peter baker with "the new york times" is still with us. peter, you got a piece out on this visit. i just want to at least start with substance before we go to those ridiculous encounters and read from your piece. macron was scheduled to arrive at the white house on monday on a mission to persuade president trump not to scrap the multinational nuclear agreement with iran. even as tehran's foreign minister warned there was no alternative to the deal and it is either all or nothing. macron hoped to use his unusual bond with the president to make the case the world is safer with the deal in place. >>> anyone got money on how successful he's going to be? he made the case on the paris accord to no avail. he's made the case on other matters. and even though they have some personal chemistry, i don't know how many wins macron has chocked up. >> this is the real test. in fact, you know, even more so than the climate deal, this agreement is in place. if the president decides to cancel on may 12, which is the deadline he set, there are real consequences to that. what you see from president m

. >> peter baker, i'm sure someone on twitter will fact check me but i have never heard donald trump say "i am a free trader," have you? >> well, he says from time to time, i believe in free trade. but it has to be reciprocal trade. he always qualifies it. >> that's not what larry kudlow said, larry kudlow said, he is a free trader. and the republican party used to be for free trade but donald trump isn't. >> the truth is with donald trump you can probably find him

. >> joining me now is kristen welker and peter baker. julie smith and msnbc contributor christopher dickey. i have to ask with all of your experience, peelter, in the ova office when given a chance the president could have said we're about to go into our meetings. we'll have a news conference and meet you later. that's been done time and time again. he launches into his denunciation of the iran nuclear deal without giving macron a chance to make his private points in the meeting. hu hugely embarrassing to the french leader. >> this is how he holds the meeting. he has three question and answer beards. after the president's had their first one-on-one meeting in the oval office the president addressed iran and this time rather than taking the more sharp approach you played at the top, he said we're looking at doing something and we can do something and it has to be done strongly. he didn't say what would constitute strong for him. that deadline is approaching on march 12th. >> we know the germans, french and the brits have been trying to co

he's peter baker, this is overheard. (audience applause) let's be honest, is this about the ability to learn or is this about the experience of not having been taught properly? how have you avoided what has befallen other nations in africa? you can say he made his own bed, but you caused him to sleep in it. you saw a problem and over time you took it on. let's start with the sizzle before we get to the steak. are you going to run for president? i think i just got an f from you. this is over. (audience applause) peter baker, welcome. - thank you for having me. - nice to see you, congratulations on this book. - thank you very much. - this is a big book. - it is a big book. - it's a coffee table book and as advertised i went, "oh okay, i'm going to look at it. "it's going to be all pictures "and there be little captions." no, this is a book, book. - yeah. - you wrote the heck out of this book. - they told me i would be writing some text for a picture book. i thought i would be writing captions. - this literally, you could h

so he wants to solve this with the least amount of pain. >> peter baker, i'm sure someone on twitter will fact check me but i have never heard donald trump say "i am a free trader," have you? >> well, he says from time to time, i believe in free trade. but it has to be reciprocal trade. he always qualifies it. >> that's not what larry kudlow said, larry kudlow said, he is a free trader. and the republican party used to be for free trade but donald trump isn't. >> the truth is with donald trump you can probably find him saying a lot of different things on almost any different issue and point to that particular moment. the most consistent thing he has said, of course, is the free trade agreements of the last quarter century or so have been bad for the country, have been poorly negotiated, and that he plans to rip them up or change them to the benefit of the united states. not exactly the message that larry kudlow was sending today. larry kudlow was trying to reassure our trading partners, trying to tamp down the idea this is going to be kind of a global conflict over trade. and there's

peter baker and i were talking about that a minute ago. this seems like a proof point that bob mueller is playing it straight. >> certainly, if you're team mueller, you can point to this and say, we didn't go on a fishing expedition. the flipsid3 to that is it's, you know, the other side would probably say, yeah, you had your guys go and haggle on the fishing expedition. >> another person might say if you hadn't paid $130,000 to shut up a porn star, you'd never be in this situation to begin with, right? >> true. although, i mean, to cohen and his counsel's credit, you know, they would say, look, we are cooperating in this. we voluntarily turned over documents. we sat for depositions with the hill. we've said we're willing to cooperate and turnover whatever you want. a search warrant is a pretty extraordinary move rather than a grand jury subpoena which says turnover the documents and requires a certain level of trust. this was, you know, kind of the full, the full paul manafort where they show up and, you know, they shove a search warrant

