Cohen. They were this is important, for information about trumps lawyers involvement in this effort to buy Karen Mcdougals story and use that to silence her, a different route to another nda. All of this comes on the same day that donald trump for the first time attacked Stormy Daniels by name. Ill show it to you this morning. Trump responding to that sketch she released. He called it, quote, a sketch years later about a nonexistent man, a total con job. I am joined now on these breaking stories as we await the press conference by my panel. Caddie, we, im going to be full disclosure to the audience, we booked you as an International Reporter and expert and we may yet get to those stories. The president here will be taking the stage for the first time for a press Conference Since the fbis raid. First time hes faced reporters and now with the breaking news story. Karen mcdougal was silenced, she says. She was taken to court by the National Enquirer this month and now theyve relented. What is the significance in your view . Nondisclosure agreements have been getting an awful lot of attention really since harvey weinstein, people have been talking about these agreement that are silencing women, but interestingly about a week i think it was before Michael Cohens hotel and office and home were raided for those documents, the National Enquirer had come out and said that they werent going to release her from the nondisclosure agreement, they were going to fight her on that. Now it seems according to Karen Mcdougals lawyer that they feel theyve got everything they wanted. Theyve come out just in the last few minute saying this is a tote win for us, we couldnt have expected anything more. They feel that now shes saying that she has no plans to resell the story, that shes going to take this one day at a time, but they clearly feel this is a big victory for them and theyre ability to get this information out in public. Yeah. Betsy, this all does have roots in the Mueller Probe because it was a bob mueller referral to those feds in new york that as i mentioned in the lead kicked off all this dust. I want to stick to the known facts. I can speak in terms of the time line. I cant tell you, our viewers, why the National Enquirer has reversed course, they were full steam ahead and now the feds are looking into their dealings with Michael Cohen who censored all of this. Our producers dug up something pretty interestingly. Heres donald trump praising the National Enquirer back in the day. This was a magazine that, frankly, in many respects should be very respected. They got o. J. , they got edwards. I mean, if that was the the New York Times they wouldve gotten pull administer prizes for their reporting. Why didnt the National Enquirer get the pull its administer prize for edwards and o. J. Simpson. Were playing that old clip. The pulitzers were handed out this week. Now, it looks a little different because weve learned that Michael Cohen the fixer was involved in using the enquirer to do through a contract what caddy was explaining, they have done through ndas in other cases. Thats right. It just goes to show the extent to which ami and the National Enquirer have been so extraordinarily helpful to the Trump Campaign. My sense is theres probably a lot more to the story of trumps relationship to ami even now that we dont know. One thing i remember being acutely aware of as i was covering the campaign back in 2016 was the extent to which the National Enquirer as a publication kept on pushing narratives that ended up at least coincidentally to the Trump Campaign. One story suggested that ted cruz had multiple mistresses, those allegations were never substantiated and, in fact, they damaged the reputation of some women because they put out these thinly pixilated pictures of women in their magazine and you could kind of tell which women the magazine was talking about. The women the women who were used for that story had their reputations damaged and then additionally there was this story about ted cruzs father, a story that alleged that tefs somehow connection to the assassination of john f. Kennedy. It goes beyond the bounds of what you would conceive of a normal supermarket tabloid fare. This is something that trump trumpeted on the campaign trail that he touted that was useful, the relationship between the ami and the Trump Campaign isnt this overt back and forth that we saw publicly during the campaign but that behind the scenes they appear to have taken serious steps to silence voices that could damage trump and my guess is the news were getting today is going to have the opposite of a chilling effect, could have a warming effect on those voices feeling they were silenced by trump. The other women independent individuals who had no link to any of this, who according to what were learning, were not only be smerjed by the National Enquirer but how much of that was a direct arm of the donald trump operation executed by Michael Cohen whos under criminal investigation. I, of course, am not going to mention any of those individuals but im familiar with the story you mentioned, which was very respected people that we know who work in politics and elsewhere you happen to be women who as you say were dragged through the mud because of that unverified attack on a trump opponent, which goes to the efforts that were used and the efforts that were deployed especially brutally and unfairly against women. With that in mind for your analysis, i want to play from Karen Mcdougal herself because she said that she was fighting what felt to her like a machine to silence her. Am i scared, do i feel threatened . Absolutely. But i feel i had to protect myself, toid stand up for myself. Im quite mad at that. Im angry. I feel taken advantage of in