Working with the kremlin prosecuter general, the russian version of an attorney general, to impede an investigation by the u. S. Justice department into the Business Holdings of a russian businessman. Veselnitskaya was a key player in the trump tower meeting with the highest level members of the Trump Campaign below the candidate. Donald trump junior and jared kushner, and paul manafort. Her relationship with the kremlin was previously suspected but the emails raised new questions about russian interference into the 2016 president ial election. Separately, excerpts from a minority report by House Intel Committee democrats cite emails between an nra executive and a senior Trump Campaign official that read in part, putin is deadly serious about building a Good Relationship with mr. Trump. He wants to extend an invitation to mr. Trump to visit him in the kremlin before the election. Joining me now is Richard Engel and pete williams. Richard, you reached out to Natalia Veselnitskaya to ask about the emails. What did you learn . Reporter so just to set the table a little bit. You have to go back to that trump tower meeting. You already mentioned who was there. Veselnitskaya, the key members of the Trump Campaign, President Trump at the time was the presumptive nominee. He was moving up in the world. And it looked like he was going to become the republican nominee. At this meeting the trump camp goes in believing theyre going to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. They also believe that veselnitskaya is a russian government lawyer according to emails. They show up. They gather. And veselnitskaya starts talking about sanctions on russia and how theyre unfair, how theyre based on lies and a conspiracy. And also according to emails and exchanges, the trump team leave and think it was a bit of a waist of time. The question is what was it . What was going on there . Was this a suggestion of quid pro quo . Well give you that dirt on hillary if you deal with the sanction issue. It also raises the question, who is this woman . Who is veselnitskaya . She still maintains that shes a private citizen. Doesnt work for the government, no connections. We uncovered the emails, given them by a source who says they came from an anonymous source, and they show or appear to show correspondence between veselnitskaya and a member of the russian government coordinating a u. S. Response to a u. S. Legal case. That suggests a degree of influence inside russia that goes beyond just an average private lawyer and private citizen in russia. So, richard, a lot of people suspected that she wasnt a private citizen. The sanctions were designed that private citizens wouldnt be lobbying anybody for this stuff because its sanctions that were put on oligarchs and people with big financial interests. How does this new realization about veselnitskaya change what we know about that june 2016 trump tower meeting . How should it influence our thinking . So i think its just one more piece, frankly. She has long maintained that shes a private citizen, and this suggests that she has a degree of influence with the russian state that goes beyond that. It paints a different picture of the meaning itself. It shows that the Trump Campaign people werent just showing up to a meeting where they thought they were going to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. They were showing up to a meeting where they thought they were going to get dirt on Hillary Clinton with someone deeply, deeply connected, according to these emails and other reporting that weve found, to the russian state. And that is a different way of looking at it than just a meeting which was an exchange of ideas between private citizens. Right. Which is now becoming harder and harder to believe. Youve set the table nicely for us. Lets listen to a bit of your conversation with her. You said that you never tried to dictate the case that the russian prosecuter was giving. If you did, and thats what these documents suggest, would that be an obstruction of justice . All right. Well, you can see more of that tonight. Well talk about that in a second. Pete, let me turn to you. The House Intel Committees report on Russian Election meddling. This is the democrat report. What does it say, and what do we know now that we didnt already know . The report, of course, there are basically two. Theres the majority report from the republicans and the minority report from the democrats. The majority report says it found no evidence of collusion between Trump Campaign officials and the russian government. No evidence that Donald Trumps business dealings before the election with the russians facilitating any kind of collusion. No suggestion that anyone was involved in the hack of the democratic Clinton Campaign emails or the publication of them. Although, it does say Trump Associates had numerous illadvised contacts with wikileaks, but they didnt find according to the report, that any Trump Campaign officials facilitated the leaking of those. Also they say the fbis notification of the hacking efforts to especially the democrats were insufficient, and they also say that donald trump junior did meet with a russian Government Official in 2016 at a meeting of the National Rifle association, but no evidence that the two talked about the election. Now, the minority report also says that it doesnt say theres any positive evidence of collusion, but it puts it in a drc light. It says there were clear efforts by russian government and emissaries of the government to have better relations between the Trump Administration if trump got elected. Than they were having in the past and