Pardons last year for general Michael Flynn, the former National Security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and is cooperating with the special counsels investigation. And pardons for former Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort who is now facing multiple criminal charges. Cnns jeff zeleny is at the white house. Are they denying these charges . Reporter the white house is pushing back saying these conversations did not happen. First were hearing from white house lawyer ty cobb who said this earlier this afternoon. He said, ive only been asked about pardons by the press and ive routinely respond that had no pardons are under discussion or under consideration at the white house bust of course, this was a central matter of questions here in the White House Briefing room a short time ago with White House Press secretary sarah sanders, asking about the president s authority. And if he ever had any conversations. Take listen. Does he believe he has that right . I would refer you back to ty cobbs station. There would be no reason for me to have had a conversation about that. The president has the authority to pardon. I would not have brought that up with him. Theres room for some wiggle room. There is sourcing to say that these conversations did take place. This raises questions that possible obstruction of justice. Was the president through his lawyers trying influence the investigation in some way . So that is why this is a major concern potentially here. Is this adding to what bob mueller is already investigating . So certainly another day with this in the headlines. Some Unanswered Questions here. The white house saying it didnt happen. The New York Times and now the Washington Post confirming the report. Thats right. Weve spoken to witnesses who have been asked about obstruction of justice issues. We know the president himself has been asked about president ial pardons before and commented on pardons before. Did he. And i was thinking back tom. About two weeks after Michael Flynn pleaded guilty, the president was asked directly about pardons. Take a look at what he says in the context of todays news. Lets watch. I dont want to talk about pardons for Michael Flynn yet. Well see what happens. Lets see. I can say this. When you look at whats gone on with the fbi and with the Justice Department, people are very, very angry. So of course they handle this in very different ways. Paul manafort, the Campaign Chairman for a time in 2016, hes not cooperating and he is fighting this. But Michael Flynn, of course, a shortlived National Security adviser, is cooperating and has pleaded guilty. So as this plays out, the big questions, is this add go it all to the obstruction of justice case that bob mueller is also apparently looking into. Thank you. I want to bring in the panel to talk about. This you know a thing or two about this. From a legal standpoint, would a president ial lawyer raising the issue in conversations with folks who at the time were being investigated, now been charged, is that evidence of obstruction of justice . You would have to know a lot more about what the conversation consisted of to know if this was evidence of obstruction of justice. The president does have the power to pardon. Thats in the constitution and theres nothing inappropriate about that. A promise of a pardon in return for not testifying, in return for doing something that interferes with the mueller investigation. That could be obstruction of justice. But this New York Times report does not suggest that anything like that took place. It certainly raises the possibility. It might be something mueller might want to look into. I dont want to get too far away from the facts the subject of pardons came up. But in what context, its not clear. The president doesnt exactly put a damper on it. Well see, people are angry about it, bla bla bla. He didnt exactly kill the idea. He didnt rule it out. The white house insists theres no discussion of pardons. But we know it is something the president has at least thought about because hes been asked about on it a number of occasions. The other thing we know, he does legitimately feel badly about the position that Paul Manafort has found himself in. The position mike flynn has found himself in. And he feels a certain sense, the only reason theyre in this boat now is because they came to work for me and weve sustain president call the Russian Investigation a witch hunt on more than one occasion. So you can imagine how all of these thoughts swirling in his head might lead him to wonder what his powers are. It is a little hard for the president to make that argument with Paul Manafort making that argument for dozens and dozen of years. We do know that last summer, the subject of pardons came up. The president was having a meeting with his attorneys. And one source described it to me as a civics lesson where the president asked about his authority. And how widespread his authority to pardon was and they told him that it was pretty deep and pretty widespread. But they said it was just about, you know, the potential terms it might take. Not specifically about pardons for any particular people west should add that dowd has denied this. The White House Legal Team has denied it. Denied it in a present tense way. As i understand what