Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Alex Witt 20180513

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Why the oval office isnt backing down while one Trump Administration official appears to be breaking ranks. Why not come out and apologize. It has been reported this was said, she called megyn mccain and asked for apology, why not publicly come out. You mention leaks, thats one side of this. Why not come out, make a statement saying we apologize about this horrific joke. Simple as that. Again, i wasnt in the meeting, i dont know if it was said or not. I wish somebody from the white house would tell the country that was inappropriate. It started as a probe into russian meddling. One year later includes a porn star alleging sex with the president and a pay off. The latest on where the Robert Mueller investigation may be heading next. What is kim jongun like . New words from the meeting in north korea this past week. We begin this hour with new reaction from the Trump Administration to those callous remarks about ailing senator john mccain. Nbc White House Correspondent Kelly Odonnell has more on this. Kelly, whats the response here . Reporter if youll in dull being me a moment, Peter Alexander notified us the three prisoners from north korea who were returned back to the United States have been released from walter reed medical center, are back with families. We know they came in in the overnight hours a few taste ada going through the Health Evaluation and examinations, debriefing, and are now back with families. Thats breaking news just now. On the question you were asking me, there has been a prolonged response to this issue about john mccain. As our reporting tells us, there was a staff meeting and in that meeting when they were discussing the fate of gina haspel, the choice for the cia director, opposition of john mccain was discussed and kelly sadler was quoted as saying his opinion didnt matter because hes quote dying anyway. Theres been a lot of uproar about that, because it is such a personal attack and unkind way to describe senator mccain who has brain cancer. Weve seen push back from the white house on the issue of leaks. This did happen in a meeting, and Sarah Sanders was really frustrated when we had the briefing the other day saying this should not have been something that was leaked to the media and therefore she would not comment on it. The simple gesture of doing an apology is something the white house rarely, if ever does, but many people thought this was an instance where it could be done without any harm. That is not what theyre doing. Today, hogan gid lee that works with Sarah Sanders maintained the same approach that it is more about the leaks and not his to say im sorry. Do you think that was kind . I wasnt in the meeting, i didnt hear the comment. But you heard the comment now, pardon me. Was it kind . I dont know if the comment was made or not. I cant confirm it. I wasnt in the meeting. Youre denying it was said . I wasnt in the meeting. She called megyn mccain to apologize. Sounds like she said it. Was it kind . I heard that as well. Those comments whether made or not made, there were reports in there obviously too about the internal workings of the meeting that shouldnt be made public. Why not just come out and apologize, if it has been reported this was said, that she called Meghan Mccain and asked for apology, you mentioned leaks, thats a problem for a year now. Why not come out, make a statement saying we apologize about this horrific joke . Simple as that. Again, i wasnt in the meeting. I dont know if it was said orntd. All i can say is we dont comment on private meetings in the white house. If she called Meghan Mccain, thats up to herself and the mccain family. You see it is a long, uncomfortable process to dealing with something that hogan doesnt want to entertain the issue of offering an apology or acknowledging that the comment was made. Instead, focused on the leak issue because it was a private meeting. And thats uncomfortable to watch. And it may continue if the white house doesnt do something more, perhaps other news events will overtake it, it seems the simple gesture of saying it was inappropriate, im sorry, is not something this white house will do, and theyre sticking to it. Alex . Okay. Kelly odonnell, thank you very much from the white house. Joining me, jane newton small, Time Magazine contributor and National Policy reporter. Big welcome to you both. I am going to reach out on your exchange or reaction to the exchange there with gidley. White house is not budging. Do you think thats where it remains . All signs point to it. This has been a white house that consistently refused to apologize for derogatory, inflammatory remarks throughout the years they have been in office, and this is a president that followed that play book as well. Lets not forget, it is not just kelly sadler saying something about john mccain. The president himself on the campaign trail mocked senator mccains military record and his service and refused to apologize when that happened. This has been the white house that held that line, the refusal, and thats one that comes from the top down. Thats a line that the president has instilled himself. In that case you will rarely if ever see the press secretary or someone in that shop apologize, even on something that seems as blatantly obvious as this. Jay, i am curious the calculation