News on Youtube Aug 26 2017

ROBERT COSTA: Hello. I'm Robert Costa. And this is the Washington Week Extra, where we

pick up online where we left off on the broadcast.

While President Trump continues his war with congressional Republicans, former GOP

presidential hopeful John Kasich, the Ohio governor, is reportedly considering running as

an independent in 2020. The governor has been talking with Colorado Governor John

Hickenlooper, a Democrat, about forming a unity ticket.

Both governors would run as independents, with Kasich at the top of the ticket and

Hickenlooper as his running mate. Dan, could this ticket actually happen?

DAN BALZ: I am very skeptical. I know there's talk about it, but - and I know each

of them is thinking about running in 2020. But the question is, can - A, would

Hickenlooper actually agree to do this; and does it make sense for them to do it

as independents? It may well be that that's the only course that they could see.

And maybe, given the politics of the moment, that's the smartest thing to do.

But there are so many obstacles to people who run independently for president that in

many ways it could end up being kind of a fool's errand, which is they could go out, they

could get a lot of publicity, but could they get enough vote to affect the outcome?

And would it be that they would elect a Democrat in the process, which - is that in

Kasich's interest? I don't think so.

ROBERT COSTA: Are they thinking, maybe, Dan, that a progressive Democrat gets the

Democratic nomination, President Trump remains the Republican nominee, and there is that

path up the center?

DAN BALZ: That's the possible path, but that's easier to put together on paper or to

imagine it than to actually do it.

JULIE PACE: And then there's the very obvious governing question, because if you

actually could get through all of those obstacles and you had a Republican governor - or

a Republican president and a Democratic vice president who disagree on a lot of major

issues, what would the actual practical implications of that be?

I think that would be something you would hear people talking about quite a bit.

ROBERT COSTA: Didn't Senator McCain, Julie, think about picking Senator Lieberman back in 2008?

JULIE PACE: Sure, absolutely, but they were a little more aligned on some of these issues.

I mean, Hickenlooper and Kasich I'm sure can find a few things where they're - where they

are on the same page, but Kasich truly is a Republican in the traditional mold and

Hickenlooper truly is a Democrat, and those two parties believe in different things.

JAKE SHERMAN: I talked to Hickenlooper about this a few weeks ago and reported what he

said at the time, which was, you know, we don't agree on much; we like each other as

people. Remember, Hickenlooper is a - was a business executive, a very successful

one at that. He redeveloped most of downtown Denver. So somebody like that, who has

been a chief - you know, an executive of a - of a large and diverse state, for him to

take a backseat to a governor who ran for the Republican nomination and lost,

and - I just - it would be very hard to believe. But it is a fun little story.

ROBERT COSTA: It is fun. (Laughter.) 2020, keep it up.

(Laughter.) It's a fun thing to talk about. We're going to move on to the Pentagon.

And as they prepare to deploy additional troops to Afghanistan, the White House is moving

forward with its ban on transgender people serving in the military.

Nancy Youssef, she joins us from Washington.

Nancy, the president tweeted about this policy a month ago but offered no specifics.

What more do we know right now? And what has the reaction been inside the Pentagon?

NANCY YOUSSEF: Well, the Pentagon today officially received its guidance - that is,

essentially the attempt to translate that tweet into a policy - and there are three major

parts of it. It spells out that transgender servicemembers will no longer be admitted

into the military. Those currently serving, who are receiving medical care or funding

towards their medical needs, won't be funded anymore. And the secretary of defense,

Jim Mattis, will have six months to sort of determine what should happen to currently

serving transgender servicemembers. So the guidance as it is spelled out gives broad

discretion to the secretary of defense to really shape the policy going forward.

Within the Pentagon, it's of course a mixed reaction.

I think the most universal one is it's hard for some to accept the idea that somebody

who's willing and able and wants to put on that uniform and serve the country would then

not be allowed for anything other than they can't actually serve.

And so there's a - there's a real conflict in there because the president argued that

this was for military readiness, and the critics would argue that this actually hurts

military readiness because you now have units with servicemembers who don't know if they

will be in that unit six months from now.

ROBERT COSTA: Nancy, did the president move on this, based on your reporting, because

the Pentagon was getting cold feet?

NANCY YOUSSEF: No, the sense that we got was that because of these tweets and there was

all this pressure to come up with direction that this guidance was the result of that.

What we're really getting a sense of is that the White House hasn't really formulated a

clear policy in terms of how it wants to proceed, and therefore has given that discretion

to the secretary of defense.

ROBERT COSTA: Dan?

DAN BALZ: Well, it's obviously a very controversial decision, and controversial within

the military. And I think that, you know, General Mattis, the secretary of defense,

will carry out that order as he's required to do.

But to the degree to which he has discretion, my guess is that he will create some space

so that this doesn't look like a complete reversal and a complete ban.

ROBERT COSTA: How is this playing as a cultural war move by the president?

JULIE PACE: Well, it's interesting, we talked in the main show about Trump trying to

play to his base, and certainly this is another one of those areas where he is expecting

that his base will reward him for this.

But there has been just this massive shift in the country on LGBT issues, and it's - this

is pushing us in a different direction than what we certainly saw under the Obama

administration, where there was basically a steady drumbeat, both from the public and

then also on the policy side, toward expanding rights. So this is a - this is a rollback.

