but usa today is reporting that pistole is interviewing presumably for the fbi job to replace james comey. we'll see. trish regan, a lot going on in your hour. take it away. trish: we're going to hear from the white house any minute from now the latest so-cled bombshell report on the russia investigation. top adviser and son-in-law jared kushner wanted a secret channel between russia and the trump administration. i'm trish regan, welcome to the "the intelligence report". a live picture from the white house, we do expect white house press secretary sean spicer to field questions on this whole alleged backchannel any minute from now. this is sean spicer's first on-camera briefing since president trump's overseas trip. all of this coming as president trump's communications director mike dubke resigns. so is this just the start of a major shake-up at the white house?

we're on it, but first here as we await sean spicer, it will be interesting to see what he has to say on all this. i want to bring in republican representative ron desantis, member of the house committee and oversight and government reform, a committee following the russia investigation very closely. welcome, congressman. g to have you back on the program. your take on the "washington post" allegation. >> the media has been doing a lot of the stories where there's a lot of smoke, really not fire or facts but a lot of smoke, and i was struck by the kushner report because for months now there's been a narrative that there was some type of illicit collusion between the trump campaign and the russian government, but then the fact that they may have tried to backchannel during the presidential transition is curious because if they were colluding during the campaign, why would they then need this backchannel during the presidential transition? i'nosure what to make of it, i think some of the reports

that have come outave ended up being discredited once you put witnesses under oath. idea of a ba channel is in and of itself problematic. trish: i want to ask you and i hear your point, in other words, if there was shenanigans going on between the trump team and russia, one would have thought they established that backchannel perhaps already, but in this case, they weren't looking for one until they were in the transition process. that's if they were actually looking for it because we don't know entirely what to believe in the narrative. assuming that this report, if we were to assume this report is correct, let me ask you, congressman, how unusual is it for members of an administration, especially during that transition phase, to set up some kind of backchannel and why would you do it? >> well, it was done with barack obama, both with iran and with russia. it's been done with other administrations going back to jack kennedy for sure. why you would do it? looks, they had a view they

could have better relations with russia. a lot of us on congress see putin as a threat and don't think that would likely be fruitful but that was a position they had, and i think they were trying to establish relationships across the globe, and we don't know what other conversations were had with other countries during this period, i'm sure they were reaching out to dozens of countries. there's nothing illicit about doing that. what you have to show is that there was some type of bad purpose to those communications, and, of course, there's zero evidence that there was a bad purpose at this time. trish: okay, one of the complaints has been why would jared kushr try to set up the backchannel via perhaps the russian embassy itself? in other words, one of the things that came out it was suggested and not clear whether this is jared kushner, nothing is clear, i should preface this by saying nothing is clear, but per reports the russians were

suggesting the communications take place at the embassy or jared kushner was suggesting the embassy, does it expose naivete on his part to think you could have this going on? are you saying this is par for the course and what is done? >> i think that using russian facilities would not be par for the course. i would definitely advise against. that of course, we don't know whether that was something he suggested. other reporting suggesting it was the russians who brought up that. so that would not be the way to do that. i'm not sure that's what actually happened. there's a lot of different innuendo with the pieces. i think we will get the facts because there are investigations going on, and i just look back at all these stories, when people tend to get under oath, a lot of the smoke ends up clearing and not a lot of there there, this could be another example of that. trish: who do you think would

be motivated to leak this, representative? who do you think would be trying to damage jared kushner right now to put the story out into the atmosphere, shall we say? >> well, there's been a concerted effort to leak information against the administration writ large. you go back from the fisa releases with general flynn to releases involving presidential communications with foreign heads of state. so it's hard to know what the motivation for whoever leaked this was, but this is basically been par for the course. i think it's a real problem because the president is trying to conduct foreign relations and if they can't be certain that when they have the certain communications that it's not going to be leaked the next day, you know, that's a problem, so you saw that with having conversations with the leader of the philippines and the russian folks, and so this is kind of one part of that, and i think it's been an overall problem for the administration. trish: certainly, you are right on that. they've got a big issue with

the leaks and he's got to get control over it or he's never going to get anything done. because there are all these distractions in the media on a daily basis, and now targeting his son-in-law. thank you so much, representative desantis, good to have you here. >> thank you. trish: joining me now american representative resident capri cafaro, fox news contributor mercedes schlapp and hugo gurdon. good to have all of you guys here. >> thank you. trish: what is the left's take on this right now, capri? do you think that where there's smoke there's fire in this particular case or do you think the media is spinning itself out of control? >> you never know, i'm sure there is media spinning themselves out of control but i think this individual, i think, thought it was going to be a good time for him to go, and now maybe in that case where, there is smoke there's fire. trish: forgive me, perhaps i wasn't clear, i mean in terms of jared kushner.

