posturing and everybody got to posture and got tv time, but as far as providing significant answers, that's not going to come until they go into a closed session and they can do the classified stuff, although, i have to be honest, i heard ed and mike, michael goodwin both say and i agree with them, that that's a convenient excuse when you don't want to answer a question, i can't talk about that, it's classified. well, you know, cry me a river because at some point you better answer some questions. >> clapper, comey and sally yates never looked so comfortable bef

nicole: breaking news overnight commerce secretary wilbur ross and trump administration announcing majorhina. we will tell you who will benefit. good friday morning, i'm nicole petallides. lauren: happy friday, i'm lauren simonetti. president trump says he would have fired james comey even without recommendation. new questions on whether the investigation into hillary clinton's emails could be reopened. we will have all of the new developments. nicole: in the market slumping retail stocks dragged down the dow falling 23 points yesterday. down almost half a percent for the week. right now with down arrows again. s&p futures down 5. lauren: there could be more pain for retail sector, nordstrom stock under reporting earnings. we will get retail sales numbers from the government. nicole: show me the moneys, mcdonalds offer incentives, we will take a closer look. lauren: in spurs the san antonio annihilate the houston rockets to close down series. we have highlights. nicole: 5:31 a.m. in new york, we welcome you fbn:am, latest breaking news. lauren: u.s. reaching a major bilateral trade agree

what's very shady and concerning for the trump administration, trump administration was told by actingneral yates that michael flynn was susceptible to blackmail. they did not, sat on it for weeks until the "washington post" article broke the story and then donald trump asked for the resignation of michael flynn and to this day he defends him and says he's subject to a witch hunt. let's not forget he was paid $45,000 by russia for appearing at russia today next to putin and gave him a standing ovation and paid more than $500,000 by turkish businessman with alleged ties to russia as a foreign agent and failed to disclose it. the question then goes, why did the trump administration keep on michael flynn after the acting attorney general sally yates warned them he was susceptible to blackmail and lied about the conversation he had with the russian ambassador and how come nothing was done about it. >> let's listen to how the white house press secretary sean spicer characterized the warning after yates was fired. >> just to be clear, the acting attorney general informed the white house coun

administration. she was subsequently fired, if you remember, for refusing to support trump's travel ban. what kind of happened that made michael flynn stay on for so long. sean spicer blend the obama administration for not revoking general flynn's security clearance back in 2016. the president himself weighing in on twitter saying that the whole story of collusion is a hoax and a taxpayer funded charade. director clapper told everybody no evidence of pollution. actually, he was not made aware of the evidence because he was not made aware of the investigation —— collusion. he was not made aware of the investigation -- collusion. this senate judiciaries committee is one ofa senate judiciaries committee is one of a few probes. there is also the fbi. president trump has for a long time, been critical of comments about this, calling them a hoax. he wa nts to about this, calling them a hoax. he wants to get passed this in his presidency. he feels that it delegitimise as his presidency and has called it a hoax that there is any collusion between the trump administration and the russians. preside

lou: in our online poll we asked do you believe the trump administration should bring lawsuits and criminalversion and the deep state? 82% of you say yes. let's start with this extraordinary budget put forward by the budget director today, the trump budget is $4.1 trillion with a 10-year plan of balancing the budget. >> it goes after quite a few sacred cows. it reminded me of bill clinton of all people. it was his idea to have people pick themselves up and get off the social safety net. lou: a lot of people forget welfare reform was authored in the children and administration. >> and he's going after disability. lou: it was considered the obama slush funds. matting with your reaction to the budget? matt: what's interesting when you try socialism like we did under obama, all the poverty programs got much worse. if we can get the economy moving and get people back to work and make americans feel better and have higher take-home pay, some of these budgetary problems will be solved. i give mick mulvaney and the president credit for taking on these questions. is the government too big and do too