It is interesting to note that he is taking this action to restrict access to military

service at a time when he's also announcing plans to increase the number of troops that

we're sending abroad, and I'm sure that will factor into the way the Pentagon thinks

about this as well.

JAKE SHERMAN: This was a tricky decision on Capitol Hill, where - this was kind of

sparked on Capitol Hill, where in the House there was a debate over an amendment that

threatened to - that actually ended up failing, but it was an amendment to do just that.

And I know the leadership went to the White House and said please do something on this,

and they didn't expect that the president would announce a new policy.

I think they meant this is an issue that you - should be on your radar that you'll need

to handle at some point, and then Trump announced this.

DAN BALZ: And that amendment didn't go as far as what Trump has done.

JAKE SHERMAN: No, it did not. It did not.

ROBERT COSTA: Was this the House Freedom Caucus, the conservative group, that wanted it?

JAKE SHERMAN: No, it wasn't. It was actually a - I don't remember exactly who it was.

I think it was someone from the Midwest. It was not a Freedom Caucus member.

ROBERT COSTA: Nancy, thanks for being with us. I appreciate it.

Republican leaders have supported Trump throughout this tumultuous presidency and

despite the ongoing probe into possible collusion by his staff with Russia and

controversial staff shakeups. But it appears that the president's remarks about the

violence in Charlottesville have created a crisis of conscience for some conservatives,

who are publicly speaking out against the president.

What are we seeing, Julie? What's changed?

JULIE PACE: Well, I think that what changed in - with the Charlottesville situation is

that Republicans are, one, actually opposed to what he said.

Not so much talking about the Confederate monuments, but this idea that there was some

kind of equivalence between the white nationalist groups and those who were out there

protesting. So there's that actual piece of it.

But it also revealed something that has just driven Republicans crazy in Washington,

which is that they can't just get Trump to do the right thing sometimes, you know.

He can go out there and read off the teleprompter and deliver a fine speech.

He can - he can stay on message for a couple days, sometimes a week at a time.

But he always goes back. He always reverts back, and they know that that's the

constant danger to them. They want him to be out in the next couple weeks talking

about tax reform. He's going to be traveling the country.

He might be talking about everything but tax reform.

He's just not a reliable partner for them when it comes to the messaging.

And that was just on display in a pretty profound way the last several days.

JAKE SHERMAN: And the political - the tricky political situation is that members of

Congress go home, and they don't have a health care bill to talk about.

They don't have tax reform to talk about, an infrastructure bill.

So all they get asked about are these comments, which they don't want to defend but they

don't want to split from the president because that's also news. So they're kind of

stuck in this weird place where they're forced to answer for somebody they don't agree with.

DAN BALZ: In the wake of the Charlottesville statements that the president made, I

talked to a Republican who's been a long-time party official.

And he said the worst aspect of this is that it goes right to a Republican vulnerability,

which is the issue of tolerance, and that time and again they are tagged as being an

intolerant party. And I talked to several who said, you know, we are the party of Lincoln.

And we get tagged for being a party that, you know, is sympathetic to racism.

Party activists who've been in it for a long time are aggrieved at that. And Donald

Trump, the president, put them back into that with what he did in Charlottesville.

ROBERT COSTA: Let's stick with this theme, because when Congress returns from its August

recess in early September, it will begin a four-week stretch of major battles over the

debt ceiling and government funding. For House Speaker Paul Ryan, September could

prove to be a critical and consequential test of his speakership. Jake, Ryan

reluctantly took the job and seems to have a bullseye on his back from day one.

And now he's facing all these different battles. But on this moral question - moral

authority of the presidency, the conscience of Paul Ryan, where is he right now?

JAKE SHERMAN: He's torn. You have to kind of take a step back and recognize that

Paul Ryan, despite the rap that he got, was very vocally against Trump during the

campaign, remember, didn't endorse him, told his members - his conference that

they should not worry about defending him, he wasn't going to defend him.

And the way that the Ryan world, the broad Ryan world sees it, is he lost the argument.

And he - Trump won the election, despite kind of Ryan's tacit - you know, I don't want to

say that he worked against him, but he got pretty close. And Ryan speaks out when he

has to, but it's always - he doesn't - he didn't mention Trump this time. He got

some flak for that. And it's a really tricky issue for him when it comes to Trump. And

it's a tricky issue when trying to put his legislative agenda together, because there are

things that Trump wants him and Republicans to do that he just simply doesn't believe in.

ROBERT COSTA: McConnell? It seems like that relationship's unraveled with President Trump as well.

DAN BALZ: It's unraveled in a very public way. I'm not sure there was a real

relationship there, other than that Senator McConnell saw Trump as the vehicle to

finally get things signed into law that the Congress would do. I think with the hope

that the Congress would really lead on the agenda and lead on the things that they have

been wanting to do throughout much of the Obama administration. He was, I thought,

shrewder than Paul Ryan in the way he kind of dealt with Trump's excesses during the

campaign. He would - he would say a limited amount, make clear his displeasure, but

otherwise keep his head down. But I don't think there was any illusion in his mind as

to what he was going to get if Donald Trump became president.

