>> announcer: "this week" starts right now. >> president trump oe de some c. because i wasn't happy. >> firing another cabinet member by tweet, slamming amazon and surprising his foreign policy team with this -- >> we'll be coming out of syria very soon. let this other people take care of it now. >> after the eighth high profile departure will trump keep cleaning house? is his off the cuff style working? what are the risks of an i am pro sags al presidency? and -- >> thank you for making america great again. >> roseanne's come back strikes a cord. the president congratulated her. his voters helped her score record ratings. what is the message for hollywood and washington? plus -- >> we stand in the most segregated hour of america.

>> 50 years ago this week martin luther king assassinated. his friend and fellow pioneer for civil rights andrew young join us this morning. we'll break down the politics, smoke out the spin, the facts that matter this week. >> announcer: from abc news it's "this week" here now george stephanopoulos. >> good morning on this easter sunday. celebrated by so many christians around the world. there you see thousands worshipping at the vatican. we offer up our best wishes for passover. president trump is spending the holiday at mar-a-lago. capping what passes for a quiet week of his presidency. it started with the stormy daniels interview and the fresh threat to trump in the courts and va secretary david shulkin fired by tweet. trump's pick to replace him his personal physician dr. ronnie jackson. there was that surprise shift on national security. an ohio speech supposed to be focussed on infrastructure the president announced his

intention to pull troops out of syria. blind siding the pentagon and state department. with so many top advisers headed for the exits, president trump is happy to say and do what he wants when he wants. this week at least he can take some comfort in new pool numbers show his approval rating creeping into the 40s, a slow but steady climb from vent lows. we have a great group to talk about it. joined by chris christie, donna brazil, alex castionas, jennifer jacobs. chris, let me begin with you. i'm not sure if it's a new phase. clearly he's got a new group around him, people more in tune with what he wants to do. >> i think this should have happened in the beginning. the "washington post" story on the presidential personnel

office tells you everything you need to know. he was ill-served right from the beginning by a group of people who threw all the transition work. 35, 8-inch binders of vetting of over 350 people that were consistent with his views that they threw in the garbage after the election and started over. he's been ill-served from the beginning. when he says i'm starting to get the cabinet i think i want, it's because he is getting people around him consistent with what he thinks and personality wise consistent with who he is. he was ill-served by bannon and dearborn and others around him in the beginning. i think he's finally starting to move in another direction. >> the president is operating as if he's on the 26th floor of the trump tower. >> he's not? >> he's operating like that. he's running the government like he ran the trump organization, by himself, home alone. extreme staff turnover, 48%, six

cabinet secretaries. there's a degree of chaos that this president likes around him. he doesn't seem to want a lot of what i call different viewpoints in the room. he's purging the government. >> donna, that's not exactly true. he got ill-served from the beginning. >> what's not true? >> he doesn't like different viewpoints. he does. i've been there. i'm usually the one giving him different viewpoints at times. that's why i'm still here. he'll give you a hard time back. the fact of the matter is -- >> that's why you're here and not inside the government. >> he does seem to be working around chief of staff john kelly. >> he does it. turns out this was the calm year of trump's presidency. now we're getting to a disruptive one. that's a good thing. when things are going well in the country you want discipline. that's not why donald trump was elected. things were not going well. he's the rock americans wanted to throw through washington's

window. he's disrupting experience and continuity. it's going well so far. isis has been crushed. 98% of it gone. an economic opening up. deregulation and growing. huge tax cuts. he got through it. nobody thought he could. here, here for disruption. >> jennifer, it causes confusion inside the white house after the white house strikes a deal with south korea on trade. the president says i'm not sure i'm going to abide by it. of course that announcement on syria blind-sided everyone on the national security staff. >> you have to keep in mind how much he wants to be the president who solves north korea. you have to understand how much he's driven by that. so many of his moves with china and south korea are based on his desire to be the president of the united states that did what president obama couldn't do and he solved the denuclearization of north korea. keep that in mind. i'm told the turnover is going to decrease. the white house isn't expecting more turnover between now and the midterms. there might be more cabinet shuffling. he's pretty happy with his

