WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:05.390 align:start ROBERT COSTA: President Trump confronts new memos from former FBI Director James Comey 00:05.390 --> 00:10.350 align:start and brings a trusted ally onto his legal team. I'm Robert Costa. 00:10.350 --> 00:15.590 align:start Inside the latest on the Russia probe, plus the looming challenges and opportunities in 00:15.590 --> 00:18.670 align:start North Korea, tonight on Washington Week. 00:18.670 --> 00:22.280 align:start PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) There was no collusion. 00:22.280 --> 00:25.820 align:start And that's been so found, as you know, by the House Intelligence Committee. 00:25.820 --> 00:29.840 align:start ROBERT COSTA: President Trump expresses confidence that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 00:29.840 --> 00:36.160 align:start investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election will not find collusion by the 00:36.160 --> 00:42.150 align:start Trump campaign. In a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump contests 00:42.150 --> 00:47.780 align:start reports that Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's jobs are in jeopardy. 00:47.780 --> 00:51.270 align:start PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) They've been saying I'm going to get rid of them 00:51.270 --> 00:55.790 align:start for the last three months, four months, five months, and they're still here. 00:55.790 --> 01:00.250 align:start ROBERT COSTA: The Justice Department releases redacted memos from fired FBI Director 01:00.250 --> 01:06.020 align:start James Comey, while former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and two other attorneys join 01:06.020 --> 01:08.850 align:start President Trump's personal legal team. 01:08.850 --> 01:12.250 align:start U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. NIKKI HALEY: (From video.) You will see that Russian 01:12.250 --> 01:16.230 align:start sanctions will be coming down. Secretary Mnuchin will be announcing those on Monday. 01:16.230 --> 01:19.960 align:start ROBERT COSTA: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said sanctions would 01:19.960 --> 01:23.910 align:start be coming, but the White House walked back that assertion. 01:23.910 --> 01:26.720 align:start NATIONAL ECONOMIC ADVISER LAWRENCE KUDLOW: (From video.) She got ahead of the curve. 01:26.720 --> 01:30.040 align:start There might have been some momentary confusion about that. 01:30.040 --> 01:34.270 align:start ROBERT COSTA: And the country says goodbye to former First Lady Barbara Bush. 01:34.270 --> 01:40.290 align:start We discuss it all with Nancy Cordes of CBS News, Josh Dawsey of The Washington Post, 01:40.290 --> 01:46.510 align:start Mara Liasson of NPR, and Vivian Salama of NBC News. 01:46.510 --> 01:53.770 align:start ANNOUNCER: This is Washington Week. Once again, from Washington, moderator Robert Costa. 01:53.770 --> 01:58.030 align:start ROBERT COSTA: Good evening. What a rush of news. 01:58.030 --> 02:03.430 align:start Just in the past 24 hours the Justice Department released memos written by former FBI 02:03.430 --> 02:08.370 align:start Director James Comey; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani joined President Trump's 02:08.370 --> 02:14.340 align:start legal team; and the Democratic National Committee filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit 02:14.340 --> 02:19.500 align:start against the Russian government, WikiLeaks, and the Trump campaign, alleging a conspiracy 02:19.500 --> 02:22.660 align:start to support Trump's 2016 bid. 02:22.660 --> 02:27.500 align:start And earlier this week, lawyers for the president and his personal attorney Michael Cohen 02:27.500 --> 02:33.570 align:start argued against releasing materials that were seized this month in a raid by the FBI. 02:33.570 --> 02:38.740 align:start Trump allies on Capitol Hill, like Congressman Mark Meadows of North Carolina, have been 02:38.740 --> 02:44.080 align:start threatening impeachment or contempt of Congress for Deputy Attorney General Rod 02:44.080 --> 02:50.140 align:start Rosenstein unless he handed over those Comey memos. But let's begin with breaking news. 02:50.140 --> 02:56.140 align:start Josh, welcome to Washington Week. Big story tonight that Attorney General Jeff Sessions 02:56.140 --> 03:01.730 align:start has warned the White House that he would step down if Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the 03:01.730 --> 03:05.800 align:start Mueller probe, the special counsel investigation, is fired. And it really brings up 03:05.800 --> 03:09.150 align:start this whole bigger theme. It's not just about the Comey memos this week. 03:09.150 --> 03:12.860 align:start It's really about the tensions between the White House and the Mueller investigation, 03:12.860 --> 03:15.320 align:start Republicans and the Mueller investigation. 