But what's happened as a result of, I guess, the health care bill - that seems to be what

sticks most in the president's craw - but just, I think, the general course of things

over six or seven months, that relationship, despite the efforts of the last few days to

kind of paper over the differences, seems like it's irreconcilable, other than that if

the Congress sends stuff, they're still confident that Trump will sign it.

ROBERT COSTA: So, Leader McConnell, that relationship's on ice and difficult situation.

Speaker Ryan, the relationship's difficult. (Laughter.) But you mentioned tax reform.

JULIE PACE: Yeah.

ROBERT COSTA: And in spite of all of this, they could actually get a tax cut through

because it's mutually beneficial to everyone.

JULIE PACE: They could - look, this is so important to Republicans heading into 2018

because - Jake mentioned this earlier - I mean, they have nothing really to stand on

right now in terms of this agenda that they have promised voters: If you can just put us

in the White House and put us in the majority in Congress we can pass this agenda.

They really feel like they have to go into 2018 with something.

I was talking to a Republican operative who is working on a lot of these competitive

races who basically said that on the House side this is the whole ball game in terms of

maintaining that majority because they just don't feel like they can campaign

successfully in competitive districts and have nothing to stand on.

This is a huge - this is a huge moment for them. And that's where you see these

mutual interests start to align again, despite all of the rhetoric.

ROBERT COSTA: You seem skeptical?

JAKE SHERMAN: I'm a little bit bearish. (Laughter.) I'm bearish for a few reasons.

There's a difference, let's make a distinction, between a tax cut and tax reform.

JULIE PACE: Absolutely. It's a great point.

JAKE SHERMAN: If they're just going to cut taxes without -

ROBERT COSTA: You mean the difference is tax reform's getting rid of a lot of deductions -

JAKE SHERMAN: It's rewriting the tax code in a way that Paul Ryan thinks would be - and

a lot of Republicans think would be beneficial to the country, which actually is a pretty

popular issue. People don't like paying taxes. They don't much like the IRS. And

they think it's too complicated. They have to hire people. So it's a popular issue.

If Republicans decide to just do a straight tax cut, cut rates, that's a much easier

thing. But that runs against everything that they've been talking about, about

deficits and debt and the nation's fiscal health. I think they could get a tax cut.

I am very, very skeptical about tax reform.

ROBERT COSTA: The president's different, I would say, based on my reporting, on

ideology. Has a real difference with Speaker Ryan, right Dan?

DAN BALZ: Oh, sure.

ROBERT COSTA: Speaker Ryan is a green eyeshade conservative. The president's

this outsider, populist, nationalist who's not really thinking about deficits.

DAN BALZ: Well, Speaker Ryan is a combination of a green eyeshade and kind of

old-fashioned Jack Kemp Republicanism.

ROBERT COSTA: The late New York congressman, supply-sider.

DAN BALZ: Right. And what we found is that that combination doesn't have the full

support that he needs, even within the House of Representatives.

So I think the other point about President Trump is he's not really a Republican, right?

ROBERT COSTA: You think he's an independent, an outsider?

DAN BALZ: I wrote - I wrote, you know, right after the election, he's in many ways our

first independent president - certainly since, you know, 100 years or 200 years or Washington

or whatever. But his allegiance to the Republican Party is only one of convenience

when it suits him. And so attacking Republican leaders is just attacking the swamp.

And that's what he ran against. So I think he thinks of it in a different way.

JULIE PACE: I think you're right. I do wonder, though, how much he's thought through

the consequences, though, of separating himself - not Republicans separating from him

but Trump separating himself - and the potential implications. If he were to be

president with a Democratic Congress, talk about the Russia investigations.

I mean, that changes the dynamic.

JAKE SHERMAN: He would be impeached.

JULIE PACE: He could potentially be impeached if he had Democrats.

ROBERT COSTA: You think the Democrats would move on him that quick?

JAKE SHERMAN: I do. I do. And that's not my opinion. That's based on what people

tell me. I mean, Nancy Pelosi, who's historically as strong a congressional leader

as we've seen in decades, is really trying to hold everybody in line.

Her statement about the censure resolution, which is - a censure resolution is important.

It says a lot, but it doesn't mean anything in a significant sense.

She said she supports anything Democrats want to do to rein in the Trump - I mean, she

was very - it was very kind of circuitous.

ROBERT COSTA: Whew, I thought these times were wild. Imagine if Democrats take the House.

We'll leave it there tonight. That's it for this edition of the Washington Week Extra.

While you're online, take our news quiz and read our blog on what you need to know about

the Justice Department under President Trump. I'm Robert Costa. See you next time.

For more infomation >> Could the 2020 presidential race see a unity ticket? - Duration: 15:49.

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President Trump changes course in Afghanistan, goes to war with Republicans - Duration: 23:49.

ROBERT COSTA: Battles abroad, battles at home. President Trump changes course in

Afghanistan, goes to war with Republicans, and threatens a shutdown over a border

wall. I'm Robert Costa. We cover it all, tonight on Washington Week.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) We are not nation-building again.

We are killing terrorists.

ROBERT COSTA: President Trump expands the U.S. role in Afghanistan, convinced by his

generals that the 16-year conflict has reached a critical juncture.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE JAMES MATTIS: (From video.) We're not winning in Afghanistan right now.