. >> former acting attorney general sally yates is expected to contradict trump administration officials when she testifies on capitol hill about alleged ties between russia and the trump campaign. sources tell cbs news it was yates who warned the white house that former national security advisory michael flynn was not forthcoming with the vice president about his contacts with the russian ambassador to the u.s. this morning president trump tweeted a question for senate lawmakers. he wrote and sally yates under oath if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explaid council. >> congress began investigating after u.s. intelligence agencies concluded that russian president vladimir putin ordered the cyber hacking of the u.s. election to help donald trump win. >> former secretary of state condoleezza rites supports the investigation. >> let's not give him the satisfaction of thinking that he has caused americans to doubt the legitimacy of our own democratic processes. >> yates a holdover from the obama administration was fired for instructing justice depa

the trump administration considering sending more soldiers to afghanistan. and immigration through art -- the mexican artist reflecting the identities of those crossing borders. tim: hello, and welcome to our viewers on public television and around the globe. he is a left-leaning liberal who wants to engage with the north, southll moon jae-in, korea's new president, quickly find himself at odds with the trump administration? during the campaign, the 64-year-old, the child of refugees who fled the north during the korean war, said he wanted to improve relations with pyongyang, and questioned the deployment of u.s. missile defense system in which the u.s. military has installed in his country. our correspondent steve evans has this report from seoul. stephen: moon jae-in congratulated on his victory tonight. to men taking south korea the left and perhaps closer to north korea. he wants to talk to pyongyang. voters back in by a big margin. they wanted holes in large numbers, turnout of around 80%. of issues, the economy course, young people worried about jobs,

i would say the trump administration, in terms of its rhetoric, shares that point of view.nterestingly enough i think what you are seeing is some extent, the generals and the pentagon, the admirals, and secretary mattis elevating the discourse, using sharper language like we are going to annihilate isis. if you zoom back and take the 40,000 foot view, we are not seeing a massive surge of troops and to these countries and that is designed for a very good reason, at least as the pentagon would see it. they do not want to put american troops at risk or raise the risk of causing civilian casualties. host: on the issue of troop levels at yesterday's briefing, said hesecretary mattis had not made a recommendation on the troop levels in afghanistan for president trump. but during the briefing, general joseph dunford talked about the possibility of a troop increase in afghanistan. let's take a look. nor do inot able to, seek to get commitments for additional forces because that will be met by heads of state -- made by heads of state and their forces. president trump will be in brus

maria: good morning, days 01 for the trump administration, a spending bill and a healthcare overhaul are at e top of washingt agenda upcong week. lawmakers may be getting closer to a long-term spending package as well. hello, everyone, i'm maria bartiromo, this is sunday morning futures. reportedly lawmakers closer than ever to a bill to repeal and replace obamacare. can they seal the deal? also, what will congress do with the president's tax reform package? i will talk with jeb as well as plan to replace dodd-frank. punishing sanctuary cities and one border state is taking matters into their own hands. i will talk to greg abbot, governor of texas. president trump marking 100th day with rally in pennsylvania putting pressure on capitol hill, republicans to get a win on the board with a measure to repeal and replace obamacare and even calling out two pennsylvania lawmakers by name. >> we are going to give americans the freedom to purchase the health care plans they want, not the health care forced on them by the government. and i will be so angry at congressman kelly and congressman m

the supreme court granted review withat issue, then than trump administration came in and withdrew the administrative guidance supporting that interpretation, the court sent the case back to the fourth circuit to take another look. i think the case could welcome back to the court and a posture -- if the fort circuit decides that the statue, even without the ministration of interpretation, the statute supports the obama position them -- that could go back to the court. there is another big case in the d c circuit that will be argued on bond and a couple weeks. that involves the constitutionality of the structure for the consumer financial protection bureau. it's particular whether the director of the bureau's the structure -- and his authority consistent with the constitution. panel of the d.c. a turkish in a decision by judge kavanagh held that the cfp be director has too much power, because he can't be removed by the president that will. and he is not checked or balanced by any other fellow commissioners the way that most agency headsdent are. and so, the d.c. circuit vacated that dec