>> oh! okay. trish: mike dubke, of course, the communications chief there who is resigning, but in terms of jared kushner, in other words, we're being told that this is actually quite common, in administration after administration has established the backchannels, but when you see the headline. >> people are freaking out. and i think that they are doing this and i think that democrats, particularly those that rllare trying to latch onto any opportunity to take down president trump are seeing this as this is -- you can't get any closer than jared kushner. he is a husband to ivanka trump, a senior adviser, and so somehow they can pin the russia issue to jared kushner, they think that they're just one step closer to creating some kind of, you know, solid argument that donald trump somehow was involved in rigging the election or trying to continue to. trish: but in the last segment,

nothing is clear. and by the way, mercedes, when you look at this information, there are many different places it could come from, it could come from the russians themselves, by the way, who might want to stir the pot a little bit and unsettle things. when you heard all of this, what was your first instinct on it. do you think that this was people trying to feed the fire when it comes to the media frenzy about this administration? >> every day the mainstream media focuses on the russia story and tries to make the links between president trump, his team and russia, is one less day that president trump is able to talk about his legislative agenda and the work he wants to do for the american people, and so it becomes a very big distraction for this white house, but i do believe as congressman desantis said that there is really nothing there, they have not proven any evidence of collusion between the russians and the trump campaign, and yes, do i believe that the russians want to

create chaos in our democratic system? absolutely. we saw it during the election and steeg play out as well, where you're seeing the contradiory sties of whether kushner wanted a backchannel communications or not. something that we know has happened in the past with presidents jo they want to create the chaos, hugo, the democrats and the media are helping them out. in other words, i think there's another group of people there. the hillary clinton holdouts that want to see the chaos. they do not want to see the administration succeed? >> absolutely. clearly the longer -- as mercedes was saying, the longer people are focusing on scandal and intrigue and nefarious goings on or alleged nefarious goings on, the longer we don't get on with the agenda. everyone should step back and say the smoke actually may be the fire. the russians wanted to undermine american democracy

and sew mistrust in it. the russians helped trump somehow steal the election and those on the other side saying, wait a minute, you are undermining the democratic decision of the country and trying prevent donald trump from getting on with his agenda. so the russians have succeeded. all this smoke is what they wanted. trish: it's a very good point. let me ask you, mercedes, about jeff sessions and we've gotten reports that he did meet with the russian ambassador but never disclosed that information. why not? is that just, once again, i go back to how business is done, or deliberately try and hide something. >> no, i spoke with the department of justice and it's very clear they asked specifically, sessions asked specifically to the fbi if he neededo list all the meetings. you have to understand the senators are constantly meeting with foreign officials, ambassadors from different countries. they said does he need to go

back and list all of the meetings. he did not. they said no. he did not list all the meetings. >> what about the guy that ran the russian bank that jared kushner met with. perhaps sean spicer will be asked that question right now. >> good afternoon, i hope you all had the opportunity to pay your respects to the brave men and women who have given their lives for our freedom yesterday on memorial day. i want to begin by recapping the historic incredible trip the president and first lady concluded. it was an extraordinary week for america and our people. in just nine days, the president traveled across europe and the middle east and interacted with nearly 100 foreign leaders. it was an unprecedented first trip abroad. four months into this administration, and it shows how quickly and decisively the president is acting to strengthen alliances to form new partnerships and rebuild america's standing in the world. we've never seen before at this point in a presidency such sweeping reassurance of

american interests in the inauguration of a foreign policy strategy designed to bring back the world from growing dangers and perpetual disasters brought on by years of failed leadership. president trump started in saudi arabia, beginning first foreign trip as president, in the nation, custodian to the hutu holiest sites in the islamic faith. the president was greeted on the tarmac and received by the kingdom and leaders throughout his stay. president's address to the leaders of more an 50 arab and muslim nationsas a historic turning point that people will be talking about for many years to come. he did exactly as he promises in his inaugural address, united the civilized world in the fight against terrorism and extremism. the president was very direct in calling on the leaders of the region to drive out the terrorists and the extremists and isolate the iranian regime that supports so much of this violence. he let american allies know

exactly what to expect going forward, what he called, quote, a principled realism rooted in common values and shared interests. laid out the case in persuasive detail why the muslim world must take the lead in combating radical realization, and concluded if the nations go forward, quote, unified and determined to do what if takes to threaten and ruin our world, the president's historic speech was met with universal praise. former cia director jim woolsey called it a courageous speech. former house speaker newt gingrich said we have to look back decades to, quote, find a comparatively dramatic moment in the history of u.s. foreign policy and former democratic representative jane harmon said she, quote, loved the idea he's going to the found of all three major religions. countless arab allies praised the president's leadership on the visit.