cabinet right now. one thing you have to understand about trump he doesn't see this turnover as chaos as the media keeps describing it. he sees -- >> that's the word too. >> absolutely. he sees his agenda as being slow walked. he was very frustrated with the omnibus spending bill. he didn't get a lot of his agenda through. he's frustrated with some of his cabinet members impeding in his way of thinking what he wants to get done quickly. when he got rid of rex tillerson, mcmaster, shulkin he sees that as a way to get on with his agenda. >> not much is going to get done with congress the remaining of this year. >> certainly not. it's interesting to hear alex talk about success and governor christie to say this is with a should have happened in the first place. governor, with deep respect you ran a mature transition process, that was thrown out the window,

but there were some adults that managed to get in the room. now it's turned into romper room. when you say he has people who are consistent with his views, i don't know what that is when he changes his mind on gun policy, trade policy, whether or not he's going to sign the budget deal. >> i can tell you what it is. >> it's a time of chaos and a time when he's surrounded by cabinet officers with one conflict after another. >> the american people knew who they were voting for. they didn't think they were voting for people standing at the head of the ship -- >> unemployment was less than 5% and more energy dependent than we've ever been. >> what they've seen is a tax system this is significantly decreased taxes, increases jobs. you've seen the best employment numbers in a very long time. let's put that aside. go back to your main point. this is a president who is going to lead based upon his gut, what he thinks he wants to do.

you can agree or disagree. that's who he is. sometimes it leads him to firing somebody or hiring somebody like john bolton. this is the way this guy makes decisions. >> donna, one of the questions is what does it mean for the russian investigation? john dodd was resisting this in person interview with robert mueller. trying to reach some sort of compromise. the president says he wants it. that could be dangerous. >> that is very dangerous, george. the president has been shopping around for a lawyer. ted olson said no. he went after another lawyer. no. the president needs a good stable team of legal advisers around this russia investigation. this investigation is going to uncover more things than the president realized. let's be very honest, we have got to put every card on the table. the russians, meddled it had an

impact on the 2016 election. i'm happy that the president -- i'm going to say something nice. it's easter. >> don't go crazy. >> don't worry. i'm pleased he expelled those russian spies and closed the consulate in seattle. i'm pleased there's money in the omnibus to help state and local government, but he needs good legal advisement. he cannot keep shooting from the hip. >> it's hard to believe that president trump who has flouted his way to business success, that robert mueller is not going to dig up something in trump's complicated financial history. it's hard to believe when republicans lose the house in 2018 maybe by 30 or 40 seats. that that house is maybe not going to impeach him. it's also hard to believe the u.s. senate is not going to be

scared to death is not going to take a serious look. get good legal team now because the storm is coming. >> there is no one on president trump's team that can reach the luster that mueller has there. >> right. another point i want to make, if trump says he wants to meet with mueller, i predict he's going to do it. trump is very good at telegraphing what he's going to do in the future. >> i think this is a negotiating ploy. he's never going to do that. >> as a former u.s. attorney, i've said this all along. i've said it here before, george. he should never walk into that room with robert mueller. in the end one of the things that makes the president who he is is that he's a salesman. salesmen tend to be hyperbolic. that's okay when you're on the campaign trail. that's okay when you're working on congress. it is not okay talking to federal agents. 18 usc 1001 is false statements to federal agents. that's a crime that could send

you to jail. >> you mention the president and chemistry with his staff. that's certainly with his replacement at the va, dr. ronnie jackson. this performance caught the president's eye. >> who eats mcdonald's and diet cokes and never exercises, is he as good as shape as he's in? >> it's called genetics. i don't know. some people have great genes. i told the president if he had a healthier diet he might live to be 200 years old. i don't know. he has incredible genes. >> you knew dr. jackson. >> a fine man. >> fine man, fine physician, service in iraq. getting a lot of questions asked about his experience. >> dr. jackson really is a fine man. i know many attacked his integrity after that press conference. an honest public servant. you have to call into question whether this is somebody who has

the capacity to take on the second largest bureaucracy that exists inside the federal government, an agency challenged even under the most competent leadership. it seems that donald trump is interested in rewarding loyalty than competence for our veterans at this critical juncture. >> things are going great at the va with all the experienced people who run it before? claims shot up through the roof. veterans whose lives were being destroyed by the pause button. now shulkin comes in and accelerates those claims and appeals go through the roof. these veterans thing they've been wronged. this is thanks -- >> alex, with respect -- >> the argument for -- >> for far too -- >> nobody wants that. >> for far too long people get on television and disparage the veteran's administration. >> it was disservicing --

