Information on the russia probe relating to two campaign advisers. One described as the coffee boy and another dubbed a hanger on. We start with carter page, who met with the White House Intelligence Committee yesterday. The New York Times reports tonight carter page, a Foreign Policy adviser to the trump president ial campaign, met russian government officials during a july 2016 trip he took to moscow, according to testimony he gave on thursday to the house intelligence committee. Shortly after that trip mr. Page sent an email to at least one Trump Campaign aide describing insights he had after conversations with government officials, legislators and Business Executives during his time in moscow. According to one person familiar with the contents of the message. The email was read aloud during the closed door testimony. In march page talked to Msnbcs Chris Hayes about his trip, saying some people said hello to him there. You went to russia in the summer of 2016. Yes. You gave a speech there. You were there for three days. The speech was one day. What did you do in russia . Had some meetings with scholars and professors and students there. There were some people that showed up to my graduation speech and, you know, i said hello to some people, but no material discussions. You know, really International Relations scholars. Did you speak to any russian intelligence officials . Not that im aware of. Well, we also have a new report from nbc news about George Papadopoulos, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and is cooperating with Robert Muellers campaign. Nbc news reports that papadopoulos repeatedly represented the Trump Campaign, like here in july during the Republican National convention where he spoke on a Foreign Policy panel hosted by the American Jewish committee. Hes sitting on the left of your screen, along with two members of congress, senator bob corker, who is making the statement at the podium, or here, for instance, in a september interview with the russian enter fax news agency. Well show you that in a second where hes described here it is, where hes described as one of u. S. President ial candidate Donald Trumps foreign political advisers since march of 2016. Or even after the election, as nbc reports, he met with israeli leaders during the inauguration in january as a Foreign Policy adviser for the newly sworn in president. Today as the president was leaving for hawaii, reporters asked him about this march 2016 meeting, the one where he is seated at the table with papadopoulos, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and is cooperating with Robert Muellers investigation. A source tells nbc it was at this meeting that papadopoulos offered to use his russian contacts to try and set up a meeting between trump and Vladimir Putin. Here is what the president said today about that meeting. Mr. President , do you remember George Papadopoulos during that march meeting . I dont remember much about that meeting. It was a very unimportant meeting. Took place a long time dont remember much about it. As this white house faces the daily deluge about Robert Muellers investigation, the president decided today to criticize his own Justice Department and call on it to investigate his former political rival, Hillary Clinton. He wrote on twitter, everyone is asking why the Justice Department and fbi isnt looking into all of the dishonesty going on with crooked hillary and the dems. New donna b book says she paid for and stole the dem primary. What about deleted emails, uranium, podesta, the server, plus, plus. People are angry. At some point the Justice Department and the fbi must do what is right and proper. The American Public deserves it. Talking to reporters later in the day he had he was disappointed with the Justice Department. All i can tell you is this. There was no collusion. There was no nothing. Its a disgrace, frankly, that they continue. You want to look at Hillary Clinton im really not involved with the Justice Department. Id like to let it run itself, but honestly, they should be looking at the democrats. They should be looking at podesta and all of that dishonesty. They should be looking at a lot of things and a lot of people are disappointed in the Justice Department, including me. Okay. To summarize where we are. 288 days into his term with an investigation hanging over his presidency and without a big legislative victory to his name, the president spent today going after Hillary Clinton and the Justice Department. Lets go to our leadoff panel tonight. White house bureau chief for the Washington Post, phillip rucker. Matthew nussbaum and Kelly Odonnell in hong louisiana. Kelly, lets start with you. Youre there. The president there at the beginning of his 11day trip to asia. What are you expecting to happen . Well, to give you a bit of the trip diary, the approximated is right now headed to pearl harbor, where he will place a wreath at the uss arizona, pay his respects. The first lady, of course, is traveling with him. The president spoke briefly with reporters earlier and talked about the fact that he had never been to pearl harbor, had read about it, studied about it as he describes so he was very much looking forward to this part of his trip. It is standard for a president when travel to asia to stop in hawaii for at a minimum a fuel stop but here he has expanded is a bit for a time to pay respects at pearl harbor and also to meet with the pacific japan. All of those countries are in the region where there are concerns and some are different players in the strategy around north korea. So this is an important trip for the president. Its a notably long trip, and one small surprise thats already taken place. These things are often set in stone or at least glue weeks ahead of time. The president telling reporters on air force one that he intends to extend the trip a bit, spending more time in manila where theres one of the summits that hes attending, so thats unusual for a president to call an audible and say i want to stay longer. Certainly he can do that, but its not the typical thing we find. So there will be a lot of pressure on the president to deal with matters related to trade and north korea. His home, im sure, would be to leave some of this russia drama at home. That, of course, is always hard to do when these questions persist. But