interview with the "sun", a nearly hour-long press conference that produced multiple headlines and tens of thousands marching in the streets of london, all ahead of a meeting president trump will have with vladimir putin. my thanks to the folks in the middle of the crowds, richard engle, yabill neely. hallie jackson, ambassador nick burns, all of you for an extraordinary hour of television. that's going to do it for me. hallie jackson will be here during this hour monday. right now more news with my colleague. >> good morning. thank you so much for that. this is definitely a spicy hour. i think it's going to continue to be. stephanie's out. friday, july 13. let's get smarter. >> if they do a deal like that, it most likely, because we'll be

dealing with the european union instead of dealing with the uk. so it will probably kill the deal -- if they do that, their trade deal with the u.s. will probably not be made. i would have done it much differently. i actually told theresa may how to do it but she didn't -- she didn't listen to me. >> think the deal she's striking is not what the people voted on. it's a much different deal than the people voted on. it was not the deal that was in the referendum. >> we debris today that as the uk leaves the european union, we will pursue an ambitious u.s./uk free trade agreement. >> i want to thank prime minister may for pursuing fair and reciprocal trade with the united states. once the brexit process is conclud concluded, and perhaps the uk has left the eu, i don't know what they're going to do, but whatever you do is okay with me. >> mr. president, you seem rather to have changed your tune from what you said earlier this week when you said that on the

current brexit plan, that would probably kill the possibility of a trade deal with the uk. >> i didn't criticize the prime minister. i have a lot of respect for the prime minister. unfortunately there was a story done, which was generally fine, but it didn't put in what i said about the prime minister. really just said she's going to make a decision as to what she's going to do. only thing i ask of theresa is that we make sure we can trade. that we don't have restrictions. we want to trade. >> just to confirm what the president has said, laura, there will be no limit to the possibility of us doing trade deals around the rest of the world. once we leave the european union. on the basis of the agreement that was made here at checkers and i put forward to the european union. just to be clear, that is an agreement that delivers on the brexit vote that we had in 2016 here in the uk. >> asked about boris johnson, i said yeah. how would he be as a prime

minister? i'll be great. been saying very good things about me as president. i think he thinks i'm doing a great job. i am. that i can tell you just in case you haven't noticed. i think he would be a great prime minister. i also said that this incredible woman right here is doing a fantastic job. >> would you tell us three or four things you hope to achieve in your meeting with vladimir put putin? >> we'll be talking about ukraine, syria, we'll be talking about other parts of the middle east. i will be talking about nuclear proliferation. i know you'll ask will we be talking about meddling, and i will absolutely bring that up. i don't think you'll have any gee, i did it, you got me. there won't be a perry mason here but you never know what happens. >> is there any way for relations between the united states and russia to improve?

>> yes. >> as long as putin continues to occupy crimea? >> i think so. i think i have a very good relationship if we spent time together. i may be wrong. other people said it didn't work out. i'm different than other people. i think we're being hurt badly by at the -- i would call it, the witch hunt. i would call it the rigged witch hunt after watching some the different clips. i didn't get to watch some because it's a different time zone. after watching the people, the man testifying yesterday i call it the rigged witch hunt. i think that really hurts our country and really hurts our relationship with russia. lets's see what happens. but this was an obama disaster. and i think it i were president then, he would not have taken over crimea. during the obama administration he essentially took over crimea. i don't think he would have with me as president. >> that all really happened. we begin now with breaking news. it was all smiles in public this

morning as president trump and prime minister may tried to show a united face in a news conference. but a lot more tense surely behind doors after president trump's surprise interview in the british tabloid. and enraging many in the united kingdom with this. >> i think what's happened to europe is a shame. i think the immigration allowing the immigration to take place in europe is a shame. i think it changed the fabric of europe. and unless you act very quickly, it's never going to be what it was. and i don't mean that in a positive way. so i think allowing millions and millions of people to come in to europe is very, very sad. i think you're losing your culture. >> and while the two leaders tried to reaffirm the special relationship in london, thousands, tens of thousands

possibly, are in the streets protesting the american president. i want to bring in nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel who's in the midst of those protests and also cal perry. we gave you a couple minutes to reset because you were inundated with protests who wanted to get on a msnbc and let the american public know what they think of donald trump. >>reporter: yes. one man in particular, but that's the dangers and realities of doing live television in a crowd. but people here are generally expressing not always as forcefully, but expressing the sentiment that man was expressing that they believe president trump is a danger ot world. they call him a fascist, xenophobic, racist, they haven't been happy with the way that this visit has been happening. and there's really been two worlds here. one is the official visit of president donald trump. british government, because it's going through brexit, because it's very weak, because it needs