>> there is remarkable work being done there. >> it was disserved by your administration by the way. >> of course it's difficult to manage that size of bureaucracy. >> that's not good enough. >> what are the prospects for dr. jackson in the senate? >> the white house thinks more information will come out about dr. jackson during the vetting process. >> positive information? >> positive information. they are planning a strategy for making sure people know his accomplishments. he did do managerial work at walter reed. secretary shulkin offered him a job last fall as under secretary of the va. they think people will get to know him better. that's the strategy. >> george we tried every model at the va. former military guy, we tried a corporate executive, now david shulkin who i know well. he was a hospital head in new jersey while i was governor. he's a competent good guy. i feel bad for him this week in

the terms of hicm being let go. the president is trying a new model. he's aware they've tried other models. who knows if it will work? these other models who have not work. >> i'm a daughter of a veteran. >> my dad received great care at the va. we hope someone is there who is competent and understands the job and can get the job done. >> no one put on the table -- >> the va service -- >> that is -- >> opening -- >> look we have a new economy. the reason it's growing is because it's an open economy. trump has an idea to open up the va. veterans can still have the va but also have a choice. at least that's change and maybe progress. >> open in what way, alex? you mean private saigs? >> no. giving people a choice, like

you can choose what kind of car you buy. if they're held on the line and can't get to see a va doctor -- >> does that choice come with huge budget cuts? if it does, that leads of private saigs here. >> i'm sorry. has someone accused donald trump of being a small spender here? >> i'll also say if you travel around the country as i did, there are lots of places in this country where there's not a va center close. >> true. >> part of what the president is talking about is if you can't -- if it's not convenient for you, why should you have to travel that long distance. go to a local hospital. it may mean more spending. as alex said, the president loves veterans. he's been vocal about it. that may be another place he has to spend more money. >> one other thing the president loved, the come back of roseanne. record ratings on tuesday night. the president follows ratings very closely. made a call to roseanne. here's what he said on thursday. >> look at roseanne.

i called her yesterday. look at her ratings. they were unbelievable. over 18 million people. it was about us. they haven't figured it out. the fake news hasn't quite figured it out yet. >> the president loves people who love him. roseanne an outspoken supporter of trump. plays it in the series. donna, is there a message here for democrats and hollywood? >> the portrayal of white working class americans, they're often ignored, just like poor people are ignored. to see yourself on television and people who act like you, that's great. i have to tell you. this was my first time watching roseanne. i missed it. >> you were too busy. >> i was too busy in 1988, 1997. i liked fact they didn't mention trump. i saw it as a family struggling

with how to deal with the partisan divide and not a family taking a stance one way or another. >> we're all shocked here in new york. it turns out there are working class americans out there? hard to believe. the thing that's going to make this show successful is that it's not pro trump, but it is respectful of trump voters of that working class blue collar america that has been disrespected by the very people they've sent to washington to represent them, by the very people who sell them news and create their entertainment. it respects their point of view and says it's worth debate. >> this is more of the mythology we have around the politics of grievance. the fact is that the majority of americans who earn less than $50,000 a year actually voted for donald trump's opponent. there's a lot of myth making around. what working class is and how

it's defined. i will say that roseanne's original show was fantastic, iconic, incredibly funny. i'm looking forward to watching the new series. i'm not surprised by the ratings in the least. i agree with you alex, there is a way that hollywood has long neglected the stories of people who are not elite, who are not the richest people in the country. it's great to see this. >> one thing we know for sure -- >> hold on. >> one thing we know for sure -- >> we've had -- >> the president is watching "roseanne." roseanne has his ear. it's a reminder to trump about the people he wants to see more prosperous. he doesn't want to spend more money in syria. building schools and hospitals in syria. he wants to see that money here. >> then he should support the teachers on strike in west virginia. >> oh please. >> he shouldn't -- >> he'll support a teacher, but he's not going -- >> i'm not going to agree.

