Transcripts For WPVI This Week With George Stephanopoulos 20170528

Threat. Announcer what are the security threats here at home . Tough questions ahead for Homeland Security secretary john kelly. And what makes trump tick . Are you surprised that hes not different in office . Announcer insight and analysis from our panel of experts. From abc news, its this week. Here now coanchor martha raddatz. Good morning on this memorial day weekend. Americans welcoming the summer and paying respect to those who have fallen defending our freedom. Well have the story of a missing marine and his sons long quest to bury him with honor later in the program. But we begin with the deepening political crisis over the russia connection. Through all the investigations, all the dramatic headlines, all the shifting stories about russias election interference and the Trump Campaigns possible role in it, the president has been clear about one thing consistently saying that he never colluded with russia to alter the course of the president ial election and lets be clear, hes right. We have seen no evidence of collusion between trump and russia during the campaign. But what we do have this weekend is a new shadow of suspicion now falling on trumps most powerful, closest and most influential adviser, his soninlaw, Jared Kushner. The Washington Post headline, Russian Ambassador told moscow that kushner wanted a secret Communications Channel with kremlin. The post reporting kushner wanted to use russian equipment and russian diplomatic facilities. That one quickly followed by the New York Times, kushner is said to have discussed a secret channel to talk to russia. Abc news has confirmed that kushner did, indeed, meet with the Russian Ambassador last december to talk about setting up a private back channel. Sources stressing that the conversation with the president s soninlaw was focused on the u. S. Response to the crisis in syria and other policyrelated matters. While that may be true, pause for a moment to consider the context here. We know from the u. S. Intelligence community that russians meddled in the u. S. Election with the goal of weakening Hillary Clinton and propping up donald trump. We know that after trumps victory, russia was political poison, a hostile power accused of undermining the foundations of our democracy. So, in that environment, Jared Kushners actions were at best highly unusual. And while his actions do not prove the election collusion that trump has repeatedly denied, there are three congressional committees, the fbi and now a special counsel. All intensely looking at every single allegation of impropriety, every one opening up the possibility of new subpoenas and more people interviewed under oath. And as the allegations now focus on the president s own soninlaw, a man whose west wing office sits just feet away from the oval office, the risk to the president gets ever more serious. So, lets bring in our chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl just back from the president s weeklong trip overseas and our senior justice correspondent Pierre Thomas who covers the fbi and justice department. And good morning to you both. And, pierre, i want to start with you. There have been revelations after revelations for weeks, but this seems to really raise the stakes. What are your sources telling you . Martha, high stakes are on the horizon, no doubt about it. This revelation that Jared Kushner was in communication with russian officials, the ambassador and a russian banker is huge, and the fbi wants to know some basic things. Why was it urgent to have that meeting . Why was there a discussion of having these back channels and, again, its the context is that this is after the Intelligence Community has said the russians were meddling in the 2016 election. Lots of questions. Theres no allegation yet that kushner has committed any crime. Hes not a target of the investigation. But the fbi is coming soon and they want to know what he knows. And, jon, this comes after this weeklong trip, which the white house considered very, very successful, but now theyre back to this investigation. I was struck by some comments by the cia director, former cia director mike hayden who made them this week about the contacts. He said what manner of ignorance, chaos, hubris, suspicion, contempt would you have to have had to think that doing this with the Russian Ambassador was a good or appropriate idea . I know of no other experience like this in our history, certainly within my life experience. Incredibly strong statement from heywarden. Hes been a trump critic for a long time, general hayden, but hes former head of the nsa and former head of the cia. Few people alive today know the intelligence world better than Michael Hayden, so make no mistake, when you hear those words from him, you know that those are views that are reflected by senior people currently in the Intelligence Community. The bigger question, though, martha, is what about Jared Kushners role . As you mentioned at the top of the show, there is no adviser closer to the president , his office opens right into the oval office, he has taken on a portfolio bigger than anybody in the west wing, and you see you hear people now very close to the president openly saying that it is too much. That he now finds himself at the center of this investigation. Even if he is ultimately completely cleared, he is at the center of this investigation right now, and you hear people close to the president quietly saying, is it too much, and is it time for jared to take a step back . Maybe even take a leave of absence from the white house. And do you think thats something that President