russian relations with john allen, peter baker, mary louise and . my next question is for the two panels were not journalists. what stories to keep reading about in your mind are really important about the nature of the relationship that are not being reported either properly or adequately? >> i think i see it touched on in some of the stories, i think the inherent vulnerability of the western democracies to digital intrusion and massive influence operations deserves more coverage. we have seen the outcome of the migration out of the middle east which has in many respects created a moment of polarization in the politics of europe which i believe were accelerated and enabled by this influence campaign which appealed through the internet digital media voice we haven't seen. over looking at now is a traditional concept of sovereignty. line on the ground which encloses terrain in people and resources, ultimately to have a self identity which is turned on its head today. the capacity of the russians or the chinese or an opponent to completely neutralize

peter baker, you've put the big picture together. what is the big picture togethering that xwinz trump's vulnerability, his possible explosion where he could erupt and say i'm going to fire all these people, constitutional or not at the same time he's facing a very tricky situation how to respond to the use of chemical weapons by syria and how to respond to the threat from russia's -- syria's partner that they would take their side if we tallate. >> the bill clinton was under pressure from the independence counsel investigating whether he had lied under oathing about monica lewinsky at the same time he launched strikes against al qaeda nifd afghanistan and sudan. later in the year he launched strikes against iraq. presidents have to be able to still conduct foreign policy, sometimes even launch military operations at the same time they're under pressure at home. sometimes over scandals that have them upset. you see here a situation where a president is in fact you know, pretty volatile in his reactions. whether he's able to compartme

robert costa, peter baker, jill wine-banks. thank you all. >>> coming up, after being hung out to dry on the matter of those russia sanctions, a fight broke out today between nikki haley and larry kudlow, and here's a hint. kudlow didn't win. >>> plus the latest developments on a breaking story. the highest level meeting between the north korean dictator and the american government. >>> and later, nicolle wallace and john meacham join us with their memories of the matriarch of the bush family, barbara bush. "the 11th hour" is back after this. but i'm not standing still... and with godaddy, i've made my ideas real. ♪ i made my own way, now it's time to make yours. ♪ everything is working, just like it should ♪ you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more

robert costa, peter baker, jill wine-banks. thank you all. >>> coming up, after being hung out to dry on the matter of those russia sanctions, a fight broke out today between nikki haley and larry kudlow, and here's a hint. kudlow didn't win. >>> plus the latest developments on a breaking story. the highest level meeting between the north korean dictator and the american government. >>> and later, nicolle wallace and john meacham join us with their memories of the matriarch of the bush family, barbara bush. "the 11th hour" is back after this. you might take something for your heart... or joints. but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brain-health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. with exciting new dishes like lobdueling lobster tails.r. and lobster truffle mac & cheese. classics like lobster lover's dream are here too. so enjoy these 10 lobsterlicious dishes now. because lobsterfest ends april 22nd. and wi

. >> peter baker, your view. >> i agree with mary louise. i think we use the cold war phrase in the media too loosely, but mainly to emphasize the idea that we are back in an adversarial posture that we hoped to get away from in 1991. for 15 years we were away for it. under clinton and yeltsinin, we had disputes, but for the most part we believed we were partners. after 9/11, i was in moscow at that time, vladimir putin reached out, accepted there was a convergence of interests. >> uh-huh. >> i would say since 2003 or so with the iraq war with putin's increasing consolidation of power, we have headed different directions. i don't know that's the fault of any individual actor but we are definitely on opposite sides at this point of a struggle. putin is not a communist, capital c. he is however, hoping to make russia great again, to prove that russia is a major actor on the stage. if that means putting ukraine in its place, if that means propping up bashar al assad he is willing to do that. >> leon, cold war? and what can be done to turn it ar