to have a trade deal with the united states now, more than ever, because its future with europe is uncertain, is laying out the red carpet, even pandering to some of president trump's churchhill fascinations. look at -- he stayed at the ambassador's residence, this ve very -- the members of the churchill family. he had a lavish dinner. we're told it was scotch salmon, steak and strawberries and cream. but in the middle of this dinner, that's when this news hit. news hit at 10:02 local time while they were still there. they didn't leave until 10:42. while they were there, this news hit that president trump thought that theresa may, who was hosting the dinner was not doing a good jobbi, mishandling brexi

that her rooival would make a great prime minister. then he's helicoptered off back to the u.s. ambassador's residence and now today for tea with the queen. a very controlled, very fancy official visit. helicoptering from lily pad to lily pad. while on the ground what he hasn't been exposed to is this, the largest demonstration in london in years. there was a blimp that flew up earlier this morning with donald trump as a baby. it was only up for two hours but certainly sent a message. because it was approved by the london mayor to fly it in the airspace over london. so two realities. we'll see which visit donald trump choose to remember, the one with the tea with the queen, and the dinner that became a very strained awkward dinner at the churchill estate, or this

one, which he's only been flying around. >> richard, just give us some sense -- we've got various camera angles but always hard to get a sense of the crowd and how many and ow big geographically. what's your sense of how big this is? i don't mean numbers. i know you probably don't have them. >> reporter: well, well the police estimated they thought there would be 80,000 organizers told us they hoped there would be 200,000. i haven't seen any official numbers. but i think you can fairly say tens of thousands. way this -- there's a dynamic here. there were many different organizations holding protests. there whereas a women's march, a stop trump march. there was a lgbtq march, and they've all started now to converge in central london and it is becoming a march toward the square. i think it may be an hour or so. most of the protesters, the ones who are still out, it has been a

long warm day. -- will have arrived at the square and perhaps with an aerial shot you'll get a sense of the protest at its greatest strength and concentration. >> all right. thank you. cal perry is there as well. where are you and what's going on where you are? >> reporter: so we are in oxford circus. a mile from where richard is. this is the beginning of the march. richard is at the end. our plan was to find the end of this crowd and follow it to where richard is. i can't find the end of the crowd. give them a look. as he said, we can't get exact numbers but at least tens of thousands of people talking briefly. you have spent a lot of time here in london. it is an go national city, at 4:00 p.m. on a friday you have a lot of tourists and people walking out of work. how are you, sir?

no. 30 seconds, msnbc. why are you marching? >> because trump doesn't deserve to be here. >> very good. how old are you? >> 13. >> where are you from? >> england. >> you're a very courageous girl. thank you so much. >>reporter: there you go. very politically active people of all ages. people have brought kids out here. feels a little bit like the beginning of the women's march where the mood is still jovial, police are well back, but this is london. again, talking a little bit about this city, the crowd will change as it gets later on a friday night. let me try to get one more person. 30 seconds? all right. i can't get one more person. >> wow. determined marchers there. is there a particular ask, cal? what do they want? is that a protest? or is there something they want? i heard that young woman tell you trump doesn't deserve to be here, but is there something they want the mayor or prime minister to actually do say to him? the reason i ask is it's in the

context they have a lot of things to protest right now. upset with either the way brexit is going, soft or hard. there have been protests and resignations from the cabinet. what's the politics of what they want? >> reporter: it feels like all of the notes that president trump could hit that would cut deep here in the united kingdom, he picked them out individually and hit them. you mentioned the mayor, a man who has presented himself as a representative for muslims across the united kingdom. when the travel ban went into place, he said i represent the people of the uk. if i could sum it up they want president trump out of their business, whether it's breaking down the old institutions that define the 20th century of nato and the european union, whether it's keeping out of british trade when it comes to brexit. clearly going out of his way to undercut the prime minister on the one issue she's struggling to hold the government together with. going out of your way to take