Trump would agree with . Well, you know, trump is looking for theres a lot theres talk of major shakeup coming. Well see if it does. Theres been talk before and he hasnt pulled the trigger but he has been upset with how things have gone. He has reached out, i know, to people outside of the white house for advice on what he should do, should he bring more people in, should he move anybody out . I think that there will be some form of a shakeup coming. I think that who knows who knows . I think all things are on the table with Jared Kushner, but the communication shop, whether well ever see a sean spicer briefing again are all open questions. On the investigation, where does this go now . We know former fbi director comey is supposed to testify publicly. Do you know when that will happen . What are the next steps here . Martha, in a week of dramatic moments, perhaps the most dramatic moment was when the former cia director brennan said he had evidence that Trump Associates were communicating with russian officials. Now you have a special counsel who is going to get to the bottom of what those communications are about. Im being told by sources that mueller, the former fbi director is already working long hours staffing up. Hes beginning to assess the investigation. And im told that he is going to get to the bottom of all of this. That everyone whos in trumps orbit who had communications with the russians are going to be interviewed, pressure and, remember, every time that you speak to an fbi investigator when youre being interviewed, theres a threat of a federal crime if you lie to them, so everybody involved is going to face a lot of pressure. In terms of comey, the expectation is that he will testify before congress. We dont have a date specific yet. He wants to tell his story. From people that are close to him that ive talked to, hes heard all those accusations about him being a, quote, nutjob. People describing his actions as atrocious. Hes going to want to have a say. Thanks very much to both of you, jon and pierre. Im joined now by congressman adam schiff, the top democrat on the house intelligence committee. Good morning, congressman schiff. Good morning. Lets start with your reaction to reports that Jared Kushner tried to set up a secret back channel with the russians. Well, of course, i cant confirm or deny whether theyre accurate. But if they are, its obviously very concerning, and as you said at the top of the show, its all about the context. John brennan testified this week that what concerned him wasnt simply that the russians were having contact with People Associated with the Trump Campaign, that the russians have contacts with americans quite routinely, but it was the context of an Election Campaign in which the russians had been intervening to help donald trump, to hurt Hillary Clinton and, of course, if these reports are accurate, right after that campaign, after that intervention to have the president s soninlaw, a key player within the Trump Organization trying to establish a back channel with the russians through a russian diplomatic facility, you have to ask, well, who are they hiding the conversations from . Well, youre talking about context. So it would be okay if it was a back channel if all this other context hadnt happened . I know h. R. Mcmaster, the president S National Security adviser, was not concerned about back channel communications. Historically there have been back channels. You know, i was disappointed to see the general say that. I have a lot of respect for him. Sadly i think this is an administration that takes in people with good credibility and chews them out and spits out their credibility at the same time. Yes, thats true in the abstract which general mcmaster said you are saying he lost his credibility. No, but i think anyone within the trump orbit is at risk of being used and what the general said here, that may be true in the context where youre trying to arrange secret talks with the taliban to negotiate a peaceful resolution or youre trying to achieve the release of hostages, but for People Associated with the campaign after that campaign has ended and where the russians during that campaign were helping you to try to establish a back channel and hide it from your own government, thats the New York Times and abc news have both reported that the talks were about syria, about the crisis in syria and other policy matters. Well, that i dont think necessarily that mitigates this because, of course, the russians have their own object in syria very different than ours and they want to prop up bashar al assad. Our policy at least at that time if these allegations are correct was very much in opposition to the russian policy, and if american policy was going to change for the wrong reason, that is, as a thank you to their intervention in the campaign, obviously thats very problematic, just as problematic as it would have been if the conversation was on relief of the sanctions on ukraine. Of course, this is all in the category of allegation but something our committee needs to get to the bottom to as well as robert mueller, and i cant confirm or deny what we have seen. It was through monitoring the ambassador kislyak that this was discovered. Ambassador kislyak has to know hes monitored all the time. Could this be a ruse on the part of the russians . Any explanation why they would put this out or get this information out or talk to each other thinking well think kushner is involved but he isnt . You know, again, i dont want to comment too much beyond what is alleged here. Certainly in dealings with the russians, theyre very sophisticated. You always have to take into