A bloody difficult woman. i said at the time, the next person to find that out will beJean Claude Juncker. That out will beJean Claude Juncker. The fight over Sanctuary Cities has stretched to salem massachusetts, town known for its witch trials at the end of the 17th century now navigating 21st century Immigration Policies under the trump administration. Why is donald trump spending so much time talking about americas seventh president , Andrew Jackson, and the American Civil War . Is history being revived or rewritten . North korea has accused the United States of pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war, today, two us bombers flew a Training Exercise alongside the south korean and japanese air forces. The norths official news agency said it was a rehearsal for a pre Emptive Nuclear strike. The pentagon has confirmed its Missile Defence shield, known as thad, is 110w defence shield, known as thad, is now fully operational, which will antagonise china, as well as pyongyang. Maybe there is a twin strategy, over the weekend, President Trump called kim jong un a smart cookie, even said that he would meet with him if the conditions were right. Joining us to discuss the rising tensions, the former us Defence Secretary under the clinton administration, and now bbc World Affairs analyst. Great to see you. When donald trump says he would be honoured to meet kim jong un, that was a pretty odd use of the word. jong un, that was a pretty odd use of the word. if you jong un, that was a pretty odd use of the word. if you had to it is not a word that you use with kimjong un, to it is not a word that you use with kim jong un, to say that you are willing to meet with president kim jong un, 0k, willing to meet with president kim jong un, ok, you can say that, under certain conditions, but take that word out of it. He is not entitled to be referred to as an honourable individual. If there was one word donald trump would take back, it would be that. In terms of strategy, can we reconcile on one side the demand for tighter sanctions, further isolate a shin, further isolation, and then on the other side, calling him a smart cookie, saying he would be honoured to meet him. That is the way in which donald trump keeps people off balance, he is showing a steel fist, on the other he is saying, i would be happy to meet with you, not honoured but happy to meet with you, to discuss how we move forward, we had that approach made during the clinton yea rs, approach made during the clinton years, president bill clinton considering whether he should meet with the dictators father. And we decide at the last moment, the president decided at the last moment that the north koreans were not ready to make a concession upfront, but only wanted to talk without having any attendants, and so it was called off. 0ne having any attendants, and so it was called off. One thing to make a decision like that when talking about the north koreans, one of the most oppressive scenes in the world, but the president has made a strategy of talking favourably about strongmen, but in egypts president , president erdogan of turkey, kim jong un, and the filipino president , all of those people, you can work with them but you should not be bracing them. You can work with them, but you have specific conditions, having a meeting is important, what we have to be concerned about, we do not see we to be concerned about, we do not see we must be sure not to see a demolition of the high office that the president holds, when you say that you are willing to meet under virtually any conditions with another world leader who enjoys a less than stellar reputation, that diminishes the office. Meeting under the right conditions, we must spell out what the right conditions are, otherwise you are just meeting with anybody on that basis, doesnt matter what the role in the world is, what danger they may pose, he will meet and talk. . That is to be contained. He said the meeting with chinese president was mendis, getting on like a house on fire. A lot of people whispering, for all the great relationship they have created, the chinese are now starting to talk, you have just come back from china, the chinese saying, you know what, yes, we will uphold all the un resolutions, we will impose the un resolutions on north korea, there is no sign of the unilateral sanctions which washington is pushing for. No, there has not been, that is one of the reasons President Trump is starting to ratchet up the military pressure again. That has to be very carefully calibrated. There was also discussion this past week that we we re discussion this past week that we were pondering the possibility of a pre emptive attack. That kind of talk, wherever it emanates from, anywhere near the white house, can in fact have a very catastrophic consequence, namely, kim jong un in fact have a very catastrophic consequence, namely, kimjong un may see this as preliminary and take pre emptive action himself. The president has to learn as he is going along. His words really do count, even though he may not attach significant meaning to them, other countries and leaders do. Getting the whole of the president s getting a hold of the president s messaging and making it consistent throughout the administration is important. Focusing