1 00:00:01,900 --> 00:00:03,933 JUDY WOODRUFF: We take a closer look now at what the president's U.K. visit means for 2 00:00:03,933 --> 00:00:08,200 the transatlantic relationship, and his meeting on Monday with Russia's President Vladimir 3 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:09,200 Putin. 4 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:11,100 John Yang has that. 5 00:00:11,100 --> 00:00:14,733 JOHN YANG: Judy, for perspective on that, here's longtime U.S. diplomat Nick Burns. 6 00:00:14,733 --> 00:00:19,733 He's a former ambassador to NATO and a former undersecretary of state for political affairs. 7 00:00:20,466 --> 00:00:22,533 Mr. Burns, welcome. 8 00:00:22,533 --> 00:00:25,633 This -- Theresa May was the first foreign leader to visit President Trump at the White 9 00:00:25,633 --> 00:00:27,666 House after inauguration. 10 00:00:27,666 --> 00:00:31,633 This trip to London is something, by all accounts, he really wanted to happen. 11 00:00:31,633 --> 00:00:36,633 Now that it has happened, and now that this is what he did on his first -- on this visit, 12 00:00:37,533 --> 00:00:39,633 what do you make of this? 13 00:00:39,633 --> 00:00:42,166 NICHOLAS BURNS, Former U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs: Well, John, 14 00:00:42,166 --> 00:00:45,633 it's hard to think of a more chaotic and disputatious visit by an American president both to London, 15 00:00:47,666 --> 00:00:51,033 to Britain, our great ally, as well as to NATO, as the president has had the last couple 16 00:00:51,033 --> 00:00:56,000 of days, because, before he met Theresa May, he started a fight with Angela Merkel, he 17 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,133 threatened to leave the NATO alliance at one point during the NATO meeting. 18 00:01:00,133 --> 00:01:02,700 He certainly has tried to undermine the European Union. 19 00:01:02,700 --> 00:01:07,333 Then this explosive interview in The Sun newspaper, the tabloid newspaper. 20 00:01:07,333 --> 00:01:09,300 Theresa May is on a knife's edge right now. 21 00:01:09,300 --> 00:01:14,133 As your report showed, she's trying to put a Brexit proposal forward that might incite 22 00:01:16,666 --> 00:01:18,333 a rebellion in the Conservative Party. 23 00:01:18,333 --> 00:01:20,033 The president came out against it. 24 00:01:20,033 --> 00:01:22,033 He came out against her strategy. 25 00:01:22,033 --> 00:01:26,433 He came out in support of her greatest foe, Boris Johnson. 26 00:01:26,433 --> 00:01:28,600 And this was a direct attack on the prime minister. 27 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,400 And despite what the president said in his press conference today, trying to roll back 28 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:36,800 his statements, this was the real Donald Trump in that Sun interview. 29 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:41,666 JOHN YANG: He said that -- as you say, he praised Boris Johnson. 30 00:01:41,666 --> 00:01:44,200 He said Boris Johnson would be a great prime minister. 31 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:48,333 The strongest he went on Mrs. May is that he said that she's a fine woman, she's a good 32 00:01:48,333 --> 00:01:50,800 woman. 33 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:54,800 What has he done to her political -- political livelihood or her political chances domestically 34 00:01:56,300 --> 00:01:58,900 in Britain? 35 00:01:58,900 --> 00:02:02,266 NICHOLAS BURNS: Well, the president's ideological kindred in U.K. politics would be the Conservatives, 36 00:02:05,133 --> 00:02:10,133 who are in favor of a very tough, hard Brexit, as they call it, a complete separation of 37 00:02:11,266 --> 00:02:13,300 the United Kingdom from the European Union. 38 00:02:13,300 --> 00:02:16,433 The prime minister's view is that it has to be a softer Brexit, meaning some ties have 39 00:02:16,433 --> 00:02:20,066 to remain in order to ensure the success of the British economy. 40 00:02:20,066 --> 00:02:23,433 The president directly emboldened her strongest critics. 41 00:02:23,433 --> 00:02:28,400 Imagine if Theresa May came to the White House, into the Rose Garden, and said publicly, with 42 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:33,400 the president standing behind, beside her, I think that Jeff Flake or Bob Corker or John 43 00:02:34,833 --> 00:02:36,700 Kasich would make a very good president of the United States. 44 00:02:36,700 --> 00:02:38,733 Our president would be furious. 45 00:02:38,733 --> 00:02:42,933 That's what Donald Trump did to her twice, not only in the Sun interview, but also in 46 00:02:42,933 --> 00:02:44,966 this morning's press conference. 47 00:02:44,966 --> 00:02:49,433 And so the president has directly intervened in British politics in the most unhelpful 48 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,500 way. 49 00:02:52,500 --> 00:02:55,800 He's done the same thing with the German chancellor, two female leaders, which has the attention 50 00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:00,800 of a lot of people in Europe, who think that he does pick on female leaders. 