>> he should not support the teachers? >> one at a time. >> this is going to end for the teacher's union. >> governor -- >> you can't support -- >> this is going to end for the teachers -- >> governor, i know you get animated when we talk about the unions. >> public sector unions. i love the private sector ones. >> if you look at the statistics where the men outweigh the women, if you look at the department of labor, agencies like the epa, you see one administrators after another who are governing over those interests that are working against miner ness west virginia who will now inhale more black lung than they ever did because of deregulation. >> a lot of questions by greg pruitt. abc reported he had this deal

getting $50 a night for an apartment owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist. is this the end for greg pruitt? >> scott pruitt. >> scott pruitt e excuse me. >> i've heard he has irritated the white house quite a bit with this. i understand that he perhaps was on shaky ground even before this news came out which was first reported by abc that he was living in a condo a few blocks away from the capital for a very low rate. it's the appearance of impropriety. americans don't like to see their cabinet secretaries appearing to take advantage of their place of power. even if it's just to get a cheap condo or enriching themselves. the white house isn't particularly thrilled. >> george -- >> for that price -- >> this goes back to the beginning of this conversation. this was a brutally unprofessional transition. it was a transition that didn't vet people for judgment issues. you cannot do this with rick dearborn and steve bannon on the

back of an envelope in 73 days. the president has been ill-served by this. if mr. pruitt is going to go -- >> does he have to go? >> i don't know how you survive this. if he has to go, it's because he never should have been there. >> in the spirit of roseanne, to bring us all together, i think we can agree we need a more competent level of corruption in the swamp. hope the trump administration can get that fixed. >> that has to be the last word right now. up next we'll take a deeper look at the midterms and we'll talk about what the democrats need to do with a red state democrat who promised to work with president trump. that's alabama center doug jones. >> announcer: "this week" brought to you by bdo investors and advisers.

the roasted core wrap.belly fat. 3, 2, 1... not cool. freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting? now that's cool! coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. and no surgery. results and patient experience may vary. some rare side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort and swelling. ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you and visit coolsculpting.com today... for your chance to win a free treatment. i'm joy bauer, and as a nutritionist i know probiotics can often help. try digestive advantage. it is tougher than your stomach's harsh environment, so it surivies a hundred times better than the leading probiotic.

get the digestive advantage. kevin, meet yourkeviner. kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin trusted advice for life. kevin, how's your mom? life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you.

>> announcer: catch "this week" online at abcnews.com, on facebook and twitter. to fidelity to find them. art ones lk we give you research and data-visualization tools to help identify potential opportunities. or get everything you need to help capture investment ideas and make smarter trading decisions with fidelity for just $4.95 per online u.s. equity trade. fidelity. open an account today. ♪ open an account today. ♪ from only the thickest, juiciest heinz tomatoes. no one grows ketchup like heinz™. i'm joy bauer, and as a nutritionist i know probiotics can often help. try digestive advantage. it is tougher than your sttimes betterh envirot t,enrd than the leading probiotic. get the digestive advantage.

use pantene shampoo together with 3 minute miracle daily conditioner. their pro-v formula is like a multi-vitamin. making your hair 2x stronger see the difference when you add 3 minute miracle daily conditioner.

>> there's no question it was going to be tougher in light of what's happening in the suburbs across the country. in my district i was about to say the local democrats and the left have become more engaged and more angry by the week as president trump says things and does things with many republicans, myself among them, from time to time do disagree with. >> another gop congressman bows out. costello of pennsylvania explaining why he's become the 23rd republican to retire. i want to bring in tom llamas to bring down how this will shape the battle. >> that number 23 is staggering. it's the most since 1974 for either party. we have to remember the democrats only need 24 seats to take back control of the house. to put this in perspective go back to 2006, the last time the democrats took control of the house. at that point there were 8 gop republicans who had retired.