the sense and i want the right to make it right. Today was a big win but i think when you pull the lens back your point about this being a machine, were learning a lot more about Donald Trumps relationships with david pecker the National Enquirer, sean hannity at fox news. We know hes close with breitbart. He has used the media and orchestrated the media to his benefit for years and one of the people close to donald trump and who is actually on the campaign for a while told me that relationships with the media for people around trump were like commodities. If you had this relationship, if you had this great contact at this magazine that was really valuable to donald trump and he certainly used that to his advantage. The question is, were these payments Illegal Campaign contributions . Weve always had the question of the payment to Stormy Daniels but theres a question of illegal payments perhaps from the National Enquirer, david pecker, what other payments were made, is this the tip of the iceberg . Are there other women . Avenatti says hes been approached by other women. This could be the tip of the iceberg. What you raise does have the legal and financial imly indications because whether people are concerned about the facts as they all come out and thats a political judgment. Weve said on this show perfect, donald trump on the one hand stands accused of a very serious conduct but other politicians, men mostly in both parties, have also weathered some of those storms in different ways and the Democratic Party has its own issue there. That is one political part. Right. Then theres the legal part and we have about 90 seconds before trump steps out for this much anticipated set of remarks, the other part is the legal part that the National Enquirer is running away from Michael Cohen. Clarence . Indeed. Can one blame him . Whats interesting about the enquirer is, its been very much apart of the Trump Campaign effort from the beginning long before trump became a candidate, he and david pecker had a strong friendship and it shows itself in the front of the enquirer which i read every week at the super market stand because their best stories is always on the front page and all the qualifiers are inside real why do the aliens land so frequently . That was their sister publication. You got to keep them straight. They had the obamas on the cover and all kinds of scandals they made up about the obamas. About voters, the voters own matter as much here ari as the other possibility of violations of Campaign Finance law which is an interesting and serious area. We dont really know for sure but if you help to pay off somebody to cover up something thats negative about your candidate, is that a Campaign Contribution . That has yet to be decided weve reported on that piece, weve reported that the theory that these are Campaign Donations does not have a lot of federal support in the law but the theory that you have to be honest when you make Financial Transactions in front of banks and certainly in front of the irs, that there is plenty of precedent on that, that lying to the irs is a felony and lying to banks is whats known as a super felony. Its really bad and even trumps own lawyer told us that that 30 year offense puts a lot of heat on Michael Cohen. Were looking at final movements here in maralago where the president is going to come out and speak to Prime Minister abe from japan on issues that are obviously significant and tran sends some of the crisis hes facing. Well break in any second but i turn to you as we look at the room for your views of the challenge here. President trump has but something of a kinship with abe over the phone and in person and the Korean Peninsula weighs heavily on their minds. For the last year the japanese have been the target of missiles that have been launched by north korea. They are cautious about the idea of a summit and backing down on any threats that military force could still be on the table. They will have wanted reassurances, shinzo abe from President Trump that this talk of a summit in may or june doesnt mean that suddenly the japanese are going to be left out, you know, hanging by this. Theres some difference between the South Koreans on that and the japanese and South Koreans much more keen on a summit on negotiations. The japanese more hawkish when it comes to north korea. The important thing for america right now is to keep both of those allies on side as much as possible as the president goes into that summit in an undisclose the location. The other thing that going to come up is trade because of course the japanese want reassurances that theyre not about to get hampered by a trade war. What do you think again as were waiting a high Profile Press conference. This president running late and i always like to emphasize where president s have things in common thats something he does have in common with his predecessors and these are complex complex Foreign Policy events. The big question is whether donald trump could be outmaneuvered and outsmarted by north korea because there is a fear that he may give up for an exciting big quote unquote, shortterm achievement. We may give up pressure or leverage over the north Korea Community on denuclearization in the long run. Either donald trump is on the brink of a major diplomatic International Security victory, which put him in the history books and which no american president has achieved before or hes on the brink of being duped by the North Koreans who have no intention of denuclearizing. Thats the question going in to these into this summit and even if the North Koreans say theyre going to denuclearize, theyve done that four times over the last few decades, the question is do they mean it as youre speaking, i want to tell viewers, of course were watching the first lady enter the room where she just shook hands with larry kudlow, the financial and economic adviser, that central issue as well. Were watching mike pence make his greetings. These are chore graphed moves before the heads of state come out. Larry kudlow has spoken about their being day light here. Donald trump has a real problem with america having trade deficits. He doesnt like them at all. He seems to think that they are a source of weaken. Some economists would argue the tax reform bill that was passed late last year increases americas trade deficits around the world. This is been a problem with the japanese. There was some news late this afternoon that they have figured out some way to diminish americas trade deficit with japan but its something that the japanese when it comes to sanctions and tariffs. