Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the lead. In just the last hour, air force one touched down for the beginning of President Trumps european trip, one that could redefine the world order and who the United States considers a friend or foe. First, the nato summit and the president sits down with u. S. Allies and attacking for insufficient contributions to the Alliance Trade deficits with the u. S. That will be followed by a bilateral summit with british Prime Minister may whose government in turmoil and the president declined to express support for before taking off this morning. All before the president s highly anticipated meeting in helsinki, finland, with russian president Vladimir Putin. Traditional adversary of the u. S. And accused of interfering in the 2016 president ial election, invading ukraine, murdering journalists and critics and much, much more. Yet that meeting seems to be the one that President Trump is most looking forward to. So i have nato. I have the uk which is in somewhat turmoil. And i have putin. Frankly, putin may be the easiest of them all. Cnns Kaitlan Collins is live for us in brussels, site of the nato summit. Republican senators have been very clear that they see putin as no friend of the u. S. , yet President Trump obviously thinks that he can forge a strong relationship. Reporter thats right, jake. A lot of people wouldnt hesitate to call Vladimir Putin a foe but when President Trump was directly asked today whether or not he sees him as a friend or a foe, he said he couldnt answer noting that he views him as a competitor and saving his toughest language for some of americas closest allies. President trump taking fresh aim at nato. In claiming the meeting with russian president Vladimir Putin might be easier than sitting down with americas closest friends. I have nato. I have the uk which is in somewhat turmoil. And i have putin. Frankly, putin may be the easiest of them all. Who would think . Reporter trump antagonizing allies over defense spending before taking off for brussels. Nato has not treated us fairly. We are being taken advantage of by the european union. We lost 151 billion last year on trade. And on top of that, we spend at least 70 for nato. Reporter continuing to tweet about it during the flight on air force one asking, will they reimburse the u. S. . Eu chief tusk firing back. I would like to address President Trump directly. Who for a long time now has been criticizing europe almost daily. I appreciate your allies. After all, you dont have that many. Reporter but the nato secretarygeneral striking a different tone. Hoping the summit can be salvaged. Yes, there are disagreements. Yes, there will be some open and frank discussions but when it comes to such things, nato is delivering and nato is delivering that u. S. , canada and europe working more closely together. Reporter the president fueling european fors that his sitdown with putin will be friendlier than the summit with u. S. Allies. Refusing to rule out putin as a foe today. As far as im concerned, a competitor. A competitor. I think that getting along with russia, getting along with china, getting along with others is a good thing. Not a bad thing. Reporter that friendly language despite russias meddling in the election, taking over crimea and alleged involvement in the poisoning of a former russian spy in the uk. Trumps aides insisting hell be tough on putin. We dont recognize the annexing of crimea. In president has been really tough when he needed to be, expelling russians from our country, issuing sanctions, pushing back against president putin and others. Reporter even some republicans voicing their concern. Putin is not a friend to democracy. Capitalism. Anticorruption. He is not a friend of those efforts. Okay . Reporter now, jake, european leaders have made clear that their biggest fear is that this is going to be a contentious nato summit and the president going to travel to helsinki for a friendly summit with Vladimir Putin. Something that they fear could result in concessions like the stop of military exercises in europe or the scaling back of u. S. Troops there, as well. Be theres a soensen the ground here they think a new world order could happen after this trip. Jake . All right. Kaitlan collins in brussels for us, thank you. Lets bring in the panel. Maggie, lets start with you. Theres nervous folks not on capitol hill and the Trump Administration business President Trump will be meeting with putin one on one. I want you to take a listen to bob corker, republican senator of tennessee, also the chairman of the Senate Foreign relations committee. Well, yeah. You know, i hope there are people present during the meeting. Why do you say that . I just do. I just i just hope there are people around him, pompeo. Big sign of concern about that one on one meeting. What are people like bob corker concerned about . I think theyre afraid the president has a tendency to say all kinds of things that he any other president probably wouldnt say in the meetings. For instance, we had a story at the times last year about how he had a meeting in the oval office with the Russian Foreign minister and he just disclosed all kinds of things, criticized james comey, a nut job. The white house argued nothing wrong with that. True trump said that publicly and sets a different tone saying in it a one on one meeting and i think the concern is going to be at minimum that the president is going to be led into saying something or voluntarily Say Something that he might not do if someone else were present and then theres the concern