hes got a lot of work there with our allies in the philippines and vietnam and south korea and japan and of course putting pressure on china to do what it needs to do with north korea. Phil, let me start with you, carter page, i have to tell you, phil, it becomes harder and harder with each day to ask what the question is other than what is going on with carter page . Well, hes all over the place in terms of being very accessible to reporters, including this network. And, you know, its important to remember carter pages background. Hes not new to russia. He actually lived in russia for a few years a decade before joining the Trump Campaign and worked in finance there. He has a network of, you know, friends and people that he knows, acquaintances in the country that he brought with him to the Trump Campaign when he became an adviser. He was want a major adviser on the campaign, but he was an adviser nonetheless. And i think muellers team and obviously the congressional investigators are going to be looking very carefully at what exactly he wrote in that email back to Trump Campaign colleagues and more details about that trip and who exactly he encountered. Matthew, he talked so much to the media. He spent hours in that hearing without a lawyer. And the strange thing about it is he talks a lot and his story often changes. So you saw what he said to chris hayes about scoreless and i met people he said he didnt meet russian officials or Intelligence Officers and then it turns out that he apparently did meet some russian officials. What do you make of what this is and where its going . And i point out that like George Papadopoulos, like they said about manafort at some point, they all talk about how carter page was a volunteer who was peripheral to the campaign. But all of these peripheral volunteers to the campaign seem to have some ties to russia. Right. And they keep trying to discount him. And i think theyll continue to do that. But it is bizarre how often hes out there talking to the press and the way his story changes. And it changes in one direction, which is, oh, there were meetings with russian officials that were not previously disclosed. And whats important to remember is he is not a unique phenomenon in this case. Done junior, jeff sessions, Jared Kushner all these people have come out and said, oh, there were meetings that i had that werent previously disclosed. And in one instance, okay, maybe that makes a little sense. When this keeps happening over and over again, i think it raises serious red flags. Phil, what kind of red flags is it raising in washington circles that, you know, the president is right is, the indictment against manafort and rick gates did not indicate any collusion with russia. But honestly, everywhere they turn, everywhere the Mueller Investigation seems to go or the House Intel Committee seems to go, they find someone who suddenly had contact with russia who had said previously that they didnt. Thats exactly right. And we should also remember that the Mueller Investigation, the indictments that came down on monday, that is not the end of this investigation. This thing is going to go on for some time likely. Weve not heard yet whats going to be happening, for example, to general flynn, who was the National Security adviser for those opening weeks of the administration and was very influential at the president s side, unlike, say, George Papadopoulos or carter page. And there are a number of other steps that mueller is going to be taking here in the weeks to come. Hes going to be interviewing some senior white house officials when the president and the entourage return home from this asia trip. So theres more information that i think these investigators are working to uncover. And we as sort of laypeople in the media dont really know whats around the corner. Kelly odonnell, when the president took his first trip, when he went to the middle east, there were all sorts of questions about how much of the problem he leaves behind. He certainly has much more control over the press when hes trawling. Traveling. He can choose to have far less interaction with the likes of you if he wants to. But hes got two issues. In addition to the one that he has to deal with while there, the diplomatic, the trade and the military issues, hes got this tax policy that hes just dropped which typically a president has some role in pushing. It doesnt look like hes going to be doing that for the next 11 days. But hes got the russia investigation. What do you expect to happen. Is he just going to shut down questions on that, and everybody will pick it up again when he gets back . Well, he hinted a different way on air force one tonight. And you played some clips where the president was speaking on camera to the reporters on the south lawn before he left on this trip. But while he was in flight about an hour into the flight he came back to the Small Press Area in the back of air force one and talked for just a couple of minutes to reporters. And he indicated that he would be very visible and accessible to reporters. Lots of opportunities to at least talk with the press over this trip, which will last the better part of two weeks. And so will that be a chance for the president to try to stay on point . We certainly saw during the issue related during the saudi arabia trip and jerusalem, there was the question about the president having perhaps shared too much with the russians in the oval office. He spoke about that standing next to benjamin netanyahu, the israeli Prime Minister back in may. I think the president doesnt always have the strict boundaries that are saying things only about the trip, when theres prominent Foreign Policy issues to be dealt with. I wont be surprised if some of these things come up in a very trump like fashion. Where he references it in some way. Certainly reporters will ask about these things. Theres also the obligation to cover the events in front of us. And that will be important. I expect we will hear something about this over the next two weeks, there will be a lot of other things that draw our attention. And if i could just add one thing about these two figures, carter page, and papadopoulos. When you remember back to the campaign era, and im sure phil rucker recalls this as well. Remember when there was 17 candidates and a figure like jeb