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States and the Prime Minister of japan. And sometimes the news inside the room is exactly as we would say it on air, the president of the United States and the Prime Minister of japan walking out to these lechurns. Whether donald trump gets other questions, we will only be able to wait and see. Thank you very much. I want to begin todaypy expressing my deep condolences to the entire bush family on the passing of former first lady barbara bush. A wonderful, wonderful person. For decades barbara was a titan in american life. Her presence and character were engraved into americas identity. Her strength and toughness really embodied the spirit of our country and her warmth and devotion earned she was a tireless champion for literacy. She was a fierce advocate for the American Family and she was a woman of proud patriotism and profound faith. Our hearts are saddened by her passing, but our spirits are lifted by the memories of her goodness and grace. She was a good person. Melania and i send our prayers to barbaras husband of 73 years. Ill never beat that record. President george h. W. Bush to the surviving children jeb and neil and marvin, dorothy and former president george w. Bush, and to their many wonderful grandchildren and great grandchildren. This evening i also want to send a message to all of the brave Service Members from the United States, france and the United Kingdom who were involved in the very successful strikes on targets associated with the Syrian Chemical Weapons program last week. Once again, the unmatched skill of the United States military and our great partners and allies was demonstrated to the entire world. Missiles were shot. They tried to knock them down. They werent in the least successful. They hit none. The purpose of our strike was to establish a strong deterrent against the use of banned chemical weapons. Civilized Nations Must Join together to prevent the horrors of Chemical Warfare and, in fact, warfare. I think our allies really were absolutely worldclass wonderful. We thank them for their support. Today im thrilled to be joined by my good friend Prime Minister abe of japan. Highly respected gentleman. The Prime Minister, melania and i are thrilled to host you once again at maralago. Were grateful for the tremendous hospitality you showed us during our visit to your country last fall. It was a true privilege to be welcomed to the magnificent land of japan or as ive heard all my life, the land of the rising sun. Its true. So great. During our visit to asia in november, we had tremendous success enlisting support for our campaign of maximum pressure on the north korean regime. As you know, i will be meeting with kim jongun in the coming weeks to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Hopefully that meeting will be a Great Success and were looking forward to it. It would be a tremendous thing for north korea and a tremendous thing for the world, so we will be doing Everything Possible to make it a worldwide success. Not just for the United States or south korea or north korea or japan, but for the entire world. We hope to see the day when the whole Korean Peninsula can live together in safety, prosperity and peace. This is the destiny of the Korean People who deserve and have gone through so much over the years. We hope it all works out. Well be trying very hard. I want to thank the Prime Minister for his insight and support over the past year as we have pursued the dream of a peaceful nuclearfree korea. Shinzo you have worked very hard along with us and all of our people and we thank you very much and were with you and youre a lot closer than we are, but were working on this together. Okay. Thank you very much. Your support has been critical to getting us to this important moment in time, its a historic moment and possibly beyond that if it works out properly. Our discussions today reaffirm the close cooperation between the United States and japan on the issue of north korea and our common defense. We will not repeat the mistakes of previous administrations. Our campaign of maximum pressure will continue until north korea denuclearizes. We have Great Respect for many aspects of what theyre doing, but we have to get it together. We have to End Nuclear Weapons ideally in all parts of the world. That would be a goal for all of us to hope for and to cherish. As ive said before, there is a bright path available to north korea when it achieves denuclearization in a complete and verifiable and irreversible way. Itll be a great day for them and a great day for the world. During my visit to japan last fall, i met with japanese families who endured the terrible heartbreak of having their loved ones abducted by the north korean regime. We want to see these families reunited as soon as possible and i know for a fact that its one of the truly most important things on shinzos mind. We