when we dis the' another big number.g epde besides the 23 retirements, there's 13 gop members running for other office, either running for senate or governor in their home states. add the retirements and you have about 36 districts up for play. >> not all these seats are slam dunks for the democrat. >> no. the best comparison is to go back to the 2016 election. 25 districts we think are safe for president trump. why? he won big there or they're hard core conservative districts. core republican districts. there are districts were hillary clinton won. i want to put a question mark. the reason for that is what happened in pennsylvania. i was there for that special election. connor lamb winning a district where president trump won by 20 points. in deep red state alabama your

next guest senator doug jones with a big upset against roy moore. of course there were al gags -- allegations, but we can't ignore that. >> the big targets are blue states where republicans have held on. >> that's right. there are 25 districts that democrats are looking close at. these are districts held by gop members but that hillary clinton won in 2016. ten of these districts are around los angeles, philadelphia and miami. those big blue states, i've been in and out of those states. in and out of those cities. although some people are upset with president trump, a lot of them are talking about the economy. we'll see what kind of impact the tax cuts have. the big number seven. >> you've got a lot of numbers in there, tom. we'll talk to senator doug jones of alabama. senator jones thank you for joining us. happy easter to you. you succeeded back in the special election. what is your message for the democrats as they approach the

midterms? >> george, first of all, thanks for having me. happy easter to you and all the folks in your viewing audience. i think the message i had in my race and connor lamb had is you have to talk directly to people and talk about issues that mean something to them. it's not just talking. you have to listen. i think that's been one of the biggest problems that the demoat don't hear, that we do the things we want to do, we don't hear an we don't listen. i think the combination of having those dialogues that we talked about so much, rather than monologues, is important going forward. >> does it also mean, not just opposing president trump, but finding placing where democrats can work with m? i don't last night there was a lady who came up to me afterwards. we were leaving. she said i didn't vote for you. i voted for the republican.

tell everyone they need to work together. that's a message for republicans and democrats. she made a point of saying that to me. there's a lot of that out there, not just in alabama, but across the country. people maybe wanted to see the chaos. i heard the round table talking about that, with the president's election. at the end of the day they want to see people working together and get things done. it's the only g y werouganh congress. >> you see a deep division in the democratic party playing out in primaries all across the country, for want of a better word, somewhat establishment and more moderate democrats. those from the progressive wing of the party who some democrats may have energy in a primary but can't win a general election. >> that's some truth to that. we've seen some divisions. i think the challenge for democrats make sure we have the open primaries, we contest those primaries the way anybody with passion wants to do it.

at the end of the day we rally around. we have a common goal. the common goal is the people of this country. as we go forward we'll be trying to challenge in every zip code. tom perez's i will vote program is really going to have major impact around here. the fact of the matter is at the end of those primaries, we have to make sure we sit down and start rallying around together to make sure the issues are taken to the november election. >> you had a message for senators on the floor about guns. let's listen. >> we can't demonize the nra and pro gun groups. i know these groups sometimes take what many including me consider extreme positions. they also represent millions of law abiding gun owners who are concerned their right to bear arms is at risk. >> what's your message to the

parkland students and everyone who we saw march who say that the nra has had a strangle hold on the senate and house and prevented those measures that you just mentioned? >> there is some truth to that. it's true in the senate and true in the house. the fact of the matter is we have to put that rhetoric aside. i supported those kids. i had one in the gallery watching that speech that i had just met earlier that morning. i support that. in order to legislate and get things done you have to put some of the far right, far left rhetoric aside. the fact is the nra represents millions of americans who are concerned about the infringement on their second amendment. at the same time the parkland students and the millions of kids around the country represent a point of view we have to do something about school safety and gun violence. and trying to stem the tide of

gun deaths in this country. >> what does that mean right now? >> we took a step i think, george, in the budget the other day. we had the fix nicks program. we cleared up the fact that the cdc can do some investigation and studies about gun violence. those are small steps, but they're important steps. we can find common ground. we can do more on background checks. i would like to see the age limit for pistols, which has been 21, expanded to include automatic weapons. those are things that should be bipartisan issues. by and large the vast managejor of americans support that. >> senator mark warner said we have to try again on the assault weapon ban. can you go that far? >> i don't think i can go that far just yet. we've got to get done what i

think can be done now. let's reach across and within our own party to do what we can do. that's where i want to focus. i don't believe that a gun ban is feasible right now. i think there are things that can be done that we need to look at. i outlined most of those in my speech on the floor. >> i would like to get you to weigh in on cabinet issues. starting with his nominee for the va. let's start with ronnie jackson. do you have questions about his nomination? >> we have questions based on experience. as they talked about in round table, there's a lot about him not known. the job of the white house is to put all the information out there. he'll go through a full vetting. because he is such an unknown, i don't think people should be saying whether they will or won't support him. i think that once we get into the background checks and hearings all that will come out. we'll give him the benefit of the doubt because he is a presidential nominee.