president trump's policy is a reversal of the obama administration which knowingly allowed in gang msof13 members who arriveded in 2016. in our on line poll last night, do you believe that president trump is right to call islamic terrorist and their supporters evil loser and call for their obliteration. 98 percent said he is absolutely correct. and joining me now to talk about the president's war against the left wing media and defiant speaker ryan is mark samoan and molly hemmingly. molly, "fake news", the latest poll harvard harris showing 65 percent of the voters say that the media is publishing "fake news" being and the numbers are higher among republicans than democrats, your reaction? >> yeah, the numbers are a little bit low given that it is a daily occurrence and they are getting stories wrong. a story that claimed that president trump had violated all sorts of protocol by sharing with the philippine president and submains and that was public information and i didn't see anybody retracted the stories. and there is a major problem be with media not checking source and doing due d

administration. but the fact that donald trump would ignore that advice is yet another example of how the trump administrationf have looked the other way where russia is concerned. >> it also makes me wonder what does that say also about the vetting that was under way? we played a sound bite earlier of john kelly. when i became secretary of homeland security, my last 25 years were thrown out the door and they vetted me meticulously once again. if this warning came on november 10th, what does that say about the vetting? >> i don't know what the vetting was, obviously, but it is also a fact in my experience and reporting is that when the president wants you for something, when the president says i want him to be national security adviser, he's going to be the national security adviser and they can ignore unpleasant facts in the vetting process. i don't know what the vetting said, but it was quite clear that donald trump wanted mike flynn as his national security adviser and he got him, albeit briefly. >> the vetting continues to be a question because the president is blaming the obama administration for not vet

>> trump administration officials, like homeland security secretary kelly, who we just heard from, have been making the rounds before congressional committees this week. to talk about president trump's 2018 budget proposal. one of the headlines in "the hill," sanders-mulvaney clash heatedly over trump budget. as white house budget director mick mulvaney testified before the senate banking committee today. senator bernie sanders asked why america's richest family needs a tax break. here's some of their exchange. mr. sanders: before we go further, i find it a little bit unfair that mr. mulvaney and many people in the trump administration disparage the director of the c.b.o. when it was tom price, the former republican chairman of the budget committee, who appointed -- who appointed dr. hall in the first place. let's get that clear. mr. mulvaney, as you know, the united states today has more income and wealth inequality than any major country on earth. top .1% now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. 52% of all new income today is going to the top 1%. but your budget thinks that i

i mean, the trump administration had some very different ideas than the administration.any indication of that that he will be raising human rights or not raising human rights in saudi arabia? >> what one senior white house official told us just a couple days ago we're not going to lecture anyone. that has been the message from trump as he met with these leaders from several of these muslim countries. president trump has made clear that, you know, he's not trying to lecture people, certainly not in public. white house officials telling us he will raise human rights concerns in private. he greeted earlier in the white house in his term. of course, they didn't raise human rights concerns publicly but we later saw one of these american activists in egypt who is imprisoned. she was released shortly following that meeting. >> again, just bringing up the tip of the iceberg of all there is to talk about on this visit. continue to follow it there for us in riyadh, appreciate it. >>> no doubt a very important speech for the president seen as a reset in the muslim world. president

charlie: we begin this evening with a look events surrounding the trump administration. gela merkel this -- express -- at the u.s. as an ally. this, after trump's refusal to recommit to the parents -- the paris climate deal. trump criticized germany via trade surplus. he blamed fake news for critical news about his administration. the washington post reported, jared kushner was being investigated by the fbi for a series of meetings he held with russian officials as part of their probe into alleged interference into the election. the new york times reported says -- -- reported this may be mark mazzetti joins us from washington. lionel barber of the financial times joints me. know?what do we what is it we want to know about jared kushner and these conversations he had with the russian ambassador and the how would wer, and like to define them? mark: there are a lot of things we would want to know. what would be the purpose of the conversations? what was discussed? what each person wanted from each other, what the russians were interested in, what kushner was interested in, w