here, why not apologize. Why not put the story to rest. In case it was lost on viewers, that was fox news, trump friendly fox news pushing back on the white house, saying why not apologize in that clip we played. I think that theyre just upset, hogan made this point, sarah made this point, this was a leak. Sarah in another meeting right after that with white house staff basically said im sure this is going to leak too and thats disgusting and this needs to stop and this is a bad problem within the white house. What theyre saying is we cant have internal conversations amongst ourselves and be expected to speak frankly with everything we see being leaked. Not everything everybody says in private conversations is ready for public consumption, right . So theyre trying to skate a narrow line of well, this was internal, not something meant for public consumption, this was a leak. Therefore were not going to confirm or deny it, and this is not something we are commenting on because they were internal conversations. At the same time, makes for this incredibly awkward and sort of terrible circumstance where youre basically not apologizing for insulting a Great American war hero, a man who is dying, and it is like a bad sort of pr on every level. It is not sort of a textbook way of how to handle a case. Can i ask you, is this unique to the trump white house, not the leaking part, everybody leaks, but with regard to the tone here. Are these kinds of statements put forth behind closed doors and meetings inside other administrations, do you think . Every administration has very frank discussions behind closed doors, thats the point of executive privilege. Executive privilege is what says you cannot disclose these kinds of discussions with president ial advisers because they have to be free to speak freely and give the president tough advice and hard to say things, and so i think thats an important aspect for any white house to protect. At the same time, this isnt exactly the president and National Security adviser talking about going to war in syria, it is not a high level thing to protect in terms of executive privilege, we are talking about a junior press aide talking about something that is very personal and not having anything to do with National Security, and so in that case it is a very clear, very different kind of situation. And given how petty and small the situation is, i would think they would want it apologize. Yet this is not the nature of this white house to apologize, and over and over again, whether talking john mccains war record, how he was only a war hero because he was shot down during the campaign or insulting the pope, President Trump is good speaking his mind, thats what he has always done and almost never apologizes for it. Seems what his staff is doing as well. I can pretty much guarantee had there been an apology from the white house, we would have moved to the next topic sooner which is this. Look at the calendar. Thursday marks a year since the Mueller Investigation began. It began as look at possible Campaign Collusion with russia but led to all of these different entanglements, including one between the president and stormy daniels. Is there a clear picture where this goes next and is it a certainty or not that the president ends up being damaged . Well, i dont think anyone can say where its going. We have seen repeatedly that special counsel Robert Mueller is ten steps ahead of public knowledge, even when we have breaking news coming from payments to trumps lawyer constituen Michael Cohen or the like, you see that special counsel mueller has interviewed these folks before, has talked to the Russian Oligarch involved linked to some of the payments, and we see again and again the scope of what we believe this investigation to be at is kind of beyond the public imagination. So in that vain we dont know where this is going, but we know that there certainly shows no sien signs of slowing down or letting up. Even though it is the white house and recently the Vice President called for this to be wrapped up, it seems that isnt happening. Certainly we will find out if it comes to damage to the president , we will find out likely with the mid terms coming up in november. One thing is happening, some people around him have been ensnared in criminal indictments and thats damaging enough. Where this goes after that, we have to find out. In terms of how this is being viewed by the public, theres a new poll showing just 13 of republicans view the investigation as legitimate, a full 75 of republicans agree with the president saying this is a witchhunt. Should Robert Muellers team offer something to the public at this point to validate continuing the investigation or at least stop getting trump l loyists room to attack . It is unlikely they would see anything from Robert Mueller and his team. His hallmark is to stay silent, they never leaked, dont release anything unless releasing statements in court saying heres an indictment or heres a guilty plea or heres what were doing. And thats really i think healthy to focus on the investigation and not focus on the circus around it. Look, special investigators last a long time, ken starr was four years and a month. There are a lot of republicans on the hill that wouldnt want this to wrap up at this point, in the sense that were heading into election season, it is better to postpone hint of partisan politics and