>> harris: the president will have a guest from europe, the italian prime minister. he's also going to have reporters in the room. what will they ask? keep watching. i'm harris. here's dana. >> dana: president trump holding a news conference. the president considering an interview with robert mueller. i'm dana perino. this is "the daily briefing." president trump's legal team is strongly advising against an interview for robert mueller's russia investigation as the president continues to slam the special counsel. after attacking mueller for possible conflicts of interest, trump tweeting also why is mueller only appointing angry dems, some of whom have worked for hillary clinton, others including myself have worked for obama and why isn't mueller looking at all of the criminal

activity and real russian collusion on the democrat's side? podesta dossier. john roberts is live in the east room. the president's legal team is looking at the possibilities for a sit-down interview with mueller, but they're not there yet, john. as i recall, they never thought it was a good idea for him to sit down with him. >> there's been a difference of opinion. they have gone back and forth on it. they're still talking with mueller's organization. i'm told the talks don't seem to be going anywhere. the greatest likelihood, we can't definitively say it but probably an interview between president trump and robert mueller is not going to happen. for a number of reasons. first of all, they don't believe that manafort has made a compelling case to sit down with the president. the president's attorneys are saying what information do you need to get that you don't already have from all of these tens of thousands, maybe

millions of documents that we have been producing for you that you need to ask the president about? the other part of the equation is, all of the news out in the last few weeks regarding the very genesis of the mueller investigation really has the president's attorneys saying it would be crazy for the president to sit down. rudy guliani a little more than an hour ago went so far to say that he's being told on television that it would be legal malpractice to let the president sit down with mueller and they doesn't want to get disbarred. guliani wouldn't go all the way to say no, there will be no interview but he came close. listen here. >> two things. first, i'm no on the sit-down until we get ironed out exactly what they want to do. the process is, we have five co-counsel, senior people, who will advise the president. he decide. he's always leaned in favor of

doing it. right now i'm telling him no way. >> a final decision has not been made. the final decision will be the president's. at this point they're as close to no as no can be. really does seem to be a matter of how and when they're going to tell mueller that and roll it out to the public. >> dana: john, as you been speaking, john bolton and the press secretary sarah sanders enter in the east room. we're probably closer to the president's press conference. what do you expect to hear from him and the italian prime minister in the next few minutes? >> you're going to see a couple leaders that are populist politicians. they want immigration reform and they want a closer relationship to russian. in his inaugural address -- let me stand in here. during his inaugural address, guiseppe conte said he wanted to revise sanctions against russia. so they're not quite on the same page, but kind of getting close.

dana? >> dana: thank you so much. >> thank you very much. thank you. i'm honored to welcome my new friend. we got along very well from the beginning. prime minister guiseppe conte to the white house. mr. prime minister, i want to begin congratulating you on your tremendous victory in italy. it was something that all the world was watching. and it excited the people all across italy and i can tell you all across the united states as well. congratulations. in your election, the italian nation has reaffirmed the great traditions of sovereignty, law and accountability that stretches all the way back to ancient rome. this proud heritage sustains our civilization and must always be

defended. today prime minister conte and i are pleased to announce a new strategic dialogue between italy and the united states that will enhance cooperation on a range of issues. this includes joint security efforts in the mediterranean, where we recognize italy's stablization role in libya and north africa. we know we need to protect our nations from terrorism and uncontrolled migration. our countries have learned through hard experience that border security is national security. they're one and the same. like the united states, italy is under an enormous strain as a result of illegal immigration and they fought it hard and the

prime minister is with us today because of illegal immigration. italy got tired of it. they didn't want it any longer. the people of italy have borne a great part of the burden for europe through the course of the migration crisis. i applaud the prime minister for his bold leadership, truly bold, and i hope more leaders will follow this example, including leaders in europe. the prime minister and i are united in our conviction that strong nations must have strong borders. we have is a solemn obligation to protect our citizens and their quality of life. my administration is working hard to pass border security legislation, improve vetting and establish a merit-based immigration system which the united states needs very, very importantly, very badly.