that they were trying to cozy up to the Trump Campaign to facilitate those. You quoted from a little bit of that at the beginning. They dont go so far as to say that there was collusion involving the campaign. They just say theres a strong whiff of impropriety. But it does shed some light on why the russians are so interested in the nra. That was meant to be the first point of contact between the russians and the Trump Campaign . Yes. In fact, that what they say is the minority report says that the nra, the russians were using the nra to get a better sort of access to the american political system. All right. Pete, thank you for that. Pete williams. Richard engel. Tonight, richard will have more of his interview with Natalia Veselnitskaya. Trump spoke, the korean war is ending apparently but what is north and south koreas plan for peace and what about the face to face meeting between President Trump and kim jongun . This hour were also watching the white house at 11 40 a. M. Eastern time. President trump is going to greet Angela Merkel. Well bring that to you as it happens. Theyll hold a working lunch at 12 15. Theyre expected to cover trade and russian relations. At 1 50 p. M. Theyll hold a joint news conference. Thats what Hallie Jackson was talking about. Shell be there. Youre watching velshi and ruhle. Well be back in a minute. Better than anyone anyone ive ever met im stuck on your heart, the best just got bigger. I hang on every word you say applebees new bigger bolder grill combos. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Gas, bloating, constipation and diarrhea can start in the colon and may be signs of an imbalance of good bacteria. Only Phillips Colon Health has this unique combination of probiotics. It helps replenish good bacteria. Get fourinone symptom defense. Ancestrydna has 5x more detail. And its now on sale for just 59. It can lead you on an unexpec ted journey. To discover your heritage. Get ancestrydna for just 59. The lowest price of the year. You ok there, kurt . Were about to move. Karate helps. Relieve some of the housebuying. Stress. 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Friday morning korea time, kim jongun became the first leader from the north to enter the south since the korean war erupted in 1950. Stepping over a very small concrete curb that represents the border dividing a nation. Or two nations depending on how you want to look it. They signed a proclamation. The meeting took place on the south korean side of the de Demilitarized Zone. No date or location has been set for a historic meeting between President Trump and kim jongun. It could be in may or june. The president just spoke a short time ago about the meeting between moon and kim. On the occasion of this weeks meeting between president moon and kim jongun, i want to express my hope that all of the people of korea, north korea and south can someday live in harmony, prosperity and peace. And it looks like it could happen. When i began, people were saying that was an impossibility. They said there were two alternatives. Let them have what they have or go to war. And now we have a much better alternative than anybody thought even possible. For more on this, i want to bring in janice live in seoul, south korea. Janice, my old friend, we heard donald trump make a reference to this the other day. It seemed out of the ordinary. No one knew if he knew what he was talking about. You see this historic meeting. The two leaders have met before, or the two leaders of those countries, not these two particular men. How significant is this . Reporter well, theyve set bold goals. Theyre pledges people here have heard before. This has been an extraordinary turn of events wheif you consid where 2018 started. This joint declaration from the two men have made is hugely symbolic. Its full of intent. But it is also short on specifics. We need to unpack the wording a bit. When they say theyre going to end the korean war, they pledged to make steps toward ending the korean war. That means theyre going to need threeway talks with the United States, fourway talks with china to formalize a peace treaty that the ar mistis. They said no more war on the korean peninsula. The other is the statement on denuclearization. Thats a bit murkier. Their wording is that they would move toward the common goal of denuclearizing the korean peninsula. They havent defined what denuclearization is or what it would look like, and there is not a hint at any concessions to be made by anyone. At this point north korea is promising to give up nothing. Thats likely what still is feeding the skepticism. The sense that its a tactical decision that he achieve third down credible Nuclear Threat that brought him to the same table as the other leaders through his own maximum pressure company, and now hes moving more toward maximum engagement. Still, it was remarkable today to see kim jongun walk across the dmz, provide the ice breaker moment for kim jongun by inviting him to step on to the north korean side to shake hands before they move toward that summit table. Thank you for your reporting from seoul, south korea. Janice for us. While kim jongun and moon jaein declared their intention to end the korean war, its actually not something the two leaders can do themselves. The korean war broke out in 19 50 officially between the United Nations and the chinese and russianbacked forces in the north. The u. N. Security counsel issued resolution 83 authorizing the use of military force spearheaded by the United States. Fighting ended with an ar mistis in 1953 after a million das casualties on both sides. Since no peace treaty was ever signed, theres a technical state of war. A treaty officially ending the war can only be reached by the United States and north korea. And as the Peace Process inches forward, its good to keep in mind the norths military buildup over the decades. North korea has spent about 3. 