i can be his friend. >> peter baker, thank you very much. up next, facebook ceo just acknowledged they made a huge mistake as the company reveals millions more americans than previously thought may have had their data passed along to cambridge analytica. let's begin. yes or no? do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet? do you want $4.95 commissions for stocks, $0.50 options contracts? $1.50 futures contracts? what about a dedicated service team of trading specialists? did you say yes? good, then it's time for power e*trade. the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. looks like we have a couple seconds left. let's do some card twirling twirling cards e*trade. the original place to invest online. we know that when you're spending time with the grandkids every minute counts. and you don't have time for a cracked windshield. that's why we show you exactly when we'll be there. saving you time, so you can keep saving the world. >> kids: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ today's senior

robert costa, peter baker, jill wine-banks. thank you all. >>> coming up, after being hung out to dry on the matter of those russia sanctions, a fight broke out today between nikki haley and larry kudlow, and here's a hint. kudlow didn't win. >>> plus the latest developments on a breaking story. the highest level meeting between the north korean dictator and the american government. >>> and later, nicolle wallace and john meacham join us with their memories of the matriarch of the bush family, barbara bush. "the 11th hour" is back after this. . crisis? . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . play "do it like this". [music plays] when everything's connected, it's simple. easy. awesome. . >> so you will see that russian sanctions will be coming down. secretary mnuchin will be announcing those on monday, if he hasn't already urks and they will go directly to any sort of companies related to equipment and chemicals assad used. >> that was u.n. ambassador nikki haley on sunday morning, highlighting this new round of sanctions on russia that

peter baker, this is a remarkable moment and it's a moment that you can't help but believe was brought about by some of that disruption in the white house that we've been talking about for quite some time. maybe it was the unintended consequences of donald trump seeming to be unbalanced but whatever the case, north korea and south korea started talking to each other and we saw a historic handshake yesterday and a visit to south korea from kim jong-un. >> that's exactly right. there's plenty of reason for skepticism, there's been feints towards peace for multiple times over the years, it didn't work out. however, having said that, it's hard not to look at what happened yesterday with a certain degree of exhilaration, obviously if we could bring peace to this final chapter, in effect, of the cold war, that would be an extraordinary change, an stroortd move toward greater security in the world. donald trump will claim credit and make the case that it was his pressure, maximum pressure campaign as he likes to call it that brought north korea to the table. obviously moon jae-in in south kor

it's my joke but i love it. >> peter baker, i feel like we're leaving you to the. i want to bring you in. put on your foreign policy glasses for me for a second. what is a trade war like this or a tariff war, whatever you want to call it? by the way, the dow is now down 600 points. what can this sort of fight with china do, foreign policy-wise. what does it do in our talks with north korea? how could it complicate things with kim jong-un? >> yeah, it's really curious timing, of course, very consistent with president trump's view of kmien fchina fog time but very curious timing given that he's about to head into this meeting with kim jong-un and the only way anybody can put pressure on kim jong-un is with china's help. if china doesn't go along with maximum pressure, that's the president's line that he uses to describe the program of sanctions and political pressure, then it's not going to have the impact that the president wants it to have in forcing north korea to make concessions on its nuclear program. so the fact that he's doing it right now is very, very odd a

peter baker, why was it miami pompeo? he's in the middle of a confirmation battle for secretary of state. he's still technically the cia director. why was he the envoy that the president chose? >> now that's a great question. you're right, he is dual-hatted, these days. nominee for one cabinet position even as he holds another one. very unusual to have somebody who's nominated for secretary of state to already be doing international diplomacy but wearing a cia hat. that's not necessarily an unusual thing. the cia director under many administrations has been a conduit to certain governments, particularly those that we have strained relationships with. mike pompeo's somebody president trump trusts. he's somebody that has a good relationship with the president which isn't always true of everybody else in his administration. remember, this is a national security team that's in flux. they have a brand-new national security advisor, only on the job for little over a week. no secretary of state. and a lot of other people in ther