consideration the russians may be doing things that are designed to throw you off the track or provoke discord. Theyre very sophisticated, so i dont think you can rule anything out. Can you see a reason . Its confusing to me why they would do this. It was back in december. Jared kushner was not in government yet, didnt even have a security clearance. Well, you know, its hard to understand if these allegations are correct why this would be some kind of a russian ruse. Why would they want to undermine the very government that they hope to have a Good Relationship with. The Incoming Trump administration, so im not sure you can see a motive for a ruse here but, again, all of this is still within the category of allegation. I do think ultimately were going to want mr. Kushner to come before our committee and i fully expect that to happen and im sure mr. Mueller will want to look into these allegations as well. Do you think because of these allegations he should stay in the white house right now. Well, you know, theres another question about his security clearance and whether he was forthcoming about his contacts on that. If these allegations are true and he had discussions with the russians about establishing a back channel and didnt reveal that, thats a real problem in terms of whether he should maintain that kind of a security clearance. Should he maintain it now . I know the dnc says no. Well, i think we need to get to the bottom of these allegations but i do think there ought to be a review of his security clearance to find out whether he was truthful, whether he was candid. If not then theres no way he can maintain that kind of a clearance. You know, this also came around the time that kushner was reportedly looking for refinancing into one of his companies, buildings on fifth avenue and that he also met with an executive of a sanctioned russian bank. Is that an issue . Well, it is an issue, and, of course, one of the things the russians do, and this is also in the category of allegation at this point, is they financially entangle people, and they like to do business with Business People because they think they can exert economic influence over them in a way that will shape policy, so if that was what happened here or what was going on here, yes, it would be of deep concern and thats something we need to get to the bottom of. There have been an extraordinary number of leaks since President Trump became president. Is that a reason that Jared Kushner, if the allegations are true, might have gone around and tried to back channel, so it wouldnt leak . I dont think that would be a motivation here. To me that would require a certain roundabout thinking that doesnt make sense, doesnt resonate with me, but youre right, i think leaks are an issue. Theyre an issue for every administration. They certainly are an issue for this one. If this material is accurate, these allegations are accurate, it represents another serious leak, and thats a problem. There really have been a couple of categories of leaks. One that have potentially disclosed sources and methods, those are the most troubling, because it could dry up very Important Information for the u. S. Government. The other is in the category of exposing malfeasance and sometimes they overlap but, yes, we need to do everything to protect our sources and methods. Lets move to the investigation in the house. What is the mandate of your committees investigation . What if its a factfinding mission, what kind of action is possible . How do you prove intent . Could ignorance of the law clear somebody . Well, ignorance of the law is an issue bob mueller will have to address because hes going to look into whether charges should be brought and against whom. Our responsibility is very different. Our responsibility is to try to figure out what happened. What did the russians do, how did they do it . Did they use u. S. Persons in it . What was the u. S. Government response and ultimately our most important responsibility is to tell the public what we learned, tell the public what steps well recommend to prevent this from happening again, so in that respect what the intent was well want to report to the american people, but it doesnt, you know, disqualify our concerns about it. It will have its greatest impact on whether a case is prosecutable, but our job really is one of informing the public and taking steps to protect the country. The Washington Post reports that the gang of eight was recently notified of a change in tempo and focus in the fbi investigation. If the pace of that is increasing, does your committee need to take a step back . Well, this is a very important question, and i think the answer is, no. We have two very different responsibilities. Before bob mueller was appointed we had a different contact at the department of justice to deconflict, so questions like immunity for michael flynn, we obviously want to talk to the justice department, find out what are their prosecution equities here. That party is now changing. Mueller instead of rod rosenstein, but our fundamental mission hasnt changed and, indeed, if you look at rod rosensteins memo about the firing of comey, his primary criticism was that comey talked about the investigation at the time he closed the investigation back in july. What that means, because mueller still works for rosenstein is that when mueller is finished, if mueller doesnt bring charges, rosensteen will tell him not to talk about it at all, why he didnt bring them. What he found, what he didnt find. If he brings charges against some but not others he is not going to be able to talk about why he made those decisions. Thats going to be our