Back from the iran deal. Plus, no translation required. Reading in between the lines of trump merkel meeting. Finally the russia report. House Intelligence Committee republicans are out with their repo report. Did they do much investigating . This is mtp daily, and it is start rights now. Good evening. Im chuck todd here in washington. Welcome to mtp daily. The president s allies are saying he might deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for whats going on with north korea while his critics worry he is being played and he might accidentally set off world war iii, with not with north korea, then with iran. Right now the president is barrelling towards a pair of complications both of which have nuclear implications. How do you take his statements. They are usually full of contradictions. At this time he says he is sbep on making a deal with north korea on denuclearization while at the same time saying he wants to break a deal he has with iran. This afternoon President Trump was asked specifically about making a deal with north korea so he doesnt get played and he basically offed a unch about of vague assurances. Things have changed radiallically from a few months ago. We are doing very well. They are treating us with great respect. A lot of great thing are happening with respect to north korea. I think some very good thing can happen with respect to north korea. We will handle it. We are handling it well. As you can see there he said a lot of words but there werent a lot of specifics there. Heres some of what the president said about what to do if he pulls out of the iran nuclear agreement. In the absence of a new agreement, are you prepared to use military force to reign in the Nuclear Program in iran . I dont talk about whether or not i would use military force. Thats not appropriate to be talking about. But i can tell you this, they will not be doing nuclear wes, that i can tell you. Okay . Well handle it. Bank on it. But to be fair on the issue of north korea despite the out about on taunts involving nuclear war with the warnings of fire and fury and Suicide Missions we have just witnessed something historic, diplomatic developments with kim jongun as he gears up for that high stakes meeting with President Trump. Kim met with south koreas president and vowed complete denuclearization. And he also vowed a formal end to the korean war which still technically hasnt clkded in the 65 years since hostilities ceased. And today kim jongun became the first north Korean Leader to ever set foot in south korea. It is a small step in the hopes of giant leaps. But it should be treated with caution. Trump is giving kim the validation he craves by meeting with him one on one. But today the president insists he is not being played. How are you sewer that kim is trying to play the u. S. . I dont think he is playing. It has never gone this far. I dont think it has ever had this enthusiasm for them wanting to make a deal. And i agree yeah the United States has been played beautifully like a fiddle because you had a different kind of a leader im to the going to be played. Im join by victor cha. He was a Top White House adviser on korea during the Bush Administration and reported the top candidate for mr. Trump to be the baghdad to korea until they decided not to. What do you think of what we saw overnight on the Korean Peninsula. This is the first time the South Koreans hosted the north koreas. This is the third meeting between leaders, it was in 2007 and 2001. I was in seoul this week. And message was like a party. Before success could be declared they were claiming success right away. For the South Koreans and for the North Koreans, very historic, talking about peace. Its very foreign and represents the views of the Korean People in general. So its important. One of the things that has some people skeptical already of the North Koreans was the simple fact they didnt televise this at all. It was as you just said, Party Atmosphere in seoul. Bill neely our Global Affairs correspondent was saying the same thing. This sort of hopefulness. And the way he is describing it. The descriptions of remembered during the fall of the berlin wall. It fell that momentous. Are you concerned that he is not advertising this to his own people . Sure. The question always is, is this just an act where hes hoping to get these meetings to remake his own image . I mean six months ago he was the reclusive rogue leader who wanted to fire missiles at the United States. And now he is like everybodys darling, smiling on the cameras and waiting for a meeting with President Trump. A lot of conditions did change in the last year. Number one was a new president in south korea what won on a mandate of per sursuing peace. Is that fair to say . Yes. The china for the first time seemed participate in the of course is as that we hadnt seen before, when we did sanction the North Koreans. And then of course you had what some might describe as the madmen theory of how to deal with kim jongun where donald trump made it clear he wasnt afraid to quote punch him in the nose with some sort of military shot. All those changing conditions, should we look at that and say thats why we saw what we saw yesterday . I think thats one of the main reasons why we saw what we saw. The unanswered question is whether kim has had a come the jesus moment, will he has decided to trade in all of his Nuclear Equipment for assistance and security guarantees. This summit between south and north korea didnt help us determine any of those things. It was precooked. I want to play something from the