Restart their Nuclear Program. Youll find out about that. Were not going to be restarting anything. Bigger than theyve ever had before. You can mark it down. They restart their Nuclear Program, they will have bigger problems than theyve ever had before. Joining me now is Kristen Welker and peter baker. Julie smith and msnbc contributor christopher dickey. I have to ask with all of your experience, peelter, in the ova office when given a chance the president could have said were about to go into our meetings. Well have a News Conference and meet you later. Thats been done time and time again. He launches into his denunciation of the Iran Nuclear Deal without giving macron a chance to make his private points in the meeting. Hu hugely embarrassing to the french leader. This is how he holds the meeting. He has three question and answer beards. After the president s had their first oneonone meeting in the oval office the president addressed iran and this time rather than taking the more sharp approach you played at the top, he said were looking at doing something and we can do something and it has to be done strongly. He didnt say what would constitute strong for him. That deadline is approaching on march 12th. We know the germans, french and the brits have been trying to come up with an adjustment that will extend the duration of the ban on centrifuge development. The fuel cycle is a permanent ban. I know youll be ushering into the east room. Let me give you chance to respond before you go in. Reporter youre right. An announcement saying were going to gather at about 12 15 to go into the press conference. It gives you a soechense of whae timing will be here. The fact that the french, british have been working on trying to strengthen the terms of the iran fwhnuclear deal as way to keep the United States in. We also know that president macron will make the case. This is the best way the keep iran in check. Its also potentially the only way to keep your credibility if you do go to the bargaining table with north korea and try to get a nuclear deal with them. The big question is will he get on board with the plan to stay in the deal. We know hes surrounding himself with people that are more hawkish on this. John bolton, swrun fwh fwaifr of ripping up the nuclear agreement. A lot at stake here. Its not just iran. Its syria and the thorny issue of trade. These are two leaders that have an unlikely bond and friendship. They shake up the political system and thats the focus of their bond but a lot of policy differences they need to work through now. On the point of iran, macron in the oval office trying to smooth it over. Lets talk about this. I wanted to play a bit of macron in the oval office and ask you about it on the other side. Iran deal is an important issue. We have to take it as a part of the broader picture which is security and we have the syrian situation. We have upcoming relation in iraq. We have to preserve for our allies in the region. What we want to do is contain the iranian presence from the region. Macron is being the diplomat. How does it play back home . Theres been protests in paris. Macron has difficulty with his labor union, rail strike and the rest. It depends on what he comes a away with from these meetings. Youd say trump is sticking to his guns and not going to make any changes. Hes going to get out of the iran deal. Then hes going to through everything up in the air. Thats not necessarily whats going to happen. What macron is pushing for is not a dubbish approach to iran. The french are pretty hawkish on iran. They understand what he was saying. When you heard him talking just twh now thats very much the way he talks to trump. Hes saying dont tear up the one deal we have. Lets work on other deals. Side deals and different way approach this. Its bad for macron but nothing compared to what we have seen in the past. Its probably a storm he can weather. Remember hes got tour more years in power and absolute control of the government. Theres no other executive add powerful as him in europe and in the west. The other thing is that he is so concerned about the European Union thats going to be coming. No relationship with donald trump on friday to reenforce the European Union is having secondary affects from the tariffs that have been imposed on china that the president and his trade warriors, if you will, dont realize the unintended con kwe consequences. I wanted to play for all of you an uncomfortable moment in the oval office. Lets show this with the president right before the photo op began trying to clean up his visitor. We do have a very special relationship. Ill get that little piece of dandruf off. We have to bhak him perfect. He is perfect. I dont know what to say about a moment like that in the oval office. Its pretty shocking to see a president treat one of our closest allies in such way. Im sure trump believes hes just joking around showing he gets along with macron but the reality is that this is a very important. Its the first state visit. First visitor been granted a state dinner. This is one of americas closest allies. Important for security. What were about to see in this press conference is there are some steep disagreements. In the few minutes before i just lost sound. Peter baker. Weve had a little difficulty with her audio from boston. Let me go to you with a follow up question about the iran deal. In an interview with the National Interest was in new york. Hes been talking to reporters at the council of Foreign Relations and now the United States is saying whats mine is mine and whats yours is negotiableab negotiable. Whatever i gave you, now i want it back. Who would deal with the u. S. Anymore . Thats