bush, he had been able to amass some of the brightest talent in all of these Advisory Councils and so forth, so many of the sitting governors or senators had their teams. Donald trump was often reaching into less well known figures in these sort of advisory or expertise roles. And then you get characters like a carter page or George Papadopoulos, who have not come through the normal channels we would typically see in Foreign Policy as it interacts with politics. Thats one of the factors that a year later is still casting echos in all of this. It was puzzling when it lapped. It was in a Washington Post editorial, where he was asked about the fact that he didnt have a Foreign Policy team, and he started dropping names, names that no one had heard of before, but it had become commonplace for the Trump Administration to do that, just started naming people. And journalists would start to look them up. In the case of George Papadopoulos, it was hard to find much of a record of him anyway it it was an interesting time. Its a good point, kelly. Phil, i want to point out something you wrote tobtd about Donald Trumps renewed criticism of the department of justice, it becomes a perennial situation. The department of justice appreciates a a level of independence. Government lawyers have long sought to enforce a clear lining preventing white house officials from influencing specific investigations or prosecutions to ensure their work is not politicized. For some reason donald trump is back on this kick again. Its an attack on the department of justice, and seems to sort of be a side attack on jeff sessions, his attorney general. Thats right, and you showed some of those tweets earlier today. What trump is doing is playing this out in the open for us all to see. Pressuring his department of justice, which is an extraordinary breach of boundaries here within the executive branch that are set in place to avoid this kind of thing from happening. To avoid the Justice Department and the criminal process from becoming too politicized. But the president has for months now felt very strongly about the Justice Department. Hes been angry, hes been frustrated with jeff sessions. Hes felt like the attorney general has not been tough enough in trying to prosecute Hillary Clinton. In fact, the Justice Department is not trying to prosecute Hillary Clinton right now, which is part of the problem in the president s mind. But he also feels like sessions has not helped insulate the president enough from the Mueller Investigation, the russia probe that weve been talking about. And its created a lot of bad blood between these two and we see it from time to time spill out in the open as it has in these last 24, 48 hours. I just want to touch back on George Papadopoulos for a moment. Here is a sampling of how the Trump Administration has described George Papadopoulos over the last few days. Lets listen. George was a low level volunteer who might have attended a meeting of the Foreign Policy advisory team. He was a volunteer with the campaign, served on one of the committees. Ive never heard of papadopoulos. He never showed up at trump tower. The guy was he was the coffee boy. Can you just explain what George Papadopouloss role with the campaign was . If was extremely limited. It was a volunteer position. And again, no activity was ever done in an official capacity on behalf of the campaign in that regard. Thats what you call an over coordinated response. It started with donald trump tweet that called him a low level volunteer and then everybody who was asked about it suddenly had the same remarkable clear recollection. Were following breaking news here at msnbc, at our World Headquarters in new york city. Youre watching live pictures of air force one. Thanks for being with us now. Were watching an Early Morning arrival for President Trump as well as his staff that are traveling with him. First Lady Melania Trump arriving with him. The president has his first stop here at yokata air base. This is the first stop of five countries in asia. Shinzo abe will be meeting with the president. This is a 12day trip, china, the philippines, vietnam, also on this list. The president will speak to what you see right here, u. S. Troops stationed there at the yokata air base, when he does get off of air force one. The air base, his first public event on this trip. Well, of course, get straight to the president when he does come off of air force one. Joining us right now is jonathan pollack, senior fellow, brookings center, for east asia policy. We also have bill powell. Jonathan, lets start with this, the president has john park by the way, director at the korea working group. Aroujohnathon if you can for us. Whats the unique objective of President Trump as he sits with shinzo abe. Each country has a different people. I think his meetings with abe will be the easiest. They already have a very comfortable relationship, abe was the first one in the door after trump was elected president. And hes cultivated nose relatithose relations, and trump has returned the favor. The japanese want to see his summit visit to japan, as essentially a risk free summit. Lots of pomp, meeting with the emperor and emporess and other kinds of activities, of course, golf with shinzo april. I dont see any particularly contentious issues here. The tenor good so far, this based on the maralago meeting with shinzo abe. They got alongwell. Theyre going to play golf on this trip. Live pictures of air force one just touching down in japan. Righthand side, you can see some of the u. S. Troops getting ready, as they see the seal of the podium. Thats sitting in front of a u. S. Flag there. Bill powell, what do you make of what he can be able to extract if we can use that word, to garner that support as he is looking to potentially make a move and a response to a north korea that is soon looking at potentially another nuclear test . Well, i think as jonathan indicated, the japan theres not much daylight between japan and the United States when it comes to north korea. I think hes going to shore up that defense alliance. And the other thing that will be on the table as the two men talk privately is, what is President Trumps approach going to be when he arrives in beijing. What is the next iteration of the strategy to try to get the chinese to exert more influence