responsibility to inform the public and so that work really has to go on and it needs to go on and parallel we need to deconflict where possible but it has to go on. And just one final question. Dis congressman devin nunez still has a say whether the Committee Issues subpoenas even though he stepped down as the chair of that he does. I dont think he should given that he stepped aside or recused himself. What i have been urging is that we have a committee vote. Thats a procedure thats provided for in our rules or that the committee delegate to mr. Conaway with advice and consultation to myself, similar to what the senate has done and thats what i recommend we do here. Thanks very much for joining us here this morning, congressman. Thank you. Much more to come. Up next after the president s first foreign trip, how will the white house respond to the latest questions on russia . And how safe is the u. S. After that attack in manchester . Ill ask Homeland Security secretary john kelly. And later, you probably know that President Trump is the first president in American History never to have served in Public Office or in the military. So, how did he rise from new york businessman to the Nations Highest Office . And what does that rise tell us about how hell respond to the crisis at home and abroad . That discussion is coming up. Announcer this week with George Stephanopoulos brought to you by xyzal. This week with George Stephanopoulos brought to you by xyzal. Then there are moments it becomes clear, together always was, and always will be, a better way. So we need tablets installed. With the menu app ready to roll. In 12 weeks. Yeah. The world of fast food is being changed by faster networks. Data, applications, customer experience. 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Do i have to . This is a tough financial choice we could face when we retire. But, if we start saving even just 1 more of our annual income. We could keep doing all the things we love. Prudential. Bring your challenges. Brtry new Flonase Sensimists. Allergy relief instead of allergy pills. It delivers a gentle mist experience to help block six key inflammatory substances. Most allergy pills only block one. New Flonase Sensimist changes everything. Listen up, heart disease. you too, unnecessary er visits. And hey, unmanaged depression, dont get too comfortable. Were talking to you, cost inefficiencies and data without insights. And fragmented care stop getting in the way of patient recovery and pay attention. Every single one of you is on our list. For those who wont rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. Optum. How well gets done. Were back now with secretary of Homeland Security john kelly in his first this week interview since joining the trump administration. Good morning, secretary kelly. Martha, how are you . Good to see you. I want to get to this breaking story. I know you dont want to talk about the investigation, but do you think back channeling is normal and acceptable . Its both normal in my opinion and acceptable. Any way that you can communicate with people, particularly organizations that are maybe not particularly friendly to us is a good thing and, again, it comes back to whatever the communication is, comes back into the government and shared across the government, so its not a bad thing to have multiple communication lines to any government. Using their equipment in their diplomatic facilities . Well, again, dont know all i dont know if all of that is true. I would just say that any line of communication to a country, particularly a country like russia is a good thing and, again, it comes back into even using their equipment . I know you dont know whether thats true or not. But i would say any i mean using their equipment, you know, that would cause you to be that communication would be considered to be, you know, kind of somewhat compromised, but the point is that any line of communication to a country like russia is a good thing. Let me say, though, kushner was not yet in government, didnt have a security clearance and was working potentially at cross purposes from people who were still in office. Yeah, i dont know that to be the case. And the russians had just meddled in our election. Yeah, i dont know that to be the case but the point is during the transition process, to open channels of communication with any country, back channel up front is a good thing. Even ones that meddled in our election. I would just say any line of communication i mean, you consider that as you interact with them, but any line of communication is a good thing. Why would somebody like had Michael Hayden who was director of the cia and i know he has been a critic of President Trump but he knows a lot about these thing, why would he says we said before what matter of ignorance, chaos, hubris, suspicion contempt would you have to have had to think that doing this with the Russian Ambassador was a a good or appropriate behavior . Why are you so at sods with Something Like that . Mike is a great guy, but i just say, any information flow into the government and then considered by the government i wont criticize that. I dont think its a bad thing. You consider it in terms of whether its reliable, but all of these lines of communication are, you know, a positive thing in my opinion. You just have to assume like in this case with the russians that its constructed in a way that theyre trying to get you to do certain things but at the end of the day its not a bad thing to have lines of communication across the spectrum. Okay, i want to move to the u. S. Threat level after the attack in manchester. It is memorial day weekend. You said