theyre saying, there are no discussions of pardons now. Right. They are not saying that the subject has never come up. The president said on camera that it was an open question. Gloria, it is a legal question and a political question. The real question is, does he feel he could get away with firing him politically . It depends on the pardon front. It depends when you pardon someone. Most president s pardon people the day they leave office and they pardon the most controversial people the day they leave office when they dont really care anymore. I think the big question here is, if indeed this is true, and the New York Times piece is pretty well sourced, it seems the me, was the president aware of any of this . And of course, people at the white house are telling me today that the president was not aware of this. He was surprised to read this in the New York Times. To hear about this story from his aides. But again, you have to ask the question. Did he know, were there conversations . We know that dowd talked to the president an awful lot before he said things. Or tweeted in the past. So was this kind of an offhanded conversation they had . Thats something mueller has to look at. This is happening as the president is having some trouble, one might say, firing more lawyers who are willing to work with him. Yeah. And you can imagine why. There might be some difficulty. This is a difficult client to deal with. He has his own ideas of how to deal with mueller. He has his own ideas of how to sit down with mueller. Hes not necessarily going to listen to the legal advice. He has the tendency to hire what may be some unpredictable lawyers in that sense. And dont forget. Doesnt pay. Doesnt pay his lawyers. The rnc is paying. He has a history of sometimes not paying his lawyers. But not the situation, in most instances like, this law firms would be tripping over themselves to try to defend the president , to represent the president in some kind of case. Thats not the issue that trump has. The more witnesses, the more people who get embroiled, the harder it is to find a law firm. You talk about difficulty. Is it that theyre worried he wont tell the truth . He is a lousy client. Thats the truth. He doesnt take your advice. I think john dowd discovered that. He didnt want joe degeneral he have digenova on the team. Paying is an issue. Theyre afraid that believe it or not, representing the president in this case could cost them business and could cost them attorneys. A complete 180 from any other presidency where working the white house would be a career maker. Different from barack obama. Remember, he was the one before trump. He never had to hire a lawyer. So we dont know. But bill clinton did. But he had sgims conley who were very proud to represent him and still represent both bill and hillary to this day. Bill clinton had a lot of legal problems but he was not so tainted that lawyers didnt want to represent him. We know that states attorney are looking into charges as well. In part because that cannot be subject to a president ial pardon. Correct. But i dont think people should get their homes up dramatically that state attorneys general will take over the mueller investigation. There is a reason why major white collar investigations in this country are conducted at the federal level. U. S. Attorneys, fbi, postal inspectors. They are the group thats that h laws. Even new york state, the attorney general who has been very outspoken on these issues, there are not criminal laws that the attorney general uses that are at all comparable to what Robert Mueller has at his disposal. So people need to be a little realist o ifistic on that. Thank you. More after this. Or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. And for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Tell your doctor if these occur. 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We packed new banquet mega bowls full of majestic piles of cheddar mac n cheese, smothered in mozzarella. But it wasnt mega. So we topped it with protein packed chunks of buffalostyle chicken. Now thats mega. Were on the move. Hey rick, all good . Oh yeah, were good. Were good. Terminix. Defenders of home. Your society was led by a woman, who governed thousands. Commanded armies. Yielded to no one. When i found you in my dna, i learned where my strength comes from. My name is courtney mckinney, and this is my ancestrydna story. Now with 5 times more detail than other dna tests. Order your kit at ancestrydna. Com the New York Times reporting that last year President Trumps lawyer floated the idea of pardoning former National Security adviser Michael Flynn and trumps former Campaign ManagerPaul Manafort. Joining me now, republican senator john kennedy on, the Judiciary Committee. Thank you for taking the time with us today. You bet. So you heard that new reporting from the New York Times there. I want to ask you this question. Would it be appropriate in your view for the white house lawyer to discuss pardoning two witnesses to the special counsels investigation . I dont know the answer to that, jim. That is a question for the president and his attorneys. Im not really interested in all the sub plots and all that. Heres what im interested in. I believe and i think the evidence will bear this out, that a number of countries, one