we'll see how that shakes out. >> how about scott pruitt, does he have to go? >> i think he's in real trouble. there's the -- the perception is not good. the fact he's had the controversy with expenses which i think is one of the things people are just frustrated with with cabinet members who seem to want to use tax payer dollars to fund their lifestyle. on top about this, not just the to energy company lobbyists, it just looks so bad. it seems he may be on his jones. >> thank you. >> when we come back, a new step toward the nuclear summit with north korea and the battle with vlimirticainut p iess we'll analyze president trump's response with our foreign policy experts next. >> announcer: "this week" with george stephanopoulos broughto t

but you want to fix it. right. so who sent you? new guy. what new guy? watson. ♪ ♪ my analysis of sensor and maintenance data indicates elevator 3 will malfunction in 2 days. there you go. you still need a pass. ♪ ♪ vladimir putin is escalating day it is tougher than your stomach's harsh environment, so it surivies a hundred times better than the leading probiotic. get the digestive advantage. ♪ last night took a l, but tonight i what's an l? ♪ the rap singer took a loss and now he's ok again. right. yeah you can get a mortgage that avoids pmi, but there's no way to avoid mip on... . hey! this'll help. rocket mortgage by quicken loans makes the complex simple. so, origination fees... this takes care of it, thank you.

understand the details and get approved in as few as 8 minutes. by america's largest mortgage lender. bounce back, right right right, i get it now. ♪ i woke up in beast mode, with my girl that's... ♪ mother...nature! sure smells amazing... even in accounts receivable. gain botanicals laundry detergent. bring the smell of nature wherever you are. i'm joy bauer, and as a nutritionist i know probiotics can often help. try digestive advantage. it is tougher than your stomach's harsh environment, so it surivies a hundred times better than the leading probiotic. get the digestive advantage. how much money do you think you'll need in retirement?

then we found out how many years that money would last them. how long do you think we'll keep -- oooooohhh! you stopped! you're gonna leave me back here at year 9? how did this happen? it turned out, a lot of people fell short, of even the average length of retirement. we have to think about not when we expect to live to, but when we could live to. let's plan for income that lasts all our years in retirement. prudential. bring your challenges. >> our foreign >> our foreign policy experts standing by. get the latest on abc news alerts with the app. download it during the break. latest on abc news alerts with the app. download it during the break. h . ################################ 9:40 the at&t network is helping first responders connect with medical teams in near real time... stay with me, mr. parker. ...saving time when it matters most.

stay with me, mrs. parker. that's the power of and. i'm joy bauer, and as a nutritionist i know probiotics can often help. try digestive advantage. it is tougher than your stomach's harsh environment, so it surivies a hundred times better than the leading probiotic. get the digestive advantage. cle...is a hassle.th a mop and bucket... swiffer wetjet makes cleaning easy. it's safe to use on all finished surfaces,

...trapping dirt and liquid inside the pad. plus, it prevents streaks better than a micro fiber strip mop. for a convenient clean, try swiffer wetjet. i don't want to lie down. i refuse to lie down. why suffer? stand up to chronic migraine with botox®. botox® is the only treatment for chronic migraine shown to actually prevent headaches and migraines before they even start. botox® is for adults with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more. it's injected by a doctor once every 12 weeks. and is covered by most insurance. effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life -threatening condition. side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. don't take botox® if there's a skin infection. tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. with the botox® savings program,

most people with commercial insurance pay nothing out-of-pocket. talk to your doctor and visit botox®cmsavings.com to enroll. i'm joy bauer, and as a nutritionist i know probiotics can often help. try digestive advantage. it is tougher than your stomach's harsh environment, so it surivies a hundred times better than the leading probiotic. get the digestive advantage. ♪ traders -- they're always looking for advantages. the smart ones look to fidelity to find them. we give you research and data-visualization tools to help identify potential opportunities. so, you can do it this way... or get everything you need to help capture investment ideas and make smarter trading decisions with fidelity for just $4.95 per online u.s. equity trade. fidelity. open an account today. ♪ >> those buses contain some of