5 billion on mail tear efforts every year from 2004 to 2014 according to a report. Thats nearly a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. Many experts believe the regime has enough stuff necessary to make a Nuclear Weapon for anywhere between 10 and 20 bombs. U. S. Intelligence puts this number as high as 60 potential Nuclear Weapons. North koreas icbm, Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program, has also grown. Analysis of a recent launch found the missile could likely reach the continental United States. In terms of conventional military, north has more than 1,000 aircraft. Almost 700 naval vessels. 5500 rocket launchers on top of hidd hidden artillery pieces. The north Cyber Capabilities are the countrys most potent weapon. The country flexed that muffle in the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures and more recently banks and services in south korea and malaysia. Theres increasing evidence that it was behind the 2016 attack on the new york federal reserves account at a bank netting them 81 million. All of this putting considerable teeth behind this handshake of peace. Joining me now is a former Deputy Assistant secretary of state for east asian and pacific affairs. Michael, thank you for being with us. My pleasure. Michael, the leaders of north and south korea have met before. In the past nuclear stuff hasnt been the issue. It hasnt felt the way it feels today. But how much of a breakthrough is it that moon jaein and kim jongun met at the Demilitarized Zone and crossed into the other country . Look, i think at the end of the day there are two real take aways from this historic summit. First and foremost, this is a very positive and necessary start to a real diplomatic process that could really see a reduction in tensions on the korean peninsula, and potentially addressing some of the major issues outstanding including north Koreas Nuclear and missile programs. But at the same time we are left today after this summit with no further sense of exactly how any of that progress would happen or whether or not the diplomatic progress is sustainable. It was clear from both sides that they wanted to portray a sense of the historic nature of this summit and that theres Real Progress towards ending the conflict on the korean peninsula. And again, thats a very good thing. But as always, with north korea, again, weve been here before numerous times, as you mentioned. The devil is in the details here. Were not going to know a lot until the coming weeks and months. But weve had shows of force and missile launches and things like that. We dont have an ambassador to south korea, the president has just redirected the ambassador who was going to australia to become the south korean ambassador. There hasnt been a lot of talking. Moon jaein, the new president of south korea, expressed when he got elected a desire for direct talks and at the time President Trump was saying no such thing. Now we know that mike pompeo has gone there. We know theres a summit planned. It does seem like theres momentum toward something. In the end, what is it that north korea can get in exchange for giving up its Nuclear Weapons program, and what is it that the other side needs . When i say the other side, theres the United States, japan, south korea, there are a lot of people involved. Well, look, i mean, that is the big question. Right . And it was sort of conspicuous, i think, here, that the declaration from the north and south agreed to today did not actually include much at all on the question of denuclearization other than a very short passing reference to both sides working toward the goal. The two sides front load third down diplomacy by biting off small pieces. The right fruit, if you will, of family reunions and other kinds of small steps forward. Its a good way to give momentum to this process. The denuclearization question is the biggest question that is still out there, and i think one of the biggest things we have to remember is that President Trump has been making denuclearization issues the top priority for the United States. And the very fact theres not a lot in there on this issue may hit a kind of a brick wall when it comes to the trump kim summit were expecting in the coming weeks. I want to play this 2for you. Lindsey graham this morning. If this happens, President Trump deserves the nobel peace prize. What do you think about that . I think its way too early to be awarding any peace prizes based on this. Although President Trump was also pretty quick to tweet out this morning his own headline proclimbing an end to the korean war. I think this is one of the concerns that i have. While this was a definite positive step on the diplomacy toward ending the conflict with north korea, we are seeing a very large gap between expectations and reality here. And if that gap gets way too big and if trump embraces that gap at his own summit with kim jongun, we could be in for a real fall off a cliff on the other side of that summit if we dont see any real steps toward denuclearization. All right. Michael, thank you for joining me. Hes a former Deputy Assistant secretary of state for east asian public affairs. And allegations against tom brokaw and matt lauer. I stood there for a couple of minutes and just shook out of panic. 