of Vladimir Putin to portray this meeting and how he then turns around and says what he was told by the u. S. President , whether its grounded in fact or not. It is hard to combat it when you dont have a witness on your side. Scott, lets put up items on the agenda according to Senior Administration official for the trump putin summit meeting. Arms control, ukraine, syria and, of course, 2016 election meddling and the future elections, as well. If President Trump actually pushes on any of those topics, how could that meeting be easier . The reality is none of these meetings are easy but you know where Vladimir Putin stands and i would tell the president theyre not our friends. Expect them to lie. They lie to everybody. And expect them as maggie said to portray the meeting in a way to put them in the best light no matter what happens in the room. Im not nervous. I hope the president goes in, he said he viewed putin as a competitor and an interesting businessmanlike jargon. These are not friendly competitors. Theyre cut throat competitors and the president ought to recognize that bringing up the topics. Literally. Not just figuratively. Kirsten, in washington post, an opinion says that trump seeing him as a friend. Putin came of age as a secret Police Officer in the soviet union and approaches the lens through the tradition of authoritarian power politics and doesnt accommodate the notion of a bromance. Russia wants us to be an enabler. Trump may be incapable of understanding this. Is too much being made of this, do you think . No. I think that thats exactly right. I dont think that putin is somebody to succumb to that and see through what trump is doing and i dont think trump appreciates how sophisticated he is maybe. I think he is more like a kim jongun type person who maybe would listen to the flattery. Looking at how that wept, theres buildup to that meeting and the wonderful stuff going to come of it and really nothing did and pompeo with a disastrous meeting over there in the foe lowup. This doesnt really produced anything yet. You know President Trump well. He does have a very confident sense of his own ability to negotiate that maybe is merited in new york real estate. I dont know. As of now untested on the international stage. Look. I mean, the negative case of donald trump is the reputation as a dealmaker vastly overstated, the deal that hes best at is presenting himself and selling himself and selling his image and got him very far, obviously. That is not translatable to a world stage and not translatable to a meeting as high level as this because to your point, putins set of interests and goals so vastly different than what the u. S. s are and what the president s are. I think the other thing the white house is concerned about is not take away everything lets pretend that nothing gets said and lets pretend they all agree on what took place in the meeting. You will have big ifs. Im just saying for instance. Right. It could happen. If Everything Else is equal, youve got the nato meeting which will be contentious. The arrival in the uk contentious and he said will be contentious. The juxtaposition of those images of allies to warmer, smiling pictures with putin. It again becomes a prop that putin can use and not something the white house want it is see continued and even people that think that the media is unfair to him and unnecessary focus on russia and overdemonization of russia in terms of the 2016 context, they just know this is not going to play well for him an theyre worried about this. Theres also just i just would love someone to explain why he thinks its so much easier to be with a putin type than to be with the nato allies. What are the allies doing thats so harmful . I think that trump has a valid complaint. They need to spend more money on their own defense. No question about. Right to take a hard line with them and i dont understand what theyre doing thats so much worse than, say, you know, getting involved in an american election. You know . Reminder that cnn has special coverage on the trump putin summit in finland next week. I will be live in helsinki starting for state of the union this monday and then the lead at 4 00 p. M. Eastern. Well show you how President Trumps antinato rhetoric stands in stark contrast with the gop icon. Deadline is today and the government says far fewer small children to be reunited with their parents and blaming some of the parents. Well, its earnings season once again. Yeah. Lot of Tech Companies are reporting today. And, hows it looking . I dont know. Theres so many opinions out there, its hard to make sense of it all. Well, victor, do you have something for him . Check this out. Td ameritrade aggregates thousands of earnings estimates into a single data point. That way you can keep your eyes on the big picture. Huh. Feel better . Much better. Yeah, me too. Wow, you really did a number on this thing. Sorry about that. Thats alright. I got a box of em. Thousands of opinions. One estimate. The earnings tool from td ameritrade. Who says summer gets all the fun . Not us. Because southwest has 69 oneway sale fares for travel throughout september and october. So you can fill the rest of your year with amazing trips. From Football Games to reunions, or just a break from the office. These 69 oneway sale fares are ready to make your september and october a whole lot better. Book now at southwest. Com. Low fares. No hidden fees. Thats transfarency. You might or joints. Hing for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. President trumps skepticism of International Organizations and