the 153 russian diplomats. expelled by the west in the wake of the poisoning in great britain of a former russian spy. in return russia expelled 142 western diplomats from moscow. one sign of the worst relations between russia and the u.s. since the cold war. i want to talk about that with our panel of experts. meghan o'sullivan author of a new book, "wind fall." elizabeth sheriff wood randall. she held roles in the obama administration. susan glasser soon to be a staff writer for "the new yorker." susan, let me begin with you. first of all, do you agree with the assessment about this being the worst relations between the

russians and the u.s. since the cold war? >> new cold war, you've never heard the term more in the last 25 years. i think it's a period of the highest tensions that there have been arguably even before gorbachev. we had better relationships and were talking more frequently in the late 1980s than today. president putin was just re-elected to another six-year term. remember president trump was not supposed to congratulate him, but did. the question is what is he going to do with this new mandate. he's got this conflict with great britain and the united states over this poisoning over a former russian spy. i think we can be in for a period of doigs additional escalation. >> liz, we saw him publish that

icbm test this week that came in the wake of the diagram he showed targeting south florida maybe even mar-a-lago. it appears we could be in a new arms race with russia as well. >> as susan said we don't have an interest in escalation into a new cold war. we need to maintain channels of the communication and pursuing options that give our president alternatives to nuclear war. >> we've seen a disconnect between president trump's rhetoric. susan mentioned he president putin. he wasn't supposed to do that. and finally going through with the sanctions and expelling diplomats. >> it's true the actions of the trump administration haven't been anything like the public

expected because of this relationship between trump and putin. we have to keep in mind this deterioration in the relationship is not just because president trump is constrained. president putin doesn't have much of an interest in diffusing tension with the west. he has some internal dynamics. he can't deliver economic growth in this global energy market. he has to deliver psychological benefits. the best way he's been able to do that is having this confrontation in the west and with the united states in particular. >> one of the ayee swe he t with the announcement on thursday he wants to pull out. >> i found that was extraordinary and relevant to understanding trump's foreign policy. what did he say? he said let other people take care of it. people talk about the post american world. that was the post american world in action. it's time for other people to take care of it.

trump always has a feeling it seems to me when he talks about foreign policy that america is getting cheated somehow. that other people aren't doing the hard work of international relations. even this action on russia, we expelled diplomats. we talk tough and join our allies. you never saw president trump take responsibility for that or tweet about it. there's a sense that america is reluctantly acting to lead when it is. >> one place the president may not want others to step in is the conflict with north korea. he seems to want that summit with kim jong-un. we saw that extraordinary meeting between president xi of china and kim jong-un outside of north korea. "the financial times" reported it came after a dramatic tightening of oil exports by china. it seems like president xi is trying to get in this game and signal he's in charge. >> this is important, george.

we have many interests in the asian region. they go beyond we want to be aligned with china and putting pressure on north korea, we have a long game to play in the region. the chinese interests and the american interests are not always aligned. our goal needs to be firmly aligned with our allies in the republic of korea in the south to develop a negotiating strategy that gives to no opportunity for us to be pushed out of the region. no opportunity for us to be pushed out of the region. no opportunity for us to be pushed out of the region. >> you say that's the greatest danger of being pushed out of the region. i want to bring that to meghan. my understanding when kim jong-un to the extent he may or may not talk about

denuclearization, he means getting the united states out of region. >> yes. when he says denuclearization, he's talking about that only in the context of a peace treaty with the united states. a peace treaty is more than it sounds. in the sense a peace treaty includes removal of u.s. forces, certainly from the peninsula and potentially getting rid of the u.n. resolutions that have been in place since the korean war. he's talking about a diminution of troops there. and as a result of the region as a whole. that relates to japan as china is not the only one feeling a little nervous that this could squeeze out some actors that are used to dealing with north korea. >> you said potential meeting. are you convinced the meeting is

going to happen and what are the risks? >> there are lots of risks in this meeting, george. first of all, we could be in a situation where we negotiate away something we need to preserve, that is the american presence in the region. we have maximum economy pressure in place against north korea. the north koreans continue to build their arsenal. that means time is ripe for a negotiation and trump's fiery rhetoric which has the risk of leading to a nuclear war, it also has created incentive for everybody to come to the table. we have some reason to have hope that this can lead us to a new scenario that would be preferential for the united states' interest. >> john bolton coming in and mike pompeo. we saw their first meeting.