a real signal about the upcoming north korean talks. I think thats exactly right. What hes trying to say is what you said at the top is if you blow up this deal, why should anybody else make a deal with you, specifically kim jongun. At the second of those two pools the president called kim jongun very open. If youre kim jongun and the iran deal is ripped up days before you get together, obviously youll take that into consideration. His point is, we had these talks. Your side got some of what it wanted. Thats what a deal is ul about. You cant tear it up again because you want more of what you wanted without giving us something more. The north korea factor is an important one. There was another moment in the oval office. I guess it was jonathan carl, the Pool Reporter asked about whether the president was planning to pardon Michael Cohen, his lawyer. Take a look at this. What about Michael Cohen. Are you considering pardon . Thank you very much. Stupid question. Tell me what else you think about it. Kristen. That was pretty interesting from the president in the oval. It was. It comes on the heels of Sarah Huckabee sanders yesterday from this podium behind me not ruling out that possibility. We know Michael Cohen, his personal attorney has been under criminal investigation in new york and President Trump was tweeting about it over the weekend. Any question related to cohen is fair game. The president specifically tweeting about some of the speculation that cohen might flip on him saying i dont think he would flip on me. That raised eyebrows. What does the president think that Michael Cohen would flip about him on. Those are some of the questions that reporters here have in hire minds and note bads as we prepare to head into this press conference with President Trump and president macron. We know in the raid of Michael Cohens offices and residences, having a Second Thought about sitting for an interview with mueller. I know you got to get ready to go into the east room. Were carrying it live. I apologize for whatever the satellite problem wa there. Hes talk about some of the largest issues also in place syria. Thats right. France has been leading the charge in working with the United States inside syria. It has a very Capable Military one that france is being to deploy. You heard macron mention syria in the meeting. Macron made his pitch to the president for the United States to stay engaged inside syria. That was one of the objectives for president macron in the meeting. I want to talk about the other cabinet difficulties the president is facing today. Ronnie jackson to head the veteran afifairs department. They have postponed his scheduled confirmation hearing. It was supposed to take place tomorrow. Hes giving the white house an opportunity to withdraw that nomination quietly, if they could, so the committee does not have to expose embarrassing information about this well liked doctor. This is a classic case where the vetting was not done before the nomination went up. That does appear to be the case. You talk about the idea this might be embarrassing for dr. Jackson. Ive talked to a number of democratic senator who is might not be favorably disposed toward dr. Jackson fwh first place who dont want to talk about the allegations against him for that reason. Think feel like he wasnt wrorply vetted. Sent up here to the hill and left hung out to dry as these serious allegations about his background started to surface late last week. Now you have the letter asking the white house for a host of additional documents, information about dr. Jacksons tenure there. His background, Work Environment there. The kind of information you think someone at the white house would have handy had a more traditional long form vetting has been done. Take a listen. Im doing my job. Any story other than what ive said is made up. Some of the stories have been. That is very signal. They are jointly holding this nomination. Thats right. Had the nomination been going forward, this is a situation you would see them together say they both support dr. Jackson or oppose him. They have been in lock step on this. A decision to come out with this joint statement this morning confirms this. The department of Veterans Affairs is the Second Agency in the government. This is a big deal. Despite the state of cabinet nominees who have been coming up here for confirmation and will continue to in a few weeks, senators take their responsibilities on this very, very seriously. I suspect we will learn much more about dr. Jacksons background whether this nomination goes forward or not. We have now gotten so deep into this with the hearing supposed to be wednesday now on indefinite hold. Peter, what are you hearing about this . I was in the pool spray when the president calmed out questions he didnt answer. This is something that would be embarrassing to the president. Its hard blow for him if his nomination doesnt go forward because he forged a personal relationship with dr. Jackson. It was an unusual nomination to begin with. You dont see the president nominate his own physician to a cabinet position like this. It does suggest a lack of vetting. It makes you question the white house chief of staff organization. His ability to put a more orderly structure on this white house. If it doesnt go through, you know its going to leave the president once again scrambling to find somebody he can trust to put in that position. You see with these personnel choices just moving people around inside the tent than bringing people from outside. Its such a small pool of people that the president has to recruit from. Then that brings me to the pompeo nomination. Garrett and i were on the hill