03:15.320 --> 03:18.490 align:start JOSH DAWSEY: Right. And that's a fundamental distillation of it, Bob, is that there's 03:18.490 --> 03:22.430 align:start tumult in the ranks of DOJ. And there has been for more than a year, really. 03:22.430 --> 03:27.090 align:start President Trump has been at war, to some degree, with the top leaders of the FBI, of DOJ, 03:27.090 --> 03:29.600 align:start who have not bent to his will. 03:29.600 --> 03:33.860 align:start And he has mused at times about firing Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, Jeff 03:33.860 --> 03:39.440 align:start Sessions, who frustrates him to no end as we have reportedly seen over and over and over. 03:39.440 --> 03:43.640 align:start And what happened this time is that the president again last week, frustrated with the 03:43.640 --> 03:50.240 align:start raid on his personal lawyer's apartment, his office, his hotel room, says, you know, I 03:50.240 --> 03:54.150 align:start might want to fire Rod Rosenstein, something he said for months. And Jeff Sessions, the 03:54.150 --> 03:59.190 align:start attorney general, stepped in and said: Hey, if you do this, I may go too. And that would 03:59.190 --> 04:03.850 align:start create a whole domino effect that would be kind of unparalleled, I think, in our government. 04:03.850 --> 04:06.850 align:start ROBERT COSTA: How close are we, Mara, to that domino effect happening? 04:06.850 --> 04:10.710 align:start The president watching the coverage of the Comey memos, watching the coverage Michael 04:10.710 --> 04:16.100 align:start Cohen and the FBI raid, is the U.S., the Trump administration, on the brink of having 04:16.100 --> 04:18.600 align:start some kind of crisis moment? 04:18.600 --> 04:22.080 align:start MARA LIASSON: In a constitutional crisis? I think that we're in the midst of a stress 04:22.080 --> 04:25.970 align:start test on democratic institutions, maybe not a full-fledged constitutional crisis. 04:25.970 --> 04:29.960 align:start But what's amazing about this is usually you've got the legislative branch versus the 04:29.960 --> 04:34.430 align:start executive branch. This time, it's Donald Trump at war with people he appointed, his 04:34.430 --> 04:38.530 align:start own executive branch. Everyone Josh just listed was appointed by Donald Trump. 04:38.530 --> 04:43.670 align:start And he's got his allies in Congress to put pressure on his own branch of government. 04:43.670 --> 04:45.940 align:start That's unheard of. 04:45.940 --> 04:48.930 align:start ROBERT COSTA: Nancy, you've been on Capitol Hill all week. And this is really not - the 04:48.930 --> 04:53.220 align:start Comey memos aren't part of the Comey book tour. It's about Congress fighting DOJ over 04:53.220 --> 04:57.670 align:start document production. Where does that whole drama stand at this moment? 04:57.670 --> 05:01.080 align:start NANCY CORDES: Well, the problem, if you're a Trump ally, is that at this point you've 05:01.080 --> 05:04.830 align:start learned over and over again you really can't do anything to shrink this investigation or 05:04.830 --> 05:09.290 align:start stop the investigation. The only thing you can try to do is discredit the investigation. 05:09.290 --> 05:14.240 align:start And so you demand document after document from DOJ, hoping that there's something in 05:14.240 --> 05:19.490 align:start those documents that indicates some kind of a political motivation to starting this 05:19.490 --> 05:23.910 align:start probe, or at least something in there that you can spin that way. That's what they 05:23.910 --> 05:27.840 align:start were hoping for from these Comey memos. They didn't get it. And that's why they're 05:27.840 --> 05:32.420 align:start still pushing for other documents from the start of the special counsel probe. 05:32.420 --> 05:35.550 align:start ROBERT COSTA: What's your read, though, Nancy, on Congress? Who's more influential at 05:35.550 --> 05:39.300 align:start this moment, the Capitol Hill leaders like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who doesn't 05:39.300 --> 05:42.860 align:start want to move on legislation to protect the Mueller probe, or is it people like 05:42.860 --> 05:46.400 align:start Meadows, the Freedom Caucus, who are pushing the president to act against DOJ? 05:46.400 --> 05:50.430 align:start NANCY CORDES: I think it's less about power and more about everyone having their roles 05:50.430 --> 05:56.390 align:start to play. You've got the leadership very consistently saying, you know, we're not 05:56.390 --> 06:00.780 align:start going to get involved. We want to let the investigation play out. President Trump 06:00.780 --> 06:05.120 align:start should do the same. That's what they see as the line that they should consistently take. 06:05.120 --> 06:10.010 align:start But then you've got some of these rabble rousers, the Mark Meadowses and the Jim Jordans 06:10.010 --> 06:13.930 align:start who - and the Devin Nuneses - who are saying, you know, no. We're out there. 