>> good to see you. >> thanks for coming. >> good to finally meet you. >> i've heard that you actually the devil incarnate. so i wanted to meet you. >> you may not have heard that. he said i heard you were the devil incarnate and i wanted to meet you. susan, this team does have strikingly different views from those who came before. we know john bolton has been a hard lining or iran and north korea, the same with mike pompeo. the question is will they be able to follow through on the summit with north korea and how? >> and russia as well. they have more hawkish views than the president. a lot of people look at this and they think it increases the possibility the summit won't happen or it will be a pretext and they'll come out and say it failed. let's take that preemptive military action that john bolton is on the record advocating. i agree with you that president trump wants this summit to happen.

he staked his capital on it. he would love nothing more than to proclaim himself as the deal maker where other presidents, bush and obama, couldn't. you can see a scenario where him and kim come out and say we've done it. we've made an agreement in principal. then it takes years for it to emerge that the agreement was too hard to live by the details. i wouldn't rule that out. >> one of the big questions of john bolton is can he fulfill the traditional role of a national security adviser. he's supposed to be an honest broker. >> exactly. that's the term, honest broker. that may be the most important part of this job. many americans probably look at this job and think the most important element is advising the president. really being the protector of the process is the key role of the national security adviser. that's not only being able to represent the views of other

agencies, it also means making sure that all the options are considered as dispassionately as possible, that the president has his options laid out for him. this is something that takes a very cool, collected, calm, maybe nonjudgemental approach. there are concerns about bolton not only from his policy views, but also his temperament. and whether or not he'll be inclined to encourage trump to adopt a process in general which seems to go against trump's instincts. >> i'm afraid that's all we have time for. thank you all for a great discussion. we'll be right back.

>> we're coming to engage in dramatic, nonviolent action to call attention to the gap between promise and fulfillment, to make the invisible visible. >> the final sunday sermon of martin luther king, that was 50 years ago just four days before his assassination. we're joined by dr. andrew young, of course a friend and fellow pioneer in the civil rights movement with dr. martin luther king. thank you for joining us this morning. i know you were there for that final sermon 50 years ago. >> i was there. >> what does it bring to mind today? >> it reminds me of the fact that we did not complete -- we did not make that clear on the national level. once dr. king was assassinated,

what i found was we scattered. jessie jackson went back to chicago. i went back to atlanta. i got into politics. he was into operation push. we've almost all of us have tried in some way to carry on martin luther king's work. he was able to take it to a national level. it's never reached there. we understand that dr. king was trying to deal with the triple evils of race, war and poverty. many of the things we think of as racial now, a lot of police violence, a lot of the conflict between the rich and the poor that comes out as much more

related to poverty than race and -- >> there does seem to be a real gap between the way whites and black americans view this. black americans much more likely than white to think we're back sliding in race relations. >> it's true that they think that. it's not true that it exists, i don't think. i don't like statistics. dr. king used to be appalled by statistics quite often because what i saw last saturday was a continuation of a movement of people while it started out against guns, it was -- it was innocent people being splattered by the blood of their classmates. i don't think -- dr. king used to say unearned suffering is redemptive. i think these people are going to be involved in the redemption of america from poverty, from

war, from violence and i think that's the key to the future. he always felt that progress was never a steady decline. you had up and then you would go down and then you would come back down. i think -- well, i know. i was in the congress when we were exactly at this point with president nixon. the nation was panicked. a year later it was moving on in a calm and reasonable way. >> and -- >> now, i don't know that we can repeat that, but we do have a pendulum swing. >> sir, if dr. king were preaching this easter sunday, what would his message be? >> i hadn't really thought of that.

i think he would always have faith in america. he never lost faith in the american dream. his dream was deeply embedded in the american dream. he saw in the constitution the fulfillment of a promise. >> dr. young, thank you for your time. now we honor our fellow americans who served and sacrificed. in the month of march, nine servicemen were killed in iraq and syria. ♪ >> thank you for sharing part of your sunday with us. check out "worth news tonight." i'll see you tomorrow on "gma." i'll see you tomorrow on "gma."