on pyongyang. Im sure the two leaders will talk about that. And that will be a critical question when he arrives in seoul. Right, right. The questions a leverage point with china on north korea. John park, is there a leverage point with japan, with shinzo abe, that can affect some progress with north korea here. John park, are you with me . It looks like we do not have john park. Jonathan pollock, is there a leverage point with shinzo abe, with japan, to core roll a willing of many for policy against north korea . Well, i dont think theres much question that abe. And i heard him speak in japan less than a week ago. At a conference there, that, you know, he is going to be very hes using the same buzz words, the same language that trump uses. The effort here is to reinforce the sense that japan and the United States are joins at the hip on this, thats an understandable position for abe to be in. The bigger questions concern the country in between the stop in china, and the stop in japan, thats south korea. I think thats where youre going to see far more evidence potentially of tension, the question of whether or not trump can say the right words, hes going to give an address to the National Assembly in the republic of korea, hes never addressed a legislature before. Hes going to give a joint press conference with the president of south korea, and his relationship with president moon doesnt remotely approximate his relationship with abe or x xi jinping. Moon is a new president , much more tentative and cautious on how he approaches things. The issues there are much more starkly posed between the United States and south korea, trying to to the maximum degree possible involve south korea in collaboration with japan and the United States. But frankly, where the south koreans retain a measure of wariness about something that looks more triangular. The south Korean Foreign ministry has just come to an understanding with north korea. South korea was in no way prepared to join a military alliance. Thats where the real tensions are going to be out, it seems to me, and palpable in many ways. There on the ground for us in japan, Chris Jansing, who is there following the president. And we understand that the plane just touched down here. Kroeng. Is the advance plane, not the air force one, not the 747 carrying the president and the first lady. We believe that to be the case. The president still about to land just the beginning here, of a trip where the president has much to be done . Yeah, the stakes almost couldnt be higher. This obviously is his first trip to asia, its the longest trip that any u. S. President has made to the region in a generation, it comes at an interesting time. You could say that he is at a disadvantage. His personal Approval Ratings back in the states are low. Theyre aware of that here. Hes pulled out of the tpp, the trade agreement that was so important Prime Minister abe was not happy about that. He has not been able to get any of his major issues pushed through, hes in the middle of trying to get that tax plan through. Contrast that with shinzo abe. Hes somebody whos party and the Parliament Just what trump himself called a mandate. Even though personally, abe is not particularly popular, the japanese people are right now, very insecure. Two of those missile launches made by north korea, which obviously as youve been talking about is going to be the major issue here, came right over japan. They want to know exactly what the u. S. Position is. The asia pivot that president obama had talked about and really put into action in the course of his two terms as president. Being stepped back in a certain way. These president s look at the asian nations in a different way, thats led to a little bit of insecurity and instability. Having said that, these two men do have arguably the closest relationship of any of the asian leaders many they played golf in the United States. Abe has been there twice. Hes going to take him to golf with the number four golfer in the world. The president likes to be challenged by people who are world class golfers, its not unusual for him to hit the links like this. This first day is going to be a lot of ceremony, hes going to land at the air force base. Hes going to talk to the u. S. Troops. This is the largest number of american troops anywhere in asia. Here in japan. At least six Major Air Force bases eight naval bases. And then that golf, there will be a lunch, and well see melania and mr. Abes wife here as well. When they have a pretty casual dinner at a restaurant. Tomorrow will be more formal. What will the United States do about north korea. How much can countries like japan and all the Asian Countries count on them. What will be their response if there is more provocation . And then, of course, trade, which has always been something that the president has talked about on the campaign trail. But something that has a lot of folks here nervous. The 12 nations of the tpp with the u. S. Out of it. Maybe not new zealand, but 150, 11 of them looking to move forward on their own. Part of that john park is as the president does arrive, very shortly we believe, hell have one eye on the meeting with shinzo abe. And the respective leaders. The other eye will be on north korea. What do you believe he can accomplish by meeting with the new leader there in south korea . I think there will be an effort to continue to coordinate. Weve seen from south korea the efforts to reen gauge north korea. Very concerned about the situation, on board with things like sanctions and inning creasing the military posture, also trying to put on the priority list this engagement and dialogue. That is creating this distance because its all in contrast to this close relationship that we just heard about between President Trump and Prime Minister abe. From that perspective, president moon is perceived to be in a position of trying to play catchup, in an environment where the stakes are very real, and this priority effort is really binary, youre either on board with that primary goal or youre trying to do things that may seemingly be distracting from that primary goal. As we look at the development of a nuclear north korea. There is the question of whether south korea will nuclearize. We look at some of the recent polls. 