pral-sisi, said this is the beginning of a turning point in the relationship between the united states and the arab and islamic world. king salman and other key allies gave extraordinary speeches at the summit, underscoring how much president trump has done to rally the world against terrorism. we cannot overlook the significance of so many leaders of muslim countries coming together to fight extremists. this was a historic event in that regard alone. king salman shares the president's determination to, quote, renounce extremism and work on countering terrorism in all forms and manifestations. king abdullah agreed it demands coordination and global action at every level. he stated we are all accountable for our commitment to fight radicalization in all forms.

the visit also included historic economic development deals to the united states totaling well over half a trillion dollars in the creation of tens of thousands of american jobs. these deals include an immediate $110 billion investment which will grow to $350 billion over the next ten years in defense cooperation from saudi arabia that will further enable muslim troops to take on a greater role in fighting terrorism. president participated in the launch of a new task force to block terror funding in the gulf. the opening of a center for combating extremist ideology and 30 commercial deals that include companies like lockheed martin, raytheon, boeing, ge, dow, honeywell, emerson, alcoa and cisco among others that will result in additional $270 billion of saudi investment in american businesses and american job the president then went to israel where he was received with incredible warmth. he strengthened america's

unbreakable bonds with israel, made the first-ever visit by sitting american president to the western wall, and gave a highly praised address at israel museum as part of the continuing effort to rally nations together in the fight against terrorism and common enemies. the moving address spoke of a future which, quote, children around the world will be able to live without fear, dream without limits and prosper without violence. he said i asked this land to promise to join me to fight our common enemies to pursue shared values and protect the dignity of every child of god. the president also visited yadveshem. he met with prime minister netanyahu and prime minister abbas which they agreed they are prepared to work towards. he discussed leaders of cooperation against terrorism. prime minister netanyahu said,

quote, for the first time in my life i see real hope for change, and leading israel publications wrote trump carried out a semi revolution. from israel the president traveled to rome where he met with pope francis at the vatican. they had a very productive conversation about combating isis and other terrorist groups, protecting religious liberty and numerous issues. the president and the first lady were incredibly honored by the visit. the president attended the nato summit in brussels where he boldly stood up for american taxpayers by calling on other nato countries to pay fair share on a speech delivered with the leaders of all of nato's countries, all present. hard working americans saw a leader represent them and their security on the international stage. president also urged nato to adapt the alliance to effectively combat terrorism. the members stage unanimously agreed on the priorities, the secretary-general was extremely complimentary of the

president's work to dramatically strengthen the alliance by getting member states to increase contributions. finally the president traveled to the g7 summit in sicily where they discussed how to better promote prosperity and security for each of the countries. meetings were marked by outstanding success that we see reflected in the communique that was issued. they include a commitment to fostering a true level playing field. g7 leaders endorse the right to control borders and endorsed in the communique, the policy outlined by president trump to seek resettlement of refugees as close as possible to home countries so they can be part of an eventual rebuilding. this language on migration and refugees was a major shift towards the shift of the president. the g7 formally also condemned the use of chemical weapons and needless to say the president's leadership was critical in setting the priorities for the nation. in addition, the president met

with prime minister abe of japan, they agreed on enhanced sanctions with respect to north korea. the president concluded trip with address to the servicemembers and families at naval station to thank them for service on memorial day weekend and deliver another strong message about the unity in the fight against terrorism. then yesterday president trump spoke at arlington national cemetery. this is an extraordinarily successful and historic nine-day trip the president took. he accomplished the return of a strong america to international affairs, took real steps towards peace in the middle east and renewed our alliances on the basis of shared interests and shared burdens. the trip sets the stage for a much more safe and prosperous nation here at home and peaceful world for all. we're back at home now and the president and his cabinet are moving full steam ahead on the president's agenda. his plan for the most significant tax reform