ROBERT COSTA: The president also puts Pakistan on notice.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) We can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe

havens for terrorist organizations.

ROBERT COSTA: What will victory look like under the Trump plan?

On the campaign trail, the president fires up his base.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) They're trying to take away our culture.

They're trying to take away our history. And our weak leaders, they do it overnight.

ROBERT COSTA: And throws down an ultimatum to Congress: fund a border wall, or else.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) If we have to close down our government, we're

building that wall.

ROBERT COSTA: So, what happened to the plan to have Mexico pay for it?

We'll get answers and analysis from Julie Pace of The Associated Press, Jake Sherman of

POLITICO, Nancy Youssef of The Wall Street Journal, and Dan Balz of The Washington Post.

ANNOUNCER: Celebrating 50 years, this is Washington Week.

Once again, live from Washington, moderator Robert Costa.

ROBERT COSTA: Good evening. As Hurricane Harvey barrels towards the Texas Gulf Coast,

we send our thoughts to those who call the region home. Please, stay safe.

And here in Washington, a different type of storm is brewing between the president and

congressional Republicans over the debt ceiling, a budget to keep the government running,

and funding for a border wall. And the president continues to pick fights with fellow

Republicans and play the blame game over the defeat of health care.

In fact, he tweeted this week: "The only problem I have with" Senate Majority Leader

"Mitch McConnell is that, after hearing Repeal & Replace for 7 years, he failed!

That should NEVER have happened!" During a visit to his home state, Kentucky, McConnell

joked about the limits of his power as the Senate leader with a slim majority.

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL: (From video.) You know, I'm often asked what is

being the majority leader of the Senate like. It's a little bit like being a

groundskeeper at a cemetery. (Laughter.) Everybody's under you, but nobody's listening.

ROBERT COSTA: Complicating matters even more, the president is making a threat to shut

down the government if Congress does not find federal funds to build that border wall

with Mexico. Julie, as the president goes to war with his own party,

what are the costs to him and his agenda?

JULIE PACE: I think there are potential short-term costs and then potential long-term costs.

In the short term, you have to put this into the context of where we are in Washington.

We are heading into a September where there are some really big issues on the table:

raising the debt ceiling, keeping the government funded - and that's before the White

House even gets to the possibility of passing some kind of tax reform legislation.

And while Trump has a Republican majority in the House and the Senate, on the Senate side

in particular it's pretty slim. So if he's going to be going after members of his own

party and giving them reasons to potentially vote against him, you could see that cost

come pretty quickly. And then, as you look into 2018, I look at Arizona, with Jeff Flake.

If he is really rallying behind Kelli Ward or another possible challenger to Flake, he

could be putting Republicans in a position to put a weaker general election candidate on

the ballot. And if that seat were to go to a Democrat, even if the Republicans maintain

their Senate majority, that margin could get slimmer. That has long-term consequences

for him. But I also think we need to be open to the possibility that there actually

are no consequences at all.

We've been in this situation with Trump before, where he does something, he goes after an

ally, someone in his own party, and Republicans grumble about it, they talk tough every

now and then, certainly privately, but then there are no practical consequences for him.

ROBERT COSTA: So there is this war of words, Jake, within the party, and we've seen this

drama among Republicans for so long. But on the key things they need to get done, the

debt limit, will they pass a clean debt limit without anything attached and make sure the

markets don't get rattled? And will they pass a budget that funds the border wall?

Can they get those things done?

JAKE SHERMAN: I had conversations with Republicans this week who told me there's about

20 votes in the Senate and very few votes in the House for a clean debt-limit bill, and

that's a big problem. The president, according to Republicans that I talk to all the

time, has not been forceful in saying what he wants. He's not said a word about the debt

ceiling. He's not said I want a clean debt ceiling, I need a debt ceiling with strings.

For a while in his White House they were warring among themselves, and you had Steven

Mnuchin and Mick Mulvaney saying completely opposite things.

They're finally on the same page. The border wall is going to be a big fight.

And everybody on the Hill that I speak to, Republican and Democrat, believes there's

going to be a shutdown either in September or in December.

ROBERT COSTA: Let's pause there because you're saying, Jake, that they may extend

government funding until December, a short-term CR - that's the lingo here in Washington

- to keep the government running and then maybe think about doing a border wall later on?

JAKE SHERMAN: So the government runs out of money at the end of September. And a way

to kick the can down the road and have the fight with an ending time of Christmas,

which is a lot more alluring for members of Congress and will maybe help them get their

act together, it's helpful for them. So Trump is itching for a fight. It's very clear.

He sees this as an election promise that he needs to fulfill. He says - rightfully, he

says, I ran on this. This was a central part of my campaign, building this wall.

I think that he is going to go to the mat for this in a way that he has not gone to the

mat for health care, tax reform, or any other priority.

ROBERT COSTA: But will he, Dan?

DAN BALZ: I don't know, because he blusters and he threatens and then he kind of lets it

fade away. So I think I'm waiting to see just how much he does go to war over this.

It's entirely possible that he will not do that, that he will talk tough and then he will

find a way to diminish the significance of not having had it done.

ROBERT COSTA: What's the cost for the base, Dan? With the base? Breitbart News?

DAN BALZ: Well, that's - I mean, I think - I think -

ROBERT COSTA: Stephen Bannon, his former strategist, now there.