which of we know, russia, tried to influence our election. Now you can debate whether they can or didnt, actually have influence, but they did try to influence it. I want to know what happened. I want to let mr. Mueller finish his investigation. Gather the facts, report to the American People, and then i trust American People to figure it out and make up their mind. I want to talk about how we can stop it from happening again. No disrespect but mr. Putin is a thug. Hell push you right through the wall if you let him. Trying reason with him and is like trying hand feed a shark. And were going to have to hit him in the face with sanctions. I get the importance of that. I have a question on that. Theres been another revelation this week about contacts during the campaign. But on this issue. We know that the special counsel in addition to looking at meddling in the election, is looking at the question of potential obstruction of justice. Would a president s lawyer dangling pardons to potential witnesses, in fact targets of the investigation, conscience institute obstruction of justice . I dont know. Im not trying to be evasive. I just dont know. Thats what is frustrating about this process, though inevitable. We get dips and dabs here and there. None of us know. Thats what we have mr. Mueller working. On and the sooner he gets the facts, lets the chips fall where they may. Reports to the American People. Congress can decide what if anything we need to do. More importantly, the American People will understand. And theyll figure it out. You heard me say it before. The American People may not read aristotle every day but theyre smart. They will figure it out. As youre aware, some of your colleagues floated the idea of passing legislation to protect the special counsel from any potential decision by the froze fire him. Would you support such legislation . Number one, i dont know fits constitutional. If President Trump issued an executive order tomorrow telling the United States senate to take kennedy off the appropriate rag, the appropriations committee, im not sure its constitutional. I dont know if we can tell him who to fire or not. Theres no indication to me that he is going to fire mueller. Hes shoothd some tweets but you have to watch what politicians do, not what they say. Speaking of the investigation, in Court Documents we learned about this week, the mueller Team Revealed that trumps former deputy Campaign Manager rick gates was working with, and with knowledge, he was working a former russian intelligence agent during the 2016 campaign. Is that acceptable in your view . Does it raise larger questions about the kinds of people that Trump Campaign aides were in touch with during the campaign . It depends what they were working. On we dont know that. It depends on the context. Ive been in a few campaigns. You interface with a lot of people. You want to be careful and try to not do something improper or illegal or violate Campaign Finance laws. Thats what is frustrating. We get again, it is inevitable. We getz get bits and pieces and you have to be very careful about drawing conclusions. Thats why god made special counsels. Come in and get the facts in an objective, dispassionate way. I believe mueller is doing that and report to the American People and let the chips fall where they may. Very briefly, that i know during campaigns, they speak with a lot of people around the world. If you were running for president , would you have your deputy Campaign Manager speak to a former russian agent . I would be very, very careful. In todays environment, of course not. At the time, i wasnt. There things were a little different. You have to be very careful. People come to you on the campaign. In most cases, they have an agenda. And especially fits somebody connected with the foreign government. It doesnt mean it is always improper. But you have to be very, very careful. I want to get to the issue of facebook. This is something youre in. The Judiciary Committee youre on is asking Mark Zuckerberg to testify many two weeks. What do you want to ask him about . Ive got a number of questions to ask mr. Zuckerberg. My first question would be, is it a fair bargain . For me to give up all of my personal data to facebook and apparently everybody else in the milky way, in exchange for me being able to see what some of my High School Bud hdies had fo dinner . I would like the ask him what happened with cambridge analytica. Why didnt they protect our data. What are they going to do to protect our data in the future . I would ask him, why cant they make our Service Agreement with facebook simpler . Why isnt it easier toment on out . Does facebook really know who all its advertisers are. Facebook says it will stop fake news. Has it done that . And about the way, when ear on the subject, what is fake news . A couple years ago, the kremlin through a hedge fund actually owned 8 of the stock of facebook. What was that all about . I would like the ask mr. Zuckerberg if he thinks it is in the public interests for facebook to buy up all of its competitors. I dont want to regulate fine death here. I really dont. But some of this activity were learning about, its creepy. Its creepy. And privacy matters. It sounds like it will be a tough session. Thank you for taking your time with us. Thank