yesterday covering that. At the very last moment rand paul tweeting where they were going to vote against the favorable recommendation to pompeo as secretary of state. He said he was going to vote for it after a last minute conversation. We know about what was going on from rand paul today. Thats right. Yesterday in these tweets rand paul said he had these conversations with mike pompeo about his belief on the iraq war and the afghanistan war. He wanted bhiek p eed mike pomp with him and agree with what was really conditionandidate trump position that the u. S. Should be out of afghanistan and the iraq war as mistake. He said yesterday, paul, did, that he felt as though pompeo had given him assurances that was his view and that was good enough for him. This morning on morning joe, paul went further. It was a bit more of a suggestion it might be more of a quid pro quo. Conversations about the Fourth Amendment. I dont know if we have that sound. We cued that up. Let me put the context in. Hes been very concerned about the fbi searches and raising the issue of the Fourth Amendment to the constitution. This is what he had to say on morning joe. Over the weekend bhemeeting h pomp pompeo. He also talked about the fact he wants the fbi to have to get another warrant after a fisa warrant from a judge before they do an individual search. He seem to be saying he had some kind of white house commitment on this. It remains to be seen how that works out. Rand paul upset about the iraq war yet the president getting drawn more deeply into syria over this red line hes drawn over chemical weapons. Hes finding its more difficult than campaign slogans. We heard during the kpanl when he was campaigning very much wanted to get the United States out of these military interventions in the middle east, particularly syria. Now we have seen a change in position on countless fronts. First we heard the president stressing that the United States needed to get out within a few weeks. That immediately changed course as soon as we heard the breaking news about the cw attack. After that happened then the United States, obviously, decided to move forward with military strikes and now were back to a position wihere im sure donald trump wants to deliver on those Campaign Promises not to entangle the United States in some sort of large scale military operation. For Something Like paul, hes got to be confused about where ultimately trump is headed with syria, in particularly. On a monday you may hear the president s genuine intentions we have to get out. A few days later you may see him interested in prolonging u. S. Engagement there. What will be interesting is to see where the yiet united state now with one of our closest allies urging the president to stay engaged in syria above and beyond a few weeks and months. Thats the position that our secretary of defense has taken as well. Now we are going to have mike pom ppeo as secretary of state. Lets talk about that because hes most likely going to be confirmed by the full senate on thursday and get right to the nato meeting in brussels on friday. His first meeting as secretary of state. Questions have been raised about whether hes a diplomat. Hes deeply engaged in setting up the kim jongun meeting. He was the secret envoy and he is personally committed to rebuilding the state department. What are you hearing in europe about the prospect of a secretary of state who has the ear of the president for now . I think theres generally fairly positive attitude toward him. One thing you twheeneed to reme is they are sent on quite missions. Its not unusual he would have taken this role with north korea. People just couldnt stand him and felt he was e vvicerating t entire department. He will win a lot of friends within the department. Stand by. Were going to have that joint News Conference coming up with president Emmanuel Macron and President Trump. That after their two meetings. First coming up medical update on the condition of president George Herbert walker bush. In intensive care less than a week after his wife barbaras death. Anncr as you grow o, your brain naturally begins to change which may cause trouble with recall. Learning from him is great. When i can keep up anncr thankfully, prevagen helps your brain and improves memory. Dads got all the answers. Anncr prevagen is now the numberoneselling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. She outsmarts me every single time. Checkmate you wanna play again . Anncr prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Attention homeowners age sixtytwo and older. One reverse mortgage has a great way for you to live a better retirement. Its called a reverse mortgage. Call rfree information kityour with no obligation. It answers questions like. How a reverse mortgage works, how much you qualify for, the ways to receive your money and more. 