JUDY WOODRUFF: We take a
closer look now at what the
president's U.K. visit means for
the transatlantic relationship,
and his meeting on Monday with
Russia's President Vladimir
Putin.
John Yang has that.
JOHN YANG: Judy, for perspective
on that, here's longtime
U.S. diplomat Nick Burns.
He's a former ambassador to NATO
and a former undersecretary of
state for political affairs.
Mr. Burns, welcome.
This -- Theresa May was the
first foreign leader to visit
President Trump at the White
House after inauguration.
This trip to London is
something, by all accounts,
he really wanted to happen.
Now that it has happened, and
now that this is what he did
on his first -- on this visit,
what do you make of this?
NICHOLAS BURNS, Former U.S.
Undersecretary of State for
Political Affairs: Well, John,
it's hard to think of a more
chaotic and disputatious
visit by an American
president both to London,
to Britain, our great
ally, as well as to
NATO, as the president
has had the last couple
of days, because, before he
met Theresa May, he started a
fight with Angela Merkel, he
threatened to leave the
NATO alliance at one point
during the NATO meeting.
He certainly has tried to
undermine the European Union.
Then this explosive interview
in The Sun newspaper,
the tabloid newspaper.
Theresa May is on a
knife's edge right now.
As your report showed, she's
trying to put a Brexit proposal
forward that might incite
a rebellion in the
Conservative Party.
The president came
out against it.
He came out against
her strategy.
He came out in support of her
greatest foe, Boris Johnson.
And this was a direct attack
on the prime minister.
And despite what the president
said in his press conference
today, trying to roll back
his statements, this was
the real Donald Trump
in that Sun interview.
JOHN YANG: He said
that -- as you say, he
praised Boris Johnson.
He said Boris Johnson would
be a great prime minister.
The strongest he went on Mrs.
May is that he said that she's
a fine woman, she's a good
woman.
What has he done to her
political -- political
livelihood or her political
chances domestically
in Britain?
NICHOLAS BURNS: Well, the
president's ideological
kindred in U.K. politics
would be the Conservatives,
who are in favor of a very
tough, hard Brexit, as they call
it, a complete separation of
the United Kingdom from
the European Union.
The prime minister's view is
that it has to be a softer
Brexit, meaning some ties have
to remain in order to ensure the
success of the British economy.
The president directly
emboldened her
strongest critics.
Imagine if Theresa May came to
the White House, into the Rose
Garden, and said publicly, with
the president standing behind,
beside her, I think that Jeff
Flake or Bob Corker or John
Kasich would make a very good
president of the United States.
Our president would be furious.
That's what Donald Trump did
to her twice, not only in the
Sun interview, but also in
this morning's press conference.
And so the president has
directly intervened in British
politics in the most unhelpful
way.
He's done the same thing
with the German chancellor,
two female leaders,
which has the attention
of a lot of people in
Europe, who think that he
does pick on female leaders.
And these are the two closest
friends that the United States
has in the world, Germany
and the United Kingdom.
JOHN YANG: You talked about
what he did in Brussels, what
he has done now in London,
next stop, Helsinki, where he
is going to meet Vladimir Putin,
and then today's indictment
from the Justice Department,
the strongest evidence yet
of direct Russian government
trying to meddle in
the U.S. election.
What does this do
to this meeting?
NICHOLAS BURNS: Oh, it makes
it absolutely necessary -- if
there is going to be a meeting,
Donald Trump cannot
just ask the question.
That's what he said
he would do today.
He said, I will ask President
Putin if he intervened.
He has to let President Putin
know that a federal grand jury
indicted 12 Russian military
intelligence officials today.
The grand jury said there's
a criminal conspiracy to
undermine our election.
The president has to make the
case to Putin that this cannot
happen again, that the United
States will maintain or increase
its economic sanctions against
Russia, and encourage others
to do that.
He has to defend us.
His primary job as commander in
chief is to defend this country.
There's been an attack on
our electoral system by
our strongest adversary.
And so, if he blithely goes
in -- and that was his body
language and the words today
- - oh, I will just ask him, but
I don't expect a good answer.
He has to be forceful and
strong, and not weak, but he
has been very weak in front of
President Putin the several
times that they have met
in the last 18 months.
JOHN YANG: And he said over
and over again that he wants
to have a good relationship
with Vladimir Putin.
Can he do that and also do
what you say he should do,
is defend the United States?
NICHOLAS BURNS: You know,
the point of diplomacy is
not to have good relations.
The point of diplomacy to
get our way internationally
and to defend our country.
So, in addition to the Russian
interference in our election,
there's the Russian U.K.
nerve agent attack.
A British woman lost her life
last week because of the attack.
There's the fact that Russia
crossed the brightest red line
in international law by invading
and occupying and
annexing Crimea.
There are U.S. sanctions on
Russian imposed by the Congress,
by the way, over the president's
objections, on Russia
for these actions.
And the president, I
think, has to understand
that, if he's going to
retain political support
in the country and the respect
of our allies, and I think
even the respect of Putin, he
has to be tougher than Putin
than he says he wants to be.
It is not enough to say that
we just want to get along
with a person who's trying to
undermine our country.
We have to defeat that person,
block that person, and do
everything we can to protect
our own country.
That's what Ronald
Reagan would have done.
That's what any American
president before Donald
Trump would have done.
JOHN YANG: Former Ambassador
Nick Burns, thank you very much.
NICHOLAS BURNS: Thank you, John.