you. Has President Trump been outtrumped by Stormy Daniels attorney . Thats right after this. Im a fighter. Always have been. When i found out i had agerelated macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. My doctor and i came up with a plan. It includes preservision. Only Preservision Areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the National Eye Institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. Thats why i fight. Because its my vision. Preservision. Try areds 2 multivitamin. You can do it. We can do this. At fidelity, our online planning tools are clear and straightforward so you can plan for retirement while saving for the things you want to do today. Whoo while saving for the things youve probably seen me running all over the country in search of our big idaho potato truck. But not any more. I am done with that. Ooh, ooh hot just gonna stay home on the farm, eat a beautiful idaho potato, and watch tv with my dog. Tv anncr the big idaho potato truck pulled into town today and its really a sight to see. Oh man. Lets go. distant you comin, boy . Sfx dog gulp woof. Internet providers promise Business Owners a lot. Lets see who delivers more. Comcast business offers fast gigspeeds across our network. At t doesnt. We offer more complete reliability with up to 8 hours of 4g Wireless Network backup. At t, no way. We offer 35 voice features and solutions that grow with your business. At t, not so much. We give you 75 mbps for 59. 95. Thats more speed than at ts comparable bundle, for less. Call today. Welcome back. Today, in a fifth straight day that President Trump is keeping a low public profile with no Public Events on his schedule. But now Stormy Daniels lawyer is planning to pend filing a new motion could compel the president to testify under oath about the alleged affair. Do we know what prompted this move . This is another attempt by Stormy Daniels lawyer to turn up the heat. This comes just days after he amended the original lawsuit to now sue trumps personal lawyer Michael Cohen for defamation, arguing he has implied that daniels is lying about the affair she had with trump. Weve been talking about how quiet President Trump has been on this story. And with this move, avenatti is trying to force the president to answer his questions about it. New day, new move by Stormy Daniels legal team on ramp up the pressure on President Trump and his personal attorney Michael Cohen. The adult film actress lawyer filing to allow the federal judge to allow him to question trump and cohen under oath for up to two hours each. We want to know truth about what the president knew when he knew it. He said he wants to get to the truth as his client argues getting out of an invalid hush agreement. Talking about the alleged affair with trump. A relationship the white house denies. When we get to the bottom of this, well prove to the American People they have been told a bucket of lies. In addition to asking for documents relating to the nondisclosure agreement, avenatti wants to know whether trump knew with the hush agreement and the hush payment. The payment he made. What role cohen paid and whether trump was personally involved in efforts to silence daniels to benefit his president ial campaign by preventing voters from hearing her speak publicly. And raising questions on the airwaves about trumps role in the deal, saying he asked trumps lawyer in a meeting last week whether the president was a party to the hush agreement. We heard crickets. They dont know. He said they dont know whether trump was a party to this agreement. He said we havent figured it out yet. To which i responded, why dont you just Ask Donald Trump . And another spokesperson said the motion to depose trump and cohen a reckless use of the legal system and a politically motivated charade. Avenatti said he is confident his motion will succeed citing the bill clinton versus paula jones case writing it is firmly established that a sitting president is not afforded special protection regarding conduct before he or she entered office. Now, cnn has reached out to trumps lawyer in this matter but has not gotten a response. A hearing date on the motion to defoes sxres cohen is set for april 30th. Avenatti is asking that a jury trial be set for no longer than 90 days after the Court Decides this motion or as soon there after as is convenient to the court. And he now says that eight women have contacted him with stories similar to daniels. Though he has not revealed any details is that says his steam still vetting those stories. Show the could be more to come. Thanks very much. My Political Panel here with us to discuss all this. Gloria, even the editorial page says the Stormy Daniels case could be the most dangerous to President Trump. Even more so than the mueller investigation. Does that make sense to you . It does in the expense the president may not testify in the mueller investigation. His lawyers dont want him to testify. They could take that to the supreme court. They could lose there. But if he is forced to testify here, dont forget, bill clinton in the paula jones case, testified. Lied about Monica Lewinsky in that and that got him into a whole heap of trouble later on. So that could be a problem. Hes on the record with all these we will saying it never happen. Theyre liars, et