have whatever results come out after the election. Theres also their own postponement, Rudy Guiliani said theyre postponing any potential for interview with the president , which would be one of the last interviews resumably of the investigation until after the korean summit. This is something the president wants to focus on. He is saying if there is any potential interview to be had, it wont be for several weeks. Theres a lot of ways this is being delayed, and playing politics with the special investigation, thats par for the course for washington, isnt it. Yeah, i am going to leave that one there, i dont want to have to answer that. Thank you very much. Have a good one, guys. Is President Trump escalating tensions around the world by pulling out of the iran deal . We ask a congressman what he thinks next. You turned a family recipe into a brewing empire before prohibition took it all away. I promised our family id find your lost recipe. By tracing our history on ancestry, i found the one person who still had it. Now, im brewing our legacy back to life. Im david thieme, and this is my ancestry story. Now with 100 million family trees, find your story. Get started for free at ancestry. Com. Kyle, we talked about this. Theres no monsters. But you said theyd be watching us all the time. No, no. No, honey, we meant that progressive would be protecting us 24 7. We just bundled home and auto and saved money. Thats nothing to be afraid of. But good night, kyle. [ switch clicks, door closes ] i told you i was just checking the wiring in here, kyle. Hes never like this. I think somethings going on at school. [ sighs ] hes not engaging. I think somethings going on at school. Tech dont wait for a chip like this to crack your whole windshield. 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California values senator Dianne Feinstein secretary of state mike pompeo sharing what the u. S. Would be willing to offer north korea if they completely denuclearize. This will be americans coming in, private sector americans, not the taxpayer, private americans coming in to build out the energy grid. They needy norm us amounts of electricity, to work on infrastructure, all the things the north Korean People need, capacity for american agriculture to support north korea to eat meat, have healthy lives. Those are the kind of things if we get what it is the president demanded, complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of north korea, the American People will offer in spades. Welcome this sunday. Thank you for joining me. Curious your reaction to the comments by secretary pompeo. First of all, i agree it is a step in the right direction to negotiate with north korea. Thats the way we should resolve our differences. But it might be premature to start to promise peace and prosperity in north korea. Obviously they need to denuclearize and we should be firm on that. Before we engage investment, we need to be sure the regime is not one to do what it has always done, reward the few people around kim and starve the rest of the country. If theres going to be investment, it has to be on our terms and not simply in exchange for denuclearization. Denuclearization is a step toward being a part of the global family. The rest of it i think will require more intense negotiation. I am curious how confident you are as to the definition as we hear in the u. S. , as opposed to how it is interpreted in north korea. Are you confident it is one in the same . Or is there risk that were not talking the same language. As is the case with conversations, very often we dont speak the same language. When the terms arent clearly defined in detail, thats when we get into difficulty. If what kim is talking about is denuclearization of the peninsula or some other steps that has usury moving defensive capabilities of the peninsula, thats going to be much more difficult. I want to get your take on how the president , going from calling him rocket man to calling the latest honorable, releasing three prisoners, which many say he shouldnt have done in the first place. The president thanking north korea calling the decision to shut down the test site ahead of the summit a smart and gracious gesture. What do you make of that. And are you willing to give the president credit and concede his approach so far appears to be working . Well, it works to an extent. First of all, simple engagement with north korea makes sense. And we ought to be those conversations. Thats the step that makes sense. The fact that the president is inconsistent in terms of the way he talks about the issues i dont think helps and i dont think it is the reason we have gotten to this point. After all, i dont think it sends a good message to the rest of the world when the president praises a kidnapper for releasing the people that he kidnapped. What kind of message does that send about american values. Thats not really a step in the right direction for us. Lets get to the other major Foreign Policy news which is the president s decision to pull out of the iran deal. I know you, sir, were one of the biggest critics. How big a mistake . Colossal. On its face the agreement made the world a safer place. Some dont agree with that, but the fact of the matter, the agreement was a big step in the right direction to preventing iran from achieving poissession of a nuclear weapon, not just for the 10 year window, but for 25 years and beyond. The agreement