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Another powerful man in media is accused of sexual misconduct. This time its veteran nbc news man tom brokaw. One is a war correspondent for nbc in the 90s. Her story was published last night by the Washington Post and variety magazine. She claims brokaw tried to kiss her, groaned her and showed up at her hotel room uninvited. If he said hes coming over, i have to let him come over. Hes the most important man at nbc news. He took the same hand, reached behind my head and tried to force me to kiss him. I pulled back with all the strength i could muster, and stood up. And i said tom, i do not want to do this with you. I stood there for a couple of minutes and just shook out of panic. A second unnamed woman told the post brokaw acted inappropriately toward her in the 90s. He denies all the allegations and in a Statement Released by nbc news on his behalf says, quote, i let with linda vester on two occasions, both at her request 23 years ago because she wanted advice with respect to her career. Despite the allegations, i made no ro mant ib overtures toward her at that time or any other. Theres new allegations against matt lauer. One woman claims he exposed himself in his office while another says lawyer had sex with her in his office. Lawyer denies any wrong doing telling the post i fully acknowledged i acted inappropriately, however, i want to make it perfectly clear any allegations of coercive, aggressive actions on my part are false. Id like to bring in sara ellison who helped break this story. Thank you for your strong reporting here. Linda vester gave variety a powerful explanation about why she didnt go public until now. Lets listen to it. Because of his power. I was unable to talk about it. So i was silenced. And there was nothing i could do to seek recourse, because to have done so at nbc would have been the end of my career, full stop. And sara, thats a big part of your reporting, about the Corporate Culture at nbc about being able to report these things, whether they get taken seriously. What did vester tell you about why shes decided to come forward now . Well, i think lindas story is actually in her reticence to want to report, its mirrored in a lot of other womens stories that theyre afraid to come forward was one, theyre afraid they wont be believed and two theyre afraid they will be on the wrong end of the bargain if its this person theyre accusing or them, if theres a choice between the two, theyre going to be the ones to go. I dont think this is a problem isolated to nbc. I was interested in what was going on at nbc after matt lauers firing. Right. You go into it in your story about the fact that theres sort of a problem in the way hr can be structured when someone wants to report someone senior in the company. You spoke to anne curry about an incident in 2012 when she says she was approached by a female nbc staffer about matt lauer. Tell us about that. Right. So anne curry told me that she was approach bed by a woman in tears. She said she was physically sexually harassed by matt lauer. The woman sort of begged anne not to reveal her identity and anne obliged and she did not reveal her identity with her. She told me she went to two members of nbc management and reported to them that gave them a warning. She said you have a problem with matt lauer and the way that she interacts with women. Of you need to keep an eye on him. She was limited in any kind of detail she could provide about the specific interaction that this woman had come to her about. She said she raised the alarm with at least two members, she said she told four people. Two people in management and two not in management. The issue in your story is that she says she spoke to people in management. Nbc says they have no record of this. The Management Team has turned over. Management teams change all the time. Theres a new president. Theres there was no chairman at the time, i dont think. And so theyre different people. But these are the kinds of if someone like aun curry comes forward and gives that warning and makes that kind of a statement, that should not then fizzle and die. That should live in some fashion in the institutional memory of a company. You say the post recently spoke to 35 current and former nbc staffers about their experiences at the company. The post reports that not all allegations of harassment were reported within the company. Whats the reason most people give for that . Right. So i spoke to as part of that reporting, i spoke to 12 women who said they experienced some Sexual Harassment at nbc but didnt come forward, and its for the same reason. Its that they didnt know that they would be believed and they worried that they would be the one whose career suffered. I think women have found when they bring forward complaints and its in the just at nbc, but when they bring forward complaints, they are the ones whose career suffers. Its not the person who has perpetrated the harassment. I think in your story you really get to some very specific problems at nbc and some larger problems. The list of powerful men in the media is getting longer. There are now several layers to the story. The movement has branched out to actors and politicians and the restaurant industry. What are the obstacles that companies are having in dealing with this if they really want to get to the bottom of whats happening . What do they seem willing to do to properly envs. Gait these things and what are they not willing to do . Weve seen a willingness to fire people. Matt lauer was fired quickly. So thats a step. Charlie rose was fired. Weve seen that stage of things thats happened. And it may continue in some fashion. But you cant fire your way