this week that we should expect a lot more attacks like the one occurred at that concert venue in manchester. Authorities are paying Homeland Security certainly paying more attention to these soft targets, but what can really be done at places like that to protect people . Dont they just move to the next soft target . They do. You just have to be vigilant. You know, its trite, but people should understand, if they see something, they should say something. Since ive been in this job 100 and, i dont know, 25 days, 30 days i have called my counterpart in the United Kingdom three times to offer my condolences for terrorist attacks. Three times in 120, you know, days. This is nonstop. They are out there trying to hurt us every day. The good news is for our country, now we have not suffered anything like this from external threats since 9 11, that goes to the effectiveness of our military overseas, cia, our nsa and at home dhs, local law enforcement, fbi, but its relentless, its nonstop. Theyre trying to hurt us every day. You said something this week along those lines. You said if you knew about terrorism, they never if people knew about terrorism, theyd never leave the house. That is a very frightening statement. Are things getting worse . I wouldnt say worse. I say the same. But, again, martha, it goes to this issue we have unbelievable men and women protecting us every day. We talk about the 1 in the military. Theres about another percent of people in law enforcement, dhs, fbi that are just they never sleep. We never sleep. What concerns you most right now . Aviation . Aviation. And we have these airports testing out taking basically all Large Electronics out and putting in ten airports including l. A. X. And why those particular airports . Well, because the tsa people that are looking at those bags as they go through the scanner cant see exactly whats in the bag, so now because their stuff is so full, now in terms of the tsa process, they will ask people to open their bags so they can look inside, so it has to do with how much is stuffed in the bag. And just to be clear, i do want to go to the countries where laptops are banned. And that may spread to other points of departure, europe possibly because of the threat. It could, but, you know, based on what we did on the 21st of march, thats when i put that protocol in place, every airport around the country is, okay, what you know, united states, kelly, what can we do to raise the level of security so that we dont have to go in that direction . So we have unbelievable cooperation from the europeans, the middle easterners, the asians, so were very definitely going to raise the bar in terms of baggage security. And i just want to close on the matter of intelligence sharing. The british basically temporarily cut off intelligence sharing after the pictures of the device were shown in the New York Times and also the bombers identity. Right. Your reaction to that and should those leakers be prosecuted . Its outrageous that that was leaked. As i mentioned before, immediately after the bombing contacted my counterpart in the uk for the third time in 120 days and offered our nations condolences, and she rightfully then said thanks for that, now the leak. Its outrageous that those kind of things are leaked. I dont know why people do it, particularly when its classified, particularly when its ongoing, the event was still really ongoing. I dont know why they do it. Its just outrageous. I have to say that President Trump has constantly criticized the leaks, as well, but he reportedly revealed some information to the russians that came from israeli intelligence, former government officials who previously worked for george w. Bush, eliot cohen and Condoleezza Rice called the act appalling. If accidental it would be a firing offense for anyone else. If deliberate, it would be treason. Allegedly what the president said, its my understanding that the white house has pushed back and said he didnt do that, so ill take him at his word. On sources and methods i think theyve said. Ill take the president at his word. Thanks very much for joining us, secretary kelly. Thank you. Good to see you. When we come back, President Trump can often leave the public guessing at what hell do next so what really makes President Trump tick . Ill talk to three experts who have spent years charting the president s remarkable rise. Thats up next. 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Good on ya. The toothpaste that helps new parodontax. Prevent bleeding gums. If you spit blood when you brush or floss you may have gum problems and could be on the journey to much worse. Help stop the journey of gum disease. Try new parodontax toothpaste. I have zero political aspiration. I run a company. I believe i do it better than anyone. I enjoy what i do. I deal with all of the same people that were talking about. I deal with the saudis. I deal with the japanese. I dont think anybody sells much more real estate than i do to the japanese, the saudis, et cetera, and i like the people. But that doesnt get away from the fact that this country is being totally ripped off by foreign countries, many of whom i deal with, and i think its very unfortunate for the united states. That was donald trump back in 1987, 30 years ago denying any political ambition but sounding very much like the President Trump of today. So, how has the oval office changed the president . 