06:13.930 --> 06:17.820 align:start We need to fight. We think that this entire investigation has metastasized. 06:17.820 --> 06:21.770 align:start It's going in directions we don't like. It's getting too close to the president. 06:21.770 --> 06:24.250 align:start And we're going to fight. And that's their role. 06:24.250 --> 06:27.740 align:start That's something that, you know, really wouldn't work if leadership tried to do it. 06:27.740 --> 06:30.970 align:start ROBERT COSTA: And Vivian, you're back from Mar-a-Largo down in Florida, covering 06:30.970 --> 06:35.450 align:start President Trump all week. You spotted Rudy Giuliani there just before he joined 06:35.450 --> 06:39.550 align:start the president's legal team. What does his addition mean at this time? 06:39.550 --> 06:43.290 align:start VIVIAN SALAMA: Well, obviously he's a very competent attorney. He is a very highly 06:43.290 --> 06:47.450 align:start respected attorney back in New York. He also has a long-time relationship with people 06:47.450 --> 06:52.420 align:start like Bob Mueller. He knew Comey back from his days from being major of New York, and 06:52.420 --> 06:57.420 align:start they were over in DOJ and the FBI. And so he believes that he's coming in, sort of 06:57.420 --> 07:01.720 align:start bringing in the rapport of an attorney, but also someone who can sit with these men, 07:01.720 --> 07:04.830 align:start look them face to face, and say, you know, this is the way it's going to be. 07:04.830 --> 07:08.760 align:start Let's wrap this up right now. And he really believes - and he's been out there in the 07:08.760 --> 07:13.610 align:start last two days since this news emerged really saying, you know, I'm going to wrap this up. 07:13.610 --> 07:17.600 align:start I'm going to get this in control - under control, and we're going to just finish it. 07:17.600 --> 07:21.230 align:start JOSH DAWSEY: The fundamental question for Rudy Giuliani, though, will be what is his 07:21.230 --> 07:25.260 align:start approach? The legal team has been besieged by infighting, lots of different 07:25.260 --> 07:29.980 align:start strategies, how much do we cooperate. John Dowd, the president's lawyer, departed 07:29.980 --> 07:35.790 align:start amid some squabbles internally. So what does he do differently? Ty Cobb for months 07:35.790 --> 07:40.710 align:start told the president, listen, this'll be over by Thanksgiving, then by Christmas, by 07:40.710 --> 07:44.790 align:start New Year's. Now it's April and we have Rudy Giuliani coming in and saying, oh, 07:44.790 --> 07:48.360 align:start we're going to wrap this up soon. What are the president's expectations? 07:48.360 --> 07:52.350 align:start Can he do anything differently with Bob Mueller than any of the other lawyers have done? 07:52.350 --> 07:55.820 align:start ROBERT COSTA: Well, one of the key questions, Mara, is will the president actually sit 07:55.820 --> 07:58.900 align:start for an interview with Mueller and his investigators? 07:58.900 --> 08:02.060 align:start I spoke with Giuliani this week. He wouldn't give me a clear answer. 08:02.060 --> 08:04.760 align:start MARA LIASSON: Well, that's because this is a really huge question. 08:04.760 --> 08:08.660 align:start There are tons of people saying: Don't do it, Mr. President. It's just a trap. 08:08.660 --> 08:14.630 align:start If you look at histories of how the president behaves when he's deposed, he can perjure 08:14.630 --> 08:19.100 align:start himself pretty easily. So he's got all sorts of people saying: Don't do it. 08:19.100 --> 08:22.750 align:start On the other hand, maybe he thinks Rudy Giuliani can somehow negotiate terms for an 08:22.750 --> 08:27.710 align:start interview that will protect him. But I think the other big question is which is 08:27.710 --> 08:32.660 align:start better, to try to shut down the Mueller probe by firing Rod Rosenstein or something 08:32.660 --> 08:38.690 align:start else, or just keep on discrediting Mueller, undermining his credibility, so in the end 08:38.690 --> 08:43.700 align:start no matter what he comes up with, you can tell your base: Just dismiss it as fake news? 08:43.700 --> 08:47.740 align:start NANCY CORDES: I think that's absolutely 100 percent the strategy. 08:47.740 --> 08:52.660 align:start The problem is that historically Republicans have had a lot of really great things to say 08:52.660 --> 08:56.330 align:start about Robert Mueller, who himself is a Republican. 08:56.330 --> 09:01.320 align:start And that's why these arguments - you know, they may work with the base, but, you know, as 09:01.320 --> 09:06.920 align:start the investigation moves closer and closer to the president himself, has now ensnared his 09:06.920 --> 09:11.660 align:start personal lawyer, it becomes more and more difficult for Republicans to make that argument. 