talk about it often, so important to you and were going to do Everything Possible to have them brought back and bring them back to japan. I gave you that promise. The United States also supports japans efforts to improve its defense capabilities and were exploring ways to expedite the sale of American Military equipment to japan through the Foreign Military sales program. Weve stepped up our effort not only with respect to japan but other allies that when they order military equipment from us, we will get it taken care of and they will get their equipment rapidly. It would be in some cases years before orders would take place because of bureaucracy with department of defense, state department. We are short circuiting that. Its now going to be a matter of days. If theyre allies, were going to help them get this very important great military equipment, and nobody, nobody makes it like the United States. Its the best in the world by far. Were also working to improve our Economic Partnership by reducing our trade imbalance and removing barriers to u. S. Exports. The United States is committed to free, fair and reciprocal very important word trade. Were committed to pursuing a bilateral trading relationship that benefits both of our great countries. Prime minister abe and i have agreed to intensify our trade and investment consultations. Ambassador light highser who is with us today will take the lead for the United States. These past two days have been extremely productive. The friendship between japan and the United States has never been closer. I truly believe it has never been closer than it is today and the bonds between our people have never been stronger. In the months ahead we will rely on this great friendship as we face an array of old challenges and new opportunities and we will face them together. We will work closely on trade. We will do something having to do with the imbalance that, frankly, should have been done for years and years and years. Mr. Prime minister, i want to thank you again for traveling to maralago for these important discussions and meetings. Its been a true honor to welcome you here and to work with you toward greater security, prosperity and peace for our two truly great and wonderful nations, and thank you for being here shinzo. Thank you. Thank you very much. Translator mrs. Barbara bush, the former first lady she had passed away on representing the japanese people, i would like to express my condolences to former president bush and to all the family members. We express our heart felt condolences. Refreshing and a soothing sea breeze it was a great pleasure to be invited once again to maralago to spend significant length of time with President Trump to engage in discussion in a frank and straightforward manner. About a year ago at the very moment i was at dinner with President Trump, north korea dared to launch ballistic missiles. It is absolutely intolerable. Immediately after i said so, President Trump stepped forward in front of the camera, though it was not planned and made one comment, the u. S. Is with our allied of japan. The president sent a powerful commitment to the world. Donald, your words on that occasion are still deeply etched in my mind together with my wonderful memory of my stay here in maralago one single comment, you demonstrated that a superbly strong japan u. S. Alliance, which has a history of longer than half a century and i respect my deep respect for your remarkable leadership. The situation surrounding north korea due to the decisive decision by President Trump on the first ever u. S. north korea summit as a historical turning point. The past mistakes should never be repeated. On this point, President Trump and i were in full agreement. On the occasion of the 1994 agreement or the 2005 talks, north korea committed to abandon Nuclear Weapons development, but those promises were broken. And the International Community to engage in dialogue were all entirely exploited to buy time to develop Nuclear Weapons and missiles based on such lessons learned, both the u. S. And japan together with the International Community we will demand that all weapons of mass destruction, complete irrereversible dismantling of the weapons by envisioning multiple scenarios, we carefully thought out policies and directions to take concrete and detailed level. Just because north korea is responding to dialogue, there should be no reward. Maximum pressure should be maintained and actual implementation of concrete actions toward denuclearization will be depended. This policy has been completely shared between us. On this occasion, we also agree to continue our effort towards a earlier resolution of the top priority matter of abduction, just now President Trump on the spot here has mentioned a return of the abductees will be made, a clear promise just made here, we are deeply encouraged, donald. Half a year ago when you visited our country, you listened intently to each and every family members of the abduct tees. You listened carefully and kindly said you would like to help. Your image on that occasion is indelibly etched in the eyes and minds of many of the japanese people Going Forward we wish to work closely with the United States toward the immediate return of all abductees we are determined to strengthen our approach visavis north korea. North korea has diligent workforce and is blessed with resources. If north korea advances in the right direction, they can make their populations richer. If north korea takes the right path under the japan north korea pyongyang declaration there could be a possible path to settle the unfortunate past and to normalize diplomatic relationship. For that to happen, a comprehensive resolutions of multiple precondition through the upcoming