This is the movie of comic books, like hes playing a president. Hes doing this thing, which hes talking away action heroes talk, not the way president s talk with the power of life and death in their hands. Weve turned to the north koreans and kim jongun, if he takes a provocative measure, if he fires on guam, i think were going to take Military Action. Im almost sure the president cant retreat from this position. Once military blows are exchanged, i think the chance of going to allout conventional war are significant. He still doesnt have a usable nuclear capability. I dont think were going to go there. But i do think the president is saying hes prepared to go to nuclear conflict. One of the more chilling moments on this network today. And with that, lets bring in our leadoff friday night panel. Welcome to all. Matthew, can you walk us through the evolution of Donald Trumps language of this week . First of all, we note that we can only hope the expression Locked And Loaded translates
forth is really sad. it s really sad that the president seems to be so cavalier about this. we ll show our audience later in the broadcast the civil defense warnings that people in guam woke up to in their morning paper and on leaflets this morning where this is very serious business. and endeara, on top of that, tonight we get out of nowhere venezuela. what do you make of it? it is stunning. i mean, you know, at first i had to when i was listening to the press conference, i had to check my ears and say wait a second, first we were talking about the possible war with north korea, now we re talking about possible military actions in venezuela. i mean, military action is always supposed to be the last resort, not the first thing you jump to. and we ve gone from the president barely talking about venezuela at all, to introducing it in the conversation saying all options are on the table. that s not to say what is happening in venezuela, which is
the president today in bedminster, new jersey, talking about venezuela. he said the u.s. not ruling out a military option. he did not elaborate. when we heard that, we kind of assumed our next guest was set off like a roman candle. let s bring in richard painter, chief white house ethics lawer under george w. bush. richard, what did you make of the addition of venezuela to the hot zones the u.s. could see action in? well, first of all, it makes no sense to talk about military options in venezuela. venezuela has not threatened the united states. there s just no justification for that at all. and no one would support us on that. and president trump is not going to do it unless he s absolutely crazy. so what he s done is talked about an option that he s not going to use, that no reasonable president would use. and that destroys our credibility in this north korea
department of justice. jack sharman is with us tonight, a criminal defense attorney who served as special counsel to the house banking committee for the white water investigation. matt, because you were the won who soonest ago was a federal employee, i thought you would want the chance to speak up on their behalf. 755 people, some of them russian nationals, but a good many americans trying to rush back to get their kids in school, find a place to live because they ve been uprooted from russia. our government said nothing about their hardship or this news until the president thanking vladamir putin. yeah. you know, i think the president was telling the truth today he was being sarcastic, but that doesn t make it better. it was an insult to those career diplomats, many who have served in iraq and afghanistan. many have endured surveillance by putin s government while in russia. the president implied they were surplus, and it was just as important what he didn t say.
top guy, of course. but a recent article in the new york times says in effect, don t let that dreamy look fool you. mike pence has set up a pac. he s often the bridge to traditional republicans as they are known. the the times quoted he wants to be ready if there s an opening in 2020. it did was asked today by your own peter alexander about the possibility of a pence candidacy. do you think your vice president will be a candidate for president in 2020? i don t think so, no. i don t think so at all. he s a good guy. he s just left for colombia and other places. he s been a great ally of fine and a great friend of mine. about the republicans amg for