09:11.660 --> 09:15.480 align:start JOSH DAWSEY: And the personal lawyer is really an important development. I mean, 09:15.480 --> 09:19.270 align:start it's now a two-pronged investigation. You have the Southern District of New York who's 09:19.270 --> 09:23.340 align:start probing his personal lawyer's finances, listening to his recordings his made 09:23.340 --> 09:27.320 align:start phone calls. I mean, they're really seeing Donald Trump's entire life, and a lot 09:27.320 --> 09:30.920 align:start of it before he became president. And what we reported is that the president was 09:30.920 --> 09:35.460 align:start inclined to do an interview before this raid of his house, even with his lawyers 09:35.460 --> 09:39.700 align:start saying to him: Mr. President, don't do it - exactly as you said, Mara. The president 09:39.700 --> 09:44.540 align:start wanted to do it. Then they came in, they sieged Michael Cohen, they raid all of his 09:44.540 --> 09:47.400 align:start properties early in the morning. The president's furious about it. 09:47.400 --> 09:51.090 align:start And now he is less likely to do it. And that's a big - that's a big difference there. 09:51.090 --> 09:54.580 align:start ROBERT COSTA: And it's not just the president being furious. The president's attorneys, 09:54.580 --> 09:57.990 align:start and Michael Cohen's attorneys, are challenging in court whether federal investigators 09:57.990 --> 10:02.510 align:start will be able to have access to those materials that they seized, including some audio recordings. 10:02.510 --> 10:05.830 align:start VIVIAN SALAMA: Sure, absolutely. And all of this, mind you, is very unsettling 10:05.830 --> 10:09.020 align:start for the president, and I think a big reason why he brings someone like Rudy Giuliani, 10:09.020 --> 10:12.470 align:start who he goes way back with, they have a personal relationship, it's a comfort level 10:12.470 --> 10:16.490 align:start for him. I mean, all of this is sort of playing out. And, remember, this is a 10:16.490 --> 10:20.670 align:start president who very much relied in his life - in his previous life on nondisclosure agreements. 10:20.670 --> 10:24.300 align:start And suddenly, so many elements of his life is coming - are coming out to the public. 10:24.300 --> 10:27.730 align:start And it's been very unsettling for him. Certainly the last couple of days with 10:27.730 --> 10:30.840 align:start Jim Comey out there talking on the different shows, his book coming out. 10:30.840 --> 10:33.990 align:start That's been something that's been really unsettling for him. 10:33.990 --> 10:38.020 align:start But it was really last week and the raid of Cohen's office and home where all of a 10:38.020 --> 10:43.130 align:start sudden, you know, he's gone on this whole rant about the attorney-client privilege being 10:43.130 --> 10:47.390 align:start violated because ultimately that means that he is exposed, he is vulnerable. 10:47.390 --> 10:51.070 align:start MARA LIASSON: And you have this incredible conversation among all these Trump 10:51.070 --> 10:54.980 align:start associates, speculating on whether or not Michael Cohen will flip. 10:54.980 --> 10:58.440 align:start ROBERT COSTA: Will he flip? A lot of reporting out there that - 10:58.440 --> 11:01.220 align:start MARA LIASSON: Will he flip? Won't he flip? Lot of reporting out there, which 11:01.220 --> 11:04.050 align:start means that the assumption is that he has something to tell prosecutors. 11:04.050 --> 11:06.890 align:start ROBERT COSTA: There's a fascinating story in The New York Times tonight that Michael 11:06.890 --> 11:10.940 align:start Cohen has had a tough relationship with President Trump. He said he would take a bullet - he's 11:10.940 --> 11:15.560 align:start said that publicly - but he's also been up and down with the president over his - the last 10 years. 11:15.560 --> 11:18.210 align:start MARA LIASSON: As many people have. There are many people who profess their 11:18.210 --> 11:21.030 align:start loyalty to Trump who are then treated really badly. 11:21.030 --> 11:24.010 align:start ROBERT COSTA: Well, there was an interesting legal and political development today. 11:24.010 --> 11:27.390 align:start The DNC, the Democratic National Committee, Nancy, decides to sue the Trump campaign, sue 11:27.390 --> 11:31.270 align:start WikiLeaks, about a conspiracy regarding the 2016 election. 11:31.270 --> 11:34.840 align:start For so long you've been chronicling the Democrats running ahead of the midterms. 11:34.840 --> 11:37.710 align:start They haven't really been talking about the Russia probe. 11:37.710 --> 11:40.870 align:start Are they now really starting to take on that issue and put it front and center? 