51 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:04,733 And these are the two closest friends that the United States has in the world, Germany 52 00:03:04,733 --> 00:03:06,766 and the United Kingdom. 53 00:03:06,766 --> 00:03:09,833 JOHN YANG: You talked about what he did in Brussels, what he has done now in London, 54 00:03:09,833 --> 00:03:14,800 next stop, Helsinki, where he is going to meet Vladimir Putin, and then today's indictment 55 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:19,800 from the Justice Department, the strongest evidence yet of direct Russian government 56 00:03:20,966 --> 00:03:22,366 trying to meddle in the U.S. election. 57 00:03:22,366 --> 00:03:24,400 What does this do to this meeting? 58 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:29,233 NICHOLAS BURNS: Oh, it makes it absolutely necessary -- if there is going to be a meeting, 59 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:32,033 Donald Trump cannot just ask the question. 60 00:03:32,033 --> 00:03:33,466 That's what he said he would do today. 61 00:03:33,466 --> 00:03:36,366 He said, I will ask President Putin if he intervened. 62 00:03:36,366 --> 00:03:41,366 He has to let President Putin know that a federal grand jury indicted 12 Russian military 63 00:03:42,233 --> 00:03:44,233 intelligence officials today. 64 00:03:44,233 --> 00:03:47,600 The grand jury said there's a criminal conspiracy to undermine our election. 65 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:52,600 The president has to make the case to Putin that this cannot happen again, that the United 66 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:57,600 States will maintain or increase its economic sanctions against Russia, and encourage others 67 00:03:58,233 --> 00:03:59,100 to do that. 68 00:03:59,100 --> 00:04:01,100 He has to defend us. 69 00:04:01,100 --> 00:04:04,933 His primary job as commander in chief is to defend this country. 70 00:04:04,933 --> 00:04:08,100 There's been an attack on our electoral system by our strongest adversary. 71 00:04:08,100 --> 00:04:12,800 And so, if he blithely goes in -- and that was his body language and the words today 72 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,066 - - oh, I will just ask him, but I don't expect a good answer. 73 00:04:16,066 --> 00:04:21,066 He has to be forceful and strong, and not weak, but he has been very weak in front of 74 00:04:22,966 --> 00:04:25,100 President Putin the several times that they have met in the last 18 months. 75 00:04:25,100 --> 00:04:29,266 JOHN YANG: And he said over and over again that he wants to have a good relationship 76 00:04:29,266 --> 00:04:31,333 with Vladimir Putin. 77 00:04:31,333 --> 00:04:35,733 Can he do that and also do what you say he should do, is defend the United States? 78 00:04:37,733 --> 00:04:41,033 NICHOLAS BURNS: You know, the point of diplomacy is not to have good relations. 79 00:04:41,033 --> 00:04:44,833 The point of diplomacy to get our way internationally and to defend our country. 80 00:04:44,833 --> 00:04:49,833 So, in addition to the Russian interference in our election, there's the Russian U.K. 81 00:04:50,566 --> 00:04:52,066 nerve agent attack. 82 00:04:52,066 --> 00:04:54,733 A British woman lost her life last week because of the attack. 83 00:04:54,733 --> 00:04:59,733 There's the fact that Russia crossed the brightest red line in international law by invading 84 00:05:00,966 --> 00:05:03,033 and occupying and annexing Crimea. 85 00:05:03,033 --> 00:05:07,633 There are U.S. sanctions on Russian imposed by the Congress, by the way, over the president's 86 00:05:07,633 --> 00:05:10,733 objections, on Russia for these actions. 87 00:05:10,733 --> 00:05:15,333 And the president, I think, has to understand that, if he's going to retain political support 88 00:05:15,333 --> 00:05:20,333 in the country and the respect of our allies, and I think even the respect of Putin, he 89 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:23,833 has to be tougher than Putin than he says he wants to be. 90 00:05:23,833 --> 00:05:28,400 It is not enough to say that we just want to get along with a person who's trying to 91 00:05:29,133 --> 00:05:31,166 undermine our country. 92 00:05:31,166 --> 00:05:33,400 We have to defeat that person, block that person, and do everything we can to protect 93 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:34,733 our own country. 94 00:05:34,733 --> 00:05:37,133 That's what Ronald Reagan would have done. 95 00:05:37,133 --> 00:05:40,033 That's what any American president before Donald Trump would have done. 96 00:05:40,033 --> 00:05:42,800 JOHN YANG: Former Ambassador Nick Burns, thank you very much. 97 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:44,166 NICHOLAS BURNS: Thank you, John.