historic u. S. north korea summit. We strongly hope for a breakthrough in the situation. The japan u. S. Alliance is not just limited to security but it also contributes to the peace and prosperity of the world as well as the region. On the economic front, japan and the u. S. Take a lead and develop free and fair market in the indoe Pacific Region. I spend some time with President Trump to discuss ways to make that happen in a candied manner. We must further strengthen the economy ties between the two countries. Under President Trump, exports from the u. S. Including energy, aircraft amongst others have already been increasing significantly. Further, following the tax reform by President Trump, Japanese Companies investments in the u. S. Have been gaining momentum, which is creating a large number of jobs in the u. S. And contributing to the expansion of the exports from the u. S. In order to benefit both japan and the u. S. , well further expand trade and investment between the two countries. Building upon the foun well aim to realize Economic Development in the free and open indoe Pacific Region based on fair rules. To make that happen at this time, President Trump and i agree to start talks for free, fair and reciprocal trade deals. And the minister will be responsible for these talks on the side of japan. Minister moteki and the u. S. Trade representative lighthouser i hope will have a very fruitful discussions. Over the last two days, President Trump and i have spent more than seven hours together over meals and playing golf while at the same time we were able to hold extremely fruitful talks in relaxing atmosphere. The last two days were the time when i was able to further deepen my friendship and relationship of trust with President Trump. Lastly, id like to express my sincere appreciation to donald and first lady melania for the wonderful hospitality as well as the continued, warm hearted welcomepy the peop welcome by the people of the United States. Thank you very much, shinzo. Appreciate it. Questions. Mark . Mark . Thank you very much. Mr. President , mr. Prime minister, nice to see you again. Mr. President , you sent your cia director to pyongyang a couple of weeks ago and he returned without three americans who are being detained there and also without any other visible signs of concessions the North Koreans had made to the United States in advance of your meeting with mr. Kim. My question is, do you intend or are you willing to sit down with kim jongun if americans are still being head in north korea and will you insist on other tangible concessions from the north koreas in returns for gestures like sending a future secretary of state to north korea . And for the Prime Minister, if i may, you a moment ago alluded to new trade talks between your minister and mr. Light highser, should we interpret that to mean that you are now open to negotiating a bilateral trade deal between the United States and japan and then a second question, japan is the only major american ally that was not exempted from the steel tariffs. Did you ask the president to exempt japan and if so, how did he reply . Thank you, mark, very much. The fact is that they do have three prisoners. We have been talking about them. Were negotiating now. We are doing our very best. Theyve been there a long time and its harsh treatment. We fought very hard to get Otto Warmbier back and when we came back he was in very very bad condition. It was a very sad event. We are likewise fighting very diligently to get the three american citizens back. I think theres a good chance of doing it. Were having very good dialogue. We will keep you informed, but we are in there and we are working very hard on that. We have come along way with north korea. We were, as you know and when i say, we, for many years theyve been talking to north korea and nothings happened. This should have been taken care of by past administrations. When they were not nearly so far along, but we put unbelievably powerful sanctions on and many other things. I want to thank publicly president xi of china who has done more for us than hes done for any other administration or any leader of china has done for any president or administration. He is clogged up the border, as you know and hes done it very, very powerfully. He would tell you himself that he never thought he would go to this extent and i appreciate that very much, but its put a lot of appreciate. 93 of the goods coming into north korea come in from china, and president xi understands that this is a very important set of months that are lying ahead. He doesnt want to see a korea, north korea, or any korea that has Nuclear Weapons either. So hes also fighting for china when it comes to this, but he has been terrific. Can he be better . I always say, yes, he can be better. I said, president , youve been great, can you be better, yes. But hes been very good and its had a big impact and what weve done has had a big impact, so weve never been in a position like this with that regime, whether its father, grandfather or son and i hope to have a very successful meeting. If we dont think its going to be successful, mark, we wont have it. We wont have it. If i think that its a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, were not going to go. If the meeting, when im there is not fruitful, i will respectfully leave the meeting and continue what were doing or whatever it is that well continue, but something will happen. So i like always remaining flexible and remain flexible here. Ive gotten it to this point. President moon of south korea was very generous when he said if it werent for donald trump the olympics would have been a total failure. It was my involvement and the involvement of our great country that made the olympics