kim wehle, and our great peter baker. you too metropolitan papers. you and that other one in washington have been doing amazing work. >> thank you. >>> coming up, the reaction to the staggering news today that the federal bureau of investigation has raided the office of the lawyer to the president of the united states. even in this crazy time, isn't that wild? >>> and my big question tonight, what files are in that office? and what will they tell us about what we know about donald trump, who he has gotten payments to, who have kept quiet, the whole works. it's all up there and it may lead to the firing of bob mueller with within the next few hours. who knows. the way the president was talking a few minutes ago, anything goes. we'll be right back. this is "hardball," where the action is. but if that's not enough, we offer our price match guarantee too. and if that's not enough... we should move. our home team will help you every step of the way. still not enough? it's smaller than i'd like. we'll help you finance your dream home. it's perfect. oh, was

ambassador to nato and peter baker, correspondent for the "new york times." big thanks to you and msnbc political analyst. mr. baker, start with you. white house officials are, should we expect here bottom of the hour, when we see trump with german chancellor angela merkel there will be a bit of a victory lap? >> you would imagine so. certainly after a week of rather trying moments. a cabinet nomination that collapsed. his personal lawyer in court. things like that, but the president, that he'd want to highlight this. obviously so far a very optimism moment, very positive and hopeful moment, but for all reasons we just talked about on your program, many steps to go. lots of skepticism going forward. for the moment, anyway, this is a president giving himself a lot of credit and other people are, too, saying programs his pressure on north korea at least contributed towards pushing to this point in the process. he's not one who holds back when he thinks he's done something well, and i think you'll hear him talk about that. again, at the press conference, that's

we're joined by peter baker, and nbc analyst. hans, let me get to you first because significant if in fact this it is true that mattis wanted congressional authorization. this has become a tension point over on thehill. >> reporter: the word the times sugs is congressional approval. whether or not that meant a full congressional authorization is an interesting question, maybe one that peter's in a better position to answer. because that would vun doubtedly slowed this process down if that was, indeed, what mattis was pushing for, this would have pushed those strikes, that's one-off strikes well beyond the weekend to get congress back. remember we saw a version of this in 2013 when president obama was considering striking the assad regime. i want to just clarify something real quickly. there are two separate debates here, whether or not the president ha has the authorization or needs authorization for these one-off strikes which as the secretary of defense said is one and done, or whether or not it's the broader question about the

peter baker and megan o'sullivan, welcome, both. megan, first of all, putin and the kremlin seem to eager to seize on this, change the subject from the punishment -- the united punishment organized by theresa may. what is your reaction to the way the president has remained silent on the poisoning and has come in strongly -- the administration has joined the others, but the president's still silent about it. >> well, i think the most important level, it raises some real questions about the nature of the relationship between these two men which of course we don't know if its entirety. but i also think it tells us a lot about president trump. i think even though he seems like a confrontational figure in the media and through twitter, in person or on the phone, he's not confrontational. witness the firing via tweets of recent weeks. when he is face to face or directly in contact with a leader or even members of his own cabinet, he seems to shy away from confrontations. and this is one of the reasons why i think so many people are worrie

and peter baker is the "washington post" chief white house correspondent. ( cheers and applause ) captioning sponsored by comedy central captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ( cheers and applause ) [cheers and applause] >> jordan: free thinkers, press record, because i'm about to get busy with the truth and you'll want a tape of this. it's april 18. my guest tonight is a contributing editor at bustle, alicia menendez [cheers and applause] i'll correct her opinions la. the u.s. has been decisive following the chemical attack in syria. our diplomats condemned the action with firm language. our military launched strikes. and don, jr. found syria on a map all by himself.