what is normally a friendship and ally and just throw it away. people just want donald trump out of here. they want him off the television. kind of amazed by this american phenomenon now where our lives are, for obvious and important reasons grip the everyday by this president. >> go wherever you want. all right keep a close eye on the protests all hour long. also happening now, they are reeare -- threatening to overturn all of her efforts. i want to take a quick look at what a so called soft brexit is going to look like. this is what has created some of the problems. plan, the soft brexit would create a free trade area for industrial goods, agriculture and food. it would keep eu standards. that's to ease the flow of goods and avoid customs checks and tariffs both across the english channel and at the border with

ireland. remember, the republic of ireland is still part of the european union. northern ireland is part of the united kingdom. it is brexiting. while car parts and vegetables can flow easily, services are going to be affected. that is a very big deal. because they make up 80% of britain's economy, bigger than in the united states. british bankers, for example, and others who use or provide services are really going to feel this part of the brexit. plan creates a mutual recognition of qualifications for professionals in europe and the uk but financial institutions will loose open access to eu markets. under the soft brexit plan the separation of goods and services looks to allow frictionless movement of products while allowing the uk flexibility to work out its own trade deals with countries like are chooirn, india and the united states. a key part of the plan ends the free movement of people.

this provision would allow the united kingdom to set its own immigration policy separate from that of the european union. taking back their borders. but the plan has de tractors both at home and on the european continent. they are concerned they want to basically cherry pick the aspects of the eu membership that are most beneficial to the country while rejecting other possibilities and responsibilities. brits strongly in favor of brexit, like the two leaders who resigned this week, foreign minister boris johnson and david davis, say the soft brexit plan cedes too much control back to brussels. joining me is bill neely. both are in london. bill, let's start with you. you're in an historic area in london where many of the protesters are heading. what's the feel there about the

president's comments to the tablo tabloid, the newspaper, the "sun." so we know he was saying it. his criticism not only of theresa man but of the soft brexit plan. >>reporter: first of all, on the numbers, i heard you talking to richard engle about how many people are on this protest march. it will end here. whatever tens of thousands, whatever multiple there is, this is the biggest protest march there has ever been against a visiting united states president. indeed, it's the biggest protest march against any visiting president from russia, from china, or anywhere else. british people have had their differences with the united states presidents in the past. i can think of president reagan's bombing of libya, of course george w. bush and the war against iraq in 2003, which britain was part of. there were plenty of protest

marches against those policies. but never against a visiting american president. so what you're seeing behind me is absolutely unique. and before donald trump arrived at that news conference with theresa may, he had of course recorded this interview with the "sun." this has caused big political problems. he was a guest here and it's rather like the guest coming in to the host's house and kicking down the table insulting the host. it's -- if this isn't interference in the domestic politics, of another country, then i don't know what is. he tried to rachet back on some of that in his news conference with theresa may basically saying this interview was fake news, of course it was on the record. and there is a recording of that. so that can be easily disproved. he tried to do his best to

praise theresa may, calling her tr terrific and smart and skillful negotiator and also to say on brexit,s whatever you do it's okay with us, as long as we can do a trade deal with you. we want to double it. maybe triple it. that's not what he said in the interview. basically said if theresa may keeps negotiating like this, there will be no trade deal. i its -- it's almost probably dead. also in the news conference he doubled down on his remarks about an alternative prime minister. he suggested in this interview that boris johnson, the former foreign secretary, who's just walked away from theresa may's government would be a great prime minister. well he said that when she was right beside him, no the once but twice. this is all extraordinary behavior. a government minister was on the radio in the uk this morning, basically saying look, donald trump's a controversialist.

and we expect these kinds of remarks from him. no. no, it's not rude at all. but i think a lot of people at this march have had their minds made up a long time ago about donald trump. this is two things, ali. this is a march against donald trump's politics, but it's also a march against donald trump, the person. of the what these people see as a racist. a misogynist, there are lots of women here who have got posters basically talking about his views about women. so it's -- you know, it's a march against the politician, against the president, but also against the person. let me bring you into this thing. we did a quick overview of theresa may's brexit plan. there are a lot of people in london particularly who didn't property brexit in the first place. they've got real concerns about

what a post brexit britain looks like. she is trying to walk some kind of unusual line between going ahead with brexit as britain as voted for and try to soften it out. it was already imperilled before donald trump got to england. is it salvageable now? are these people in the street protesting that too? or is this just donald trump? >> reporter: no. the protest today is very much focussed on donald trump. you ask a very valid question as to whether brexit with really happen from here. as we know, the prime minister's plan was on the softer side of brexit that was announced in the last week. two questions are will brussels accept it and will her own party, particularly the ones that warrant a hard breks sit accept it. on the questions of brussels, you'd say maybe, maybe just, but let me just pause on them for a moment, because the key question are the hard brexiters in her own party.