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Former president george h. W. Bush is in intensive care. Hes battling a blood infection. Its serious. He was admitted one day after a poignant farewell to his wife barbara bush. Peter alexander is in houston outside the hospital. Hes 93 years old. Hes got parkinsons, ill health and now the emotional burdens of his wifes death. Any update . Reporter were hearing hes doing a bit better. Repeating the statement we heard is that he appears to be recovering. Hes responding to treatment. He is suffering from a dangerous blood infection that were told has led to sepsis. This is a significant illness for this 93yearold president. Hes the longest living president. His marriage to barbara bush of 73 years was the longest marriage in history. It was only a matter of hours, just the next day after burying his wife of so long that he was admitted to houston Methodist Hospital here. Obviously people here have been asking us how hes doing today looking for updates. Hes a man who is beloved not just across the country but his home city. I was looking back at some of the Great Stories hes told. He spoke not too long ago with his daughter jenna and she asked him about the aging process and he said aging is all right. It beats the alternative. This is a man who celebrated certainly among president s as the last of the greatest generation. Hes a tough courageous man. People are hoping he will continue to fight through this. Indeed. The youngest naval aviator in world war ii. Rescued when he was shot down. Celebrating one of his birthdays by parachute jumping. Hes the patriarch of this extraordinary dynasty. Reporter you note those helicopter and plane jumps. The skydiving. He said after his wife passed he hoped that fwoeks would cross the bush name off their worry list. As you can imagine a lot of people worried and praying for them right now. Thanks so much peter. Sepsis is a life threatening condition but not an infection i itself. Starts off as maybe a skin infection. Gets into the bloodstream and the bodys immune response goes into overdrive. Cant really stop and thats what causes sepsis which is a collapse of Blood Pressure and other problems associated with it. If it gets to severe or septic shock thats when it becomes extremely dangerous. Thanks so much to dr. Torrez. Our concerns for president bush. Back to capitol hill where we have pictures of dr. Ronnie jackson trying to rescue his confirmation. Garrett. Reporter you should be looking at pictures of dr. Jackson sitting in a senate office. Hes continuing with his efforts to be confirmed. Hes meeting with one of the republican senators up here. A previously scheduled meeting continuing. Were sort of observing the rules of road here and not bombarding here while hooets e the office. I think we can play the video of him addressing concerns. Lets listen. Any comment on the allegations against you about your possibly Work Environment. Im looking forward to the hearing. I was looking forward to doing it tomorrow. Im looking forward to getting it rescheduled and answering the questions. Reporter those are the responses of a man who sounds like he isnt going anywhere. Continuing his meetings on the hill and doesnt sound like he has any intention of withdrawing or responding to these not fully flushed out allegations about his tenure of the white house position. Way to go in capturing that moment. Peter baker, this is extraordinary. Hes fighting for his confirmati confirmation. Every signal from leaders on both sides of the aisle is this is not going anywhere. Theres no margin of error for any nomination at this point. We saw how hard it was to get mike pompeo through. Hes served in congress. He was director of the cia. There are issues his critics have with him but he clearly is a person who had great credentials and run a major agency of the government. Dr. Jackson has twhnot. He has these additional issues to confront workplace conduct. Whether its a hostile workplace and whether he was too fwree re passing out medication and potentially drinking on the job. Things like that are the kinds of things that make it hard to get a nomination through. Well see if it gets anywhere. You need someone at the state department. There are big meetings and summits planned. Theres a track record there as well as having been a member of congress. Jeff, this is not the only confirmation they are facing. They have a tough cia confirmation. They have a vacancy there. She heres is controversial because of her past record after 9 11. She says obeying orders but carrying out other orders that were not approved in terms of the so called torture program. Theres a lot of questions about that. Thats going to be a tough one. Thats certainly the case. That would have the backing they would need to get the support on capitol hill. Were seeing the faults in the process. The fact that President Trump would nominate the white house physician for a job as important running one of the largest agencies in the country i think speaks to how the process isnt playing out as it has in the past but the way it should be. Because of widespread concerns around the world about the american enhanced Interrogation Program that referred to as torture. Whether or not gina is the right symbol and signal to sent to the world. Thats right. People who have talked to say and this is a separate issue but related in the sense people close to the President Point out that the way hes talk about north korea in many ways is one indication of how views the relative importance of the state department. To be specific, just today in the cabinet room. He said kim jongun has been very open and honorable. Over the weekend he sent a tweet welcoming the news that north korea was suspended its Nuclear Program ahead of these talks. The president characterized that as denuclearization. This person said that generally the state department would fill that voit but the president sees fit to handle that himself. In many ways the fact they are putting up gina who has all sorts of issues connected to the torture issue from the past seeks to the way the president views himself and views the state departments role in handling a great wh issues around the world. Andrea. In fact, thanks for mentioning that. I wanted to play some of that tape from the cabinet room where the president spoke in a very interesting way about kim jongun. Lets watch. Kim jongun was, he really has been very open and i think very whonorable from everything were seeing. A lot of promises