spread a little something to remember philadelphia cream cheese. made with fresh milk and real cream makes your recipes their holiday favourites. the holidays are made with philly. it s been a year since president trump was elected. he is reshaping many parts of the federal government and one of the best examples is the environmental protection agency. the epa was established as part of a series of actions which president nixon, a republican, took to fight pollution in the 1970s. when congress passes an environmental law, the epa works to implement it by establishing regulations and national standards. very specific things. the epa claims its actions have
tidbits left. reporter: proposing slashing the budget by almost one-third but congress said no. free market advocate and climate change skeptic led trump s epa transition team. on energy and the environment, i think president trump is further ahead in fulfilling his campaign promises than in any other area. this is a recipe for killing more people, making more people sick and leaving the tremendous damage that climate change is beginning to cause to just multip multiply. reporter: after a year of devastating hurricanes and wildfires, a federal report warns climate change is already costing the u.s. billions of dollars. today climate change has disappeared from the epa s website and last month, three government scientists were barred from presenting climate change research. what happens when science is silenced? we lose. big time. and we get set back, too. you don t just flip a switch and start science up again.
it is notable. as a candidate, president trump criticized them regularly and negatively. he already acknowledged the celebration, if you will, marking his one-year anniversary since his election. that domestic stuff is sort of on the twitterverse and far away from what is happening and playing out here. president trump really laid out his north korea policy in that speech you referenced before the national assembly in seoul. what will happen here is really critical and perhaps the most difficult meetings president trump will have. trying to get a person he call as friend, someone he says he likes, president xi, to do more. and china really holds the key in many ways because of their economic relationship with north korea. so a day of pageantry and touch negotiations behind the scenes. ali? kelly o donnell reporting from beijing. thank you for being with us through this entire trip. go to a complicated situation that s playing out right now between the department of justice and two
companies. sources tell cnbc that in order for at&t and time warner to get government approval to merge, there is to sell the parent company of cnn, or tell directv. the $85 billion deal has been in the works more than a year. talk it might be done by the end of the year, but now that seems uncertain. as we all know, the president and even some in his administration have gone after cnn repeatedly calling them fake news. the president even said last year during a rally that he would not approve this deal. at&t is buying time warner and thus cnn. a deal we will not approve in my administration, because it s too much concentration of power in the hands of too few. and he et twoed last month, network news has been partisan, distorted and fake licenses much challenge and if appropriate revoke. not fair to public.
in just a few hour, the president meets again with chinese leaders after a welcome tea and dinner with the president s leader and his wife. likely focus north korea and how to get china to step up pressure other than the nation before arriving in beijing trump gave a speech to south korea s national assembly and issued a stern warning to north korea. do not underestimate us. and do not try us. every step you take down this dark path increases the peril you face. now, while in south korea, we know that it donald trump tried but failed to get to the demilitarized zone. the dmz, which divides the two koreas. his helicopter had to turn back due to fog, before the trip the white house downplayed the dmz calling visiting it a bit of a cliche. and nbc s kelly o donnell is in