DAN BALZ: I think that's the most important issue. This is - you know, as Jake said -

this is the rallying cry of all rallying cries. It exceeds at his rallies "repeal and

replace." Build that wall. We saw it again - you know, every time he does a rally, we

see the chance go up. He's not talking about Mexico paying for it anymore, obviously -

(laughter) - but building that wall is still a touchstone with his base.

So I don't know how he gets out of that. I thought it was surprising that he laid

that marker down when he did and put himself now in a very, very difficult position.

ROBERT COSTA: Julie, I was thinking back to one of your interviews in the spring.

You talked to President Trump. And he talked then about making this showdown over a

border wall. But he was able to accept a watered-down version, some security, some

technology at the border. Could we expect that again, a watered-down version of the wall?

JULIE PACE: Well, that gets to Dan's point, that we have been through these episodes

before where Trump will say I will absolutely not sign something unless it has X in it -

in this case, the border wall. And then he finds a way out of it where he feels like he

can still appeal to his base but doesn't have to take that drastic step to actually shut

down the government. I do think, though, that this is one of those situations where it's

going to be fascinating to see how Steve Bannon operates on the outside, because he

was the guy in the White House that had that whiteboard in his office.

And in talking to him and in talking to other Trump supporters who were there in the

campaign, they feel like the wall is so central to this campaign promise,

that it wasn't just the chants that were appealing to people during the campaign.

They really want the wall built, Trump supporters. And so if Trump looks like he's

waffling on this, I have a hard time imagining that Breitbart will be anything less

than aggressive in pointing out that he's backing away from this.

DAN BALZ: I think one aspect of this is useful to remember, and that is if he fails his

people and he will blame others.

ROBERT COSTA: Right. (Laughs.)

JULIE PACE: Absolutely. Absolutely.

DAN BALZ: He will not necessarily take the blame from his base as a result of that,

because he will be able to deflect, as he's very good at doing.

ROBERT COSTA: Jake, you track Democrats. Where are they in all this, as the president

maybe tries to get a clean debt limit? The usually wanted a clean debt limit in the

past, but now it seems like they may be pushing for some concessions from Republicans.

DAN BALZ: They feel like they - this is their one chance to get something. They're in

the minority. They're out of powers and out of ideas in a lot of ways - (laughs) -

right? I mean, they have no leverage points. So the Obamacare subsidies, the CSR

payments which help kind of stabilize insurance markets, Trump is saying he's going

to stop them. So they are going to try to insert that into the debate and try to

get that tacked onto the debt ceiling. But that presents a whole other raft of issues.

Republicans are not going to be for that. And I just - you look at this now and you

look at this kind of matrix of issues and you wonder where they're - how they're

going to get out of this. And I was texting last night with a senior Republican

leadership aide in the Senate who told me: Don't worry. We have ideas. And I said,

what are they? And she said, no one really knows yet, but we're confident we do. (Laughter.)

ROBERT COSTA: I think it's not just Democrats. Let's think about the whole big

moment for the Republican Party. And the president had this bombastic, stream of

consciousness rally in Phoenix on Tuesday that's really setting the tone, the pace

of how everything is going to probably unfold this fall.

For 77 minutes the president rallied his base, but he did it by attacking Senators John

McCain and Jeff Flake in their home state, Arizona.

He defended his comments about the violence in Charlottesville as well, painting himself

as a victim of the media, claiming his words were not accurately reported.

Take a listen and you decide as we play the remarks side by side.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) We condemn in the strongest possible terms this

egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence. That's me speaking on Saturday.

(Cheers.) We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of

hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. On many sides.

ROBERT COSTA: White House Economic Advisor Gary Cohn says he seriously considered

resigning after those remarks from President Trump about that violence that left one

counterprotester dead. Cohn, who is Jewish, was standing next to the president

in the lobby of Trump Tower when he said this.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) I think there's blame on both sides. You look at -

you look at both sides, I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it.

ROBERT COSTA: In an interview with The Financial Times on Friday, Cohn said: "I believe

this administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning

these groups, and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our

communities." Dan, we're seeing the president tonight with the hurricane - hopefully

everyone's safe in Texas - but also his own staff.

He's facing these crises of character, crises of leadership as he approaches all the

other things we're talking about on Capitol Hill.

DAN BALZ: It's a terribly delicate moment for him, because the combination of what

happened and how he handled Charlottesville, and then what he did in Phoenix at that

rally, has raised, you know, in a sense, fundamental questions about is he fit to be in

the office. Is he - does he have what it takes to be president? And I think that a lot

of people have made judgements about that, including people within the Republican Party.

That doesn't mean they're going to censure him or anything like that, but it makes it

more difficult, even when he conducts himself presidentially, to gain back that support,

to gain back that kind of trust. It doesn't, again, mean that Republicans in Congress

are going to vote against him. They're going to vote in their self-interest.

And in many of those cases Donald Trump will be happy to sign that legislation. But he

has - he has lost something essential to being president. And it's difficult to get that back.

ROBERT COSTA: I just want to share some breaking news tonight.

Because we're - when you think about how President Trump is going to handle this, Julie.

Joe Arpaio, the controversial sheriff from Maricopa County in Arizona, Maricopa County,

he was pardoned tonight. As the show was going to air, he was pardoned by President Trump.