cetera, et cetera. Its the lying issue but also the miami issue. The Campaign Finance laws that would prohibit it. When your lawyer a few days before an election pays someone off to stay quiet, thats what Campaign Finance experts have said across the board. So there is more to this than just a sordid affair for one night. Which by the way, the Karen Mcdougal story where it was a yearlong affair of lying is so much more interesting. If eight more women come forward, then we have a whole pile of women who have been harassed by donald trump. When this matters nerls the American People, i dont know the answer. But it is so unseemly. It is the only place you can go with it are the legal issues. The president has remained uncharacteristically silent on this possibly because his lawyers are indicating to him, thats a good idea. I imagine, hes gotten advice like that before which hes ignored. Hes listening this time. Precisely because there situation could be different. Again, if this remains a story about Donald Trumps interactions with women, i think that is a story by and large everyone has seen, heard and they have processed. To the extent this migrates to a story regarding activity during the campaign, potentially if there are things that happened, if the president testifies under oath, then it backs very different scenario so i think theyre being very careful as they should be. The only way this becomes a bigger problem is if this becomes more of the legal question, rather than about an affair. The American People say ive heard that story before. Tell me something else. The more the president talks about the affair. He has two choices. He either admits it or denies it. Neither one is good for him or his family. He has a wife he has to go home to. And a young son. I think thats playing into there on some level. Of course, other major news. The New York Times reports that trumps lawyer at the time, john dowd, floated the idea of president ial pardons for Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort. I know you speak often with folks, what are they telling but this . Well, of course they deny it. John dowd has denied it publicly. Not to us. Trumps attorneys deny it. But i think that this New York Times piece is very well sourced, i would have to say. Reading between the lines here. And i think that its a question of if john dowd did this, in any way, shape or form drgs the president know about it . Did he sanction it . Did he direct him to do it . Was it in that case, obstruction . I think theres a long way to go between this story and the question of obstruction. It could become another data point mueller has to look at now to see whether in fact these people were approached before they flipped. And the timing of this is really important. This is important. Its not really just about flynn and manafort. When you have sources close to the president floating that word, that pardon word, you are dog whistling other people. There are so many people mueller is communicating with. You are dog whistling people. You know what . You dont have to give up x years in jail to give bob mueller information. Well take care of it. Soap thats t so lets be fair. This is not just a dog whistle. He left the door open to the possibility of pardons. The president is the one to tend speculation. The president could say, we are not considering. This it wouldnt matter how much dog whistling is going. On as long as the uncertainty remains, that fuels the speculation. He is in the position to end this. Unless he doesnt want to end it. And he could end it and change his mind. That could happen. The internal watch dog Just Launched it is launching an investigation into the fbis handling of fisa warrants. This has been a long issue. You hear from the right and trump support betters abuse of the fisa process. Now you have Trumps Justice Department following through. They just reauthorized the fisa process. This is about whether people were spied upon who shouldnt have been spied upon. I. E. , carter page. And this goes back to the infamous devin nunes memo which makes the point, these people, that the judges were not presented with enough information. Et cetera, et cetera. So i think it is really here, the jarlt doing the bidding of what republicans have been talking about donald trump has been talking about. Their does it have the potential for this russia investigation . Or is it more about scoring political points . To the extent that republicans on the hill, to the extent they tried to side step the nunes memo, there is an issue around the fisa surveillance process. We need he ask that. So the oig investigation does speak tom concern and theres evidence that something is working right at the Justice Department for this to be happening. But it will be interesting to see what the oig finds. This is same office that found andy mccabe had not behaved with full candor. This has been your area for many years. You know this better than any of us. The truth is that over the years, the republicans in congress have been very generous to Law Enforcement on surveillance and on warrants. And it has been the democrats and kind of the molest have been pushing back on surveillance. The irony of the deafening silence of the republicans across the board as the administration is now saying, maybe theyve