continues to progress, led by secretary mnuchin and director cohn. the team held meetings, secretary mnuchin met with the house ways and means committee, republican and democrat members, the freedom caucus and the republican study committee. the vice president also discussed tax reform with leaders on capitol hill. providing opportunity for business leaders and job creators to give us inputs on what reforms are necessary to allow us to grow jobs and the economy. this morning, the president met with environmental protection agency director prewitt. one of the topics the president's upcoming decision on the paris climate accords. as i told you overseas, this is the subject the president is spending a great deal of time on and one he spoke to the g7 members about during the meetings. he wants a fair deal for the american people and will have an announcement shortly. also today, the president's

trade representative ambassador lighthizer, having meetings with some from the vietnamese government ahead of tomorrow's visit between the president and the prime minister. u.s. trade representative will update on the meetings this afternoon. ambassador lighthizer will be speaking at the chamber of commerce gala this evening for the vietnamese prime minister. that speech should be available via the u.s. chamber's facebook page. during speech, ambassador lighthizer will highlight the relationships with vietnam over two decades while underscoring and addressing the challenges presented by the recent sharp increase in trade deficit with vietnam. as the president made abundantly clear, unfair trade practices hit workers through a robust and varied trade agenda strengthening relationships with partners like vietnam

through american businesses throughout the world. with that, i'll take your questions. >> reporter: to the issue of the russia probe, i'm wondering, sean, if you can tell us when the president knew, whether the president knew that jared kushner was seeking to establish that channel of communications at the russian embassy through the russian government and if he didn't know at the time, when did he find out? >> i think that assumes a lot. mr. kushner's attorney said mr. kushner has volunteered to congress at the meetings and will do so in connection with any other inquiry. >> reporter: did the president discuss it? >> i'm not going to get into what the president did or did not discuss. what your question assumes is facts unsubstantiated by anonymous sources that are being leaked out. >> reporter: have they approved of the action? >> you're asking if he approves of an action that is not a confirmed action. that being said, secretary kelly and general mcmaster discussed in general terms, backchannels are an appropriate

part of diplomacy. >> reporter: did the white house -- >> i'm not going to get into it. your question presupposes facts that have not been nfirmed. francesca. >> reporter: the president retweeted article based on an anonymous source that said there was an effort to set up a backchannel, that it was a russian who suggested it and it was to talk about syria. was the president not confirming that there was an effort in the fact they just said. >> i think what i said speaks for itself. >> reporter: but you said that first of all that the article was based on anonymous sources. >> which it is. >> reporter: but the fox article that the president retweeted was based on anonymous sources. why is the source more credible than the one in the "washington post" article? >> there's two issues at hand. one is the statement that jared's attorney provided. the second is whether or not the dossier that is largely

discredited in the first place, most of the publications refuse to publish it in the first place. i'm not going to get into confirming stuff. there's an ongoing investigation, john. excuse me. >> reporter: thank you, sean, i had two questions, first the president for the second time in a month retweeted his desire for the senate to reduce the votes to pass anything to 51, which would effectively scuttle the filibuster for legislation as it has been scuttled for nominations. is this something he discussed with the majority leader mcconnell or any of the senate leadership before he tweeted it? >> the pace of the senate has been longstanding. the filibuster is up to senator mcconnell. the frustration with the pace of the legislation and the obstructionist tactics that

democrats employed, whether it's his cabinet nominees or other pieces of legislation is well documented. >> reporter: he wants to scrap the filibuster entirely? >> he wants to see action done, john, that's what the president wants. whether it's the delays the democrats posed to nominees. or pieces of legislation. he wants action, wants to see things moved through the house and the senate. especially when you have a majority support and people stop playing games. >> reporter: i want to mention that before he left to go abroad, the president praised philippine president duterte for his action against drug dealers and dealing with them. various human rights groups have condemned president duterte saying a lot of the executions of drug dealers have been done without trial. does the president stand by words of praise for the philippine president. >> the president recognizes the need to combat drugs and

believes in human rights with several countries, one of the reasons he's reviewing the cuba policy, et cetera. he wants human rights as something he's discussed in private with several countries. zeke? >> reporter: tomorrow is the deadline for the obama waiver. has the president made it clear whether or not he'll sign another waiver? >> no. >> reporter: and [inaudible] in the next 24 hours? >> when the president has a decision to make, we'll let you know. >> repr:nd the isis review is one with the afghanistan review, the status of those, you mentioned the paris will be here this week, what about the other two? >> i think on the afghanistan review, he's reviewing that from his department of defense. when we have an announcement, we'll let you know, sarah? >> reporter: thanks, the president said on sunday he thinks republicans should, quote, add more dollars to