itself had value. That value is now at great risk. Perhaps in some ways worse than that, this action by the president communicates to our alleys and adversaries around the world that you cannot trust the United States of america to stick to an agreement. That could have consequences well into the future, unfortunately as long as donald trump is president , it is very difficult with a straight face for americans to speak to our allies around the world and say no, you can trust us this time. The president has broken the word of the United States and that is a dangerous, dangerous precedent that will take time to overcome. Do you get a sense that the president is trying to use this tough guy strategy with iran the same way he has done it with north korea in hoping that it is going to have the same effect, like bring iran around . He does have sort of a coloring book understanding of global affairs. So i understand why he might think that the same tactics that he used when trying to beat up some contractor working on one of his projects to get them to cut their bill might work when dealing with, you know, iran. Thats not how things work. Just because weve had some success, and we dont know what success yet in north korea, potential success does not mean this simplistic version of basically bullying other World Leaders into submission will work. It is just not going to work. I want to turn to the white houses handling of the offensive joke an aide made about senator john mccain. Play what Nick Mulvaney said yesterday about this matter. Here it is. I think the remarks are awful but look at this in context. That was said in a private meeting, inside the white house. You have to have some freedom to speak in a private meeting, to speak candidly. Weve all said things in private, especially in smaller groups we work with we would never say publicly. Im disappointed that someone would skruundermine the presidey leaking that out of a private meeting. Do you think what was said was a reflection of the tone this president is setting in the white house . Sure feels that way. I mean, the fact theyre not willing to apologize in some ways endorses these sorts of statements, but i mean, Nick Mulvaney is my friend, known him a long time. What youve just said is number one, somebody in the white house said something awful and were not going to apologize to it. Number two, this place is completely dysfunctional. We dont have control over our own white house. Not sure how that explains away what was really a crass, hurtful comment at a time when the mccain family ought to be allowed to focus on keeping senator mccain comfortable. Maybe theyre not sorry. Maybe thats the problem. The fact that they wont apologize could be because deep down theyre really not sorry, insincere apology wouldnt be any more well accepted than silence. I think people are right to form whatever judgments they want to make about this white house. This is indicative of the tone he has brought to american politics. That judgment there, that may be not something to admire, that is for sure. Thank you so much. Why new trump lawyer Rudy Guiliani says the white house is planning to make a little fuss next week. Introducing the worlds first sthe new ego string trimmer. With powerload™ technology. Feed the line. Push the button. And get back to work. With an industry first, carbonfiber shaft. Lawn care has never been this easy. Or this powerful. The new ego power string trimmer with powerload™ technology. Exclusively at the home depot and ego authorized dealers. When this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. Yeah, my dad says our insurance doesnt have that. What . you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. The smoother the skin, the more comfortable you are in it. And now theres a new way to smooth. Introducing new venus platinum. A premium metal handle boosts control. To reveal up to 100 smooth skin. Venus can be a big bad problem that you could spread to. Family members, including your grandchildren babies too young to be vaccinated against whooping cough are the most at risk for severe illness. But you can help prevent this. Talk to your doctor today about getting vaccinated against whooping cough. Because dangers dont just exist in fairytales. New fallout of the white house aides comments about john mccain. In at least one closed door meeting, the content was promptly leaked to five sources. This is what he said about the overarching significance of the leaks. It shows the atmosphere and breakdown in trust in the white house. Real time leaking. You did not have this in the obama administration. Did not have this in the bush administration. This is not an aberration, this is the past 16 months. Susan del percio and dan calaway. What do the leaks reveal about the Trump Administration . It shows it is an undisciplined administration not made up of professionals. These are the only people that would take these jobs in the administration for the most part, people are worried the Trump Administration working for it will hurt reputations down the road. That being said, its also a reflection of general kelly as chief of staff. This should not be tolerated. If theres that much distress among staff, how can the public trust the administration if they cant trust each other . From a messaging standpoint, why do you think the white house is putting so much focus on the leaks as opposed to