she has a miniscule working majority in parliament at the moment such that only six members of her party need to choose not to vote with her and she can't get a bill through parliament. already hard brexiteers have added an amendment. reason i bring that up is if she doesn't win the vote as it stands, brussels will never touch with with the amendments. at the moment, there are enough hard ones to block her. she is on the tight rope. that's why we saw boris johnson's resignation and it seems next week she faces another monumental vote to get through and keep brexit going and keep her own going. >> back to you. problem here is donald trump pops in, whether it's to nato or the united kingdom and upindependenupends the punch bowl. president seemed to be pouring

salt into the wounds and emboldening those who would oppose angela merkel. in the uk doing the same thing. in the same breath complementing theresa may, said boris johnson would make a great prime minister. he is promoting unrest in a way that leaders are other countries are generally not supposed to do. does everybody just say that's donald trump and that's what he does and we don't pay much attention? or does he imperil these leaders in these other countries? >> reporter: it's a good question. of the menti mention of nato reminds me of course he goes on here to meet vladimir putin. many people in the uk are deeply worried about his growing relationship with russia. he said during that news conference the prime minister will agree with me we have a good relationship with russia.

t she pursed her lips and looked away. uk has accused russia of using a nerve agent on the streets of the uk which has killed one woman and injured three others. people are deeply worried about what's happening to nato. remember, the united states is the top nation in nato, but britain is one of the pillars of that organization. it gives 2% of its gross domestic product, gross national product to nato. obviously, after 9/11, britain was right there, article 5 was invoked. britain joined in the invasion of afghanistan, the war with iraq, so people are worried here about what donald trump might negotiate with vladimir putin. going back to singapore and his summit with kim jong-un, remember how he suspended joint military exercises with south korea without telling the south koreans, and without even inf m

informing his own defense secretary jim mattis. people are concerned he'll go and cut some kind of deal, perhaps on military exercises on eastern europe, perhaps something to do with the russian annexation of crimea. but basically undercut nato. obviously for britain, poland, germany, it's crucial. this is a concrete and real worry. there is the interview and the things he says about theresa may behind her back and won't repeat them to her face. but underneath, there are really geostrategic political worries. >> and will what happens once he leaves? what does theresa may do? she as -- why was she so polite to him after what he clearly said in the interview with the sun. i go es she's got enough fires

burning. by the way, while you answer that i'm showing pictures of the president arriving at a version of marine one to be transported to his next location. they're closing the doors. >>reporter: i'd say you said there perhaps she's got so much on her plate that this trip doesn't matter. i'd say quite the opposite. this trip was meant to be a chance of aive is aing grace for her if it was a big success. you mention the "sun" article. why was that such an embarrass.? she has not wanted to protest this. she was relatively speaking one of his biggest supporters compared to the other leaders. she went out of her way to arrange a visit. he was in the middle of dinner when the wire headlines started to hit from the ""sun" article. did she smash some kind of victory from the jaws of defeat

from the press conference? maybe a tiny one because things were walked back a little bit. but as bill has already suggested, the damage was done. i think come monday morning when she faces a crucial vote in parliament the on brexit again, the headlines will be, well, theresa may, you pulled out the stops, spent millions of pounds in order to welcome the president and what did you get from it? maybe a verbal commitment towards a free trade deal one day but there are so many if's attached to that. >> all right. and bill, obviously questions came up this morning about what the president hopes to achieve with vladimir putin. a number of people who were watching would say the answers continue to not be satisfactory. continues to have the sort of wishy-washy, maybe we'll get along fine, maybe we won't, not going to be a perry mason moment. president continues to down play

expectations of his confrontation of vladimir putin. to the extent that he's setting us all up for the fact there isn't going to be one. >> reporter: yeah. obviously, all attention will very quickly shift from this. it's already shifting from this. right now i understand that donald trump is at windsor castle where he will have tea with the queen, and then he goes on to scotland. there will be more protests here in the uk. basically, the key political part of this visit, which was his meeting with theresa may, is now over and attention will shift to that very first summit between a u.s. president donald trump and vladimir putin. they've had two meetings on the side lines of other international gatherings. but a great deal of worry right across europe at what the outcome of that meeting will be.