out of this problem. And if you still have a situation where there are women and men who are who want to remain anonymous, that does hamper a companys ability to investigate properly. Its difficult to balance the anonymity of an accuser with a deep investigation. People have begun to not really trust h. R. Departments and to feel that they represent and protect companies more than the individuals. That might be changes. Im sure that the people in h. R. Are aware of that impression, and thats an issue. Anne curry actually recommended she had a thought about there should be some kind of person, a function outside of the company where you could go if you had a sort of issue with someone. I think thats a really interesting and powerful idea. I also have seen instances where it can be misused and corrupted. I think its a difficult question. Someone quoted in the story said its a structural thing. How do you go to h. R. To complain about somebody who might be their boss or might be so senior in the company . Its not a deliberate h. R. Failure. Its quite possibly a structural failure. Unless theres new solutions we may not get to the bottom of it. Yes. I would say we are very much at the beginning of being able to figure this out. Sara, thank you for your reporting. We appreciate it. Thank you. Weve got an update from the israel gaza border. We have word three more people have been killed. And 350 wounded. Thats new from the Palestinian Health ministry in total 42 people have been killed including two journalists. 5,511 people have been injured. We are joined from london. These are weekly protests that the palestinians have vowed will go on for some time. They want the right to return to land, land that is now in israel from which they were forcibly removed . Thats right. Theyre calling it the great march of return. Its going to take place, and really, its going to peak on may 14th and 15th. On the 15th, the day of catastrophe, youre looking at the left side of your screen at live pictures right now from that gaza israeli barrier. At least 14 people in Critical Condition right now. That death toll is likely to rise. The protests have been taking place since march 30th. Weve had more than 40 people killed. Some 5,000 people wounded. And theyre taking place along this barrier that runs north to south. Separating gaza from israel. Its about 25 miles long. 1. 8 Million People living in the most Industrial Area in the world. The most compact area in the world. Unable to leave. The conditions there are horrific. The israelis will tell you the protests youre seeing are organized by hamas and terrorist led. The palestinians tell you these are People Living under occupation. This is not a porder. This is a barriers. Palestinians do not have a state. Israel is a sovereign state. And many people say israel needs to be more careful with how they are handling the protests because all the deaths weve seen in the strip at the hands of israeli snipers. Lets talk about the israeli response. Theyve been saying these people are hamas activists. They are these are not regular protesters who mean no harm. Thats right. And theyre painting this with one brush and they do this with gaza, the israelis. This is the policy when they look at gaza. They blame hamas for everything. The reality is that journalists are being shot to two have been killed. Five wounded today alone. Weve seen a number of children killed. These protests really are widespread, as i said from north to south, along that barrier with israel. And, look, inside of israel, if you read the papers in israel and this morning one of the main papers in israel translated from he brew means the land. The mean editorial in the paper was the killing needs to stop. There are israelis that are saying this is not just a heavyhanded approach. This is a continuation of a brutal occupation. But this is something that were seeing play out. And it bears mentioning one more time. The u. S. Embassy opens june 1 h june 14th may 14th. Were headed for an increased clash. Well stay on it with you. Thank you. In a few minutes, well see President Trump welcome Angela Merkel to the white house. Were breaking down trumps issues with merkel and whether they can make progress on some of the biggest sticks points like trade. Today were seeing movement on the markets on amazon. The online retailer made more money. They announced a hike to prime Service Going up to 119. Its the first raise in four years. Wall street predicts it will be the first trillion dollar company. Gdp was up 2. 3 year over year in the first quarter, but its not as high as this administration would like it to be. Heres a live look at the dow. Markets are down a little less than a tenth of a percent. Youre watching velshi and. Sevelshi and ruhle. Type of chronic hepatitis c. Its been prescribed to more than a quarter Million People. And is proven to cure up to 99 of patients whove have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. Certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. 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Call now for your free hearing test from an Industry Leader miracleear. And its time to get outside. Pack in even more adventure with audible. With the Largest Selection of audiobooks. Audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. Or discover magic when you hit the open road. With the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. And for just 14. 