And what a favorite of the base Sheriff Joe is. And it just shows, as the

president's confronting these things, he's turning to the base.

JULIE PACE: He's turning to the base. He knows that that base is extremely loyal.

There have been some polls that show a slight weakening there, but really when you talk

to folks - Trump voters and Trump supporters in the House in particular - you know, they

are rock-solid with Trump. And he knows. He has come off a rough week with the

response to Charlottesville, and the Afghanistan decision - which I know we're

going to be talking about - really is unpopular with the base.

ROBERT COSTA: Why was Sheriff Joe pardoned? He was convicted of -

JULIE PACE: Well, so Trump has looked at Sheriff Joe, who took a very hard line on

immigration in Arizona, and he looked at him as an early supporter who believes in what

he believes in on immigration. I do think it's worth noting, though, that it is unusual

for presidents to make this type of controversial pardon at this phase of their presidency.

They usually try to send that, you know, to the back end and do it for their last couple

days in office. But to do it at this phase is really pretty extraordinary.

JAKE SHERMAN: And if you look at - the thing that's striking to me about this is if you

look at how Trump treats his electoral base and how he treats his Washington base - like,

he's - we're in 2017, right?

And his base right now are 535 members of Congress who will decide his presidency.

Look at what Republicans did to Barack Obama, not passing judgment about the wisdom of

what they did, but they stood firm against his agenda and in a way forced him into

signing a bunch of executive orders and using the executive power more than the

legislative power. This president might have to do the same, because he's angering and

he's agitating against key members of his governing coalition in a way that - you know,

he's treating his electoral base so well but his Washington base he's just forgetting about.

ROBERT COSTA: So why does Gary Cohn stay? If the president continues to play to the

base, if he makes these controversial comments, why does he stay, Dan?

DAN BALZ: You know, it's emblematic of so much of what we're seeing within the

Republican Party today, which is great dissatisfaction with the president, disgust with

some of the things he's done, a desire to see him change, and now a kind of an increasing

recognition that that's not going to happen. And yet, they're not prepared to walk away.

For whatever reason, they see self-interest in staying where they are - whether you're on

the Hill working with him or whether you're in the White House working for him.

ROBERT COSTA: Julie, you run The Associated Press here in Washington, managing a lot of

different reporters. The president's attacks on the media hit a new level, or did they?

JULIE PACE: I think they did. I think that we have to keep pointing this out. And,

look, I'm pretty clear-eyed about this. We in the media don't have a lot of friends.

And sometimes we do ourselves a disservice by making ourselves the story here, instead of

emphasizing the role that we play in our democracy and the important function that we

have in our politics. But I think we need to keep pointing this out.

I do think that if the public doesn't trust what they hear from independent news sources,

that puts our democracy in a really precarious position. And I do think this is very

strategic on the president's part. I have said this before.

I think this is as much a part of his agenda as the wall and Obamacare and tax reform, is

undermining the media so that when there are negative stories about him out there, when

there is really important reporting that is done, he can turn to his base and say you

don't believe that. So we need to keep doing our job, doing it fairly, doing it

accurately, and reminding people that what we're here to do is to be their eyes

and ears in Washington and at the White House and in Congress.

ROBERT COSTA: But, Jake, when you're on Capitol Hill, the media, again, seems to have

troubled capital with voters, with readers because of some of these attacks.

JAKE SHERMAN: I will say, though, I find on Capitol Hill that members of Congress are

exceedingly good to reporters, I mean in a way that even staunch Trump supporters kind of

get the job that we're supposed to do and appreciate it.

And I think that's because - I don't know, I'm not going to play armchair - (laughter) -

ROBERT COSTA: It's an interesting - that's true, it's a different environment on Capitol

Hill versus the back and forth with the president. Let's turn - because the president's

speech in Arizona was such a high-octane President Trump, but the week began in a different

way. The president announced a recommitment of troops to Afghanistan in his first address

to the nation, pledging to build up America's military presence in the region.

President Trump offered few specifics, and the move to increase troop levels is a sharp

reversal for him since he called for a complete withdrawal on the campaign trail.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) The consequences of a rapid exit are both

predictable and unacceptable. We will not talk about numbers of troops or our

plans for further military activities. Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary

timetables, will guide our strategy from now on.

ROBERT COSTA: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered a grim assessment of the 16-year war.

SECRETARY OF STATE REX TILLERSON: (From video.) We believe that we can turn the tide of

what has been a losing battle over the last year and a half or so, and at least stabilize

the situation, and hopefully start seeing some battlefield victories on the part of the

Afghan forces, who have fought very bravely but they've been fighting, I think, with less

than full capabilities that we can give them.

ROBERT COSTA: Nancy Youssef, our friend, she covers the Pentagon, and joins us from

Washington. Nancy, this was a dramatic about-face for the president.

Who convinced him to change course?

NANCY YOUSSEF: Well, there were a number of factors that came into play for the

president. Remember, and as he said himself, that it's quite different when you're

in office versus campaigning. And when he came into office, he came into an

Afghanistan that while a strategy wasn't yielding any definitive measures of

success, there had not been any major 9/11 planned attacks from Afghanistan.