summit on monday obviously will -- we'll know by mondayeeinmonday evening. that will be the end of his visit to europe. yet another tum mi. we hat the g-7 summit. threw a grenade into that. then brussels. same sort of thing at the nato meeting. he has come here and kicked sand in the face of theresa may. not to her face initially but certainly in the newspaper interview. he will now go to scotland and there will be protests there as well. then on to vladimir putin. an extraordinary tour of europe. very controversial. >> extraordinary indeed. bill neely thanks as always. chief global correspondent. thanks to both of you. the president has lifted off in marine one on his way, we believe to visit the queen. one of the other big headlines this morning.

president trump is appearing to now paint a more sunny picture of his relationship with nato allies. >> we have left nato with more money, with more unity, with more spirit than nato probably has ever had. we have a strong and powerful nato. when i became president, we didn't. >> but behind the scenes, u.s. military leaders are in damage control. that's according to an exclusive report by nbc news detail ing the pentagon's response to president trump's threats to key nato allies. senior military officials are reportedly assuring their european counterparts that america's priorities r not changing. according to one official the president's behavior behind closed doors was quote aggressive. some apparently viewed his comments as threats. with me jeff bennet in london. let me play you something the president said this morning.

we're just waiting for it. it's going to roll in just a second. >> the uk is one of the handful of nations, five out of 29, not good. but it's going to get better really fast. in addition to the united states, meeting the 2% gdp minimum defense spending commitment. during the summit, i made clear all nato allies must honor their obligations, and i'm policed to report we have received substantial commitments from members to increase the defense spending and to do so in a much more timely manner. >> okay. so, jeff, trump's position has been difficult to nail down this week. it really looks at some moments like he's not in support of nato and others in which he is. what are you coming away with? >> reporter: in that same press conference later on, he says look, nato helps europe more than us. it's clear he does not view nato

the way others have. he doesn't view it as something that projects strength. he doesn't view it as something that has preserved western democracy since world war ii. that's one of the reasons according to multiple military and diplomatic officials telling me, our colleagues that after the president left nato, senior military officials taking their direction from the very top, very upper echelons of the pentagon began an all out cleanup mission calling counterparts in europe making sure they felt okay knowing that the troop presence overseas would no the be reduced. making clear the american commitment would be intact. as one official put it to me. when it comes to nato, predictability is the one thing that matters most. here, again, president upending the end of that summit today. his ambivalence will catch some of our allies off guard.

we lin we hind that we have the institution of the pentagon making clear nothing substant e substantively changed. >> the amount a country spends on defend is probably one of the biggest domestic debates any country has. we know we're endlessly fighting about it in the united states. idea that president trump goes there and tells people to increase their defense spending domestically at a fast er rate. faster toward the 2% threshold of national -- gdp. macron said that's not true. nobody's doing that. did anything change? >> right. not even -- not even the u.s. is spending 4%. as you well know, the u.s. spends about 3.5% or 3.6 if you round up. i was talking to one diplomat who said look, if europe ever did, these european nations did

reach that 4% threshold that would help accident a gross -- represent a gross mill tarization of europe. that's why you see people like the french president rejecting this proposal out of happened. it's not clear whether or not the president a was entirely serious or using it as a negotiating tack timgt. one thing for sure, when it comes to nato 35r9 ners it's total non-starter. >> again, the context is important. a gross mill tarization of europe. what the president is criticizing are european nato allies. but that is a yet more sensitive topic in europe than america. 70 years ago europeans were still fighting with each other. still at wars. in america, even if you don't like defense spending, you'd like it to go to domestic spending or social spending, it's a different story than the fear that some europeans have of building up massive armies.

>> that's right. only other thing i'd say about nato is that -- we said this before. we talked about this earlier this week when the president says nato helps europe mohr tren the u.s., keep in mind the only time article 5 was ever invoked, this notion that an attack on one is on all. was after 9/11. after an i tack on the united states. >> jeff thanks so much. making a very, very, very, very important point that the only nato country that has ever benefited from the invocation of article five, which means all come to the aid of one is the united states ofcountries, the we're complaining about the spending have shed blood in defense of america after the attacks from al qaeda. wo worth noting. i want to go back to cal perry. he continues to walk. what have you got there?