mitigating damage from the comments themselves. This president is a master deflector. Lets not talk about the substance and why that was an abhorrent thing to say. Deflect from the fact the young woman still has a job, deflect from the fact leadership comes to the top, said this in a room she thought would be received well or knew there would be no repercussions from it being such a vile thing. So lets deflect from that, focus on the leaks. I agree with susan, the leaks are a perfect example how we know the administration is not full of people professional in communications or politics in general, and frankly theyre people that have undermined the gravity and respect the American People afford to any presidency. And we see it every day with the nature of unprofessionalism out of the white house. You know what, you heard the clip earlier, fox news is pushing back saying why isnt the white house apologizing. You would think the white house would say we need to put an apology out there. Clearly this was wildly inappropriate. The vast majority of this country feels it was wildly inappropriate. Why dont they just do that . Thats not in this president s nature. Again, leadership flows from the top. The young woman made the comments because she knew they would be in a room that was well received or knew there would be no repercussions. This president doesnt apologize for anything, and it is a very bull headed position, it frankly makes no sense whatsoever. I think he finds somehow some point of pride in not only saying the outrageous things but by not apologizing for them. It is unfortunate. And just to add to that, alex, if i may, any reputable staffer at day three of the story would have resigned to protect their boss for no other reason instead of having this story. That also goes to the inexperience of the white house. What are the chances the white house offers an apology at some point . I doubt it, not any more, it has gone too far at this point. That time has passed. Looking at new poll numbers, this is from the economist, found 75 of republicans consider Robert Muellers investigation a witch hunt. Only 13 see it as legitimate. On the flip side, 76 of democrats say it is legitimate. 10 see it as witch hunt. Where do you stand . Is Robert Muellers investigation legit or a witchhunt . To me . It is completely legitimate. These numbers show that donald trump has been effective in his team in basically trying to mislead the American Public of the purpose of the Mueller Investigation. And no one fights back from mueller, he has his head down, keeps looking to do his job. I think part of the strategy is you know if you did something wrong or not, and the president probably does not want to make sure or rather wants to make sure whatever mueller says it wont be deemed credible. As we look in terms of length of time, don, thursday it is one year of muellers appointment, certainly the public, news media watched this conversation around the investigation go from russian collusion to obstruction of justice to porn star payoff. Does mueller owe the public something, anything tangible to reassure the public his probe is making progress towards its original intent . Or does he not need to. He is special counsel, by susans description, putting his head down, doing his work . There are two answers to that. First of all, he doesnt need to produce anything to show the American Public that the investigation is moving on according to schedule. Investigations take a long time. Who knows that, Rudy Guiliani, former United States attorney for one of the new york districts. A thorough, proper investigation takes a long time. We should welcome it going as long as it needs to. One year mark should mean nothing to the minds of a thinking person. However, i will say that he has produced three legitimate indictments, the young man, vanderhoss going to jail as a result of this investigation. And two other guys that have actually been convicted, been indicted. So it is not as though we have seen nothing, but a thorough investigation, and he has a very, very broad charter drafted by Rod Rosenstein that allows him to look into russian interference and matters that emanate from that. He has a broad license to investigate a lot of people about a lot of things. Im happy to see it goes much longer than we thought it might have. Susan, quickly, thursday were expecting something according to Rudy Guiliani. He told nbc news theyre going to make a fuss. What do you think he means by that . Who knows, probably more deflection. We know that Rudy Guiliani said theres not going to be any interview with the president until after the summit with north korea, so by their time line theyre already extending it. And again, this fuss is about deflection. Robert mueller should be doing his investigation. The administration and donald trump should be doing their job and not talking about the investigation. Theyre looking to muddy the waters. Guys, i am going to have you back in a bit. Sit tight. Going to talk about the economy, Strong Economy, how it may influence mid term votes. Well have you back shortly. Meantime, what is kim jongun like in person . I am going to ask a former ambassador familiar with these type of negotiations next. But as it grew bigger and bigger, it took a whole lot more. Thats why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. With it, i earn unlimited 2 cash back on everything i buy. Everything. And that 2 cash back adds up to thousands of dollars each year. So i can keep growing my business in big leaps whats in your wallet . Is not a marathon. Its a series of smart choices. And when you replace one meal or snack a day with glucerna made with carbsteady to help minimize blood sugar spikes you can really feel it. Glucerna. Everyday progress. And its also a story mail aabout people and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. 