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Theyre undergoing a transformation. A data fueled, security driven shift in applications and customer experience. Which is why comcast business delivers Consistent Network Performance and speed across all your locations. Hello, mr. Deets. Every Branch Running like headquarters. Thats how you outmaneuver. You know, you know, coming from a different world and only being a politician for a short period of time, how am i doing . How am i doing . Im president. Hey, im president. Can you believe it, right . Yes, he is. That was President Donald Trump in the rose garden after the House Health Care victory seeming to relish his remarkable rise to the white house, and on this Holiday Weekend we wanted to take a step back and talk to some of the people who followed trump through the years. Was his rise to the oval office predictable . What does his past tell us about what trumps future holed . I sat down on friday with gwenda blair, author of the trumps three generations of builders and a president , the definitive family biography of donald trump. Timothy obrien, author of trump nation the art of being donald, which takes a close look at trump the businessman and our tom llamas, who covered the historic Trump Campaign every step of the way for abc news. Gwenda, i want to start with you. You have known donald trump for how many years . Started working on my book in the late 80s. And how do you think hes changed . Not a bit. Not a bit. He is exactly the same guy. Hes been doing the same thing for 40 years, and it works. Hes got that laser focus on the market or now on over the campaign on the voters, what do they want to hear . Thats who he is. Hes a salesman, and his best product is himself, and hes really good at selling it. And, tom, you covered him every single day on the campaign. I dont think you really knew him before, but you saw him right away do exactly what gwenda is saying, sell himself. Do you think hes changed . Are you surprised that hes not different in office . You know, hes 70 years old and for the better part of his adult life, hes never had a boss. Hes always been the boss. So hes never had to listen to anybody. Hes never had to really evolve in his views. And right now, i dont care how great of a tactician, how brilliant of a political scientist walks into that oval office, whatever they tell donald trump, hes going to do what he wants to do, and thats what he did through the campaign, and i agree with your point, he is his best spokesperson, and thats maybe the only part of his presidency so far that has hurt him is that hes had messengers come out whether sean spicer or Sarah Huckabee sanders. The best salesman for donald trump is donald trump. Hes always his best mouthpiece and i think by taking him away from the press by having lack of News Conferences, thats not donald trump. Donald trump loves a camera. I remember the campaign trail we could be anywhere and the staff would say no interviews, hes not talking to you. As soon as he sees that camera and the red turn on and microphone, he makes a beeline to you. It empowers him. I think it actually strengthens him and its something hes good at and i think theyre doing a disservice by keeping him away from the cameras. I would depart from tom on the notion, though, that if they let trump be trump, thats the best thing to do because hes a good spokesman for himself. I think hes a good source of energy on the campaign trail. Its why he got so much attention. Hes this force of nature and hes uninhibited and he is essentially mr. Id and he runs around saying whatever is on his mind and he loves being on the campaign trail when he can be the source of attention. The second hes not, its like a vacuum is lifted out of the room. Im not sure that its he is his best salesman but i think theres something to having those spokespeople out there and then he can jump in and be the distraction from whatever it is that they said, so hes got this perpetual motion distraction story, distraction story, distraction story, distraction story, distraction, so hes got us all covered. If it was just him, you know, he wouldnt get that thing, that tension of that back and forth distraction story, distraction story. I think some people sometimes put too much into this, oh its all trumps strategy. Its his grand plan and i think what he loves about the camera, what he loves about the tvs, hes a man that doesnt have vices. He doesnt retire at night with a cigar or enjoy a nice glass of scotch. What he loves is getting in front of that camera and just grappling with reporters and going back and forth. I used to see News Conference that would be half hour, hour long and he would be getting nailed with tough question, tough question and finish and be in a good mood. Any other politician would be demoralized but he was okay with it. When i look at the past few months, the past four months and you look at some of the things that President Trump has done, this is a man who watches cable a lot. He watches the sunday shows. He is aware of everything thats going on on the air. And yet didnt seem to understand that firing james comey would be a big problem on both sides of the aisle. Even though he watches television all the time, even though he, you would think, absorbs how its covered, that seems to be an area that theyre not very good at. But i dont think he absorbs media strategy. His strategy is to be in front of the camera. It sort of begins and ends there. And he reacts. He doesnt respond, so whatever that spur of the moment decision is, hell do it, and its very hard to talk him out of things. I mean, staffers who know him who have been with him for years say its hard to talk him out of things. You have the comey firing but you also have when he announced the tax planch, and that caught his staff like completely by surprise. He said were going to have it next week, something