60 of North Koreans want to develop their own nuclear capability. This why from a gallop korea poll in september, of this year. September 5 through seven, margin of error, 3. 1 age points. Jonathan pollack, this is really the dynamic here. South carolina the residents there wanting to stand up to a potential north korea that has Nuclear Weapons . Richard, i wouldnt take these polls too seriously. This is more an emotional response than a rational response. For many years, there has been some of this sentiment in south korea, and, of course, some of this has been heightened to be sure. Given the recent events. But its more set in the abstract. The challenge here, very simply put, this is true with japan, though in a different way. What the United States can and must do to reinforce unambiguously, unequick of coursely, the degree of our commitment, security commitment to our core regional allies, even in the context of north koreas enhanced effort. I think its important for the United States to be consistent, coherent in its messaging, sad to say, i dont think we have. No one in the region wants to see a military con 234rik9, and yet theres been at times, far too much loose talk and loose consideration about a kind of an urgency to this, its now or never we must act. Here, recognizing the closeness of the relationship between Prime Minister abe and President Trump, i dont think that abe is eager for this possibility either. In a lot of ways, the administration by the words its chosen and President Trump in particular by the words hes chosen has created a situation where we box ourselves in unduly, feeling that, well, if we said x, y and z, we have to make good on that. Were doing this in a way way that some people either dont find persuasive, some may think its bluster and bluff on the other hand the president may feel if people are doubting his words, he may ratchet things up further. Frankly, this is the kind of subject that i think really requires the most intensive and candid discussion across northeast asia, with all three of the leaders in northeast asia, with whom President Trump will meet over the next few days, nothing could be more important if we are going to avoid a crisis, and if we are going to keep on a course that makes clear north korea there will be no legitimacy afforded its Nuclear Weapons capabilities. The sanctions will be sustained and enhanced further. The United States will hardly be passive in counteracting these trends. Whether thats going to be successful or persuasive to both south korea and japan at the end of the trail is a different matter. I think as long as we keep to a very consistent message, not only from the president , but equally as much from other senior u. S. Officials who visit the region with regularity. The odds will be better that we will be able to avoid the most acute crisis imaginable. Were not there, and no one can shy away from these issues while the president is in the region. Chris jansen, as you have been listening to the conversation here the question is, what is the donald trump asia doctrine. What is the word on the ground there . Thats the question. That is the key question that everyone is asking. What would be the precipitating event that would cause the u. S. To get involved militarily against north korea. There are probably a couple different aspects to that, but what obviously shinzo abe doesnt want to see is any kind of preemptive action, theyre nervous here on the Korean Peninsula about the possibility and as i mentioned before, you have a situation where two of the missile launches have gone right over japan. Having said that, when you talk to white house officials, they feel as though the president has prepared for this very well. Arguably more intensely than he has for anything else. Its worth noting i think, as someone who travelled with president obama. These trips are grueling no matter what, youre talking about a 71yearold man who frankly is not used to this level of intensity five Different Countries that hes going to be hitting, its a lot of different information. And so over the course of the last couple weeks, hes been in what white house officials described as brief but complete briefing sessions. People like the secretary of state, the secretary of defense obviously his chief of staff, and because theres so many economic issues, his National Economic council director, the Vice President is someone who has his ear as well. On friday, they did a one hour briefing. Theres the facts of it, and then theres another level of concern, whether its north korea or something else. Could the president Say Something off the cuff that would be considered either a provocation in the worst case or still not a very good case that would be considered offensive. This part of the world is a place where even more than certainly in the United States or parts of europe, protocol matters. Weve had a few incidents before with u. S. President s who didnt exactly meet protocol. Hes also been briefed on that carefully. You listen to what some of the local commentators have to say, when you read some of the local papers, what they are wondering about is, will he take to bitter, make a comment that will be considered provocative. I want to bring in one of your colleagues as well as my, chris jansen, Hallie Jackson not too far away from where you were in tokyo. You can hear the music playing as they get ready to welcome President Trump. We believe this to be air force one now about to land. What you saw earlier if you were with us, that was the advance plane. Hallie jackson, i know its loud. Ill try to pump up my volume for you here. Whats the sense on the ground there and what are you hearing about the preparation the president undertook before his arrival here. Let me run through a couple things here. It is pretty loud, youre right. The air force band of the traf pacific is playing here. The president on air force one, what youre seeing about to come into landing here made some news, he came back and spoke with reporters, this is in the last 30 to 45 seconds, on the record, and let me give you a couple headlines here, he does expect to meet with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of one of the summits down in vietnam later on in the trip. Up until this point, his advisers had not been saying whether that would happen or not. It turns out it appears it may be, according