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The conversations are professional. He knows his brief, he knows what he is trying to achieve for the north Korean People, he is able to deal with complexity when the conversation requires it. He does follow the western press. He will probably watch this show at some point. Hes paying attention to things the world is saying. Was there any mention of the exchange of insults back and forth . No, we didnt cover that, chris. New details from secretary of state mike pompeo and his meeting with kim jongun and how President Trump is planning for next months high stakes summit. Joining me, bill richardson, former governor of new mexico, former ambassador to the u. N. Good to talk to you, get your insights on matters like this. You negotiated with north korea before. Are you surprised that insults did not come up . None of that was mentioned. What do you make of the Trump Administration change in tone when talking about kim . Well, its a lot better now, the fact that the president is praising him, maybe overdoing it, gracious act of the north korean shutting down the nuclear facility, honorable man, he is going from one extreme to the other. But i think what is valuable that i just saw is the secretary of state has obviously developed a relationship with kim jongun, had two meetings with him. Thats very valuable. You know, we have underestimated kim jongun. We thought he was like an unpredictable, he is, but he seems to have a vision. He wants to do something in the private sector, but youve got to watch him. Just this issue now of the nuclear facility. I notice the North Koreans said theyre going to blow it up and going to invite initially experts and journalists. Now i dont see the experts being invited, just the journalists. So you have to watch him. You have to be very careful. They have something up their sleeve, but you know, kim jongun is going to be a formidable adversary. Can i asked you based on what you just said, it came to mind that mike pompeo may be the guy thats going to be applauded for the developments recently, i hate saying that, we know anyone in trumps universe that gets perhaps publicly lauded in excess of that of the president can thereby be summarily dismissed, but is it mike pompeo that deserves a lot of credit here . Pompeo does deserve a lot of credit. If i were the president , i would send pompeo back a third time before the summit to plan exactly where were going to end up on the denuclearization issue. You know, we have some daylight with south korea. China is messing around with north korea. They probably want to weaken sanctions, so i think pompeo with his relationship with kim jongun should set the agenda before the summit, so that we know where were going to end up. He probably doesnt want to go back because he has so many other issues, but personal relationships with these leaders that dont meet with anybody like kim jongun. Now we know he wants economic assistance of some kind. We didnt know that before. He only said that in speeches, that he seems to be rational, a rational actor. Thats a personal relationship that i think pompeo has built that could be very valuable. You mention one other issue. What about the issue of human rights . How much is that expected to come up june 12th or should mike pompeo go there for a third meeting at your suggestion . Well, theres one human rights issue that needs to be addressed that hasnt been and that involves the remains of our soldiers from the korean war, several thousand. We used to have a program, Recovery Program where the north Korean Military would hand over the remains to our military and we would recover them. I had seven of those returned to me in 07. Thats another human rights issue. Also north and south korea family unification. If theres going to be economic assistance, if theres going to be private Sector Investment from the u. S. , theres got to be some improvement in the human rights treatment of North Koreans. Another issue is make sure kim jongun doesnt detain more americans on trumpy, bad charges. This is like a bargaining chip they keep using. They got praised for releasing three individuals that shouldnt have been in prison anyway. I think pompeo developed a relationship thats valuable. He should go back, make sure the summit produces some results and im a little worried there. Can i join your experience for this next question, bill, what was your experience in your negotiations . You obviously met with some success. What were they like, what was the tenor of the communication, how easy to communicate, what kind of confidence. I could go on and on with questions. Tell me your sentiments. Theyre very formal oriented. I would urge the president i hope in singapore theres private time they can have with kim jongun away from his advisers and from the formality from sitting across the table, because you make deals with the North Koreans in informal settings, walking together, at