to that effect, and they werent ready for it. Turns out it was one page long. So if you were on his staff and you wanted him to listen to you, what would you do having watched him all these months and years, what would you do if you were a staff member to try to give him advice that you just knew he had to take, that you just thought was so important. You play to his ego. I mean, thats the only way that i think you can get things through to him. I mean, a lot of ways i think some politicians here in washington have understood a way to get through to him is to compliment him and thats a way in to donald trump because the one thing you cant do with him and i know this very well, you cannot criticize him because if you ask a question or you criticize him publicly, hes at war with you. And you have personal he called you a sleaze. I asked him a tough but fair question if he had a problem with the truth. If sometimes he exaggerated things. It was during that News Conference when he mentioned he had raised 6 million for vets in iowa. Turned out that was not the case and i asked do you sometimes stretch the truth, your critics say, you know, you have a problem with the truth and he got really upset and called me a sleaze. He got over it but he is very thin skinned. Tony schwartz who wrote the art of the deal whos been talking a lot about donald trump over months and years says he sees a sense of selfworth that is forever at risk. I think thats totally true. Where does that come from . I know one of the things that people will say is its father. You met his father. Tough guy, that dad. Relentless, ruthless, worked 24 7. Took the kids around to building sites. To collect nails. To collect nails, yeah, why would you waste that . He was always looking for a way to save an extra dime. Last minute any kind of negotiation signing a contract, dad would stop it and chisel off a few more cents, tough as nails. I want you to tell me the story about palm beach. You have an anecdote in palm beach that you said told you a lot about donald trump. The president and i flew down to palm beach on his jet from manhattan. This was in around 2005 with melania. We had dinner together. And during the day he had taken me around palm beach in his ferrari and he would put the window down at stoplights and say, watch what happens and people would point at him from the sidewalks and put the window back up. Anyway, we had dinner that evening and afterwards we were standing by the pool and there were probably a dozen speakers that were almost as big as me, sixfoot high speakers and don donald was cranking classic rock and really loudly and ill have to he swears quite a bit so ill tell this story in a clean tv safe way but he leaned over to me at one point and he said, you know, when i moved here to palm beach nobody wanted me around. And i love cranking this music as loud as i can because it bugs the heck out of all of these so and sos and i love it. And i think that, you know, he didnt have to go to palm beach so the interesting thing is he chose to go to wasp heaven and buy an estate there and but then he got there and he rejected the norms of wasp heaven, and i think that thats explanatory, a lot of motivations in his life. He wanted to get out of queens to come into manhattan. He wanted to be accepted by the real estate class in manhattan but then thumbed his nose at them. He wanted to run as president as a republican. I think part of him wanted the republican establishment to approve him. At the same in the same breath i think he thumbed his nose at the republican establishment, and i think that little moment by the pool in palm beach speaks to all of that. I had another experience with him in palm beach that was earlier in the 90s in West Palm Beach which is, of course, not the swanky part. When condo towers that he had bought in and put his name on them, of course, and tried to sell apartments, the bank foreclosed. These units were put up for auction. You might have thought that it was an embarrassing situation. Not for him. He walked around the auction, chewing on tic tacs, greatest day of his life telling everybody that this was a marvelous opportunity. They would be really happy. It was going to work out great for everybody. No problem. It was all terrific. And i was just sort of dumbfounded. I want to move to ivanka trump. He clearly has a close relationship with her. He clearly admires that young woman. What do you think of that . You know, he comes from a Family Business and i think he feels very comfortable with having a relative in there. Because i think he knows at the end of the day as loyal as some of his staffers are and he has staffers that are much more than just employees, i mean they essentially are family to him too but blood is thicker than water and i think he always needs to have someone there and in his eyes clearly he sees ivanka is the heir to the trump dynasty. His sons did a great job during the campaign. Theyre running the business right now. I just spent some time with them. Theyre staying busy but ivanka clearly is the heir to the throne. He wanted to bring her in and its like any other business deal. If she can learn something from this, hes going to bring her in and shes going to help him and shes also going to learn some experience too. I want you to tell me what you think the best part of donald trump is. Whats great about donald trump . What is good about donald trump from what youve seen . Ill say this and it is i believe this to be a true testament of how people are like it. They always say the beer test. Would you want to have a beer with this person . And even though President Trump doesnt drink, he