as far as the border is concerned and personally, if we don't get border security after many, many years of talk within the united states, i would have no problem doing a shut down. it's time that we had proper border security. we're the laughingstock of the world. we have the worst immigration laws anywhere in the world. in our meeting today, the prime minister around i discussed ways to enhance our cooperation in the fight against terrorism. also has to do with border security. i want to thank the italian people for italy's contributions to counter terrorism and operations in the coalition to defeat isis where we've had a tremendous success, as you know. and nato's resolute support mission in afghanistan. the prime minister and i agree that the brutal regime in iran

must never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon, never. we encourage all nations to pressure iran to end the full range of its malign activities. the united states welcomes the partnership of italy in these vital efforts. today we're also addressing the crucial issue of trade and commerce. we're working closely with our european partners, including italy, to ensure fair and reciprocal trade. a few days ago, i met with president joncker from the european union. we had a meeting and announced an agreement to remove trade barriers and increase united states exports of agriculture, energy and other good and services to the european union. now is also the perfect time to

expand commerce between the united states and italy. america's booming economy setting records in so many categories. creates enormous opportunities for investment. like-wise, i recommend investment in italy. a great place with great people. i look forward to working closely with the prime minister to open up new commercial opportunities that will reduce our trade deficit substantially and increase our mutual prosperity. mr. prime minister, we discussed our shared goal of combatting unfair foreign trade practices from nonmarket economists. they're brutal, but we're winning. these abuses include subsidies, excess capacity, intellectual property theft, currency devaluation and distortion caused by state-owned

enterprises. in this area, like so many others, cooperation between italy and the united states can make a tremendous difference not only for our countries but all over the world. it's making a big difference. we're making a big difference. tremendous difference on trade and on fairness. we also have to be fair to the people of the united states and the taxpayers of the united states. mr. prime minister, thank you for joining me for these important discussions. we're both outsiders to politics. can you believe it? we're outsiders to politics. look at all of these wonderful politicians. we're both determined to protect the rights and needs and interests and dreams of our citizens. we will do that. i look forward to partnering with you to build on the incredible friendship between our countries and to creating a brighter future for both the people of italy and the people of the united states and with that, i just want to again thank

you very much for coming to the white house. it's my great honor. thank you. >> i wish to thank you, president trump, for this kind invitation for the warm hospitality. only two months after the formation of my government. i take it as a sign of the special attention to italy and to me as well. forgive me but i don't want to renounce the privilege for speaking in my wonderful language now. [speaking italian]. >> before all, i'd like to remember with solidarity to all the families and all of the

members of the families, to the victims of the fires that took place recently in california. i'd also like to say a very, very affectionate hello for our friends. our relationship is a long one. goes back today. today we strengthened it even more. i'm extremely happy about this. with the very fruitful encounter at the white house, we have made another step ahead in order to intensify our cooperation, our work together, to make it even more adequate vis a vis the geo political commission situation in the world. from june 1, there's another element that brings us even closer, the united states and italy, my government and the trump administration, are both

governments that represent change. they were chosen by citizens in order to change the status quo and to improve their life conditions. there's so many things that bring us together and unify us, the united states and italy.we did what we promised in our campaign and working to give answers to the expectations of our citizens so that we won't disappoint them and we don't betray our mandate. in italy, in the united states, we are proving that change is possible. donald and i have concentrated on a number of topics. we have agreed upon and reached the following results, which in part were already mentioned. today we will have made a great step ahead. we will start working in italy.

it's a directorship boost asker with in the mediterranean between italy and the united states. i'd say we're almost twin countries in which italy is becoming a reference point in europe. a privileged for the united states for the main threat and challenges that we have before us. terrorism, all the crises that we see in the mediterranean and in particular in regards to libya. secondly, the american administration also recognizes that italy has a leadership role as a promoter country that will lead to the stabilization of libya. of course, with great respect for the libyan population. with the united states, we will be working in order to reach these results and we will decide what need to be done in view of

this result. i'm truly thankful to you, donald, for your support. thirdly, in terms of immigration, i also described to president trump the innovative approach that italy has put forth and the european union now has a responsibility to not leave the weight of the management of immigration on the shoulders of the countries of first arrival like italy is. and as you heard, president trump say, we appreciate this contribution, which is provided by the italian government, which is providing fruit, good results. we're talking about an approach, a multilevel approach in order to try to resolve the phenomenon of immigration. not because of an emergency but because this is a structural approach. i want to underline this is in line with the position of president trump, which goes from