so the risk for european politicians is the closer they get to the trump administration and to the trump administration agenda, the greater the risk of some out of left field shift in u.s. policy, leaving them out on limb. and so that i think is a major, certainly if you look at hancellor merkel position as she looks ahead to the german election but she wants strong transatlantic relationship but a few stray tweets or statements can leave her in extremely ifficult position. a recent survey in germany show 22% of the german population considers the u.s. a trustworthy partner. that's two percentage points etter than their view of russia. and that's a dramatic decrease from a year ago. so the risk for european politicians is the closer they get to the trump administration and to the trump administration agenda, the greater the risk of some out of left field shift in -- 2% of their gdp who do not get much out of that at least in terms of capabilities that are at the disposal of the entire nato alliance and contributing to transatlantic security. the challenge has always been to find better m

delegitimises his presidency and has called it a hoax that there is any collusion between the trump administration and so president trump has been very forceful to kind of counteract this narrative. but what we have seen from several testimonies — i mean, the fbi, directorjames comey has said they are looking into any connections between the trump administration and russia. the director of national intelligence did revealed today that an american — he wouldn't say whether it was a member of the congress or a member of the trump transition team — but that they had been revealed in the incidental collection of intelligence, they were investigating that individual. so while president trump tries to kind of highlight some parts of this testimonies today in this hearing, of this testimony today in this hearing, it still does not really close the door to the overall investigations that are ongoing. it doesn't kind of clear this issue for him and i think that's what's really frustrating to the president. he wants to kind of move on from this issue. but with several probes going on, and continual hearings

so the risk for european politicians is the closer they get to the trump administration and to the trumpdministration agenda, the greater the risk of some out of left field shift in u.s. policy, leaving them out on a limb. and so that i think is a major, certainly if you look at chancellor merkel position as she looks ahead to the german election but she wants strong transatlantic relationship but a few stray tweets or statements can leave her in extremely difficult position. a recent survey in germany show 22% of the german population considers the u.s. a trustworthy partner. that's two percentage points better than their view of russia. and that's a dramatic decrease from a year ago. so the risk for european politicians is the closer they get to the trump administration and to the trump administration agenda, the greater the risk of some out of left field shift in 2% of their gdp who do not get much out of that at least in terms of capabilities that are at the disposal of the entire nato alliance and contributing to transatlantic security. the challenge has always been to find better m

. >>> the russia probe is out of the hands of the trump administration. a former fbi chief tapped as special counsel. what this means for the investigation. the white house and members of congress reeling from the barrage of bad headlines. good morningme. welcome to "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. you had the biggest decline in the markets in year because the president was knocked off the policy issues. now the temperature has gone down a little bit. >> i feel like washington, d.c. ex exhaled. the entire town. congress, the white house. >> now there's a process. the investigation into russia's meddling now in the hands of the former director of the fbi. robert mueller appointed special counsel. he has the power to investigate, to question, to issue subpoenas and prosecute federal crimes if any discovered. mueller appointed by deputy rod rosenstein. >> rosenstein said the move was not a finding crimes had been committed, but quote based on the circumstances the public interest requires me to place this investigation under authority

house controversies will put the traditional gop stronghold at risk. >> three months in the trump administration is completely disastrous, so many scandals. i think we need better leadership in office. tnk my montanans have seen trump pulled the wool over their eyes. >> nbc senior political editor beth fouy. >> democrats seem to be making a lot of headway, probably not because of the scandals rocking washington. the people we talked to in montana -- we're outside the adams center where bernie sanders had that event with rob quist. we talked to many people who had a lot of things on their mind. we heard a lot of people talk about health care. they're very worried about the gosh plan to gut obamacare and replace it with this american health care act which everybody seemed worried about in terms of losing medicaid coverage, coverage for pre-existing conditions. this audience was very, very conscious of the changes that have been proposed. we heard both quist and bernie sanders talk about that. we heard other issues come in as well, immigration was mentioned, women's right to choose was mentioned. b