11:40.870 --> 11:45.150 align:start NANCY CORDES: Well, the DNC is, because the DNC first of all believes that it lost a lot 11:45.150 --> 11:50.410 align:start of money, a lot of credibility as a result of its emails being hacked by the Russians and 11:50.410 --> 11:55.060 align:start shared. I mean, just think back to that time and how embarrassing it was to have all 11:55.060 --> 11:59.800 align:start of their emails about Bernie Sanders, about Hillary Clinton made public right before the 11:59.800 --> 12:04.590 align:start convention. It made for a very rocky first couple of days of the convention, a lot of 12:04.590 --> 12:08.920 align:start bad feelings that lingered among Bernie Sanders supporters in particular. They 12:08.920 --> 12:12.730 align:start lost a lot of donations. In a lot of ways, they're still trying to come back from 12:12.730 --> 12:19.090 align:start that. And so this was the head of the DNC saying, you know what, this cost us. We 12:19.090 --> 12:25.340 align:start really had serious damage to our reputation, to our operation, so we're seeking damages. 12:25.340 --> 12:30.710 align:start But also the DNC believes that Russia really hasn't paid a price for what it did to 12:30.710 --> 12:35.260 align:start meddle in the election, and it believes, you know, yes, the special counsel is 12:35.260 --> 12:40.420 align:start investigating, but when you look at the - you know, a civil case, we think that there's 12:40.420 --> 12:45.320 align:start enough there to make the case that the Trump campaign at the very least, if it wasn't 12:45.320 --> 12:50.420 align:start colluding with the Russians, it was egging them on, it was benefitting, it was 12:50.420 --> 12:54.980 align:start encouraging this operation. There's a lot of communication that we know of by 12:54.980 --> 12:57.800 align:start now, and that's what they're going to try to prove in civil court. 12:57.800 --> 13:01.140 align:start JOSH DAWSEY: But I think there's rightly some reticence from Democrats to talk about 13:01.140 --> 13:05.150 align:start this too much because it's a complicated storyline. It has, you know, figures in 13:05.150 --> 13:09.240 align:start foreign countries, money transfers. What does the average person even define as 13:09.240 --> 13:14.090 align:start collusion? Who is Bob Mueller? I mean, to an average American I'm not sure how much 13:14.090 --> 13:18.290 align:start some of the intricacies in the day-to-day retinue of a story really resonates. 13:18.290 --> 13:20.470 align:start MARA LIASSON: They don't resonate, yeah. 13:20.470 --> 13:24.900 align:start JOSH DAWSEY: What does resonate, I think, you know, for the president's benefit here, is 13:24.900 --> 13:28.090 align:start that the economy's doing well. Unemployment's low. He's made some inroads on foreign 13:28.090 --> 13:31.550 align:start policy, particularly with North Korea it seems. A lot of what they see and feel and 13:31.550 --> 13:34.870 align:start what tops the news is not this. And you can make these arguments. 13:34.870 --> 13:38.810 align:start We've done this reporting, other people have. There's a lot to see here. But how 13:38.810 --> 13:43.470 align:start much of it - how much of it delves down and is a voting issue for people? I'm not sure. 13:43.470 --> 13:47.000 align:start MARA LIASSON: I don't think it is. And I think if you look at successful Democrats 13:47.000 --> 13:50.290 align:start who've run in these special elections or off-years, they're not talking about Russia. 13:50.290 --> 13:53.830 align:start They know that when you look at the list of issues that voters care about, Russia is way 13:53.830 --> 13:55.830 align:start down at the bottom. 13:55.830 --> 13:59.080 align:start NANCY CORDES: And that's a reason that some Democrats did not like this idea of this 13:59.080 --> 14:02.270 align:start lawsuit. They said, hey, wait a minute, we should really be focused on the special 14:02.270 --> 14:06.980 align:start counsel investigation, and this lawsuit only politicizes it. It only creates more 14:06.980 --> 14:10.840 align:start political overtones. That's the last thing that Democrats need right now. 14:10.840 --> 14:14.020 align:start ROBERT COSTA: We're going to have to turn to breaking news. There's so much 14:14.020 --> 14:17.480 align:start breaking news. I mean, breaking news every hour, it seems, these days. 14:17.480 --> 14:21.520 align:start But there was breaking news tonight not only with Josh's story and Rosenstein and the 14:21.520 --> 14:24.340 align:start Trump administration, but out of North Korea. 14:24.340 --> 14:30.270 align:start State media there announced plans to suspend nuclear missile tests and close a test site. 14:30.270 --> 14:35.480 align:start This happened just days after President Trump confirmed that CIA Director and Secretary 14:35.480 --> 14:41.200 align:start of State nominee Mike Pompeo recently huddled with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a 14:41.200 --> 14:46.080 align:start secret meeting ahead of the planned talks between the president and Kim. 14:46.080 --> 14:50.870 align:start PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) I think Mike Pompeo will go down as one of the 14:50.870 --> 14:56.870 align:start great secretary of states. And by the way, he just left North Korea, had a great 14:56.870 --> 15:02.800 align:start meeting with Kim Jong-un, and got along with him really well, really great. 