the respect and dignity of people to make sure that fundamental rights are protected and it wants to make sure that these rights are trampled over because these people are in the hands of criminals. i also want to underline that the world day for the exchange of human beings will be celebrated. i also told president trump that i'm very satisfied for the understanding that we reached very recently between ourselves and the president of the european commission. i believe that this understanding is fundamental and we have to work on it immediately, bringing together our efforts to make sure that the european, american and italian citizens receive the benefits of a more equitable trade relationship, which is completely reciprocal. once again, as far as russia is

concerned, italy is favorable to a dialogue with russia, but italy considers that the dialogue between the united states and russia is fundamental so we can have positive results in a more global perspective for stability and security purposes. in terms of energy security, president trump and i found ourselves in agreement with the need to make sure that there is a greater die versification for the sources of energy and to make sure that the roots, the energy roots are diversified as well. finally, i'm personally sure that we can increase and improve the relationship with the united states at all levels and in particular in space and aero space fields.

we already have a great partnership between the italian space agency. so we hope that aerospace will bring together american technology, italian technology to launch new aircraft that cross the atmosphere and will bring the united states and italy together in 1 1/2 hours. this is a project that i'd like to speak in detail with the american administration. i thank you for your attention. >> thank you. daily caller. >> thank you, mr. president. to follow up on what you said about the shut down, sir. are you saying you would be willing to shut the government down in september if it does not fully fund $25 before for the border wall and also deliver the

immigration priorities that you listed in your tweet? or are you leaving some room for negotiation there? >> i always leave room for negotiation. this has been many years. it's not the trump administration. it's many years, decades. we have immigration laws, we have border security, we have all sorts of things going on that are -- it's disgraceful. we're doing a phenomenal job. we're setting records but we have laws that don't work. we're working around those laws and it's unfortunate. i have to tip my half to the border patrol for the law enforcement, to ice, which really has been maligned by the democrats, the job they do. they go into these ms-13 nests, nests of bad, bad people, killers in many cases. they go in there, fearless.they do an incredible job. they get them out. they go to jail or get out of the country. i want to take my hat off to ice

and the brave people that have been maligned by the democrats. we need border security. without a border as this gentleman can tell you also, because the prime minister was a very big factor in his win, and other people's win in italy, but a big factor in my win, we need border security. border security includes the wall but includes many other things. we have to end the lottery. we have to end the chain. the chain is like a disaster. you bring one person in and you end up with 32 people. we have to end the hatch and release principles where you catch somebody, you take their name and release them. you don't know who they are. they're supposed to come back to a court case where they want us to hire thousands of judges. the whole thing is ridiculous. we have to change our laws. we do that through congress. i would be willing to close it down to get it done.

you know, we're already approving things in various bills, including taking care of the military. we always put the military and law enforcement very high. i would be willing to consider a shut down if we don't get proper border security. >> just to follow up. is the $25 billion a red line for you? >> i have no red line unlike president obama. i just want great border security. okay? >> mr. prime minister, hear in the united states, there was a consensus that the president's a appearance at nato and the g-7 hurt nato. what was your assessment?

>> both at the g-7 and nato, we had a fruitful exchange of views and opinions and positions. i think that all the positions and stances which i expressed with clarity and provided contributions also to review well-established positions are more than welcome. there's a fruitful exchange. we had a fruitful exchange of the g-7 summit and the nato summit in different frame works. we, for instance in the frame work of the g-7, we agreed on the need for reforming the wto, the system. it's a very old system which considered china as an emerging country. you can understand that applying those same rules after years clearly means having a system

which is not well-sanctions and not well-rationale. nato had a clear stance taken with president trump, which i personally share. he expressed the position and the need to rebalance the expenditure, which is borne by the united states, which is very disproportionate. these are absolutely reasonable positions and stances. and i personally take them into great account and i will be personally the carrier of the demand to make others agree. we have to negotiate to find the balance of american citizens and european citizens. >> and i want to add to that. i thank you for what you said. we had a very good g-7 meeting. that's where guiseppe and i

became friends. we were closely aligned more than anybody else in the room. a great meeting in every respect. i'd say it was very good. nato in particular. i went to nato. nato was essentially going out of business. people weren't paying and it was going down, down, down. i came along last year and in a nice tone, i said you have to pay. they paid $44 billion more, this year i said it in a little bit stronger tone. they're paying hundreds of billions more over the years. nato will be strong again. if you speak to secretary general stoltenberg, he's the biggest fan of trump. he said we couldn't collect money until president trump came along. he said last year we collected $44 billion. this year the money is pouring in. but it's like the prime minister said, we really talk about imbalance. we were treated very unfairly.