a very successful olympics. If you look at ticket sales prior to what took place with respect to north korea, it was going to be a big problem and it turned out to be a very successful olympics. So weve gotten us here and i think were going to be successful, but if for any reason i feel were not, we end. Okay. Thank you, mark. Translator between President Trump and myself, for benefiting both japan and the u. S. We have expanded the investment and trade based on the Foundation Open and fair Economic Development in the indoue pacifc region, we have agreed to start talks for free, fair and reciprocal trade deals at this time. As for section 232, japanese steel and aluminum would not exert any negative influence on the u. S. Security, rather its a position that the quality of japanese products is high, many of those products are difficult to be replaced with and they are greatly contributing to the u. S. Industries and employment. So recognize that, wed like to continue to respond to this matter Going Forward. I will add that the 232 having to do with aluminum and steel tariffs, 30 in one case, 25 and 10 , that its got us to the bargaining table with many nations and in other cases theyre paying and its billions of dollars coming into the kofers of the United States. If you look at what we did with solar panels, where we put 30 tariffs on, we had 32 Companies Open with pretty new plants because its a relatively new industry. Of the 32 plants, 30 were closed and two were not doing well. Since putting the tariffs on, the two are doing very will well, seven or eight are going to be opening and a lot more open. Same thing with washing machines. We were believe it or not, having washing machines dumped all over the country. We put tariffs on and were not opening up and expanding companies that create and make, which is big business, washing machines and dryers. So the workers of our country know whats happening. We have Companies Moving up from mexico, Automobile Companies and theyre budding new plant in michigan and ohio and pennsylvania and kentucky and expanding their plants. Lot of things are happening. Our countrys doing very, very will well. So its going to continue. Its going to continue. A lot of great momentum. If you look at any chart, the enthusiasm for business in our country is at an alltime high and unemployment for africanamerican workers, for hispanic workers, unemployment is at an all time low, in history, in the history of our country. Its at the lowest point. If you look at unemployment for women, its at an 18 year low. So were very proud of our achievements and starting now, as you see, over the last few weeks, the tax cuts are kicking in and its a beautiful thing to see. And people are spending money where they didnt have the money to spend previously. So were very happy with that. Shinzo, please. Translator id like to ask questions about how to handle north korean issues. Prime minister abe, the coordination for holding summits between the south korea and north korea as well as between north korea and u. S. Is under way theres a concern in japan that japan may be left behind. How are you going to proceed with dialogue with north korea . President trump, you talked about the abduction issue. Are you going to consider the Nuclear Weapons disarmament the same level as abduction issue . Maybe ill go first. Abduction is a very important issue for me because its very important to your Prime Minister. I will tell you that were having dinner last night and he started talking about abduction and how horrible it was and his level of enthusiasm was unbelievable and i said to him right then and there last night at the table, i said we will work very hard on that issue and we will try and bring those will folks back home very, very hard. Translator whether japan will be left behind, that is not at all the case. In the last two days together with President Trump, we have spoken about north korea. There will be the korean talks and u. S. north korea summit is planned. We have gone into in depth discussion about policy and direction. We have reached agreement. Regarding the upcoming u. S. north korea summit, we hope that it will lead to the resolution of weapons of mass destruction, Nuclear Missile and of course more than anything else, we hope it will be historic summit that lead to the resolution of abduction and for that purpose, i have seriously and thoroughly discussed with President Trump and we have fully agreed about our direction Going Forward, in particular, regarding abduction as donald has explained in our talk we have thoroughly discussed this matter last year. The president met with the victims of the abduction as well as the family members and the feelings are being strongly felt and understood by the president and he has given a very encouraging comment that he would appeal toward early resolution. I highly appreciate this encouraging comment. This gives us huge courage, very encouraging comment and for the families of the abductees, again, this is a massivelily powerful encouraging comment and therefore Going Forward between japan and u. S. Or between the trilateral, we will cooperate closely and do our utmost to resolve the issues including the reduction of missiles. And we will be very loyal to japan. Thank you. Jennifer jacobs. Thank you, mr. President. On the Mueller Probe, have you concluded that its not worth the political fallout to remove either special counsel mueller or Deputy Attorney general rosenstein . And Prime Minister abe, did the president ask you to provide more funding for u. S. Troops in japan . And what agreement did you reach here in florida on buying more military equipment from the u. S. . Jennifer, i can say this that there was no collusion and thats been so