95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. If you dont like it exchange it any time. No questions asked. You can also roll your credits to the next month if you dont use them. So take audible with you this summer. On the road. On the trail. Or to the beach. Start a 30day trial and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. No matter where you go this summer make it better with audible. Text summer17 to 500500 to start listening today. Any moment now Angela Merkel is expected at the white house. Her first visit on the heels of macr macron. Theres not the pomp and circumstance of macrons visit. Merkel isnt expected to address visit. It will be a working trip for the leaders to discuss pressing issues likely to include the Iran Nuclear Deal and tariffs or tariff exemptions on European Union steel and aluminum which are set to expire on tuesday. Germany has been a key ally to the United States helping to serve as a czech to the European Union and the russian federation. More than 70 years after world war ii ended there are more than 35,000 u. S. ,000 personnel in germany. Its worth look agent the strained relationship between President Trump and chancellor merkel. The tensions began early on. Just a day after the election. Merkel released this cautious sounding statement on trumps win. Germany and america are connected by values of democracy. I offer the next president of the United States close cooperation on the basis of these values. In march of 2017, trump hosted merkel at the white house and the two had what was portrayed as an awkward meeting in the oval office. The two didnt even shake hands for the prez. Trump denied any tension tweeting despite what you heard from the fake news, i had a great meeting with Angela Merkel. Trump addressed added nevertheless, germany owes vast sums of money to nato and the United States must be paid for the powerful and expensive defense it provides to germany. Two months later trump went again after the nation tweeting we have a massive trade deficit with germany and they pay far less than they should on nato and military. Bad for u. S. This will change. In july after meeting up with merkel again overseas, trump sprinkles in praise for her tweeting the summit was a wonderful success and carried out beautifully by chance your Angela Merkel. Thank you. Last month trump tweeted if the eu wants to further increase the tariffs and barriers on u. S. Doing business there, well apply a tax on their cars which freely pour into the u. S. Market. They make it impossible for our cars and more to sell there. Big trade imbalance. Joining me now sleeteve and joh. John, we have a bit of a delay. Youre halfway across the world. What is the likelihood that on the iran deal which is important to germany to keep involved in and on the tariffs for steel and aluminum coming from europe, those tariffs, the exemptions expire next week. What is the likelihood that Angela Merkel will make some headway on donald trump . On the first point, its about as likely that youll see all the hugging and kissing you saw earlier this week. On the second poiblt, i think theres probably a good chance the temporary exemptions on the tariffs will be expanded. On the first point, the Iran Nuclear Deal, i guarantee the first call that president macron made when he finished his meetings with the president and in washington was probably to Angela Merkel to talk about what President Trumps concerns and objections to the Iran Nuclear Deal were so she can take another run at it. But i think thats a tougher hill to climb. Germany lets just talk about these tariffs. The fact is every time Angela Merkel talks about something economic with donald trump, he tends to bring up the nato issue. Nato countries are supposed to commit a certain percentage of their gdp and military spend to military spending. And many most members of nato dont do that. Is this something nato countries including germany and other European Countries are prepared to meet or do they feel theyre fulfilling their commitments in other ways . Well, there are two issues here. On nato, this is an issue that president obama raised every single meeting that he had with chancellor merkel as well. I had the opportunity to participate in those, and in point of fact, germany was one of the nations that proposed or helped to coral other nato members to agree to this 2 at the wales nato summit in 2014, but the commitment was 2 by 2024. And germany has increased. They havent come to 2 . Frankly, they could do more, and i think its important to push them. Our approach was to push them privately not to push them publicly, because i think its a lot easier for a foreign leader to do something youd like them to do when it doesnt look like theyre being pushed around on it. On the economic point, its important to remember that there are over 700,000 american jobs that have been created by German Companies investing in america. And that bmw makes more cars in charleston, South Carolina than it does in bavaria. By the same token, the eu has a lot of nontariff barriers to trade. Particularly in the agricultural area, and this was one of the things we were pushing hard on in trying to negotiate the tea tip. I think if we want to improve our trade deficit with germany, the way as to it is to have a good rulesbased free and fair trade agreement with the eu. You cant have a Bilateral Agreement with germany. Its got to be in the context with the eu and hopefully theyll make a commitment at this meeting to move in that direction. John, with president macron and his relationship with donald trump, he sort of knew what he needed and was going to get it. For many decades germanys really been the european leader. Angela merkel is weakened in her own country right now. There are a lot of people saying macron is taking on that role as the