the united states was treated very unfairly. because we're shouldering anywhere from 70 to 90% of the cost of nato. that's not fair. it's not fair. especially when you take germany. germany is paying 1%, a little more than 1%. and they're buying and paying tremendous amounts of money to russia. so we're supposed to protect countries from russia, but they're paying russian billions and billions of dollars for the energy. not good. not a good situation. i let it be known. so the bottom line is, the nato countries are now paying a lot more money. nato is a lot stronger because of it. i appreciate your answer. thank you. please. >> sorry, donald. may i add something? i'm saying as a person with a great huge experience as a lawyer, you have a president that is strong supporter and

advocate of the interests of the american people and the american country. a great negotiator. i'm told that is maria who wants to ask a question. >> despite the terrific potential, the italian economy underperforms regularly. given you stellar success in the u.s. economy, what do you think would re-ignite the italian economy and what role do you think the eu should play in it and president conte, do you think president trump's formula would work in italy as well? >> i can answer the biggest thing italy needs is great leadership and they have it right now. i honestly believe the prime minister will do a tremendous job on economic development. in addition to borders. you know, for economic development, you need borders

also. he will do a terrific job. he knows how to sell and promote a great products. they make among the greatest products. i won't mention their names. they're great. i have some of them. italy makes great product. i think it's going to do very well economically and we're there to help. we've had record numbers. i've been here 1 1/2 years. we've had record numbers. we've had numbers that nobody believed possible. especially if you look at one particular fact that was not reported very much. trade deficit, $52 billion reduction in the trade deficit for the quarter. i think probably steve mnuchin, treasurer is here, mike pompeo. nobody would have thought that would be possible so quickly. $52 billion reduce in the trade deficit for the quarter. italy will do the same thing.

>> what role should the european union play in the matter, sir? >> what was that? >> what role do you think the european union should play -- >> it's up to them. i don't want to get involved with that. jean-claude and i had a fantastic meeting last week. we're having a hard time and i mentioned tariffs on cars. we got along very well. very well. they're going to treat us fairly. we're going to treat them fairly. it's been a one-way street. the european union has taken advantage of the united states. we can't let it happen. it's not fair to the united states. by the way, italy has a $31 billion surplus with the united states. meaning we have a $31 billion trade deficit with italy. we discussed that. we'll work something out. we're going to work something out. okay? thank you. >> as far as i'm concerned, i'm

envious of the records and the growth figures of the american economy. we discussed that before with dona donald. somehow these are systems that can't be compared. orders of magnitude that are different. but i'm envious and ambitious at the same time. as a government leader, i'm ambitious for my economy to do a lot much more than what was done in the past. we are preparing structural reforms which we will be submitting to the attention of our european partners, too. >> dana: i do not want the tax reform to be set aside. it's well-constructed. there's a leverage for economic growth and working on

steamlining. we're trying to eliminate regulations and corruption pockets. we're trying to speed up the civil trials, the procedures, all sectors together with the citizenship income, which will support the people who lose jobs to find a new one. these are all the reforms that we consider to be a positive element to represent economic leverage for our country that can reach the growth. >> one of the biggest things that we've done, the massive tax cuts, but maybe equal, too, would be the tremendous cuts in regulations. i know italy well. they have a lot of regulation. i have no doubt the prime minister, guiseppe, will be working very hard on that. i think guiseppe, i can say from our standpoint, one of the most important things we did is cut these horrible regulations.

i believe so strongly in the environment. i want the cleanest air, the cleanest water, the best everything. but you had ten regulations for every point in some cases. it was ridiculous. it would make many years to get a highway or road approved. we have that way down, hopefully two years and may down to one and it may get rejected but at least it will go quickly. we want regulation but it has to be cut to a minimum and do the trick. i think italy will follow suit. i know they looked at it strongly. they'll follow suit. thank you very much. roberta from reuters. >> thank you, mr. president. you spoke a bit about iran today. your discussions. i'm wondering if you can tell us what you think iran needs to do to reduce the tensions? you met with the leaders of