And so that, coupled with the fact that he had a general - General Nicholson, the

commander in Afghanistan - asking for 4,000 troops and not, say, 30,000 troops, as

President Obama confronted in 2009, allowed for an incremental increase in the troop

presence there. That, coupled with the fact that he gave greater responsibility to

the Pentagon to determine the number of troops and the way that the war would be

prosecuted, put sort of the burden back on the Pentagon and not just on him.

And so, from the president's perspective, it was less risky to have this incremental

increase than to withdraw totally. Had the president -

ROBERT COSTA: But why the urgency, Nancy? Why the urgency on the ground in

Afghanistan? We hear so much about ISIS in Iraq and elsewhere.

But in Afghanistan, what's the actual strength of the Taliban right now?

NANCY YOUSSEF: Well, it's grown in recent years. They control upwards of 40 percent

of the country. They're running shadow governments not only in rural areas, as they

once did and at the beginning and even just a few years ago, but in urban areas.

And in fact, we're starting to see a growing Taliban presence in the capital itself,

Kabul. And so there's a real risk that you have a Taliban overtake this very

tenuous Afghan government and the Afghan forces that aren't in place to be able to

protect the country on their own.

Remember that these 4,000 troops aren't going towards counterterrorism.

The bulk of them will be going towards advising and training the Afghan security forces.

ROBERT COSTA: Nancy, the president called on Pakistan to help share the burden of

combatting terror in Central Asia. Is that a realistic expectation, that

Pakistan's actually going to step up and play a bigger role?

NANCY YOUSSEF: Well, from the - from the Pakistani perspective, they see the U.S.

presence as part of the reason that they have to continue to shape events in Afghanistan.

That's why you have things like the Haqqani Network and members of the Taliban allowed to

go back and forth in Pakistan.

The president made a very risky calculation by giving praise to India and essentially

trying to pressure the Pakistanis to do more by way of giving this sort of reach out to

India. So far they have indicated that they're not onboard.

We heard from the Pakistani foreign minister today that he would be visiting his allies

in China and elsewhere to try to make the case that, in fact, they are offering - what

they're doing now is not contributing to terrorism, but a force of stability.

And so, so far we haven't seen it. But we may see increased pressure from the U.S.

in the form of strikes or even rhetoric that could change that.

ROBERT COSTA: Stay with us, Nancy. Jake, real quick, to close us out - and I

want to go around real quick to Dan and Julie - will Congress demand to hear more

about the actual number of troops on the ground in Afghanistan?

JAKE SHERMAN: Absolutely. I think you'll have Jim Mattis up there in the next

couple weeks, and we're not going to tell you our strategy is not a thing Congress

likes to hear because they cut the checks. And they're going to say, no, you're

committing U.S. troops, we're paying the bill, taxpayers deserve to know how

many people are going to be there.

ROBERT COSTA: He ran as a non-interventionist, Julie. Is he now a hawk?

JULIE PACE: I don't know if I would quite call him a hawk at this point, but certainly I

think he is someone who, you know, he's not wrong, sitting in that Oval Office making

these decisions is a lot different. And I don't think he wants to be the kind of

president that creates a vacuum in Afghanistan that could potentially lead that

country to become a launching pad once again for a terrorism attack in the U.S.

That is something that has haunted his predecessors as well.

ROBERT COSTA: Dan, Nancy mentioned all these generals surrounding the president.

Isn't it unusual in history to have these military figures in civilian roles, really

shaping policy in such a widespread way?

DAN BALZ: Highly unusual in any of our memories to have this many generals playing this

prominent a role in the administration.

And what's also interesting is, given all of the concerns about, you know, civilian

control of the military, and now you have in a sense military control of the White House

and the president. A lot of people feel comforted by that. They feel that these are

professionals who have a duty to the country and will do the right thing if things go haywire.

ROBERT COSTA: Nancy, we have about 30 seconds left.

I was just reading Lawrence Wright's book, Looming Tower, and you look at Soviet Union

1979, so many invasions throughout history.

The president said he's not going to nation-build, he's just going to send over advisors

and troops. Is that a realistic - is that a possible goal?

NANCY YOUSSEF: Well, at this point the goal is not winning, as he states it, but to not

lose. And so I think we heard that from Rex Tillerson in his comments, that this

is not about nation-building. I think he's right about that. But this is also

arguably not about winning, it is about creating an environment such that the

Taliban will be willing to come to the negotiation table, because that's how this ends.

ROBERT COSTA: That's maybe how it ends. We'll see if it happens.

We're going to have to leave it there. Thanks, everybody.

Thanks so much Nancy, Dan Balz, Jake Sherman, Julie Pace.

And our conversation will continue, as ever, online on the Washington Week Extra, where

we'll tell you about two governors, one a Republican, the other a Democrat. They're

considering a joint independent bid for president in 2020. I know, it's - we're

going there. (Laughter.) You can find that later tonight at PBS.org/WashingtonWeek.

I'm Robert Costa. Thanks for watching. Have a great weekend.

For more infomation >> President Trump changes course in Afghanistan, goes to war with Republicans - Duration: 23:49.

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The Russians Are Paying For A Liberal Radio Station In Washington (HBO) - Duration: 5:24.

— What, you are colluding here?

— Absolutely, absolutely.

— Mindia Gavasheli is a veteran of the Russian media.