gone overboard simply because their own cronies are getting it. As noted by congress, by overwhelming majorities in both parties, just renewed fisa legislation. Thank you to all of you. Can china just steal President Trumps spotlight before his big meeting with north korea . Stay with us. Of hundreds of families, hes most proud of the one hes kept over his own. Brand vo get paid twice as fast with quickbooks smart invoicing. Quickbooks. Backing you. Janice, mom told me you bought a house. Okay. [ buttons clicking ] [ camera shutter clicks ] so, now that you have a house, you can use homequote explorer. Quiet. Im blasting my quads. Janice, look. Im in a meeting. Janice, look. [ chuckles ] look, look. Im looking. Its easy. You just answer some simple questions online, and you get Coverage Options to choose from. Youre ruining my workout. Cycling is my passion. A momentus meeting for kim jongun and xi jinping. It marks the first time kim jongun has left office since he came into office seven years ago. Now that we know this really did happen, we see president xi of china trump trumps big announcement that he was going to sit down with him. Just as the announcement that he made, that he was going to meet with kim surprised the world, we see xi now surprise everybody by actually doing it in a dayslong summit. The white house wants to put it in the best light possible. Even seeming to take me credit for it. It is clear that xi wants to show the world who is boss in dealing with his neighbor and shaping this precarious conversation. The chinese president xi jinping alongside kim jongun on what is believed to be the reclusive volatile leaders first trim outside north korea cynic hes been in power. Now he is finally confirming this even happened. After the sudden appearance of the armored mystery train in beijing. And releasing all the pictures, posing with their wives. China still calls it an unofficial trip. One that lasted four days. Hes trying to make sure that President Trump understands thats his region. He will dominate that region. Reporter trying saying nothing about kims intentions on denuclearization or his Ballistic Missile program. But President Trumps tweets were ball the u. S. role. Received a pledge that the meeting went very well and kim looks forward to his meeting with me. For years, everyone said peace in the peninsula was not even a possibility. Now theres a good chance kim will do what is right for his people and humanity. Look forward to the meeting. We feel like things are moving in the right direction. That the meeting yesterday was a good indication that the maximum Pressure Campaign has been working. The trump kim meeting is still expected in may despite key staffing positions in the administration unfilled. With the absence of many senior diplomats who have retired recently and a lack of a secretary of state confirmed, there is reason to be concerned about a negotiation that will require great and rigorous attention. Reporter u. S. Officials insisting weve the National Security and leadership in flux, planning is underway and the u. S. Is leading it. It is on track as it has been all along. Reporter only china and north korea know what all was said. We know that china would love for the United States the have less of a presence in the region. One of our analysts said, this is china playing chess. Not checkers. And there is also a concern that all these meetings with kim jongun are giving him stature and a tang in the World Without him even beginning on give anything up yet. Giving kim some stature, too. What would it be like for President Trump to actually sit down with kim jongun . Well ask a man who has negotiated face to face with northbound himself. Im very proud of the fact that i served. I was a c130 mechanic in the corps, so im not happy unless my hands are dirty. Between running a business and four kids, were busy. Auto insurance, homeowners insurance, Life Insurance policies. Knowing that usaa will always have my back. Thats just one less thing you have to worry about. I couldnt imagine going anywhere else. Theyre like a friend of the family. We are the cochran family, and well be usaa members for life. Save by bundling usaa home and auto insurance. Get a quote today. Youve probably seen me running all over the country in search of our big idaho potato truck. But not any more. I am done with that. Ooh, ooh hot just gonna stay home on the farm, eat a beautiful idaho potato, and watch tv with my dog. Tv anncr the big idaho potato truck pulled into town today and its really a sight to see. Oh man. Lets go. distant you comin, boy . Sfx dog gulp woof. Want us to do about what woulthis president . Fathers im tom steyer, and when those patriots wrote the constitution here in philadelphia, they created the commander in chief to protect us from enemy attack the Justice Department just indicted 13 russians for an electronic attack on america. So what did this president do . Nothing. Hes failed his most important responsibility to protect our country. The question is why is he still president . Breathe freely fast wmy congestions gone. I can breathe again i can breathe again vicks sinex. Breathe on. The Trump Administration preparing for a major meeting between are donald trump and kim jongun. This after a surprise visit between kim jongun and xi