>> reporter: so we did find the end of this sea of humanity. we are making our way to that position you saw richard engel and bill neely in. the organizers, i would say take it with a grain of salt. there could be 100,000 people. i would say it's quite impressive. you've been able to fill up the space. why are you out here? >> i'm here because i've got to say something about trump. i'm not anti-america but i'm anti-trump. >> i'm from -- england. i don't normally do this kind of thing but i felt i had to. >> reporter: you came do london to do this? >> i had the day off work. >> thanks so much for talking. >>reporter: one of the things you've been talking about that i wanted to weigh in on. we talk a lot about nato, dissolving of it. if you ukrainian, if you're from there and you live in the uk,

russia is a very real daily threat. there's a front line, a battle line that of moves. if nato falls apart, they're going to lose sovereignty and freedom. it's very real fear. >> if you are polish, oh, my god, polish, you look left, you look right. if you are a pole of a certain age, maybe and that is why this is not a talking point for countries in europe. particularly in eastern european. this is an issue of survival. thanks very much. i'm going to check back. cal perry in the crowd. in this massive, massive protest in the streets of london. on the right side of your screen you're looking at windsor. this is the president is on the helicopter on his way to greet the queen. we are going to keep a tight eye on that as soon as we see that helicopter, we are going to hone in on it for you and tell you what's going on. during a news conference with our closest international lie,

president trump fielded more than a few questions about the country that many see as our chief adversary, russia. after spending the week alternately attacking and praising our allies, the president struck a more optimistic note about vladimir putin. he took the time to blame president obama for the annexation of crimea. joining me now is former senior adviser in europe. evelyn, i want to just get to the issue of why these eastern european countries are so interested in nato but really, ukraine is the reason. that is the illustration of what the problem is, right? you crane did n -- when russia decided. >> yes. of the ukraine stands for something else. it's not part of nato which means it was hanging out there in the limbo state because there is this idea -- listen, the russian government, kremlin wants a sphere of influence over eastern europe. what does that mean? the former soviet area but the

east block. you see them exercising more and more influence over them. in particular hungarhungary. ukraine, nonetheless, when they were invaded, they stood up for themselv themselves, and thankfully. we came to their assistance and helped them at least hold the line. unfortunately, crimea was a lightning strike. we couldn't do anything. we would have had to fight to reverse it. we can get into that stugs anoth discussion another time. russian government, the united nations spoke -- the russians didn't agree, but they spoke very clearly resounding ov overwhelming ma jort saying russia get out of crimea. >> the issue here, some of these countries they have sizable russian populations and russia says that it is extending a blanket of protection.

and needs to. so nato, to germany or to france, which do not, in 2018 fear being overrun by russia as they were in world war ii, don't have the same view of it. these countries do worry that an aggressive russia could actually do the type of thing that they did in ukraine. >> right. but it's not all that different from world war ii because at the time france wasn't worried about germany running in and invading. what ended up happening was that germany invaded poland and of course then you had the russians doing what they were doing to seizing parts of poland as well. both of those leaders were using the excuse of ethnic politics. >> correct. >> they had to go in arescue german minorities. and they were getting -- there's a whole political philosophy they set up, but at the end of the day, what they were doing was altering borders by force.

that's what led to world war ii and that's what would lead to another war if we let russia get away with taking crimea. >> there are people alive who remember this. >> absolutely. >> this concern is very, very real. so what donald trump just sort of bandies out there and says we'll go it our own way, to -- there are people in the world, in nato, to whom nato is really important. i think it's harder to see that in this part of the world, even though article 5 was only ever invoked for america's benefit. but we don't see it. we don't live and say well if nato weren't there what would happen. there are a whole bunch of people in europe, our allies who are very fearful. >> look, minorities, ethic mine nortmine -- minorities exist. imagine redoing borders. it would be horrific. bloody. so you have to have democratic governments taking into consideration the ethnic

minorities, rights of everyone, not just the majority, just as we have this very healthy ongoing debate in the united states about majority, how much power, how much power can the minority have to do what it wants to do. freedom et cetera. so it's the same dynamic going on in europe. nato basically says to the russians, if p you step one foot either a conventional foot or sneaky special forces, or a cyber attack into one of our nato allies, all of nato, 28 countries, we will come. >> the issue here is that the president when he has the spats about nato, and when he airs dirty laundry with the germans or britains, this only plays into vladimir putin's hands, because the weakening of nato is only good for russia. >> absolutely. what happens is this russia president is an opportunist and risk taker. if he thinks, nato, they're not so unified, and if p i just poke

