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About that? joining me now, new york times washington bureau correspondent eric lipton. politico senior washington correspondent anna palmer. and back with me los angeles times white house reporter eli stokols. eric, i m going to start with you. this decision to hold the g7 at doral, what happened and why did the president make an about-face? he so rarely does that. i mean, it drew not only criticism from democrats in congress and legal experts who questioned if it violated the constitution, but a number of members of congress publicly and privately were telling mick mulvaney and the president himself that this was something that they could not defend. and i think it just left him in a more vulnerable position and he decided this was not worth trying to continue that fight. eli, it s so rare that the president does this sort of thing. what sort of pressure did he need to face from republicans and why in this moment? well, it s remarkable really that he needed to be told thi ....
And then there was this move to host the g7 at doral. we asked if there is a dam how much pressure can it take? you re there on capitol hill. you re talking to republicans every single day. how much pressure can that dam take? i think the g7 at doral is different than a lot of other things for republicans. i think you re still going to have them widely supporting him, particularly in the house. there s no threat that all of the sudden the dam is going to break, as you suggest, and all of a sudden you re going to have a bunch of republicans flipping on impeachment. yet. i think this was different because it seemed as if he was enriching himself. it s a very easy narrative. and i think you also have republicans on the hill who are frustrated by the president and just continuing to feel like they are having to defend him at all costs every day. and i will say i think if you look at what s happening with some of these poll numbers on impeachment that is where i would look in the next com ....
Ethnic cleansing. defense secretary mark esper suggested the administration was considering leaving troops in syria, but earlier today the president said that is not going to happen. we don t think it s going to be necessary. i don t want to leave troops there. it s very dangerous for you know, we had 28 troops as it turned out. people said 50. it was 28. and you had an army on both sides of those troops. those troops would have been wiped out. on top of that republicans were not happy with the president s decision to hold the next g7 at doral. according to the new york times, some republicans thought it crossed a line and they couldn t defend it. we just don t need this. the president reversed the decision on sunday. today, monday, he complained about it and wondered why no one is investigating obama s netflix deal. obama made a deal for a book. is that running a business? i m sure he didn t even discuss it while he was president. yeah. he has a deal with netflix. when did ....
Hearing that republican lawmakers are the ones who said this is something we cannot defend. we re having to defend you on so many things, this g7 happening at doral is not something we want to have to talk about or defend. and the president had to change his mind. a slip of the tongue of mick mulvaney on fox news. listen to what he had to say in trying to defend the president s decision. at the end of the day, you know, he still considers himself to be in the hospitality business and he saw an opportunity to take the biggest leaders from around the world and he wanted to put them on the absolute best show, the best visit that he possibly could. he was very comfortable doing that at doral and i think we were all surprised at the level of pushback. i think it s the right decision to change and i imagine we ll find some place else. you say he considers himself in the hospitality business. yes. he s the president of the united states. yeah! david, this is a perfect segue to y ....
For them to go out and be on tv getting asked about all these things. the g7 was impossible for republicans to defend. they eventually communicated that message to the president and he pulled back on that idea of having the g7 at doral. he pulled back late saturday night. but you see the president all weekend long tweeting constantly, talking to the reporters today. he is trying to get that message out. but you can see how defensive he feels and you can see why all of his actions are continuing to make it harder and harder for republicans to stand up and defend the things that are going on at the white house. eli, there s been a lot of reporting out there that the presidential is in a weak position. would you define it as a weak position? well, i think if you look at individually certainly. you know, turkey s getting everything they want from this president when it comes to what s going on in syria. the president did back down to republicans on the hill as it relates to the g7. but ....