have been made by north korea over the years but theyve never been in this position. Lets just go back to capitol hill for a moment as we wait for the News Conference and Kristen Welker is there for us on capitol hill. I believe you have a live camera with oRonnie Jackson. Formally announced as the nominee. Thanks. Youre not withdrawing. Youre going to continue this process . My pleasure. Thank you. Andrea, im not sure if were still up here when you took that. We had a chance to ask dr. Jackson the same questions again. He gave the same answers as he did on arriving in senator marans office. He said hes looking forward to answering the questions the senators have about him. Not taking the opportunity to answer any of those questions. I asked him if he would deny if any of aellegations are true. He wouldnt do that either. He wants to answer the senators questions. Not in this moment in time. Again, sounding very much like a machi man who intends to continue and hear meeting with the republican senator on the committee that will have to approve him so doing the leg work to get past what is this postponement of his hearing. Lets play that tape of you cornering him there h tin the hallway on capitol hill. Can you say anything at all about these allegations that come out against you h the last few days . I was looking forward to the hearing tomorrow. Kind of disappointed pst tennessee po its been postponed. You have seen allegations of over prescribing medications. Are you saying those untrue . Im looking forward to the hearing so i can sit down and answer all the senators questions. The ig report about the allegatio allegations . No there was not. How much vetting before you are formally announced as the nominee . Youre not withdrawing. Youre going to continue this process . Garrett, as you just pointed out clearly not answering the questions now but proceeding as though the nomination is going ahead. This is to be continued. A major set back for the white house today. I want to go back to kristen welk welker. Theres a question that will be asked if theres a tennessoppor to ask questions. Is. This is significant for this administration. They have consistently painted democrats as obstructionists in this process but this controversy with Ronnie Jackson is something the white house, this administration, this president will have to answer for. To what extent was he thoroughly vetted. This is the doctor that came out at the beginning of this year and gave the president a clean bill of health. This is someone who has served for bipartisan president s and who is broadly respected. The question is how thoroughly was he vetted for this new position. Youll remember when he was fif first announced there were questions about whether hes the right pick to manage such a huge and vast besiody within the government. It was believed that would be the focus of his confirmation hearing. Not the latest questions surrounding his background. The white house digging into trying to get to the bottom of it. In public statements including by deputy press secretary, so far this Administration Standing by Ronnie Jackson. Will the president continue to do so . We have to wait and see. We hear here in the east room. We expect this press conference to get under way any moment now. Almost an hour late. They had a lot to talk about in their meeting. Here youve got the strongest leader in europe, arguably, merkle is trostronger in terms economy in germany. Macron has a four year term. Hes got great strength at home and trying to reform frances economy and play off of his ability to deal with donald trump in a way that merkle cannot. With so much at stake, how important is todays meeting between donald trump and Emmanuel Macron . Its absolutely critical. Early on we werent sure how donald trump would view other european leaders. It seems like he didnt connect on merkles first visit to washington. He hasnt had that connection with teresa may. Macron is the one guy that seemed to have broken through. They speak frequently. These two really are going to be able to sort out the future of the transatlantic relationship on lots of different issues whether its tariffs or trade or syria or iran. Without this relationship working, i fear that we dont have other leaders in europe right now that can forge that close relationship with the president and really make progress. We also have a nato summit coming up. The hope is that the relationship between trump and macron can help that as well. The president s very negative view are pretty well known. Chris, macron has this yuniqe ability to flatter the president. Were going have a parade on Armistice Day because he liked the way the french perform ceremonies. He likes the pomp and circumstance. So does macron. He often receives foreign leaders not at the palace, the president ial palace in the middle of paris but versailles. They both like pomp and circumstance. Thats obviously one of the things they bonded over. I think when it comes to the issue of flattery, the french have an interesting way of doing it. They say its like the fable where theres a fox on the ground and a crow on a high branch with a delicious piece of cheese and the fox just keeps flattering the crow and flattering the crow until the crow speaks and drops the cheese and the fox runs away with it. They think that macron is the fox. The question is twhnow that he here this washington, will he run away with the cheese or run away without anything at all. I think a lot of people in france will be watching that. Macron and trump are face nating individually and together. They are fascinating characters with the issues of iran an syria and the economic relationship, the