baker and steve. the us has found out that the year of attempting to cooperate with russia had not that much success we hear of attempting to cooperate but only in the russian paralympic games accusing russia of putin mr trump in place great could lose it you know no trump is expected in sixty russian diplomats that's a great agent you know russian made brags it's possible he was incessant result as a result of the threats that broad is drawn the sun is in power in that you can to resume accident x. accident agent so i just feel it really hurts me that they're all you know people like steve irwin jack who had the courage to could predict that official line in the u.s. or in the course of a think you know on the invasion of yugoslavia he has no right in this once it's about a year of attempting to cooperate with russia. it's simply that the those that want to stay in the american mainstream media they have to go to the line they have to see these things the understand it's not just us. i talk to europe

peter baker and matt miller, thank you both for being on this morning. >>> and still ahead on "morning joe," the u.s. objective in syria appears to be twofold, at the very least, sending a message to assad, and keeping russia at bay. that is mission accomplished, as the president declared? we're going to get military and diplomatic angles on this. >> and we have richard haas still with us. we will not be talking about red sox baseball with him, 13-2 right now have. the yankees, 7-7. and also david ignatius. i'm not even going to bring that up. you'll make my morning, but ruin my day. complicated relationship with milk? pour on the lactaid. it's delicious 100% real milk, just without that annoying lactose. mmm, that's good. lactaid. the real milk that doesn't mess with you. and try calcium enriched lactaid. 100% real milk with 20% more calcium. still no lactose. at bp, everyone on an offshore rig depends on one another. that's why entire teams train together in simulators, to know exactly what to do before they have to do it. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working t

baker and steve winter. the u.s. has found out that a year of attempting to cooperate with russia had not that much success we hear of attempting to cooperate when in the russian olympic games accusing russia of putin mr trump in place great could lose it you know no trump is expected in sixty russian diplomats that's a great age that you know russia made bragg's it possible it was incessant result as a result of the wrecks it brought is drawn the son is in power in that you can to resume accident actually accident agent so i just feel peaky you know it really hurts me that all of us you know people like steve irwin jack who had the courage to could predict that official line in the u.s. or in the course of a thing you know on the invasion of yugoslavia he's no right in this it's about a year of attempting to cooperate with russia. it's simply that the those that want to stay in the american mainstream media they have to go to the line they have to see these things the understand it's not just us. i talk to

baker and stephen. the us has found out that the year of attempting to cooperate with russia had not that much success we hear of attempting to cooperate but only in the russian paralympic games accusing russia of all putin mr trump in place great could lose and you know no trumpets expect in sixty russian diplomats that's a great agent you know russian made brags it's possible he wasn't sesa result because as a result of the threats it brought is drawn the son is in power in that you can to resume accident actually accident agent so i just feel it really hurts me that all you know people like steve irwin jack who had the courage to could predict that official line in the us all in the course of a think you know on the invasion of yugoslavia he's no right in this once it's about a year of attempting to cooperate with russia. it's simply that the those that want to stay in the american mainstream media they have to go to the line they have to see these things the understand it's not just us. i talk to eu

baker and steve winter. the us has found out that a year of attempting to cooperate with russia had not that much success we hear of attempting to cooperate when in the russian olympic games accusing russia all of putin mr trump in place great could lose it you know no trump is expected in sixty russian diplomats and that's a great age of the russian made bread is it possible it was incessant result as a result of the rocks it brought is drawn the sun is in power in that you can't or as an accident actually accident agent so i just feel you know it really hurts me that all you know people. who had the courage to could predict that official. and in the u.s. on their course of a think you know on the invasion of yugoslavia he's no right in this it's about the year of attempting to cooperate with russia. it's simply that the those that want to stay in the american mainstream media they have to go to the line they have to see these things the understand it's not just us. i talk to european politicians lawmakers

baker and steve winter. the us has found out that the year of attempting to cooperate with russia had not that much success we hear of attempting to cooperate but only in the russian olympic games accusing russia of putin mr trump in place great could lose it you know no trumpets experiencing the russian diplomats that's a great agent you know russian made brags it possible he was incessant result as a result of the threats it brought is drawn the son is in power in that you can to resume accident actually accident agent so i just feel it really hurts me that all you know people like steve irwin jack who had the courage to could predict that official line in the u.s. or in the course of a think you know on the invasion of yugoslavia he's no right in this it's about a year of attempting to cooperate with russia. it's simply that the those that want to stay in the american mainstream media they have to go to the line they have to see these things the understand it's not just us. i talk to european politicians