my toe in, i'm going to pretend i'm going to defend the ethnic russians and send in police forces or something. they won't do anything. nato won't do anything. right? airing our dirty laundry, having these kind of fights--the president is not only airing existing dirty laundry but creating more. he's making a mess. >> let me tell you what we're looking at on the screen on the left. protests piling up signs. i don't know whether that pleens a fire's going to start or something. maybe very can't carry them. they're gathering at the square. on the right is windsor castle, the guard has assembled. we're awaiting the arrival of the president. the queen will inspect the guard momentari momentarily. maybe i said the wrong world inspect the guard. whatever it is the queen is going to give a thumb's up. that's what's happening. president is going to meet with

the queen. we don't know how that meeting is going to go. the president is giving everybody what for. i don't know if he's going to employ traditional decorum. evelyn, interestingly enough, the president talked about what sounded like a critical view of the russian invasion of ukraine and then blamed barack obama. he said if i were president that wouldn't have happened. >> let's be clear, the country that invaded ukraine was the russian government. they mobilized its forces. it was on the back end of a military exercise, and they converted it into an actual invasion. they did that before in 2008. we saw them do it when they invaded the country of georgia. and so it was a lightning strike and frankly speaking, the international community didn't have a lot of time to respond. they trapped a bunch of ukrainians, including forces. government made the decision in some consultation obviously with

the west to stand down. basically fight the battle diplomatically, the international community does not recognize what they did. the russians will return that territory or the ukrainian government and russian will come up with some sort of compromise they deem fair. >> that's now an extra ask for donald trump. donald trump has to deal with russian troops in georgia. russian troops in ukraine and crimea. >> and -- >> eastern ukraine. and interin feerns fere ens in election and poisoning. we're not sure any of those topics. >> also syria. >> and iraq. >> there are about 300,000 refugees being created now. >> let alone the fact we would like russia on board with what we're doing in north korea. we're not sure any of these important issues are on the agenda because the president

keeps telling us it's witch hunt and media thing. his whole thing about russia is shrouded about what he thinks of what everybody thinks of him. >> it's not rush. putin. problem is he's going there to try to make a friend. united states are not in the business of making friends just for the sake of being friendly. we have national interests. he should go and meet with vladimir putin once there's an agenda that's been decided upon and agreed at more intermediate levels. the for him to go and meet and try to be friendly it makes no sense for america. >> okay. here's what we've got. on the left the proetesters. headed to the square where people are gathering. on the right, windsor castle. awaiting the landing of marine one where the president will meet the queen who will inspect the guard. gadi schwartz on the left. what's going on? >> reporter: well, throughout

england, we've seen people reacting to the press conference but people have been gathering and marching so they missed a lot of what was said. when it comes to immigration we've seen a lot of what we see in the united states. we've got here, this is somebody built a cage. the only child who needs detaining. they put a donald trump in a cage. a lot of lightheartedness and a serious tone when it comes to immigration. we heard chants donald trump is not welcome here. also heard immigrants are welcome here. i want to talk to some of these people directly about what we saw in that press conference. we've got a transcript of it. see if it we ca talk to them here. you guys, did you see the press conference? >> we haven't. >> during that press conference somebody asked him directly about the issue of immigration. they asked about the impact in

europe. his response was i think it's been bad for europe. i know europe very well and it's been tough. we've seen terror attacks. i think its achanging the culture and is very negative for europe and germany. then he said, look, i know it's not politically correct to say p but i'll say it. what do you hear when you see those words? >> i think he's wrong. and he's obviously -- recognize how -- >> reporter: it seems one of the things we've seen the most here is kind of this message of inclusivity. lgbtg. immigrants, women's rights. you guys are rallying. tell me about this. >> i'm myself not uk. i came here in poland. i don't understand a president can hate immigrants. it uz doesn't make sense.