15:02.800 --> 15:08.020 align:start ROBERT COSTA: Vivian, when you - when you think about Pompeo right now, he's going to 15:08.020 --> 15:13.400 align:start meet with Kim, but what does he - what does he accomplish in that conversation, that 15:13.400 --> 15:17.200 align:start exchange, that maybe led to Kim taking these steps tonight? 15:17.200 --> 15:21.570 align:start Was it because of the Pompeo meeting, based on our knowledge and our reporting, or it is 15:21.570 --> 15:25.460 align:start because of different actions China has taken or others in the region have taken? 15:25.460 --> 15:28.540 align:start VIVIAN SALAMA: Well, there's definitely a number of factors playing out. 15:28.540 --> 15:32.310 align:start The South Koreans have been working the process with the North Koreans now over the last 15:32.310 --> 15:35.880 align:start couple of months, and they were the ones to really push this process forward at a time 15:35.880 --> 15:40.200 align:start where things were very precarious with the United States after the death of Otto 15:40.200 --> 15:43.840 align:start Warmbier, the American who was brought out of North Korea in a coma, President Trump 15:43.840 --> 15:48.500 align:start firing all kinds of accusations at Kim Jong-un, calling him "little rocket man" and 15:48.500 --> 15:53.940 align:start saying that he would respond to their testing with "fire and fury." And so for the United 15:53.940 --> 15:58.050 align:start States, things have been sort of going forward in baby steps. There's cautious optimism. 15:58.050 --> 16:01.690 align:start I spoke to a couple of folks since this story broke. There's a lot of cautious optimism. 16:01.690 --> 16:05.870 align:start Everybody sees this as going in the right direction ahead of the planned summit with 16:05.870 --> 16:11.020 align:start President Trump and Kim Jong-un in a month or so. However, North Korea has promised 16:11.020 --> 16:14.400 align:start these things before and have reneged on their promises, and so a lot of people are 16:14.400 --> 16:17.790 align:start saying, well, Pompeo's going the right direction, but everyone just play it cool. 16:17.790 --> 16:20.790 align:start MARA LIASSON: And what are they promising? They're promising to suspend their tests 16:20.790 --> 16:25.530 align:start for how long? Until they can meet with President Trump. North Korea just got something 16:25.530 --> 16:30.450 align:start it really wanted, a side-by-side meeting with the most powerful person on the planet 16:30.450 --> 16:35.140 align:start as two equals. So that's something they got. This at least is something that President 16:35.140 --> 16:40.230 align:start Trump can say he got in advance. They're going to suspend for now their tests. They 16:40.230 --> 16:43.610 align:start don't really need to do more tests. They just know that they have a long-range missile. 16:43.610 --> 16:46.080 align:start They accomplished their goal. Now they're ready to sit down. 16:46.080 --> 16:48.850 align:start ROBERT COSTA: What is the strategy here, Josh, inside of the White House? 16:48.850 --> 16:51.500 align:start JOSH DAWSEY: Well, the president made a telling joke at the Gridiron Dinner in 16:51.500 --> 16:55.080 align:start Washington a few weeks ago where he said dealing with a crazy problem - a crazy man, 16:55.080 --> 16:58.880 align:start that's his problem, not mine. (Laughter.) And inside the White House, what you 16:58.880 --> 17:02.730 align:start sense is this is an unorthodox president on foreign policy where he says of course 17:02.730 --> 17:05.580 align:start I'll meet with North Korea, President Kim Jong-un. 17:05.580 --> 17:07.680 align:start MARA LIASSON: Yeah, yeah, with no preconditions. 17:07.680 --> 17:10.700 align:start JOSH DAWSEY: No preconditions, we'll do it anyway, we'll talk to him. There was a 17:10.700 --> 17:13.470 align:start lot of guffawing at that, a lot of people saying this could go really poorly, and 17:13.470 --> 17:17.630 align:start it still might. But so far you've seen North Korea say tonight they are going to 17:17.630 --> 17:19.770 align:start get rid of their missiles. You've seen some - 17:19.770 --> 17:21.930 align:start MARA LIASSON: Well, suspend testing. 17:21.930 --> 17:25.110 align:start JOSH DAWSEY: Well, suspend for now, but that is a concession and a win for the 17:25.110 --> 17:28.830 align:start president. And you see a lot of optimism inside the administration that we've got 17:28.830 --> 17:32.600 align:start these people at the table, we could do something. I mean, one of the things - we had 17:32.600 --> 17:35.800 align:start a fundraiser a while back, and we got the audio of it, and what President Trump said 17:35.800 --> 17:39.560 align:start behind closed doors: These people for 25 years - Bush, Obama - all of them have 17:39.560 --> 17:43.760 align:start pushed these policies; nothing's ever gotten done. I'm not going to be like these people. 