baker and stephen. the us has found out that the year of attempting to cooperate with russia had not that much success we hear of attempting to cooperate but only in the russian olympic games accusing russia of putin mr trump in place great could lose and you know no trump is expected in sixty russian diplomats that's a great age that you know russia made brags it's possible he was incessant result because as a result of the threats it brought is drawn the sun is in power in that you can to resume accident actually accident agent so i just feel it really hurts me that all you know people. who had the courage to could predict that official line in the u.s. or in the course of a think you know on the invasion of yugoslavia he's no right in this it's about a year of attempting to cooperate with russia. it's simply that the those that want to stay in the american mainstream media they have to go to the line they have to see these things the understand it's not just us. i talk to european politicians lawmake

baker and steve. the u.s. has found out that the year of attempting to cooperate with russia had not that much success we hear of attempting to cooperate when in the russian olympic games accusing russia of putin mr trump in place great could lose when you know no trumpets expect in sixty russian diplomats that's a great age that you know russia made bragg's it possible it wasn't sesa result as a result of the threats it brought is drawn the sun is in power in that you can to resume accident x. accident agent so i just feel it really hurts me that all of us you know people like steve irwin jack who had the courage to could predict that official line in the u.s. or in the course of a think you know on the invasion of yugoslavia he's no right in this it's about a year of attempting to cooperate with russia. it's simply that the those that want to stay in the american mainstream media they have to go to the line they have to see these things the understand it's not just us. i talk to european politicians

peter baker, the accusation against trump has been that he's soft on putin and has some kind of admiration for putin that would have a policy ramification as president. now we've seen this week kicking out five dozen spies from u.s. soil and a couple months ago, we're talking about the policy in ukraine, sending anti-tank equipment, missiles over there to ukraine. that's a step even the obama administration didn't take. how can we square their posture in terms of policy from trump with that refusal to publicly say much about putin. >> that's the central mystery right now about this administration when it comes to russia. you do see a hardening line. our reporting shows before secretary of state rex tillerson was fired he came to the conclusion that the attempt to cooperate with putin's kremlin wasn't working. they should take a new approach that would involve more active measures like sanctions which we saw imposed in retaliation finally for the 2016 meddling in the campaign. and then obviously, this action this week in terms of the expulsions. you're right the president chooses not to say

peter baker wrote i don't think we advanced the cause of journalism tonight. andrea mitchell tweeted an apology is owed to the press secretary and others grossly insulted by michelle wolf. mike allen. watch for big debate to end the dinner and some news organizations anous they will no longer attend. defenders note it funds journalism scholarships. some are suggesting it is time to do away with having a comedian there. >> bill: thank you, the fallout continues on a monday. nice to see you, mike. >> sandra: another big story fire crews battling a raging wildfire in arizona. >> we're worried about it for years. you always worry about the fire up here. this is the closest it's ever been. >> sandra: mandatory evacuations in the southwest as flames scorch thousands of acres. we're live with the latest on that. >> bill: president trump doubling down on his defense of the former v.a. nome knee ronny jackson, the doctor targeting a top democratic senator. how far does this nasty feud go from here? karl rove will talk about that coming up and plus this. >> only a few p

peter baker of "the new york times" saying, quote, unfortunately, i don't think we advanced the cause of journalism tonight. our colleague said he agreed with baker there was an embarrassment to the room that we should have the focus on journalism and not on comedy at the white house correspondents dinner. this is a tension that exists every year and exacerbated this year because i think our politics are poisonus because arguments on both sides that are so intense and michelle wolf was going right at that addressing the media's coverage of trump and the lies and deceit that comes out of the white house. i know some comedians did up for her after the performance and said you hired an edgy comedian so what were you expecting? i thought telling when wolf said to the crowd you should have done more research before you invited me to washington to do this. >> it's not as though carol costel costel costello. >> it's not as if kelly ann conway and sarah sanders didn't expect to be on the list of discussion. >> i think the president appreciates the split screen appearance of a night like the w