president and his press conference with Angela Merkel. I have a responsibility to see if i can do it. If i cant do it, it will be a very tough time for a lot of countries and a lot of people. Its certainly something that i hope i can do for the world. This is beyond the United States. This is a world problem. And its something that i hope im able to do for the world. What it does he clearly is the person that probably has to close this deal, right . If we accept it, its about troops and all these things. If you were back in that room and you were the current ambassador, how would you advise the president on how to be cautiously optimistically skeptical i guess of the North Koreans . Yes. So i think the main thing is that this whole issue of denuclearization is the key to everything. Right . If north korea is willing to difficult up their weapons, peace treaty, normalization, all that is possible. Do you think we have the same definition of what denuclearization looks like. Thats the big question because i think right now there is nothing that the North Koreans have said thus far that leads one to believe we have similar denuclearizations. The simplest thing would be for north korea to reaffirm statements they made in the past, 2005, 1992 which were money more definitive about giving up their weapons. But they chose not to make those stumts. That puts pressure on the next summit between trump and kim. It is going to be extremely important and the expectations have grown even more as a result this summit. Quickly, the main motivation for kim jongun here, do you think its more likely on the economic front that the sanctions have had a bite and he is trying to dpt out of the sanctions and thats the moment or could it be his program isnt working and its actually going to take him longer to get the Nuclear Weapons and now he realizes he may not get them and mights well cut a deal now. I think he sees a pause working to his advantage right now but his main goal is to be recognized by the United States as Nuclear Weapons state. Trade down some weapons but he wants to keep them. Victor cha, thank you. Almost in that administration. Do you understand why you werent picked now or not . Or is it more opaque. Every administration has the choice to pick one and to change their mind. Im at peace with it. Victor cha, lets hope that there is peace. Things were a bit icy at times between the president and Angela Merkel at todays press conference. These two dont see eye to eye on a number of issues. Boy did it show is this we have a far greater burden that than we should have. Other countries should be paying more. We are protecting europe yet we pay by far more than anybody else. Nato is wonderful but it helps europe more than it helps us and why are we paying a vast majority of costs. We had a exchange of views on the current state of affairs, the negotiations respective assessments of where we stan on this and the decision lies with the president. The United States right now has a trade deficit with the prooen of 151 billion. Germany and you were have to take their destiny into their own hands because we can no longer as we used to during the period of the cold war during the years when germany was divided relie on america coming and helping us. When i look at the numbers in germany and some other countries, they may not like donald trump, but you have to understand that means im doing a good job because im representing the United States. Let me bring in tonights panel. Matthew couldnt netty. Joshua johnson, and jennifer palmieri, the Communications Director for the Obama White House and the Clinton Campaign. She is also author of a new book, dear madam president an open letter to the women who will run the world. Thanks for coming. Lets stick to i want to get quickly on the korea front. Joshua johnson put this in perspective. What did you see today . A big step, a symbolic step. I think koreans are excited on the peninsula about the prospect of peace as a big deal. Of course part of me is cynical a little bit whether or not kim jongun is serious. In some ways he has been driving this process quite a about it. Remember he was the one who fired missiles over the Korean Peninsula and japan and then he was the one who crawled for a peace summit. He was the one who crossed into south korea. And then he was the one who walked president moon into the north. In some ways he has been driving. Its great they turned the Demilitarized Zone into a peace zone. Easing some of the issues with maritime areas so fishermen from the north and the south dont clash but part of me is still concerned that he is driving so much that by the time the u. S. Gets to the point where it is part of the talks the train has literally left the station and there is not much more to negotiate without blowing up what leader kim has already laid the foundation for. Matthew, why do you have a feeling you are going to agree with almost everything joshua just said . Well said. The key dynamic is both of the leaders want deals. What does that mean . Are you too eager . There is one person who isnt. And thats National Security adviser john bolton. He said there is two ways this can go. Long talks that end in failure or short talks that end in failure. Thats what is amazing here. What john bolton would be saying about this development if the he was currently just a fox news analyst. Thats right. So the question is, will reality hit . And will the staff in terms of bolton and pompeo be able to maybe walk back trumps eagerness for a deal so you dont concede too much. There was a lot of