north korea and russia. are you willing to president with president are you warouhan understand what conditions? >> i'll meet with anybody. speaking to other people, especially when you're talking about potentials of war and death and famine and lots of other things, you meet. there's nothing wrong with meeting. we met with chairman kim. haven't had a missile fired off in ninth months. we got our prisoners back so many things have happened so positive. i had a great meeting -- the fake news didn't cover it that way. i had a great meeting with president putin of russia. it was a great meeting in terms of the future, in terms of safety and economic development and protecting israel and protecting everybody. i thought it was a great

meeting, a great meeting with nato. hundreds of billions more money will be paid in to nato, the coffers of nato. much already has. i believe in meeting. i'd meet with iran if they want to meet. they're having a hard time right now. i ended the iran deal. it was a ridiculous deal. i believe that they will probably end up wanting to meet. i'm ready to meet any time they want to. i don't do that from strength or from weakness. i think it's an appropriate thing to do. if we could work something out that's meaningful, not the waste of paper that the other deal was, i would be willing to meet. >> do you have preconditions for that meeting? >> no. if they want to meet, i'll meet. it's good for them, good for us and good for the world. no preconditions. if they want to meet, i'll meet. >> prime minister, i wanted to

ask if you and the president -- you talked about the need to stabilize libya. have you and the president discussed working together on energy production in libya in some way. did you discuss oil production in libya? do you see a way for the united states to become involved there perhaps with italy's help? >> we discussed the problem of stabilizing libya. obviously the security to be guaranteed for the whole area. you see, it's not only a problem of the migration routes. many of the migration routes from african countries concentrate in the libyan area. but it's also problem of security in gen yeah. for instance, through the migration routes, foreign

fighters might reach european territory. we did discuss details other problems. certainly it's our intention to respect the libyan population. we're not driven by the problem of energy supply. our interest and from this point of view i can announce but i've already said we're going to organize an agreement with president trump, i'm going to organize a conference on libya. we would like to deal and discuss all of the issues relating to the libyan people involving all of the stakeholders, protagonists. we're going to discuss economic aspects and social aspects. the protection of citizen

rights, the problem of constitutional process of issuing and passing laws to enable libya in particular to get democratic elections in a condition of the utmost stability. i'm told that there's another question. thank you. >> thank you. i have a question to prime minister conte and then president trump. there's three pending issues on the material with the american administration. one of them is sanctions to russia. since italy, the two main governing parties say they want to lift the sanctions on russia, what is the official position by the government? seems the american position is

asking for the sanctions to be kept. the other are the tip pipeline that american department has continued with the work. why there's some ambiguous positions with relation to this project and the f-35 program. what is italy going to do. will they confirm the program? thank you. >> i'm going to answer in relation to sanctions on russia. i'm going to repeat what i said before because i've already taken a stance. i'm going to be boring. but in confirms the position of the italian government is not changing in this respect. we're open to dialogue of russia. we do believe that russia plays a fundamental role in geo political stances. thinking that russia can be kept out of a dialogue -- as president trump said, if we want to sow problems, we cannot

choose who we want to deal with. we must sit at the table and negotiate and have dialogue with those that are our counter part. as far as the sanctioning system specifically is concerned, i'm well aware that the system stemming from the minsk agreement and at the outcome so it's clear that it's unthinkable today to lift overnight those sanctions. however, exactly because we're open to dialogue with russia, the position of my government has been stated straightaway is to make sure that the system of sanctions doesn't affect the civic society, doesn't affect the economy of the small and medium size enterprises in russia. italy from this point of view has a tradition of intense economic relations with russia

in this respect. so in order to stress with a final statement, sanctions against russia are not and cannot represent an end. second issue. the pipeline. i discussed this with president trump. i reported to him that my government is well aware of the fact that it's the strategic work of energy supply to italy, we're perfectly aware of the fact that this can provide a contribution in the renewal of the energy system and the elimination of coal, which is part of our program. at the same time, i correctly informed president trump that there are some uncertainties by local communities, the

communities westbound the pipeline will land. since problems must be faced directly and not trying to avoid them, once back to italy as soon as possible, i will discuss the issue with the ministers and meade the mayors in the local communities to try to find a solution which will take into account the concerns of local communities. as far as the third point, as you know, a program that was decided in 2002 that the agreement was signed in 2002. it's a big period of time in terms of talking about needs nor defense and security. as a government we're responsibility evaluating this file. as you know, it's almost a process of orders being issued, which has taken place and the

orders are issued much earlier because the work is complex. we'll follow this file and make all the necessary choices in a very cautious way in view of the needs of defense and securities being fully transparent with our partners, the trump administration. >> thank you very much. sanctions on russia will remain as is. as far as a pipeline is concerned, i'd like to see a competing pipeline. mr. prime minister, i hope you can do that. we're already talking to the european union about building anywhere from 9 to 11 ports, which they will pay for so we can ship our lng over to various parts of europe that will be more competition. but the sanctions on russia will remain as is. thank you very much, everybody.