found as you know by the House Intelligence Committee. Theres no collusion. There was no collusion with russia other than by the democrats or as i call them the obstructionists because they truly are obstructionists. We are giving tremendous amounts of paper. This was a really a hoax created largely by the democrats as a way of softening the blow of a loss which is a loss that frankly they shouldnt have had from the standpoint that its very easy for them to have a tremendous advantage in the Electoral College and this is what it is and this is where it came from. You look at the kind of money that was paid, probably to russia, you look at podesta having a company in russia where Nothing Happened and people dont talk about it. You look at the fact that their server, the dnc server was never gotten by the fbi. Why didnt the fbi take it . The fbi takes what they want. They go in, they wouldnt get the server. This is a hoax. As far as the investigation, nobody has ever been more transparent than i have instructed our lawyers be totally transparent. I believe weve given them 1. 4 million pages of documents, if you can believe this. And havent used that i know of or for the most part, president ial powers or privilege. So we are hopefully coming to the end. It is a bad thing for our country, very bad thing for our country, but there has been no collusion. They wont find any collusion. It doesnt exist. As far as the two gentlemen you told me about, theyve been saying im going to get rid of them for the last three months, four months, five months and theyre still here, so we want to get the investigation over with, done with, put it behind us and we have to get back to business with negotiating with this gentleman and plenty of others but this gentleman is a very tough negotiator and we have to focus on that. Thank you very much. Translator regarding the u. S. Forces expenses, the u. S. Forces in japan, the safety and security of japan and the peace and stability of the far east is being maintained and for the forward diplomatic strategy of the United States in the asiapacific in terms of the presence, the presence in japan is very meaningful and significant in the case of japan. Across the world in terms of paying for the expenses, japan accounts for the largest percentage of stationing compared to the other countries and the president understand it very well. Translator i have a question for President Trump. This is the followup question for 232. So you dont have any intention to exempt japan and President Trump and Prime Minister abe with regard to trade, you are going to establish to establish new talks for trade. Is it going to be in the direction of fda or tpp . So hed like to hear the views from both of you. Translator so this time between President Trump, talks for a free, fair and reciprocal trade deals to initiate that has been agreed. As for this talk, the minister and ambassador lighthouser, ustr, will be the representative and mr. Aso and Vice President pence u. S. Japan economic dialogue, they will be receiving the report of these talks. As for those talks, in the interest of both countries, the investment and trade between the two countries will be expanded and we are going to realize the interpacific economic growth. So under u. S. Aid that they are interested in a bilateral deal. We are aware of that, but at any rate, our countrys position is that tpp is the best for both of the countries, and based on that position, we shall be dealing with the talks. Thank you very much. The United States has a massive trade deficit with japan. Its anywhere from 69 billion to 100 billion a year. Thats massive by any standpoint. We are doing 232 on steel and aluminum. And if we can come to an arrangement on a new deal between the United States and japan, that would certainly be something we would discuss, aluminum tariffs and steel tariffs. I would look forward to being able at some point in the future take them off. But right now we have a deficit thats a minimum of 69 billion a year. Japan sends us millions and millions of cars and wetach them virtually not at all. And we dont send so much product because we have trade barriers and lots of other things. So these are the things that the Prime Minister and i are going to be discussing over the next short period of time. The media has not covered the tpp correctly. I dont want to go back into tpp but if they offered us a deal that i cant refuse on behalf of the United States, i would do it. But i like bilateral better. I think its better for our country, i think its better for our workers. And i much would prefer a bilateral deal, a deal directly with japan. We already have a deal with six of the 11 nations in the tpp. So we already have trade deals and the others we can make very easily. They all calling wanting to make a deal. Unless they offer us a deal that we cannot refuse, i would not go back into tpp. Well see what happens. But in the meantime, were negotiating and what i really prefer is negotiating a oneonone deal with japan. Thats where we are right now. I will say that the representatives who are sitting right here are extraordinarily competent and very tough. Those representing japan and we will hopefully in the not too distant future have a very good deal, good for japan and good for the United States. Okay . Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. We have been listening live to President Donald Trump and Prime Minister abe of japan speaking in a very important bilateral Summit Press Conference at maralago in balm palm beach, florida, 6 53 on the east coast. Youre watching the beat with ari melber. I turn to Eric Swalwell, a democrat who serves in the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, there was were going to listen in again. Between creating tremendous vast amounts of oil, we raised billions and billions of dollars extra in nato. We had a very, very severe, we were talking about it a little while, fight in syria recently a month ago. Between our troops and russian troops. And thats very sad. But many people died in that fight. There has been nobody tougher than me. With the media, no matter what i did, its never tough enough because thats their narrative. But russia will tell you, there has been nobody tougher than donald trump. Then the other night, we had a strike in syria which was absolute precision. I believe it with there with all of that said if we can get along with china and if we can get along with russia and if we can get along with japan and other nations, thats a good thing. Not a bad thing. Just remember that. If we got along with other nations, thats good. Not bad. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. President donald trump there appending to his remarks with Prime Minister abe at mar plag lago. A final thought touting his work in Foreign Policy, what he casts as a strong approach that both uses military force but is open to good relationships with a range of nations. I want to send my apology and reintroduce california congressman Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee. I was about to go to you. In the brief time we have, your reaction to what we heard. Its a welcoming scene to see the president of the United States with our ally japan and its leader. We need japan to solve the crisis with north korea to, make sure we Counter China and what theyre doing to hurt the american worker. What we also need is a president who can make sure when we are friends with countries like china or russia, that he wants to be so close with, it actually achieves can objectives of the United States. So as we engage north korea, we should make sure all our allies are on board and who our friends are first. As we take on this north korea crisis, the best thing we could do is uphold the agreement we struck with our allies in iran. John bolton and the president want to back away from the iran nuclear agreement. I dont know what could send a worse signal to the North Koreans that were not serious than walking away from the last agreement we struck. I wish he would make that clear. He was asked about the Mueller Probe. And he emphasized what he said was a finding by the House Intelligence Committee of no collusion. He emphasized the cooperation, over a million documents over. As for rosenstein and mueller, he said theyre still here. Your response . Theyd better stay there. Its about the rule of law. But ari, he says that the House Intelligence Committee has essentially acquitted him. They never investigated him. The truth is, i dont know what you call did when the president has invested millions in the russians and allowed them to invest in him and his family took meetings where they offered dirt and once they hacked he amplified what they stole to the world, to me it looks like collusion but bob mueller will tell us soon if hes allowed to finish his job. Stay with me, congress man. Another expert has been patiently waiting, Bill Richardson, former ambassador to the u. N. With extensive u. N. Experience. Speak to the point the president feels he is graded unfairly, that he has been tough as he put it on syria and russia, that no one is tougher than him but the media wont give him that credit, and that he remains open to relationships with japan and china and even the North Koreans. I dont agree. I think the president s Foreign Policy has been not a good one with north korea, im giving him credit because the summit that he accepted, pompeo going to north korea, a positive step. But the reality is, you know, the russian probe has to be completed. Theres Serious National Security issues. I dont think the media has been unfair to him. So in conclusion, my view is what he said today, the momentum on the north korea summit is critically important. Im going to give him credit. I dont do this frequently, for his efforts to send pompeo there, to hold the summit, to bring the South Koreans to pave the way for the summit to, reestablish our strong relationship with japan. You know, Prime Minister abe took some hits when he wasnt. Do you think this is a moment where donald trump has u. S. Foreign policy headed in the right direction . With north korea, yes. But i think its important that he establish his team. That he get his secretary of state and the state department in the lead on the north korea situation, that we dont have nikki haley with a flap where the white house is going one direction and nikki haley on russia sanctions is going in the other direction. Its been a year. He should get his Foreign Policy team in order, ready on the same page and that still hasnt happened. My thanks to Bill Richardson and apologies for the short time we were on their timeline as well as congressman Eric Swalwell for joining the special coverage of that joint press conference. Big headlines coming out of it, the president wants to reach a deal of some kind on the Korean Peninsula and he says bob mueller and rob rhoden stein, the rumors of them being fired he says theyre still here. Hardball with Chris Matthews starts right now. Whats he afraid of . Lets play hardball. Good evening. Im Chris Matthews up in new york. From the confines of his florida retreat at maralago tonight, President Trump is touting his missile strike on syria and raising expectations for his sum plit with kim jongun of north korea which he says will happen in the coming weeks. Hes also lashing out at the russia investigation calling it again a democratic hoax. Heres how he answered a question just minutes ago about whether hell attempt top fire