a meal. Some kind of personal relationship where kim jongun is a total dictator, you could make deals, he doesnt have to go through congress to get approval. So i would advise maybe with pompeo, the president , take kim jongun aside and say look, you know, we havent reached this agreement but we should do this and heres why. North koreans are big on protocol, but theyre big on saving face. The biggest triumph for north korea has already happened, a summit with the president of the United States. Theyve always wanted this, they always said to me we should make the deal, we, the United States and us, not china, not russia, not south korea, not japan. Were the big players here, were the ones with nuclear weapons. And so thats why i think the personal dynamics is just as important as the policy, but i worry on this complete denuclearization. We keep saying it. The definition. The definition, we have wide definitions. With regard to National Security adviser john bolton, he did give insight today into what could come up to the summit. I want to listen to what he said. Here it is. On the denuclearization side itself, that means all aspects of the nuclear program, clearly the Ballistic Missile program as with iran, with the intention of being a Delivery System for nuclear weapons, thats got to go. We need to look at their chemical and biological weapons programs as well. The president is going to raise other issues, the japanese abductees, south korean citizens that were kidnapped. Does all of this sound realistic to you . Do you think the president will lay ground work for a deal with list like this . Well, yeah, thats okay. What he mentioned were things that i think are very achievable. Stopping chemical weapons to syria, stopping nuclear and missile exports. Those are more easy than, hey, were going to destroy our 40 nuclea nuclear weapons, were going to destroy our missiles. What about the shortrange missiles. Some of the South Koreans and japanese are worried that the president will say, okay, you can keep your shortrange missiles, but as long as you get rid of the longrace missiles that hit the u. S. So theres a lot of other issues that are more important that need to be resolved. I think the ones that bolton mentioned are fairly achievable. But again, this is why i think pompeo should go back and narrow exactly the framework of a potential agreement and to say, look, this is maybe not going to be settled at one session. So lets build a trust so that we have other negotiations down the road with the timeline and verification. Timelines ander have fission v two most important words with any deal with north korea. Stay tuned, bill richardson. Were going to come back to you a lot. Thank you so much. Coming up next hour, an apology to senator mccain. A white house official weighs in on the insult by a president ial aide thats sparked certainly a bigtime controversy. But first, will a Strong Economy under this economy prevent a blue wave in november . Woman i stay active by staying in rhythm. And to keep up this pace, i drink boost optimum. Boost optimum with 5 in 1 advanced nutrition helps support muscle, energy, bone, normal immune function, and vision. Boost optimum. Be up for life. Boost optimum. Legendary jockey Victor Espinoza is insatiable when it comes to competing. So is his horse. When it comes to snacking. Thats why he uses the chase mobile app, to pay practically anyone, at any bank. Life, lived victors way. Chase. Make more of whats yours. Which is Breast Cancer metastatthat has spreadr, to other parts of her body. 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The hill reports democrats are growing worried that the economy will help republicans win the midterms with an effect that could then spill over into the 2020 race. Back with me, don, does the president deserve any credit for the Strong Economy, and is this a legitimate concern for democrats in the midterms in november . Thanks, alex. At 18 months, weve reached the point where, sure, its okay for the president to take credit for a Strong Economy. Weve moved out of the place of either blaming or lauding obama for everything that happens. However, i urge everybody who can hear me to remember, the stock market is not the economy. You have to look at the economy wholistically. The vast majority of our businesses are not publicly traded. The president wants to take credit for the economy because of the stock market. He also has to take credit for these unwieldy and completely disconnected market tariffs he just throws around willy nilly, which are doing real, intangible damage to steel and aluminum manufacturers throughout the country in battleground states he absolutely won. Democrats have to push that message out. They have dynamic candidates and an unpopular president. They have to push the message out that this president has done well for the economy. Hes done well for big businesses that are publicly traded. Susan, to his point, look, not every american is invested in the stock market. So your take on this . Yeah , thats true, but the polls we see now, the American Public as a whole does feel the economy is going in the right direction. In the high 50s in many cases, whereas the president s popularity is only in the low 40s. So the economy, even if they dont like the president , the American Public feels its going in the right direction. 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