17:43.760 --> 17:47.090 align:start MARA LIASSON: Except for Clinton did make a deal with the North Koreans, and it was a 17:47.090 --> 17:50.240 align:start huge thing at the time, and it didn't end up - 17:50.240 --> 17:52.260 align:start JOSH DAWSEY: And then it dissipated. 17:52.260 --> 17:54.200 align:start ROBERT COSTA: So there's optimism inside of the administration. 17:54.200 --> 17:56.900 align:start Does it translate to a confirmation for Pompeo on Capitol Hill? 17:56.900 --> 18:01.540 align:start NANCY CORDES: Possibly, but he got some very bad news just Friday, which is that he is 18:01.540 --> 18:05.340 align:start not going to get a favorable recommendation out of the Senate Foreign Relations 18:05.340 --> 18:07.900 align:start Committee, and that is unheard of. 18:07.900 --> 18:10.060 align:start MARA LIASSON: First time in 70 years. 18:10.060 --> 18:13.020 align:start NANCY CORDES: Exactly, because all of the Democrats and one Republican, Rand Paul, have 18:13.020 --> 18:16.950 align:start now all said that they are going to vote against him in committee. 18:16.950 --> 18:21.970 align:start The Republican leadership has some cards it can play, some procedural moves to get his 18:21.970 --> 18:25.770 align:start vote to the floor, but it's not a good look, especially when you're talking about the 18:25.770 --> 18:30.400 align:start secretary of state. There's this longstanding tradition on Capitol Hill that 18:30.400 --> 18:35.290 align:start senators set their political views aside and they rally around the secretary of 18:35.290 --> 18:39.800 align:start state nominee because they want to show a unified front to the world in support 18:39.800 --> 18:44.120 align:start of the - of the nation's biggest diplomat, and that's not happening in this case. 18:44.120 --> 18:47.520 align:start ROBERT COSTA: So all these issues with North Korea, Pompeo, it brings up bigger 18:47.520 --> 18:52.180 align:start questions about U.S. foreign policy. As Josh was saying, is this president and 18:52.180 --> 18:55.710 align:start this administration going on instinct? Is there a doctrine at play here? Well, this 18:55.710 --> 18:59.400 align:start week there was another issue. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley 18:59.400 --> 19:03.690 align:start said Sunday that the U.S. would issue sanctions against Russia for their involvement 19:03.690 --> 19:08.610 align:start in the chemical attacks in Syria, but then White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow 19:08.610 --> 19:12.750 align:start struck a different note, saying perhaps Haley had been confused. 19:12.750 --> 19:17.680 align:start Ambassador Haley fired back with a statement, telling Fox News that: "With all due 19:17.680 --> 19:22.700 align:start respect, I don't get confused." President Trump later weighed in from Florida. 19:22.700 --> 19:26.380 align:start PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) We'll do sanctions as soon as they very much 19:26.380 --> 19:30.350 align:start deserve it. We will have - that is a question. 19:30.350 --> 19:35.390 align:start There has been nobody tougher on Russia than President Donald Trump. 19:35.390 --> 19:39.700 align:start ROBERT COSTA: Yet, on Capitol Hill lawmakers are unsure about the administration's 19:39.700 --> 19:44.260 align:start position both on Syria and Russia. Where does - where is this administration right 19:44.260 --> 19:48.600 align:start now? You have Pompeo about to have his confirmation process finalized. 19:48.600 --> 19:53.560 align:start You have National Security Adviser John Bolton playing a major role inside of the West 19:53.560 --> 19:57.700 align:start Wing. How does this affect the president as he makes these decisions on 19:57.700 --> 20:00.680 align:start North Korea, on Syria, on Russia sanctions? 20:00.680 --> 20:04.020 align:start VIVIAN SALAMA: I think the fact that he's such a foreign policy novice has led him to be 20:04.020 --> 20:07.760 align:start such a risk-taker. He's thinking outside the box, and that is something that has appeal to 20:07.760 --> 20:11.100 align:start a lot of people who say, you know what, the old way didn't work so let's see where he goes 20:11.100 --> 20:15.610 align:start from here. However, patience will wane at some point when we don't see results - if the North 20:15.610 --> 20:20.580 align:start Koreans don't really follow through and abandon their nuclear program, if the Syrian war 20:20.580 --> 20:25.180 align:start doesn't come to some sort of resolution and Assad continues to use chemical weapons. 20:25.180 --> 20:28.870 align:start And this is why there was a lot of pushback recently when President Trump tweeted mission 20:28.870 --> 20:35.110 align:start accomplished after striking Syria, because they felt it was a bit too hasty and that he's 20:35.110 --> 20:37.340 align:start just jumping on a win. 20:37.340 --> 20:40.850 align:start NANCY CORDES: You know, Larry Kudlow, veteran broadcaster, rookie Trump advisor. 