health care and make it the best anywhere. what does he mean by that? >> there's a lot of savings coming out of the repeal and replace effort, we're at $119 billion we saved through the president's efforts, and i think health care has been something that the president's been very clear on throughout his time as a candidate, well throughout his presidency to make sure the american people get the care and accessibility they need. he understands how important health care is and the bottom line is understand people have quality, successful health care. >> reporter: does it mean cost share in reduction payments, what does he mean? >> the bill is in progress, obviously it's in the senate right now. and he's willing to do what it takes. >> reporter: following on zeke's questions, afghanistan is the country with the longest war. how much more american -- does he think it's a winnable conflict?

>> the conflict, he wants to defeat isis, al qaeda. he wants to defeat threats to defeat terrorism. i read to you throughout the trip that was the common thread. uniting the muslim world, talking about it with prime minister netanyahu and president abbas. talking about it even with the pope that wherever he went on the nine-day trip, protecting our country, protecting the world's people was at the front of that discussion, and i think he wants to do whatever he has to do to make sure our country and people are safe. that's why he's asked for the review. >> reporter: the president tweeted over the weekend that it was going, quote, very well. you used the word progress. however, republicans on the hill tell us the president tweeted today maybe they should reverse the filibuster rolls. what is it going very well at this point in time? >> i think the reception that secretary mnuchin and others on the staff have gotten from

leadership from the ways and means committee and senate finance committee, et cetera is going well, obviously, in the business community. as i mentioned to the previous question, part of the reason he's frustrated with the senate rules is when there is a majority of key issues in the confirmation progress, he thinks it's standing in the way of progress that the american people have asked for. >> the president will be meeting with two candidates this afternoon. both chris ray and john pistol. one the president feels as though he met with the right candidate, he'll let us know. but he will meet with candidates today and continue to do so until he finds the right leader. >> are they the two finalists at this point?

>> the president is the ultimate decision-maker. when he makes a decision as to who the he believes is best to lead the fbi, he will let us know. katie. >> the president tweeted it was going well. does the white house still believe that tax reform and health care is going to get better? >> just so we're clear, two separate issues. one is the talks secretary mnuchin and the staff have had with respect to the president's tax reform proposal is extremely welcoming. i think the president in general finds it frustrating the way some -- how the senate operates. and, again, i'm dating this back to the hold up that they had on some of these unbelievably well quantified nominees. so they're not -- we're not -- we don't want to mix this two issues together. but i think he feels very encouraged by the reception.

secretary mnuchin had talked about while that was a goal that we're going to continue to work as hard as we can to get it done. but we have a bold agenda. 's agenda is in full swing. [question off mic] how important is that relationship to the white house and the president and the american public? >> i think the relationship that the president has had with merkel he would describe is fairly unbelievable. they get along very well. heas l orespect for her. they continue grow the bond that they had during their talks in the g7. and not just germany but the rest of europe as an important american ally during his conversations at nato and at the g7, the president reaffirmed the need to deepen and improve our transatlantic relationship. >> and how did he view that she felt that europe could no longer depend on the united

states. >> well, that's not what she said. since you're misquoting, let me read what she actually said. she said the time when europe could rely solely is in the past. this means working in friendship with the u.s., uk, russia, and other partners. that's great. that's what called for. he called if on additional chairing. secretary of nato said the president called what's moving him in the right direction. the president is getting results. more countries are stepping up. they're burden sharing. that is a good thing for them. it's a good thing for nato, and it's a good thing for america. scott. >> has the president been meeting with lawyers, especially about defending himself -- [question off mic] >> i'm not going to dignify

partisan accusations of anonymous sources and alleged -- unsubstantiated. it's -- so i'm not even going to -- >> the president has a lot of meetin. theresident has a decision on anything, we'll be sure to let you know. >> first, welcome back. when you were all gone, of course we understand what happened in montana with now congressman, i think it's a misdemeanor charge of assault. will this administration take a stand against violence against reporters? >> it will take a stand on violence against any individual. >> you all have been the ones come out screaming against fake media. would you support legislation of real reporting, such as this asked you before. >> we have a constitution, brian, that supports the first