— Let's keep it super simple,

because if we start bringing up all these crazy details,

people are going to go insane.

— He used to work at RT,

the Russian-funded television station.

Now, he's the boss at Sputnik's D.C. bureau.

This is the first Russian government-funded radio station in the United States.

— So you're hoping to get those congressmen and stuff listening to Sputnik in the morning?

— Oh, I would love them to.

I would love them to.

Why you are making such a face?

— I don't know, man.

I just…

— Before 105.5 was Sputnik.

It was the public radio home for bluegrass and country music in D.C.

So why do the Russians want it?

Maybe it wants to prove Russian state media

isn't a firehose of fake news.

— We really want it to be on FM,

because next time an idiot writes that,

"Oh, these are the guys who propelled Trump into his position,"

people will tune in and hear what we say on the air and will be,

"Uh… that doesn't sound like a pro-Trump radio."

— Sputnik the network has been around for a while.

It's global, with content in more than 30 languages.

On the radio, you won't hear anyone say,

"You're listening to Russian government-funded broadcasting,"

but you will hear the Russian pronunciation of that famous satellite about 15 times a day:

— You're listening to radio Spootnik…

— The shows on Sputnik FM aren't about Russia—

they're about America.

The signature show is called "Faultlines":

Garland Nixon, who calls himself a "Bernie bro,"

squares off daily against Lee Stranahan,

the only avowed Trump supporter on the air.

— I think the Russia narrative is a complete load of crap.

— The guys disagree about a lot of things.

Russia is not one of them.

— We're in another boogeyman phase,

and Russia's the current bogeyman.

And everybody—

look, it's fashionable to be scared of Russia!

— The takeaway from listening to Sputnik is that other news is corrupt,

and that listeners should fear the American media infrastructure.

— Yesterday, we started the week by talking about

the dopey lying mainstream establishment media

that lies to the American people and does propaganda.

— The Americans with shows on Sputnik FM

told us no one tells them what to say or how to say it—

and what they wanna say, most of the time,

comes from the far-left.

— I'm a socialist.

I've been part of the anti-war movement

since I was a teenager during the Vietnam War.

You have Jeff Sessions, who hates immigrants, is a xenophobe himself…

— Why does the Russian government pay Brian Becker to be on the air five hours a week?

— I'm a critic of U.S. foreign policy.

Perhaps that's a voice that the Russian government wants to have the American people also listen to,

but I don't really know.

— It's not like Russia is a great example for American progressives to aspire to.

But Sputnik offers them the chance to hold a mirror up to their own country

in ways mainstream outlets usually don't:

— It has to be one of the most open secrets out there though, quite frankly,

that the Pentagon is really just one giant pig trough

for every military contractor and lobbyist connected to contractors to feed from…

— Eugene Puryear once ran for D.C. City Council as a Green Party candidate.

Now, he hosts "By Any Means Necessary,"

a show that includes a lot of voices from Black Lives Matter and similar movements—

people you generally won't hear anywhere else.

He says, for guys like him, a platform is a platform.

— Do you care if there's a Russian political leader who's like,

"Yeah man, this show's on, where we're making the U.S. look weak."

— America is doing quite a bit of destabilization.

And so, it's not that surprising that,

in a power struggle of major, powerful countries over big interest,

that all parties involved are going to be trying to influence each other one way or another.

— That's true, in sort-of an academic sense, right?

— Sure.

— But you're the person on the air.

So I wonder, what if you're the tool of that destabilization?

Does that bother you at all?

— Well, I would say this:

for people who are concerned that, like, airing more content about police shootings,

or whatever it may be, is gonna rip America apart and that's a huge weakness that Russia is exploiting,

if that's what you think,

then there's one simple solution,

and that's solve the problem.

I think what we're doing is just bringing to light issues of concern in America

that are gonna be divisive whether there's a Sputnik or whether there's not a Sputnik.

— State-owned media is nothing new.

The U.S. has it, and so does its allies.

Mindia won't tell us how much Sputnik FM costs

and we don't know how many people are listening yet,

but we're seeing how Russia is using its state-owned media in our country:

it gave an FM station to an existing American resistance.

— What's funny about this is that, you know,

the original Sputnik, right,

it was this thing that created this great terror in America when it went over,

but it was actually just like a sort-of benign beeping satellite.

— In Russia, it's still a matter of national pride:

"Oh, we were the first in space."

And here in the States, it's like…

"Ah! The Russians are coming!"

— So this is not "the Russians are coming,"

this radio station is not "the Russians are coming"?

— Well, yeah, we already came.

For more infomation >> The Russians Are Paying For A Liberal Radio Station In Washington (HBO) - Duration: 5:24.

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Seoul's vice foreign minister to visit Washington to discuss North Korea threat - Duration: 0:35.

Seoul's first vice foreign minister will be leaving for a visit to Washington on Sunday

to meet with senior White House officials,... with North Korea as the main topic of discussion.

The foreign ministry announced the details of ( 's)Lim Sung-nam's three day trip on Saturday.

He will meet with John Sullivan, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, among others...

but aside from North Korea, the foreign ministry says the trip also aimed at further strengthening

South Korea-U.S. ties.

Lim will travel directly to Canada next,... for another three day trip from Tuesday.