jinping. An ambassador who has visited north korea many times. Im sure you saw the president tweeting last night on china. He said the meeting with kim jongun went very well and that kim looks forward to his meeting with me. In the sxhim unfortunately, maximum pshs and sanctions must be maintains at all costs. The president at some degree, claiming central involvement and credit for the change and the negotiations. Do you see that in this china visit or was this china reasserting itself as the leader of the process . Do i see china saying to the United States and north korea, you cant make a deal without me. And this was reasserted by china and getting this meeting together. Secondly, i think kim jongun has an end game. Hes made a lot of moves lately. A summit with south korea. The olympics. The summit with President Trump. So we cant underestimate kim jongun right now. He is on the offensive. He is also probably saying to china, look, a meeting with President Trump. Im cooling down. Please take some of those sanctions off. It is obvious that those sanctions have been biting. And i will give the president credit. I think getting the chinese to be more forceful on the sanctions Organization Oil sanctions, food stuffs, coal, north korean workers not bringing money in. After all, 80 of north koreas commerce is through china so they have maximum leverage. So i think this is a good evolution. Because you want kim jongun to talk to foreign leaders. This is only the second one hes talked to. The south korean envoy, the first head of state visit. He was only talking to Dennis Rodman before. So this is a good move. This is positive. This may lead the something decent. Let me ask you. Chinese state media says north korea, and this was included in their statement on their conversations. Is willing to denuclearize. Do you believe that . No, i dont believe that. I think theyre setting up expectations. They want the summit to succeed. Look, north korea will not give up their nuclear weapons. What they might do is reduce them, slow them down, allow inspectors. But i think there are other issues. The issue of the missiles. Stop the Missile Technology that hits the United States. Exports, for instance, of Nuclear Materials and exports of Nuclear Missiles to rogue countries. Stopping some of the chemical weapons to syria. Releasing the three americans are there. Getting the remains of our soldiers back. So there are a lot of issues at play. North korea has agreed to talk about denuclearizing. If we set up a process and the president is patient and hes prepared and we have a plan of a negotiation that might lead tow a drastic reduction. Will it be denuclearization . That wont happen. They have 20 on 40 to 60 nuclear weapons. They wont give that up. It sounds like you see positive progress here. Do you give the Trump Administration credit for bringing this process along . I see positive progress. And giving them credit on the sanctions. I give president to the president for agreeing to the summit. It is a real gamble. My worry is that hell start tweeting and insulting and not having a prepared agenda. I worry, too, that we dont have a National Security team confirm the secretary of state and National Security adviser. Kim jongun will have a plan. He will be prepared. He is going to want to stay in office. He wont want to denuclearize completely. I dont think. He will want the end of the korean war through the armistice agreement. And then in the end, he may want Something Like check assistance, sanctions off. Hes got a plan. We cant underestimate him. Governor richardson, thank you for walking us through it. Another huge blow for the v. A. A Major Investigation and what it reveals about 6,000 employees there. Could it be the final straw for the current v. A. Secretary . Thats right after this. 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Before taking myrbetriq, tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney problems. Common side effects include increased blood pressure, common cold symptoms urinary tract infection, constipation, diarrhea, dizziness, and headache. Need some help managing your oab symptoms along the way . Ask your doctor if myrbetriq is right for you, and visit myrbetriq. Com to learn more. A new report shows more turmoil at the department have veteran affairs. They have may have employed more than 6,000 staffers across the country without completing their background checks. In one case they found a registered nurse in ohio worked with patients for more than 1,400 days, nearly four years, before a background check was done. This comes as sources say that President Trump has indicated to associates he is preparing to fire v. A. Secretary David Shulkin soon. Be sure to follow the show on facebook and twitter. Thats it for the lead. Im in for jake. Im turning it over to wolf im turning it over to wolf blitzer in the situation room. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com President Trumps lawyer reportedly floated the idea of pardoning Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort. That happened as Robert Mueller was closing in. Why does the white house sfres pardons are not under discussion . Ties to a spy . Rick gates was working with someone linked to russian intelligence what does that say to ties if youre the Trump Campaign