amendment. anyone in this country the freedom of expression, we support that. . >> the second question. when you say you're going to try to defeat isis and al-qaeda, what are you doing to eliminate the abject poverty that is the breeding ground for the terrorism? . >> as we mentioned before, his national security team is together a holistic solution to isis. we'll have something on it when that is complete. >> you said back channel is -- >> i didn't say that. secretary mcmaster commented more on that. >> add more to that. how is it appropriate that someone who's a private citizen not sworn in as an official of the u.s. government to conduct some diplomacy with a foreign official? >> again, i would refer you to secretary kelly and mcmaster

said how they can be important to diplomacy. >> but at a time, there was no one who was close to the president who was working an official government capacity. how is that appropriate? >> again, i think that both of those individuals who are in national security foreign policy have said that that can be an effective tool, generally speaking in diplomacy. shannon. >> i know the president hasn't made a public decision on the agreement. i know you don't want to get out ahead of him. but on a more broad issue of climate change, can you say whether the president think so human activity is weighing on the climate? >> i haven't asked him. i'll get back to you. >> do you feel that's a decision that he's trying to make? >> i don't know. i haven't asked him that specific question. >> just real quick follow-up. so as part of the tweet about wanting to add more money to get better health care, would the president consider putting back some of the obamacare taxes that was taken out of the health bill?

would he be in support of keeping taxes in there and help pay for health care? >> again, let's -- that negotiation is on going with the senate, and i don't want to say what the president may or may not want to do. deborah. >> angela merkel's quote europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands. how did the president react to that? and will it have any affect on paris? >> the president believes that europe and other nato countries increase their burden sharing is a very positive thing for their own countries, for nato as a whole, and for the united states to see these individuals heed the call that he has so eloquently put out over the last several -- frankly well over a year. but when you look at the comments that the secretary general made, he recognizes that the president's rhetoric

has had an extremely positive effect on the strengthening of nato and other countries stemming up the percent of their own gdp that they're putting toward their common national defense. that benefits everybody. it benefits us, it benefits nato, it benefits themselves. >> will it have any effect on the -- >> obviously what he ultimately decides is up to him. [question off mic] >> i don't think so. i think the president is very pleased with his team, and he has a robust agenda that i just outlined that he's working with congress to achieve rebuttal with the american people. >> is the white house considering changing his method at all? >> well, i don't think that there's anything that we

haven't said before about how the president has an unbelievably qualified cabinet. ultimately the best merge is the president himself. he's always proven that that he is the best messenger. not just for what he wants to articulate but the american poem chose him as their president emends the concerns and the values of the american people, and he's the best person to communicate that. [question off mic. >> i think he's very pleased with the work of the staff. i think he is frustrating like i am and so many others to see stories come out that are pat he will not false to see narratives that are wrong, to see, quote, unquote, fake news. when you see stories get perpetrated that are absolutely false, that are not based in fact, that is troubling. and he's rightly concerned. >> can you give an example of fake news, sean? >> yeah. absolutely.

i'll give you an example. friday the president was having a great discussion at the g7 and someone from the bbc and ultimately an incoming reporter from the new york times retweeted that the president was being rude by disrespecting the italian prime minister. when, in fact, you all and every one of the meetings we sit in watch the president with that one earpiece that has been used by other presidents and yet the president did a great job at nato. building stronger bonds, increasing america's presence around the world. and that's what another reporter who is joining the new york times push out with no -- you're shaking your heads here. it's true. you did it. no. no. >> reporters make mistakes. >> but that is fake. that is a fake -- >> your trip was all over the front page. you're making it out of one tweet. >> with all due respect, i was asked to give an example, and

i did it. i gave an answer to jim. the problem is that i think the president to the question gets frustrated when he sees fake stories get published, things that aren't based in fact and a narrative gets pushed. that's just -- with all due respect, that is frustrating. i'm not -- i didn't come here with a list of things. but i think -- well, thank you. i appreciate it. what you get to decide what's vague and what's not, there's a lot of this stuff that has gotten pushed out based on unnamed unaccountable sources that is very troubling and when you see it happening over and over again, it is concerning, and i think the president fought very hard to bring back jobs. you have over half a million dollars of investment that's going to grow jobs, grow our economy. that should be a big story. the president results when it came to fighting terrorism with a big thing. the idea that we're standing

up a global center to fight extremism in saudi arabia that's uniting muslim countries. that's a big deal. i think -- >> an overhaul of the communication of fake news. >> i know so now you want to go back to that. what i'm telling you is that the reason the president is frustrated is because there's a perfect pechuation, a false narrative, unnamed sources over and over again, and i think that is troubling. thank you, guys, very much. >> sean spicer going on the attack there, i want to take a quick look at the markets there. we're 45 points off the lows of the session nonetheless. here with me to digest what we just heard. mercedes, i'll start with you. this is, i would say a calmer