thank you. >> dana: you've been watching president trump and the prime minister from italy, guiseppe conte. that was his first time getting to come to washington and to give a press conference at the white house. the president making a little news on the domestic front and on foreign policy to talk about that, we're going to bring in terry holt from hdmk and former senior adviser to the bush 43 campaign. penny lee, chief strategy from 1776 and a former senior adviser from communications and outreach from harry reid. we established your bona fides. they're deal and you're welcome any time. let's start with what the the president said. his willingness to shut down the government in september over immigration. do we have that sound? let's play it here. >> i would certainly be willing

to close it down to get it done. as you know, we're already approving things in various bills. we're going to be taking care of the military. we put the military and law enforcement very high. i would be willing to consider a shut down if we don't get proper border security. >> dana: the president making big news on that. we'll pause now to let our stations across the country get back to their regular programming, this is dana perino at fox news. okay. we're back here. the president making the news about the shut down. i just want to show you something. we have more here on the big board. last january, the democrats did shut down the government. then they quickly backtracked. if you look at these headlines, we have schumer's democrats using a pile of mist to support his shut down. did the democrats learn the hard way? the democrats ended it because

they lost their spine, et cetera. it goes on and on. we could have gone all the way around the room on that. penny lee, do you think that the president would have a different outcome if he shut down the government over this? >> he's the one declaring he would shut it down unlike the democrats in the past that did force it. so it all goes to those that make that action. it's a risky strategy. we saw that back in 1994 when newt gingrich shut down the government. this is not what americans want. for the president to actively say he will shut it down, that's a risky strategy going into the elections in november. >> dana: yet he has good political instincts. he's telling the members of congress, if you don't want to run on the great commit. run on immigration. take a look to what ron johnson and steve stivers.

here's what they said yesterday. >> i don't think we'll shut down if government. i think we're going to keep the government open but we're going to get better policies on immigration. the president wants policies that work for america. >> hopefully most of the appropriation bills will be passed, a little better prioritization of spending. i don't like playing shut down politics. i don't think it would be helpful. >> dana: did president trump thread the needle? he said he would be open for negotiation. $25 billion isn't a hard line number but gets people motivated to get it done, terry? >> there's certain states and certain districts that certainly immigration is going to be a compellingish yaw -- compelling issue for the voters. closing down the government for immigration reform is the ultimate who will blink first kind of situation.

neither party wants to close the government down. both parties recognize that the government, when it doesn't work, doesn't solve anybody's political problems. the leverage that you receive in the short term dissipates. the president could have some strong feelings of competence. but for what it boils down to what are the item that's the mid-term is about? it should be about the economy, about the way that the country has gone since the president was elected. the accomplishments. most of the time for the party in power, which is the republican party, getting out of town in a normal way, getting back to the districts so they can run for re-election that may be the most important task.

when can congress get done with all of the ifs, wons and whys and the battles in washington and get back in the districts to campaign. that's what people in congress are concerned about. >> dana: they started the five-week recess in the house, penny. that doesn't mean they're sipping margaritas poolside but they're trying to figure out how to win the election. the economy is very good. how are they finding a way to differentiate themselves and try to convince them that democrats would be better off in congress for them? >> yeah, you know, i would say the economy is a mixed bag. it also depends to what terry alluded to on immigration in certain districts and certain states. it's better than others. it's working for certain people, aspects of the economy and certain not. you have an issue with him rising the calls for increase in tariffs. soy bean farmers in iowa are

struggling. there's a $12 billion bailout. the economy is a mixed bag. great numbers that just came out with the gdp. be cautionary on them. the last time we had a 4.1% gdp, barack obama lost massively in the mid-terms. trending is good. you'll hear things likes my healthcare costs are going up. not certain about my job, the wages. still a lot of things they'll hear from their constituents the next five weeks. >> thanks, penny. terry holt. thanks. thanks for joining us here. >> thanks, dana. >> dana: does the president have the midas touch when it comes to reshaping the battle lines for the mid-terms and beyond. are you ready to take your wifi to the next level?