to what the president himself is saying, that that is the desk taking that he and putin will have this discussion. That is going to be a major headline then for the second half of the trip after the president leaves this region, japan, south korea, china, as well. The other headline, theres a question of whether or not the United States would designate north korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. It sounds as though that decision has not been made yet. The president was asked about this on air force one as he was coming in for the landing here. That is the news. I have our producer here reading through the rest of the headlines. This is all coming in in the last couple minutes here. We have not actually seen air force one. The president will be speaking with troops here. They have been filling this room for the last 2 1 2, 3 hours or so. And the band the music, theyre getting ready to greet their commander in chief. He was in hawaii with his top staff, his wife, john kelly. As far as the rest of his day here, i couldnt quite hear Chris Jansing holding it down in tokyo, i think she ran through what else is expected today. The president will give this speech. He goes and plays golf with the japanese Prime Minister. I think thats significant. How theyre trying to develop this relationship, when it comes to some of these big issues, in the hopes that that will play into some of the big issues facing this president. Whether its the threat from north korea, some of these trade discussions and so on. Air force one just touching down about 30 seconds ago, what do you expect to hear from President Trump if theres any word on that, and what do we understand in terms of the preparation . Chris jansing gave us some hints of how he had invested more time in this trip. Let me take those, im going to lower my voice a little bit. We have the speaker on stage, getting ready to introduce the president and first lady. The president has been getting briefings from his staff hes been kept up to speed on what their policy priorities are on this. But the background has been a president thats been distracted by other issues, like the indictments from bob mueller. His tweets down in brazil, ordering his fbi and Justice Department, strongly suggesting they should go after her and investigate those issues. He clearly has had other things on his mind over this last week and a half or so. In this runup to what is a critical trip to this region. That from a preparatory standpoint is something were watching, will the president come in and stay focused, be able to stay on message, be able to have these discussions that are this is a place where its easy to make a protocol error. We know the president is not going to dial back that tone. That was made very clear. Why would the president dial back his tone . He never has. Lets see what the speeches are later this week, when he delivers those big ones at north korea. I expect this will be a welcome his first remarks now, touching down in the region, and remember where he is, hes at this air base in front of american troops serving overseas. This is going to be the president s first opportunity to speak with them directly. Im going to take a quick look behind me, richard. Everyones getting their cameras out. Everyone was looking over, getting ready for that. Im looking at my watch, its midmorning here, 10 45 just about, in the morning, in japan. Folks are ready to go, theyre ready to see the president , the first laiddy, and hear what he has to say. Its always a rising event when the troops get to see the president of the United States. Ill tell you. Interestingly this feels to me like a Campaign Event. You have the Rolling Stones playing before the band started. The American Flag draping the back wall there. This is the trappings of what donald trump likes to see. This is not filled with political supporters, this is american troops serving abroad. Were watching live pictures of air force one. Making its way toward you while hes in front, if you will. Getting our first glimpse of the crowd. As the friendlies are there. Theyll be playing golf as you and others have noted so well. Theres also the japanese public. The president has very low confidence numbers there. Do we expect protests . The security is intense here in japan. That should not be surprising. We know the security situation has been stepped up. Youre right about the popularity levels for donald trump coming in here. He would like them to be higher. Hes mostly traveling within that bubble. Hes not interacting with other folks in japan. The Prime Minister has made a point to i want to say role out the red carpet. I think youll see a red carpet rolled out in china for sure, with whats being called this state visit plus over there, this visit at least, the japanese Prime Minister is really working to welcome the president , do things that make him feel comfortable. Play a round of golf on a weekend. Thats something donald trump has done in the past, he knows how to do. Everyone is staring to one side. Thats where air force one has taxied in. Hallie, if you can still hear me, any concern for the advance team there in south korea, of north korea doing what its done before, trying to steal the headlines, kim jong un potentially doing another test . It sounds like we lost Hallie Jackson there for a moment. As haltly jackson was telling us, the mood is high as it would be for any visiting president of the United States at a base all around the world this one happening to be there in japan, as Chris Jansing was telling us earlier, some of the largest instillations as far as the size the United States has there in japan. Yokota air base. President trump, the first lady, about to exit air force one. As that happens, well go to chris jansen on this. You may have heard my question to Hallie Jackson before we lost connection there, about japan and south korea next. As weve seen and youve reported on before, how north korea could try to steal the headlines and some of the thunder here. At one of the briefings done by senior staff to prepare the press for this trip, the question you just asked was asked, and the answer from Top White House officials was, look, whenever the president travels, theres an extraordinarily high level of security, its not going to be different. Theyre very aware of