tariffs. Peter baker, i think youre watching this. Were expecting them to be coming into the east room. It was moved from the rose garden was a of the threat of rain. This is a more traditional setting. One of which they will likely take two questions on each side. This is not a full scale Unilateral Press conference. A little more limited but still an opportunity to ask the president about one hopes some of these prezzing issues. Thats right. Theres a lot of issues havent been addressed in recent days. We have been talking about in terms of iran and syria. Ronnie jackson, mike pompeo. He never answered the question from last week. Why did he change his mind of imposing additional sanctions on russia. We never heard his version of that. That would be a good question to ask. Theres a lot of questions the reporters in the room are ready to throw his way if hes willing to take it well see. It will probably be two and two as we call it. It will be interesting to see how president macron answers some of the same questions. Kristen welker, as we await the arrival of the two president s, the other issue is scott pruitt. They are warning some friendly republicans dont get too far out front in pruitt. Hes come under skrut fwcrut a number of weeks for these controversies surrounding ethical decisions. Renting from a lobbyist and paying 50 a night. Hast bei thats being looked at. The president has stood by him. Makes the point hes enacting, carrying out his policy agenda. Critics would argue having him twh wlas is counter to that. He is still very much in focus particularly as we hon tor some of these challenges. I think with the standing of the group there, it appears the two president s are coming in. Melania still wearing that beautiful hat. Its a White Michael kors suit. They went to the National Gallery of art this horng. This is melanias show. Then their husbands will be coming in. Bridgette macron is quite an important advisor to her husband. Shes been a big part of his political campaign. An important advisor in his presidency as well. Again, they are rising for the arrival of president macron and President Trump. Theyll be Opening Statements first from President Trump and from his visitor. Thank you very much. Thank you. Melania and i are truly honored to welcome french president macron and mrs. Macron to the white house. Thank you very much. Its a great honor. Were thrilled the First Official state visit of my presidency is not only with a great friend but with a leader of americas oldest ally, the republic of france. Today in our nations capitol the stars and stripes proudly fly alongside the tricolor flag. A symbol of the world and to the world of unity, fraternity and friendship that forever links our nations together. 40 years after the end of our war of independence, the great general traveled to George Washingtons home at mount vernon to visit the grave of the father of our country. President macron, were deeply moved that nearly two centuries later the president of the republic of france made that same tribute last night. It was a beautiful evening. Thank you. Thank you very much. This past summer, melania and i had an inkreds visit with you and bridgette in paris. We were awed by the beauty of your country and the grateful hospitality of your incredible people. They are incredible people. Together we commemorated the 100th anniversary of americas entry into first world war. We remembered the french and american patriots who shed their blood together this defense of civilization. Their noble sacrifice will echo through time forever and mortal tribute to our people and to our freedom. During the horror of the first world war, more than one homilln people were killed or injured from Chemical Warfare in the aftermath of that horror. Civilized nations came together to ban chemical weapons. Two weeks ago following syria dictator Bashar Al Assads barbaric use of chemical weapons against his own people, the United States, france and the United Kingdom joined together to strike at the heart of the Syrian Chemical Weapons program. These actions were designed to establish a strong deterrent against the use of these heinous weapons. President macron, i thank you for your leadership in this effort. And it was a well executed effort at that. And i thank you and the members of the French Military for their courage and their great skill. The United States and france are also cooperating to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. We are grateful for frances Key Partnership in our campaign of maximum pressure on the north korean regime. As you know, i will soon be meeting with kim jongun as we seek a future of peace, harmony and security for the whole Korean Peninsula and in fact for the whole world. However, in pursuit of peace, we will not repeat the mistakes of past administrations. The campaign of maximum pressure will continue. France and the United States also agree that iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. And that regime must end its support of terrorism. All over no matter where you go in the middle east, you see the fingerprints of iran behind problems. I also want to thank president macron for frances vital contribution to our very Successful Campaign against isis. As we drive these isis killers from syria, it is essential that the responsible nations of the middle east step up their own contributions to prevent iran from profiting off the success of our antiisis effort. Very rich countries are in the middle east. They have to make major contributions. They have not been doing it as they should. A major topic that we discussed a little while ago. They have to step up tremendously, not a little