20:40.850 --> 20:44.470 align:start And if you've been in the White House for a while, you've learned how to spin the 20:44.470 --> 20:48.660 align:start president's changes of heart because you can't say, obviously, well, the president 20:48.660 --> 20:52.530 align:start changed his mind; he thought one thing one day and a different thing the next. And so he 20:52.530 --> 20:57.650 align:start pinned it on Nikki Haley, also a big mistake, one that he himself came out and said, OK, my bad. 20:57.650 --> 21:00.320 align:start ROBERT COSTA: Is Haley's - is Haley's job at risk? 21:00.320 --> 21:03.790 align:start MARA LIASSON: I don't think Haley's job is at risk. Are you kidding? No. 21:03.790 --> 21:06.850 align:start I think what's so interesting to me about that whole episode - first of all, Larry 21:06.850 --> 21:11.420 align:start Kudlow, affable guy, real gentleman, apologized, said she was put in a box; the policy 21:11.420 --> 21:14.990 align:start changed and nobody told her. That was an absolutely truthful statement. 21:14.990 --> 21:18.500 align:start ROBERT COSTA: Why did the policy change? Was it because Bolton's come in, he gutted the NSC? 21:18.500 --> 21:21.520 align:start MARA LIASSON: No, because - no, because President Trump decided, as he just said, he 21:21.520 --> 21:25.130 align:start didn't want any more sanctions on Russia. He said we'll put sanctions on them 21:25.130 --> 21:28.970 align:start when they very much deserve it, meaning they don't deserve it now. 21:28.970 --> 21:34.620 align:start He has been reluctant all along to punish Vladimir Putin, and he always steps back to 21:34.620 --> 21:38.280 align:start that position even when his administration occasionally will get him to agree to expel 21:38.280 --> 21:40.880 align:start some diplomats or sanction some oligarchs. 21:40.880 --> 21:44.720 align:start JOSH DAWSEY: But that's the entire fundamental understanding of his presidency, right, 21:44.720 --> 21:48.680 align:start is that he will change his mind at any moment. One day he says we're pulling out of 21:48.680 --> 21:53.140 align:start TPP, then he says we're back in it. One day he wants to do X on Russia, one day he 21:53.140 --> 21:57.090 align:start wants to do Y. He's embraced various health care proposals at different times. 21:57.090 --> 22:01.250 align:start He can be swayed really easily by whoever the last person is with him. 22:01.250 --> 22:05.020 align:start So someone comes to him and says we should no longer do these sanctions, you know, Russia 22:05.020 --> 22:09.120 align:start did not respond that aggressively to these Syria attacks, maybe, and the president goes, 22:09.120 --> 22:13.390 align:start oh, that's interesting, OK, we won't do it. And he, for better and worse - and I 22:13.390 --> 22:17.250 align:start think it cuts in both directions for him - really can change his position on a dime. 22:17.250 --> 22:20.190 align:start ROBERT COSTA: We've got to leave it there. You're so right. 22:20.190 --> 22:23.510 align:start Whenever you talk to sources, they say if you're in this administration you have to talk 22:23.510 --> 22:26.720 align:start to President Trump, not just talk to staff if you want a clear answer. 22:26.720 --> 22:31.400 align:start Also this week, former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away, the 92-year-old matriarch of 22:31.400 --> 22:36.380 align:start a political dynasty. She was the wife and mother of presidents and of a governor. 22:36.380 --> 22:40.740 align:start Amy Holmes and Michael Gerson of In Principle, the new PBS show, interviewed former 22:40.740 --> 22:44.510 align:start President George W. Bush the day after his mother died. Here's a clip. 22:44.510 --> 22:48.300 align:start FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: (From video.) She and I used to kind of needle 22:48.300 --> 22:52.690 align:start each other in a friendly way. And we were - I was kind of teasing her and she was 22:52.690 --> 22:58.910 align:start teasing me, and then the doctor walked into this hospital room. And mother said, "Do 22:58.910 --> 23:04.090 align:start you want to know why George W. is the way he is, Doctor?" And the doctor kind of didn't 23:04.090 --> 23:08.300 align:start have any choice. And mother said, "Because I drank and smoked when I was pregnant 23:08.300 --> 23:14.030 align:start with him." (Laughter.) And so - (laughs) - I knew she was feeling pretty good. 23:14.030 --> 23:18.090 align:start ROBERT COSTA: The grace and wit of Mrs. Bush. For more of that interview, watch 23:18.090 --> 23:22.000 align:start In Principle on many PBS stations. Check your local listings. We'll continue this 23:22.000 --> 23:26.140 align:start conversation about Mrs. Bush and so many issues and her legacy online on the 23:26.140 --> 23:30.760 align:start Washington Week Extra. You can find that later tonight at PBS.org/WashingtonWeek. 23:30.760 --> 23:55.130 align:start I'm Robert Costa. Have a great weekend.