what any possibility might be and are preparing for any eventuality, not surprising for this president as other president s. Theyre not going to tip their hand about what particular concerns they might have, or what theyre doing about it, we do see as hallie mentioned a heavy security presence here, about 10,000 security officials. But about theres one more thing about what happened on air force one that i think is note worthy, that came sort of toward the bottom of the readout from the president walking toward the back and spending a few minutes with the members of the press. As we were talking earlier about the question of whether or not the president would stay disciplined here, would he go off script, would he be distracted by the things that hallie just mentioned that are going on back home, he was asked about the book written by h. W. Bush where he called president truchltd a blow hard, he refused to take the bait. He said, i dont want to talk about that now, i dont need the headlines. Clearly what his staff wants him to do is to stay focused on the task at hand, a pretty big task at hand at that, circling back to your original question, which is north korea. And while there are a lot of other things that will be talked about here and the other stops on the trip, theres no doubt that is the number one issue hanging over this asian visit. Chris jansen, part of the readout coming from Hallie Jackson was as he walked to the back of the plane, whether north korea will be declared a state sponsor of terrorism. Thats a decision theyve been waiting for, and a lot of attention obviously being paid to Vladimir Putin and the criticism thats been ongoing from before the time he was elected and it also goes to dutarte, another leader who has had a lot of extra judicial killings, which has made him a target of human rights activists, but people president putin, who President Trump has had positive things to say about, who he is expecting to have an on going relationship with, and so that is another part of this trip that is going to be looked at with extraordinarily high interests. You will remember back the last time the president was at one of these group meetings, he walked over actually to president putin at a dinner, and there were no u. S. Officials there. There was no translator, so everything the United States everything the president heard was only through the lens of the russian translator, those are the kinds of things that they want to avoid this time around. 10 49 a. M. There. Were watching President Trump coming down from air force one. Shinzo abe the leader of japan will not be greeting the president and the first lady here, that will happen a little bit later. And the president will be making his way into the hanger there at the air base and proceed to address the troops and again the mood has been positive, theyre looking forward to seeing the leader of their country and ambassador William Haggerty is there as well to greet the president , well continue to watch this. Chris jansen back to you on this. Youre in tokyo, the mood as Hallie Jackson was saying, very Campaign Like on the ground with u. S. Troops. But then theres the reality that was bringing up with Hallie Jackson which is with a no confidence rating there in japan as the japanese citizens look at the u. S. President , 72 have no confidence in this leader of the United States and has that translated to any potential activity there in tokyo where you are at about 25 minutes away from the air base . Theyre talking about the protesters. But any protesters you see here or anywhere else will be kept as far away from the president who travels in that security bubble. Theyre also trying to avoid any possibility of problems. Theyre doing things people in new york city are used to saying where they take away the garbage cans so no one could put an explosive device in there. Theyre shutting down the lockers at the metro and train station. Doing things that are typical when you have a world leader who comes. This isnt just for the president. It would be for other World Leaders that would come to visit japan. Back to your original statement. The latest polls out show that 24 of the japanese people feel trust in the way that President Trump handles international issues. That compares 24 to 78 that president obama had in that same poll one year ago. Having said that, when you asked him about the United States, overall a positive feeling. Theres an awareness of the role that the United States plays both economically as well as in terms of security, and so you have this kind of push and pull. Abe himself, his personal Approval Ratings here are not high, and yet they won an overwhelming mandate in parliament. A lot of analysts say among the japanese people, theyre making distinctions, obviously, between their own leader and his party and some of the policies, and this president who you see here. One more thought as we watch the president walking in with Melania Trump who will be making some appearances on her own. Ivanka trump has been here as well, and she gave a speech at a womens summit. It was not extremely well attended. That was noted by many people who were watching it. Im told by our local producer her visit was very popular. Theres a certain star quality that they see with this first family, and so there is also in addition to that low Approval Rating for his policies, i think there is a feeling of theyre glad that theyre here. Obviously a glamorous first lady, and a recognition of japans standing in the world. Those of you watching j sk, jansing, youve hold about every esteemed title in journalism. One of the titles was senior white house correspondent. Youve been to many of these events before. What is it that will happen as we look forward . Hes greeting a lot of the families that are there with the service members, greeting them, signing some autographs. What are these events like when the president does travel . Yeah. I mean, its actually really interesting to watch this. Hallie and i were talking about it on the plane on the way over, how President Trump has usually never spent a lot of time glad handing. He doesnt usually wade into the crowds. Whether its domestically or when he goes to events like this, youll often see him go directly on to the stage, and then as hes leaving the stage, he will stay around