bit, but tremendously their financial effort. Mr. President , on behalf of the american people, i again express our solidarity in the wake of the terrorist attack in Southern France last month. I share the confidence you conveyed at the Memorial Service for the heroic colonel beltram, that in time we will achieve the ultimate triumph of right and of justice. In the fight against terrorism, we both know that we must be strong from within to defend ourselves from threats outside. We will do what we must to protect our countries. You are our oldest ally and you are truly one of our great allies and we appreciate it. We will always be there for you. Both the United States and france are dealing with a challenge that has gone on for a long, long time. Its uncontrolled migration. In the United States, we are taking strong action to regain control over our borders and over our sovereignty. Its gone on for too long. And weve slowed it down very substantially. But were going to stop illegal immigration. I know that you face similar challenges in france and, mr. President , i admire the leadership you have shown in addressing them in a very honest and direct fashion. And not always popular. Both of our elections owe much of the success to the desire of everyday citizens to be heard, to be listened to and to have control over their own nations and their own futures. Let us demonstrate through our partnership that the voice of the people will always reign at all times, it will reign. During our meetings today, we also discussed the robust economic relationship between our countries. The United States is setting records in business and we will continue, and i know that france will be setting records under your leadership very soon. We look forward to exploring increased opportunities for bilateral trade and investment based on the principle of fairness and importantly reciprocity. Mr. President , thank you again for accepting our invitation to the white house. Its been such an honor. The foundation of our friendship grows from the deepest wells of civilization and is sustained by our peoples love of their history, culture and liberty. For two centuries, the alliance between france and the United States has been the cornerstone of freedom. Now the strength of this Mighty Alliance is in our hands linked together by fate and destiny. I am confident that our future has never, ever looked brighter. Thank you, mr. President. Thank you very much. Thank you, donald. Merci. Translator thank you, mr. President. Donald, thank you to you and the first lady for your warm welcome. Please allow me to tell you how pleased we are together with my wife and the whole of the french delegation, how pleased we are to be your guests for three days through this wonderful visit and the honor you made by attending bastille day in paris. In both speeches earlier today, we referred to the deep and ancient bonds between our two countries. These go back to the founding revolution of your country and have been true through both our histories. These bonds are based upon our deep attachment to freedom and peace. Each time they have been threatened, we stood by one another. And we celebrated that last night, the four of us, by going to mt. Vernon, given that no one else could illustrate as well as George Washington the strength of the commitment and the bond between our two countries. Mr. President , please allow me to go back to a number of issues which are fundamental for not only our relationship but beyond. The first topic is iran. You said once again in front of the press what your position was during the campaign and as well as the president of the United States. Its not a mystery, we did not have the same starting positions, and neither you nor i have a habit of changing fences or going with the wind. That being said, i can say that weve had very frank discussion on that, just the two of us. You consider that the iranian deal, the jcpoa, the one negotiated in 2015 with iran is a bad deal. For a number of months ive been saying that this was not a sufficient deal but that it enabled us at least until 2025 to have some control over their nuclear activities. We, therefore, wish to work on a new deal with iran. What we need, and i believe that in that in our discussions allowed us to shed light on our convergence of views is that we need to cover four topics. The first one is to block any Nuclear Activity of iran until 2025. This was feasible thanks to the jcpoa. The second is to make sure that in the long run there is no Nuclear Iranian activity. The third fundamental topic is to be able to put an end to the ballistic activities of iran in the region. And the fourth one is to generate the conditions for a political solution to contain iran in the region, in yemen, in syria, in iraq and in lebanon. On these topics i did not change. I constantly said that we needed to find the framework so that together and with the paris of the region and with the iranian leaders manage to find a deal. I, therefore, would like us to commit to that effect in the weeks and months to come. This is the only way to bring about stability. France is not naive when it comes to iran. We have also a lot of respect for the iranian people. Which through their history has always shown its strength, but we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. Each time we tried to unilaterally replace the sovereignty of the people. We brought about some more but for our allies we want sustainable stability and i believe that the discussions weve had together make it possible to open the way, to pave the way for a new agreement, an agreement on which we will work and beyond our european partners, we would like