sean spicer than what we have perhaps seen over the last several weeks, although he did start to get fired up where the opportunity was to cite some fake news. but how do you think he did in terms of answering some of these estions about jared kushner and what he may or may not have known or done with the russians? >> well, first of all, i think the press secretary is the toughest jobs in the white house. i worked when i was press secretary and the media shop, and it's very challenging. and in particular under this administration, it becomes like a combat zone between the reporters and sean spicer. so i think the key for the press secretary is not to have to make additional news. it's just to deliver the president's message of the day, the activities that are happening, and then move on and not allow the emotions to play out. so i think his handling of the kushner situation is exactly what needed to happen. i think it's very clear that we've seen time and time again

back channel communications occur between, you know, the united states and foreign governments. but with the case of the media, this mainstream media is so obsessed with the russian narrative that that is where they're going to go every single time, and they're going to -- is the president thinking russian vodka, that would be a story. that would say he would have ties with the russians. so it's very -- it's interesting to see how, you know, he -- i think he handles it in the right tone to basically say this is what -- >> we were a little surprised that sean spicer mentioned that, which i should point out reputable news organizations were not going about. to serve your point, mercede the media is so hungry for anything, they're trying to connect the dots because

capri, they know the answer; right? to them and to a lot of them democrats that wanted hillary clinton in the oval office, something had to have happened. something nefarious had to have happened because god forbid how on earth could donald trump be the president of this country? so they're looking for any little thing and, you know, something that may or may not be a fact of a particular case. somebody gets blown up in a way that i would argue is not necessarily healthy for where our country is now. >> nor question about that, trish. i think there's obviously something happening here where democrats and maybe the media however you want to, you know, put that together, mainstream media democrats, and i say this as a democrat. but i see what's happening here is that it is becoming more about politics and less about the nation. so we need to make donald trump look like he has done something wrong because we need to derail the agenda, we need to create an excuse for

hillary clinton's loss, and i say, and i say this all the time democrats need to come to the table with solutions. that's why we have three branches of government, why we return to regular order. >> you agreed that you don't like donald trump. i keep saying that the democrats turned into just the anti -- >> and i think that's the wrong move. and that is not going to give us electoral victories in 2018. we -- i always say democrats don't win elections, republicans lose them. and it's because we have not been able to find our voice. we cannot be anti-donald trump, regardless of how we feel about the way he presents himself on twitter or some of his policies, regardless of how we feel about donald trump, we need to present ourselves as a viable alternative that makes america's lives better. and if donald trump is not successful in his agenda and the jobs aren't coming in and the market goes down or whatever the situation may be,

nafta doesn't get -- trish: you and i have seen eye to eye on this in the beginning in that the wrong candidate was run. the democrats bet on the wrong horse, shall we say. and you can't just give something to someone because maybe it's their time. the problem hillary clinton had and frankly the democrats continue to have, hugo, is that they have always been the party of the working class. and they abandoned that working class. they became the party of the elites of hollywood of the cool kids, of the 0.01% of the population that's transgender. in other words, they lost touch with their working class roots and, you know, i don't know if just being antitrump is going to get any of that back. >> it certainly isn't. and, in fact, i think quite a lot of the antitrump attacks is actually strengthening him. cementing in place some of the support that he has from this people. hillary clinton did ignore, and we've discussed this

before where she didn't go to several states. and her husband, who is obviously an extremely successful politician and won twice and remains popular was begging the campaign to go to places like michigan and the indurial midwest, and they ignored him. so, yeah, they took this votes for granted and now they lost him. >> it's very important what's missing, and i think it was a bit missing in sean spicer's briefing was this economic message. bring jobs back to america. that's what this trump voters who are not committed to a democratic party or republican party want to hear. travel to these rust belt states communities who are longing for this message and talking about how he's going to create economic growth. >> it's a great message and already we started to see some improvements in the economy, and i think that, you know, the psychology of all of this, you cannot underestimate. when business owners, they look at a guy like that in the