>> what's been your reaction seeing president trump here in the uk? >> we want to show him he's not really welcome. and what he stands for. >>reporter: in particular, if you had to sum it up, what's the one thing you guys see that you're not in line with? >> one thing? i don't think there's one thing. i mean just -- >> i'm going to interrupt you. queen is getting ready to review the guard. there she is, her majesty the queen walking out at windsor castle awaiting the arrival of president trump. we have not seen pictures of marine one landing, but the queen is there to review the guard. and there she is on the podium. that means that the president and his helicopter must be close if it hasn't already arrived. let's listen in.

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photographer ian pelham turner, who is live in london, who i assure you will not make mistakes about how to refer to these things, i.e. this is the reviewing of the guard, ian. tell us what happens here. >> basically the queen and president trump will walk together very, very shortly, and really it's just a ceremonial moment before they walk in for the afternoon tea celebrations. >> and at that point, i guess the question we've all got is about decorum. donald trump doesn't stick to that in most instances. but one might say meeting the queen is something we speak about as being at a different level of decorum generally speaking. i'm assuming someone has had that conversation with the president. >> i would say that president trump will be far more nervous about meeting the queen than the queen meeting president trump. the queen has a wonderful withering look should he say anything out of order that can

turn politicians into stone at 50 paces. so with the queen especially, she will be her usual self, full of warmth, full of talking about the different situations that are happening. he went to blenham palace last night. a little-known fact is that american dollars helped to save blenham palace, churchill's mother was known as a dollar princess, they are heiresses in america, brought across to america to get a title and in return put money into places like blenham palace. president trump felt very comfortable last night at blenham palace, providing he watches what we call his ps and qs in britain, he will get a very warm welcome from the queen as well. >> blenham palace you bring up,

that was the birthplace of winston churchill. >> that's right. >> whom this queen was the sovereign for. so she has experienced leaders of all types, of all levels of bluster. the bottom line is, is she going to get drawn into a political conversation with donald trump, or will they steer clear of that? >> no, the queen -- the royal family never enter, publicly or privately, at these types of levels, any political commentary at all. my guess is this afternoon, she will show him around most private apartments and the first lady. it will be really an opportunity for president trump to receive a bit more royal pomp. he enjoys, i feel, things like that. he is a royalist himself. and really, it's interesting from my point of view, that normally visiting presidents bring a gift for the queen.

i'm wondering, this afternoon, as a royal commentator in london, what gift do you give the lady who has everything? and i'm wondering whether president trump will bring some of his trump jewelry or what he will bring to the queen. >> it will be interesting to see how this all goes down. how do the queen's advisers manage world leaders or visitors to the queen who do have a tendency to go off-script or start to go down certain roads that the queen judiciously stays away from? >> the reality is the queen is in full control. i've worked with five generations of the royal family. i've had the withering look from the queen myself sometimes when perhaps something has gone wrong with protocol. trust me, it's not something that you want to experience. i suspect that president trump would receive the same treatment should that go off-key. but i don't think it will. i think he has the type of -- he

will be audwed at the royal pom and ceremony this afternoon. i think he will enjoy that aspect of it. the first lady will enjoy the royal aspects as well. he sees himself as half british anyway. when anyone meets the queen, she has this aura about her that makes sure that everybody is very happy. >> ian, thank you very much for shedding some light on what's about to happen. ian pelham turner is a royal commentator and photographer. we're watching right now the queen awaiting the arrival of president trump via marine one. he will be arriving at the pal what was they will review the guard together and then they will meet and if all goes well, we won't have a whole lot to report out of that meeting. but hey, it's 2018, and there's president trump, and anything is actually possible.

thank you for watching this hour of "velshi & ruhle." i'm ali velshi. i'm going to hand over to andrea mitchell as she takes over this historic coverage. >> thank you, ali velshi. good day, we continue our coverage from washington. we are awaiting a press conference from deputy attorney general rod rosenstein at the justice department, announcing just hours ago that he will be speaking, while we continue our live breaking news coverage of president trump's imminent arrival. you can see the motorcade arriving at windsor castle. this is a special relationship that certainly went off the tracks overnight, mr. trump arriving soon at windsor for tea with queen lelizabeth, while in london we have a massive number of demonstrators, demonstrating against the president's actions

and statements. in london, president trump has been trying to explain away his diatribe about prime minister theresa may in an interview with a rupert murdoch newspaper, "the sun." as you can see, the vehicle known as "the beast," the president's motorcade arriving as he drives through the historic gates into windsor castle. it's a range rover, he's actually driving in a british vehicle as he approaches the queen. this is not the visit that h