is a lot of fun. He is funny. Hes charismatic and if it was in a small group or an audience of 30,000 people, he wants to be liked, and he works hard to want to be liked so oneonone its hard not to like him. His humor and optimism are definitely his strengths. I think hes a survivor. I think people have always underestimated how tenacious he can be. I also think theres a jekyll and hyde element. Hes a very different person oneonone when hes out of the public eye. He can be actually a pretty good listener. He can be very open to talking about almost anything, which is part of the entertainment value with him. But that transforms when he gets out on the public stage. He wants to win. Theres a certain possible flexibility there. Hell reframe it and move it around and turn it upside down but at the end of the day, he wants to win, and so he will be flexible on things. He is kind of practical finally. He wants to make it work out and he doesnt want to lose. Will he run again . I think so. I mean i think he i think the best part for him as far as enjoyment was the campaign. I think he loves going to those rallies. Its the closest he can be to a rock star. He walks in, the music is blaring, people are cheering for him. All those people there to see him, and he loves that. I think hed like to be president for life if the world allowed it. I could see him running four or five more times. I think he has no intention of going away. Reality, some investigations, the electorate, but i dont think he thinks about it that way. He did say that he would only need one term because hed fix the country in four years. He did say that on the campaign. Gwenda. Absolutely. Hes the most competitive guy who ever lived, and this is the biggest gold ring there is. Hes got it in his hand. Why would he let it go. And he is already tweeting again this morning. When we come back, one familys moving memorial day story honoring a marine missing in action for decades in vietnam. Vietnam. Well be right back after on this memorial day weekend as we remember those who sacrificed, we pay tribute to one service member, a marine missing in action for nearly 50 years and his familys journey to bring him home. My dad billy ryan was an allamerican Irish Catholic boy from north jersey. My dad lived a life of purpose. He always wanted to do something that was meaningful. When the marines were there saying he could learn to fly planes and be part of making a difference and serving his country, that resonated with him. Reporter michael ryan didnt really know his dad but has spent a lifetime learning about him. Michael was only 3 months old when his father, First Lieutenant billy ryan just 24 years old, was sent to fight in vietnam. It was 1968. Ryan was a radar intercept operator flying in the backseat of f4 phantom fighter jets. He flew over 300 missions in nine months. Just days from his sons first birthday and planned r r, ryan had one more mission. They were actually bombing the ho chi minh trail and they were hit by antiaircraft missile and their plane was shot down and the pilot was able to eject. My father was not. Reporter lieutenant ryan among the 2,600 americans missing in action. There was always that, you know, 1 chance that did he live . Did someone not see his parachute . Was he a p. O. W. . As a young child i mean it was always a dream. Id sleep and wake up to imagine if my father came home to me, you know. That was something i always kind of held out hope for, and i think secretly my mom did too, so i wanted to do something more for him. I wanted to bring him home and i found out the marine corps was doing that all along. Reporter years after he disappeared, u. S. Excavation teams were finally allowed wide access in Southeast Asia to search for the missing. I was learning they were finding pieces and parts of the aircraft, i was finding that they may have found a strap from the parachute, however, there wasnt anything substantial in terms of my dads remains until recently. Reporter military teams took seven trips overseas spanning several years. Finally a positive i. D. The first thing i did was call my mom. I mean, she was i mean, i never heard her that excited and elated. Tears of joy and relieved, you know, i could feel that she had closure, and to me that was the best feeling. [ playing taps ] reporter after a nearly 50year journey, this month mike ryan finally bringing his dad home. First lieutenant william ryan memorialized with full honors. But the moment bittersweet, an empty chair for mikes mother. She knew her husbands remains had been found but passed away days before the service from cancer. I know in my heart, you know, she was there looking down because it was an amazing day and, you know, i just couldnt be more prouder of my father and his service to our country. My dad is buried at Arlington National cemetery, and thats a special place to be. Thats reserved for heroes and so this is going to be a special memorial day for myself as well as all my family and all the ryans. And we honor the ryan Family Service this memorial day weekend. Thats all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. Check out world news tonight and have a great day. And have a great day. The following is a special presentation of espn on abc. Every memorial day weekend, there is one place, one destination, one racetrack where fans arrive by the hundreds of thousands to witness the greatest spectacle in racing. Welcome to the indianapolis 500 prerace show presented by mothers polish. We want to give you a look at how things were this morning as we came in. This is the scene as we arrived at 5 00 a. M. What you couldnt see were miles of fans. The