for a while. He will wave. He will bask in the applause, but i think what we were just seeing with he and melania essentially walking a rope line is something he hasnt done as much as previous president s. That may be another sign hes looking to send a different kind of message not just to the troops but out to the wider world about his belief and the importance of u. S. Troops. His engagement with them as the commander in chief. Not something, what were seeing now, not something weve seen a lot of in President Trumps trips, at least that ive been on and hallie was affirming that because shes gone to pretty much all of them. And yoz awe watch these pictures, this is weve seen this before, except during campaign rallies. Also another one of those places and one of those tours that youve done, Chris Jansing, as Hallie Jackson was telling us, it felt like a Campaign Event the way this was structured, the speech hes about to give at the air base. One of the things that president s talk about, and ive been able to speak with a number of them about it is we talk about this bubble. And what you cannot be prepared for and certainly president obama balked about this a lot. They tell you what its like to live in that bubble. You dont really understand what it is to live in that security bubble. Donald trump was somebody who was used to being out and about, certainly to all his various properties, to a lot of highprofile events. I saw him on a number of occasions. I saw him at the white house correspondents dinner. Obviously he owned the Miss Universe pageant, so he was there. He was somebody who was used to a very different kind of lifestyle. The head of his own company, going where he wanted when he wanted. This is a very different kind of atmosphere. So for him, particularly, as ive seen him on some of his stops over the course of the last nine months or so, he is someone who definitely feeds off the crowd, and when he sees an enthusiasm there, he often will ad lib a bit. His speech is set at least on paper for 20 minutes. Set your watch. Well see how much he goes off script. Its pretty easy to see when he does. How much hes feeding off the crowd reacting and how they react to him. Hallie jackson still with us here at the air base right where the president is. You may have heard this, hallie. Chris jansing noting how the president is doing the rope line. And this is not necessarily typical of him. Hey there, richard. Tough to hear you. I think youre talking about the president shaking hands along the line. Youre correct. Im looking at our coverage and watching out of the corner of my eye. The president is to the left outside the hangar. This is filled with members of the air base who have been waiting for the president to come up and speak. I can see Sarah Huckabee sanders, hope hicks, some of the top Staff Members the president has brought with him. John kelly has been with him on this trip. Hes clearly enjoying this moment, the president , along with the first lady, greeting people here at the air base. I think when you step back and look at the big picture, there are two big things the president is going to be discussing, and wants to be focusing on. Number one, the threat from north korea. He wants to make sure here in japan and south korea, he solidifies the alliances and when he heads to beijing puts pressure to do something more when it comes to north korea. The other part, and i think you might see interesting developments on has to do with trade. The president pulled out of the transpacific partnership. He promised to do it on the campaign trail. Did not sit well with allies here who had been looking for that transnational trade deal and benefits from it. The president said he wants to replace it with one on one trade deals. So i think youll see some discussion around that with some of the partners, particularly when he gets to vietnam and the partnership. Theres a ceo delegation traveling out to asia as well. Youll be seeing more from them own the next few days. I think broadly speaking, thats what youll see from the president. As always, the devil is in the details. Right . What are those moments going to be . What might happen over the next 12 days to grab headlines . There are risks and opportunities when it comes to a trip like this. I think you see a lot of analysts looking at both the categories saying there is a high potential for risk and for the president saying Something Like fire and fury in south korea aimed at north korea. And setting off a chain of international events. There also are potentially opportunities for him to solidify relationships. I heard you and chris having this conversation earlier. Its interesting. The idea that his meetings with, for example, president xi, or Prime Minister abe are going to be significant in how theyre conducted as well as what they talk about. So when you have the Relationship Building in addition to the sort of policy part of it, and i see activity in the corner of my eyes. Im making sure im not missing anything. For example, we know in china president xi is expected to to roll out the red carpal tunnet forge more of a bond after the maralago summit that happened months ago. The president is the president says today on air force one, he was asked, president xi remembers coming off of this, you could call it a reelection, but its a solidify kags of power. President trump was asked about i before he landed. He said excuse me. Im also in a position of strength. He pointed to, for example, military muscle. He pointed to strong economic numbers back in the United States. And so i do think that is an indication, or at least a hat tip that youre going to see kind of a clash of forces when it comes to that sit down between the two of the leaders. And the president as he makes his way away from the rope line, not too far away from where Hallie Jackson is talking to us. Her camera location, the president was met by a partialist ambassador William Haggerty, United States ambassador to japan. The wife of the ambassador, as well as the foreign minister of japan, his spouse as well. The japanese ambassador to the United States. Also the commander of the United States forces in japan. Just some of the folks that are greeting the president as he makes his way now into the hangar, and then makes his way up to the stage itself. Hallie jacks