white house, and they say he gets it. he knows what it's like to have to deal with all the red tape and the regulation and to deal with an environment such as we were dealing with that seems so hostile. granted, donald trump is the opposite of that. yet the challenge of being the chief executive, of the united states of america is that it also comes with the necessary evil that you have to -- you've got to appease different parties; right? and different faxes. and if you're used to kind of just getting your way, is that a very steef learning curve? >> i think it's largely president trump's largest challenge. for better or worse, he was a chairman of a company, a privately-owned company, it came from a family business from his father which he learned in the process of building his own empire. so unlike someone even like rex tillerson who was the ceo

of exxonmobil who had to answer to shareholders and board of directors, donald trump really only had himself to answer to. and that is a stark contrast to what it's like in washington having to deal with the gridlock that is the house and the senate and the groups. >> i've always said the fact that he was a businessman, that's really one of his big selling points. because i appreciate what he has done, what he has created, the hurdles and obstacles he has overcome to be such a success. but at the same time, it's different being the ceo of your own private company than the ceo of ge where you have board of directors and shareholders and everyone's. >> he's used to saying jump and people say how high? but he has not understood the constitutional position of the government. he has to win people over. and one of the characteristics

of his administration so far has been the roll out of policies, whether it was the first travel ban or waiting for the cbo score of the obamacare repeal and replace. and they haven't got all their ducks in a row. what happened as a result of that is the democrats have been able to control the messaging, and he needs to realize that he needs more in place than just his decision. trish: i have to leave it there. we have a lot more coming up, everyone. including new intel that we're getting right now on the new fbi director, so stay tuned. the whole team is ba aft this you always pay

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trish: white house press secretary sean spicer just wrapping up his first press brfi since the president left for his overseas trip i want to go to blake burman, he was there live at the white

house, he was in the briefing, and he has more details on who might be next fbi. hey, there, blake. >> in the middle of all the things going on here at the white house, the president coming back from his first foreign trip. you might forget before the president left for that trip, he was almost narrowing in on his fbi director, but that all blew up a little bit when the top candidate joe lieberman had withdrawn his name from consideration. well, the white house press secretary sean spicer telling me moments ago that there are now two candidates that will be interviewing with the president here at the white house today. one name might be familiar to you to you, the other probably not. that first candidate, john pistol. he was the former head of the transportation administration about four years under president obama's watch. and then before that, he was the deputy can director of the fbi appointed during the george w. bush years and then worked there during the years of president obama as well before he left to the tsa. the second candidate, an attorney here in dc by the

name of chris ray. a former litigator at the department of justice who now is interviewing for one of the biggest jobs in all of washington, d.c. however, the press secretary spicer would not definitively say when the president might make up his mind. watch. >> where does the fbi director stand john pistol. is he at the white house interviewing today? is he the leader candidate at this point? >> the president will be meeting with two additional candidates this afternoon. both chris ray and john pistol when the president feels as though he's met with the right candidate, he'll let us know. but will meet with candidates today and coue to do s until he finds the right ader. >> the with it finalists at this point? are they the two finalists or two of a. >> the president's the ultimate decision-maker. and when he makes a decision as to who believes is best to lead the fbi, he will let us know. >> so, trish, one of the big decisions president trump will

be making we believe soon. another one the white house secretary sean spicer would not say which way he may be leaning. fbi, taxes,'s firstborn trip just a little bit what you saw in that briefing there. >> a whole lot of stuff going on, of course. let me ask you this, blake. are you getting any sense that people are sorry at all, regret the fact that comey was fired the way he was? >> that's a good question. you know, we really haven't heard from folks on that end. there's been some reporting out there that jared kushner was the one who kind of led this. but, no, on that end, no. and the focus really here, trish. trish: it just makes you wonder if there's any retaliation, where exactly all of this is coming from. anyway, blake, thank you very much. we'll be right back app ready to. app ready to. in 12 weeks. yeah. ♪ ♪ the world of fast food is being changed by faster networks.

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trish: reach out on twitter, facebook. you can follow me on twitter at trish regan, and we'll go from there. i always love hearing the feedback. tell me what you thought of today's show and what you think of all of these links. liz claman, over to you. liz: we have some breaking news on uber. we do get that for you in a second. it's just hitting the tape. in the meantime, a shakeup at the white house as two new candidates for fbi director emerge. these after effects from the president's first trip abroad are lingering. press secretary sean spicer just wrapped up that daily briefing moments ago. the markets are off the lows. he didn't say anything that frightened, but heid address the white house communications director as well as the two men meeting at the white house for the fbi role this afternoon, including former tsa director john pistol. spicer also addressing reports that donald trump's son-in-law and senior adviser jared