. >> donald trump described to you and your colleagues maggie haberman and peter baker, a redline around his personal finances and businesses. it's clear from your body of reporting, from the mcclatchy report, that that's where part of the mueller investigation is heading. do you -- and you talked about the possibility of unsavory findings. it's a pretty well-known fact in trump's own circle that there were a lot of unsavory characters. i think felix seder was on capitol hill today testifying in front of the senate intel committee. can you talk about the other figures in mueller probe who we know to have been through that, into meets with his investigators and the other dots they may be trying to connect around trump organization? >> well, the thing is, george nader, this person who has lobbied for the uae that had cuddled up to the trump administration now cooperating with -- >> sold access, basically. >> correct. with elliot brodie, the republican fund-raiser. so what happens here is that mueller starts looking at all these different little aspects to try and put the pieces together an

peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" and an msnbc political analyst. and anita kumar, white house correspondent for mcclatchy newspapers. good evening to you both. peter, senator tester tonight said 20 people have come forward. what do they all have in common? they are all active duty military. they have all taken this extraordinary step. some of them have tried to go via chain of command, and it didn't work. nothing came of it. they've come forward to this senate committee in addition to other reporting tonight, where do you put this right now? >> well, apparently there has been a power struggle several years back over the white house medical unit. dr. jackson evidently was in sort of a struggle with his superior at the time. that has left a lot of bruised feelings and a lot of, you know, damaged relationships that are now sort of coming back to haunt him. now, you know, whether this is significant enough for the senate, they'll have to decide. some of these other allegations are obviously serious, not that he was drinking at the white house but that

baker and maggie haberman, it strikes me are the reese's peanut butter cup of journalism. they are fantastic separately, and you forget how great they are together. they share a byline tonight in part that reads, in part, another day, another casualty or two. a ride on president trump's bullet train can be thrilling, but if is often a brutal journey that leaves some bloodied by the side of the tracks. in only 15 months in office, mr. trump has burned through a record number of advisers and associates who have found themselves in legal, professional, or personal trouble or even all three. half of the top aides who came to the white house with trump in 2017 are gone. many under painful circumstances. either because they fell out with the boss or came under the harsh scrutiny that comes with him. kim, you first. then john. >> i think that's an example. i mean even if you're looking at ronny jackson, who i think the idea that he was qualified to lead the va, i think, is the most troubling part of the whole nomination aside from all of the allegations. but you have someone who

peter baker, the accusation against trump has been that he's soft on putin and has some kind of admiration for putin that would have a policy ramification as president. now we've seen this week kicking out five dozen spies from u.s. soil and a couple months ago, we're talking about the policy in ukraine, sending anti-tank equipment, missiles over there to ukraine. that's a step even the obama administration didn't take. how can we square their posture in terms of policy from trump with that refusal to publicly say much about putin. >> that's the central mystery right now about this administration when it comes to russia. you do see a hardening line. our reporting shows before secretary of state rex tillerson was fired he came to the conclusion that the attempt to cooperate with putin's kremlin wasn't working. they should take a new approach that would involve more active measures like sanctions which we saw imposed in retaliation finally for the 2016 meddling in the campaign. and then obviously, this action this week in terms of the expulsions. you're right the president chooses not to say

what do you -- you know, you were in the room with your colleagues, peter baker and maggie haberman. you guys pressed him on that red line. just tie owl thall that togethe president's own words about where his red line was, the incident in december that brought him to perhaps the verge of firing mueller, and what we've seen in the last 24 hours in terms of what the fbi may be in possession of now after that seize of michael cohen's home and his office. >> well, in terms of mueller and sessions and rosenstein, he's thought about firing them for a year. the thought of firing them is not new. this is something he has talked about openly. he talks to his friends about it. he talks to his advisers about it. he certainly thinks a lot about it. he's even sort of broached the subject publicly, even telling us in july he wouldn't have made sessions the attorney general if he knew he was going to recuse himself. obviously we don't know what the president's going to do. he's an unpredictable person. will he fire mueller? everyone in washington ask ths t question. who knows? what i do think we'l