mention of president obama during his presser today. Yes. I what do you think he makes of what kim jongun is up to . Forget President Trump here a minute. What president obama makes of it . What he its sort of stunning this sea chain with him. Its stunning. I feel that there is a vacuum of leadership on the world stage from the United States that used to be there, which is allowing these kinds of conversations could be allowing these kinds of conversations to happen that wouldnt otherwise happen. Is that oddly a good thing, though . In some ways i wonder if people are step up to the plate in ways they wouldnt before because they were too rely an on america. China and india, a meeting with their leaders today. Too. What matters is the staff work that happens ahead of time and then there is the chemistry of the actual leaders in the room where the Human Element really take over. And with President Trump you have an impest youous leader who wants to make a deal and thats somebody made a good point when this first came out. It was somebody close to the president. It was an anonymous quote for obvious reasons. Listen, have you ever known donald trump to have had a bad inperson meeting with somebody . I want to move to the iran deal because i was stunned today that nobody asked the president about what his secretary of defense said the day before on capitol hill about the iran deal. Here it is. I have read it now three times, all 156 pages or whatever it is. And i will say that it is written almost with an assumption that iran would try to cheat. So the verification, what is in there, is actually pretty robust. Thats quite an endorse men of the iran deal, matthew. Right, and baghdad nikki heyly would disagree, secretary of state mike pompeo would disagree. And National Security adviser john bolton would disagree. Mattis is going out on limb. Part of this axis which includes macron and merkel in order to preserve the deal unlike three to work. He innel, mattis, macron trying hard to save the deal. If the iran deal falls apart and other aroundments have to be tee employed who has to deal with it . Secretary mattis is thinking about the worst case scenario. Im interesting to see what happens when pompeo meets with Benjamin Netanyahu on sunday i think it is. Im not clear what the plan is if the iran deal falls apart. You mentioned the art of the deal at the top of the show. One of President Trumps key points from the book the art of the deal is to deal with the downside and the upside will take care of itself. Im not sure he has communicated to the world what the plan is in case the downside materializes. Maam . Mattis may be the minority but i think he is speaking for a majority of where the National Security career world is in trying to maintain the iran deal. But whether his you know, trumps e trumps ego is such that he will let it go after may 12th is a game day call. The way to talk him into it. May be do you want to kip the chit, do you want to keep the threat of pulling out. I think matthew is right. Its unlikely to happen. They want to see what happens if they pull out. Lets pause it here. Up next the House Intel Committees new report on the Trump Campaign and russia and the backlash on the hill. Thats next. K guts to start my business. But as it grew bigger and bigger, it took a whole lot more. Thats why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. With it, i earn unlimited 2 cash back on everything i buy. Everything. And that 2 cash back adds up to thousands of dollars each year. So i can keep growing my business in big leaps whats in your wallet . A farmers market. Ve whats in this kiester. A fire truck. Even a marching band. And if i can get comfortable talking about this kiester, then you can get comfortable using preparation h. For any sort of discomfort in yours. Preparation h. Get comfortable with it. Over 5 million americans signed our petition to impeach this president. This is not about political parties. We all understand that this president would be replaced by another republican. This is much bigger than washington politics. Its about the safety and security of our country. No one is above the law. Join us at needtoimpeach. Com. Lets Tell Congress that if they wont do something, well elect new representatives who will. I want some more of it. I try so hard, i cant rise above it dont know what it is bout that little gals lovin. Applebees new bigger bolder grill combos. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Welcome back. Republicans on the House Intel Committee released their final report from a year long probe of russias meddling in the 2016 election today. Their report says it found in evidence of ties between the President Trump campaign and russia, which he quickly claimed as vindication. We were honored. It was a great report. No collusion, which i knew anyway. No coordination. No nothing. But the republican report also says the investigation did find poor judgment and ill considered actions by the trump and Clinton Campaigns. Democrats on the panel say republicans rushed to end the investigation prematurely. The panel is back. Matthew, joshua, jennifer. Before i get into some of the details of this report. Is the house intel report matter is this . Is anybody going to take it seriously as a genuine document or is it a political document . Ill i think there were a few revelations both from the report and from the minority view, overall this gets thrown auto the partisan maw of the russia story and there is really only one investigation that matters and thats Robert Muellers. I dont think hi