agreements is repeated attacks on nato allies and unusual praise and deference of Vladimir Putin have many Foreign Policy experts concerned that the president may ultimately upend the Nato Alliance. It is credited with defending and protecting western interests and values since 1949. Cnns Barbara Starr is in brussels. Barbara, how concerned are u. S. Allies on the eve of the summit about the president s commitment to nato . Reporter good evening, jake. Well here at nato headquarters in brussels, there is growing anxiety about what will happen tomorrow when President Trump sits down with his fellow heads of state. President donald trump still bitterly complaining about the alliance thats provided much of u. S. And European Security for nearly 70 years. We spend at least 70 for nato and, frankly, it helps them a lot more than it helps us. Reporter its all raising the question of President Trump really is prepared to upend the global world order thats had the support of generations of u. S. President s. And has supported u. S. Forces across countless battlefields. Europe was first to respond on the largescale when the u. S. Was attacked and called for solidarity after 9 11. European soldiers have been fighting shoulder to shoulder with american soldiers in afghanistan. Reporter todays rhetoric mimics trumps 2016 campaign claims. The u. S. Must be prepared to let these countries defend themselves. We have no choice. Reporter stoking fears the u. S. May remove troops and weapons from europe. But that may be easier said than done. There are now over 70,000 u. S. Troops in europe, many in critical spots. A reality even trumps defense secretary who fought alongside nato forces for decades acknowledges its importance. In a world of wash and change, nato stands firm as an island of stability in a turbulent sea. Reporter trumps approach of taking on u. S. Allies while maintaining a friendly position with russian president Vladimir Putin stands in stark contrast to a republican icon in the same situation 30 years ago. Our First Priority is to maintain a strong and Healthy Partnership between north america and europe. We will never sacrifice the interests of this partnership in any agreement with the soviet union. Reporter nato is a mutual defense pact so the question on the table is does the president just want the other nato members to spend more on defense . Something everybody thinks is a good idea. Or, is mr. Trump preparing to walk away from 70 years of defense cooperation . Jake . All right. Barbara starr in brussels, thanks so much. Lets bring back the panel. Its so odd listening to secretary mattis talk about nato and President Trump talk about nato. Its almost as if they work for a different administration. Take a listen to kay bailey hutchinson, the current u. S. Ambassador to nato. We are a deterrence alliance and being strong is the best deterrence. Thats why i think its so important to show the strength, show the unity. I think the discord is music to putins ears. Scott, how do you explain the fact that Kay Bailey Hutchison is criticizing President Trump in a way . Criticizing the discord. He is a main people causing the discord . Secretary and general mattis have to deal with nato as we work through our logistical mutual defense pact. President trump is on the negotiating side because it is true the allies with the few exceptions not meeting the obligations and the secretarygeneral of nato today gave a speech and thanked donald trump for pushing the rest of the allies to spend more and i think what trump is doing is trying to get more money into the Nato Alliance while mattis and hutchison trying to keep it as cooperative as possible. Do you think its that simple . No. Its bigger world view that donald trump has and doesnt like Democratic Institutions so he attacks the Democratic Institutions in this country, whether its the Intelligence Community or its the press. And he doesnt like he talked about pulling out of the wto and something the United States helped to establish to help the United States. And i think that he doesnt probably like nato either. This is something thats a world view among very nationalistic people and see the one world order and want it torn down and i dont think hes just a negotiator and something as the ambassador said that he has in common with putden. Maggie, President Trump recently said that nato is as bad as nafta. Right. Whatever that means. Right. Do you think that if he could he would withdraw from nato . Is this something to take seriously . I think it is. I dont think that it is something that he is likely to do and i dont know that i agree with either of you about where he is coming from. I think at the end of the day i dont think its that well thought out and a tactical negotiating skill but a proportion issue with him and tends to view it as zero sum and exists to rip him off and sees himself as the u. S. And therefore theyre ripping me off. And nothing is ever sort of distinct and nuance doesnt exist and nato is like nafta as you said. Whatever this means. It is just an acronym he doesnt like at that given moment. I think it is unlikely to pull out because he doesnt hes not he comes close to touching the hot stoves and then doesnt usually do it. Right . One time he really did it, paris accord, one. Another one is firing james comey. Some of these have not worked out the way he wanted them to. I dont think he ultimately would do it and talk as loudly as possible with little nuance as possible about it. I think it is true, though, that since starting the push for more spending we have seen i think last