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>> dana: president trump's words turning out to be worth its weight in gold for republicans hoping to win primary races. the president tweets his support for three more candidates looking to land a senate seat in congress. joining me is josh kraushaar. a question for you about this press conference that we just saw with the president. he made some news. he was asked by reuters would you consider doing a meeting with the iranians? he said yes, i would consider it. i'm open to meeting. an then she said with no preconditions? he said yes. i remember in 2013, president obama hinted and the republicans said that is a terrible idea. how dare you suggest it? doesn't trump have the midas touch when it comes to

republicans defending him as a different president that would be able to meet with president rouhani? >> that line has to be driving conservatives batty. that was president obama's montra. he left to the left of hillary clinton by saying he would talk to dictators without preconditions. you're right. we're become so tribal politically that people on the republican side will side president up trump. let's say they disagree with the policy but try to explain that president trump might not have meant what he said. it's remarkable that trump is embracing the obama position and republicans will be marching lock step with him. >> dana: that have the ability to say president trump is the one that got us out of the jcpoa and secretary pompeo has laid out that long list and said it was like 12 things the iranians would need to do in order to figure out a way to get back in

our good graces. one of them is stop funding tear rim and attacking americans and our allies. this goes back to domestic policy and the races across the country. when president trump decides to way in, is that making all the difference? >> yeah. trump is the decisive factor in almost every republican primary in 2018. we saw two governors races. 1 took place with brian kemp in georgia who tied with one of his leading rivals. ended up winning by a dramatic fashion because president trump out of the blue decided to endure his campaign. in florida, another fascinating dynamic westbound president trump has endorsed congressman ron desantis running in a governor's race. adam putnam, the frontrunner a long time, is now trying to play some catch-up. this race is not coming down to which candidate supports

president trump more. >> does that work the other way, too? as the president weighs in to support r.s that it energizes the democrats as well? >> it does. republicans need the base to turn out for the mid-term. some people are saying, look, if trump is not popular in a swing district, that's a turn off. but republicans have to turn out the base. there's signs that republicans are not as energized as the democrats are. republicans are embracing trump getting involved especially those in conservative states. >> dana: arizona has a primary. there's three people vying for the republican nomination there in arizona. do you think that president trump will weigh-in more specifically for any of those candidates? >> i think it's more likely trump stays out of the arizona race. it's a very -- really depends on how close this ends up getting as we get into late august. martha mcfally, the

establishment favorite but she's moved to the right on immigration and gotten into the president up good graces. kelly ward and joe arpaio are also running to the right and also have their base. it's going to be a barn burner and president trump could have a decisive impact. >> dana: yes, president trump said he would shut down the government and he thinks america is a laughingstock because of immigration laws. he said $25 approximately wasn't a red line. he would negotiate. how do you think republicans in the swing districts worry or not worry about this threat? >> the dirty secret about gift shut downs, you don't want to say you're for a government shut down. republicans are concerned that trump wanted a government shut down. but immigration is a winning

issue for republicans. >> dana: thank, josh. we'll be right back. t, there are over 10,000 allstate agents riding sweep. call one today. are you in good hands? guys,but you've got sto be strong.st remember janet? she got cash back shopping with ebates and hasn't been skeptical since. where'd the money come from? stores pay ebates. psh!!! psh!!! then ebates pays you. psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! and they'll send you a check. psh!!!! oohh!! sign up for free. shop your favorite stores. get cash back. ebates. something to believe in. join today for a $10 bonus. oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ (vo) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven?

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>> dana: make sure you tune in tomorrow. i'll talk withker kirstjen nielsen about cyber security and more. here's shep. >> shepard: good afternoon. president trump says he's willing to shut down the government if he doesn't get his way on border security and said he would meet with iran's president with no preconditions. the president has been taking aim at the special counsel, robert mueller. ahead, his accusations about the facts. the latest attacks comes before paul manafort goes on trial. we'll preview the case and how it could reveal some of the evidence mueller has collected thus far. air marshalls secretly monitoring and reporting on