european leader closest to the United States and probably most important on the world stage. What does Angela Merkel have to do to look like she got something at this meeting back at home . Well, first of all, i would push back a little bit on the idea that germanys no longer a force in europe. Its clearly the largest and most vibrant economy. I think if you look at the poll numbers, macron also has challenges at home. But the good news is i think with the two of them, they each have a partner who is committed to european integration and to making the thing work. And thats really positive i think for europe and with the United States. For her to come out with a win, i think it would be important to certainly make some progress on the tariff situation. To have what is interpreted as a good, wide ranging meeting and to continue building on a relationship which is a lot better than most people give it credit for. That handshake thing, the chancellor throws off, he didnt believe he heard when that was proposed. They did have 30 minutes in the office. One should presume they shook hands then. Thank you very much. Let me bring steve in for this conversation. The idea here and were taking a look, this is where angela merkl will show up. They need to check off the Bobbi Kristin boxes and say that i had did it. This is an embarrassing meeting because it has none of the importance and pomp it should have. Its embarrassing to have macron in a close way and treat him everyone is anticipating this will be a cold summit with few outcomes. That should not be whats happening between the United States and germany. Shes going to get through it. Shes saying she got to get through and have here she is. Lets listen in. So much nor tmore the chatter. Got a kiss on both cheeks. It looked as warm as it should look. This looked like a perfectly normal meeting between two world leaders. So far thats the case. The white house did put out a sheet just a short while ago and one of the things i found amazing is they said in october 16, 1837, 1 german families arrived and tried to go on. Were cooperating on terrorism, trade and other issues. You ask a deep question which is important. What can come out of this. Is this is a business as usual meeting or not. The true answer is given the importance and scale of u. S. German relations this is a trivialization of that. We will get through it. Both boxes will be checked off and it does not have the scale, size and footprint it should have. Kelly, the white house sort of set out any expectations for what this meeting is supposed to achieve . Reporter this is an opportunity, according to white house officials for the president to continue to build on a relationship that you have both been discussing how important it is to the United States. To perhaps overcome some of the rougher edges we have seen in what has been the trumpmerkel relationship thus far. The juxtaposition between macron and this working lunch are very stark. Theres Different Levels of official visits. Chancellor merkel has been to the white house before. Shes not been given the glitz and glamour of a state visit. This is a relationship forged over time. One of the big differences between macron and merkel is hes aer meeting with a President Trump but merkel has spanned three president s. Merkel was a constant and one of the most poppwerful meeting in e world. We have not seen the willingness that some other Political Forces around the globe are more easily able to do. That is to lavish praise on President Trump. She is not of that nature. We have seen it with macron. A much greater willingness to give him credit while having policy differences. A difference approach. She has let the president know where they disagree. Let the president know the limits of some of his understanding of things you were discussing. You cant have a u. S. Germany trade pact. A fundamental difference that merkel, it would appear, had within frustrated by the president s understanding of that. Theyve met a number of times before. Remember the g20 was held in her home city of hamburg. This will be a much more workman like visit. There will be limited photo opportunities. I think the president did try to show a graciousness with the two cheek kisses. Were going to continue to follow the developments in the white house now that chancellor Angela Merkel is there. Youre watching velshi ruhle. Well be right back. I have antivirus, but my computers still slow. I think its time for the fixmestick. Fixmestick is a plugin virus removal device. Its the smart, simple way to clean an infected computer, with a whole lot going on inside the stick. [computers sound] this one got around the Antivirus Software not a problem. Were on it. 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Its dedicated to africanamerican who is were lunhundre lynched. Another feature, jars of soil collect eed from sites of lynch where blood, sweat and tears would have soaked into the earth. Right now on msnbc, Andrea Mitchell reports. Historic steps for the first time the leader of north korea crosses the worlds most heavily fortified border to shake hands with the south korean president and signed the declaration to reach peace. Ending the 67 yearlong war on the korean peninsula. President trump reacting to the news at the white house this morning. When i began, people were saying that was an impossibility. They said there were two alternatives. Let them have what they have or go to war. Now we have a much better alternative than anybody thought even possible. Nbc news exclusive speaking with the russian lawyer at the center of that Infamous Trump meeting. Would that be