baker and me, in the oval office last summer about the scope of mueller's inquiry, that if it went beyond russia and started tracking into the president's personal finances or his family's finances, that that would be a problem. this -- it's not clear this goes directly to that, but, you know, this is the office of his personal attorney. remember the president said last week, i believe it was when he came back on air force one, he told reporters who asked him about the stormy daniels payment, well, you know, you'll have to talk to my attorney, michael cohen, that's my attorney. he stressed that. that is because their main defense on all of this was expected to be attorney/client privilege and my understanding is the files were seized from k cohen's either office or home who both that are client files that relate to trump. >> maggie haberman, appreciate it. thanks very much. back now with the panel. in terms of if the president did decide to move against robert mueller, can you just explain how that would be done? because he wovuldn't be able to directly fire robert mueller. >> no. i think

charlie sikes still with me and peter baker, the "washington post" chief white house correspondent and he is in msnbc, a political analyst. mr. baker, start with you. as i understand it, you are one of the few individuals who saw the raw tape of that interview, roughly five hours of jim comey and george stephanopoulos and other folks there at abc involved in this interview. is there anything from the hours of footage that you saw that you glean that perhaps folk whose have watched and listened to this over the last ten hours may not have been able to deduce? >> you get from the transcript of all five hours is a more expansive version of what you saw last night. so where abc by virtue of the fact they have a limited amount of time ends up cutting answers and trying to get to the essence of things quickly. in the original interview, of course, comey takes a while to sort of outline his expectations, his reflections, his rec collectiollections for did. the highlights were all there last night. you got the gist of what he wanted to say. a man who wanted to unburden himself after the year f

what do you -- you know, you were in the room with your colleagues, peter baker and maggie haberman. you guys pressed him on that red line. just tie all that together, the president's own words about where his red line was, the incident in december that brought him to perhaps the verge of firing mueller, and what we've seen in the last 24 hours in terms of what the fbi may be in possession of now after that seize of michael cohen's home and his office. >> well, in terms of mueller and sessions and rosenstein, he's thought about firing them for a year. the thought of firing them is not new. this is something he has talked about openly. he talks to his friends about it. he talks to his advisers about it. he certainly thinks a lot about it. he's even sort of broached the subject publicly, even telling us in july he wouldn't have made sessions the attorney general if he knew he was going to recuse himself. obviously we don't know what the president's going to do. he's an unpredictable person. will he fire mueller? everyone in washington asks that question. who knows? what i do think we'l

peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" and an msnbc political analyst. and anita kumar, white house correspondent for mcclatchy newspapers. good evening to you both. peter, senator tester tonight said 20 people have come forward. what do they all have in common? they are all active duty military. they have all taken this extraordinary step. some of them have tried to go via chain of command, and it didn't work. nothing came of it. they've come forward to this senate committee. in addition to other reporting tonight, where do you put this right now? >> well, apparently there has been a power struggle several years back over the white house medical unit. dr. jackson evidently was in sort of a struggle with his superior at the time. that has left a lot of bruised feelings and a lot of, you know, damaged relationships that are now sort of coming back to haunt him. now, you know, whether this is significant enough for the senate, they'll have to decide. some of these other allegations are obviously serious, not that he was drinking at the white house but that

peter baker of "the new york times" writes it this way. quote, arriving in washington just weeks before a may 12th deadline for mr. trump to keep or abandon the accord, mr. macron hoped to use his unusual bond with the american president to make the case that the world was safer with the deal in place. the french leader has promised to work with the united states and european partners to strengthen it. on sunday, macron appeared on the president's favorite news network and offered this take on not scrapping the deal. >> what do you have? as a better option? i don't see it. what is the what if scenario or your plan b? i don't have any plan b for nuclear against iran. so that's a question we will discuss. but that's why i just want to say on nuclear, let's preserve this framework because it's better than a sort of north korean type of situation. >> we should note that macron is not the only european leader who will visit the white house this week to press trump on the nuclear deal among other topics. german chancellor angela merkel is slated