on other parts of the messaging, in the last hour, he has been holding a phone call with president Vladimir Putin, these men have not yet met, they have not spoken since the United States bombed the air in syria. There were russian advisers on the ground, when that bombing took place. Earlier in the day, Vladimir Putin met German ChancellorAngela Merkel at the summariser dens in such cheap. They discussed the war in syria. As well as the ongoing conflict in eastern ukraine, ensuring a ceasefire was of key importance, Angela Merkel said. Translation the German Chancellor, i made clear that we want to want to do everything to supports a ceasefire, and help people who are in acute need. The concept of a Security Zone is one that one could work on more, andi is one that one could work on more, and i believe we can talk about other challenges as well. Angela merkel, for his part, but if putin called for an impartial investigation into last months Poison Gas Attack in syria. When it comes to allegations of russian interference in the us election, this was his response. Translation we never intrude into the political processes of any other countries. And we would like nobody to intrude 01 and we would like nobody to intrude or interfere into our own internal political lives. Unfortunately, we see the opposite. We see the opposite over decades, we have seen attem pts opposite over decades, we have seen atte m pts to opposite over decades, we have seen attempts to influence political work in russia. Through ngos and directly. Getting your thoughts, Hillary Clinton has been talking through the last few minutes, russian interference, interesting, some of the comments he has made, blames Latimer Putin, also blames james comey of the fbi, director of the fbi. Is she right Vladimir Putin. Latimer putin issued fake news, that the russians had made no attempt to try to influence the elections of the United States, according to all intelligence agencies, they were clearly responsible for Aiding And Abetting wikileaks for responsible for Aiding And Abetting wikilea ks for leaking responsible for Aiding And Abetting wikileaks for leaking damaging information, certainly at the time, damaging information Aboutjohn Podesta and Hillary Clinton. The fbi, it is unfortunate, the fbi, whether intentionally or not, ended up whether intentionally or not, ended up putting a finger on the scale, by releasing three weeks, two and a half week before the election that they were opening up more investigation, i dont think there is any question that they had an impact on the race. Whether that would have been positive or not remains a matter of speculation. Donald trump is president , that will not be reversed at this point. Going back to president putin, this is the leader of a country who has sanctioned the use of poison gas, he is now calling for an investigation, we would welcome that, but we have had more than sufficient evidence on the ground, serin gases being used, and the president he is supporting has been responsible for that. Sarin gas is being used. I would like to see it made up of truly independent people. Are you yet clear what us relations are with russia . We clear what us relations are with russia . We have clear what us relations are with russia . We have not had donald trump say anything overtly critical about Latimer Putin but we have seen the tomahawk cruise missiles, and the invocation that russia must have known what was going on in syria. A Phone Conversation taking place today, are you clear . Russia knows what is going on, they have been participating in syria, they have aircraft on the ground and flying in syria, they have troops on the ground, they know what has been going on. With respect to 59 missiles going into syria, it was clear also that the pentagon warned the russians, get out of the way. Something is going to happen, we dont want to hurt anybody, any russians, to be sure. It is not as if we were throwing open the gates and attacking russia, and i dont think this issue is ever going to be cleared up, until there is clarification on what russias influence is in the trump organisation. Those investigations have to go forward. The president of russia would undertake a campaign to directly attack the heart of the system by altering the outcome, that accusation, that is something that should not be dismissed. White thank you very much. Isnt it fascinating, at the weekend we heard donald trump saying, it might have been russia, it might have been somebody else, maybe the chinese. Thank you very much from the fbi we have had definitive work, no, it was absolutely the russians and no one else. You wonder why he goes there, picking up the idea, we showed you that list of leaders he has got close to, it occurred to me, is it because he is a former ceo, a man who always got his way, a sneaking admiration perhaps, for people who are strong in their country and strongmen. There is a strong part of that, he likes decisive men of action, the tough guy image, and the people who can get things done. I also think it speaks of the frustration he feels at the moment, at the democratic constitutional apparatus of the United States, which he feels is porting him, whether it be the courts blocking his travel ban, whether it be congress requiring a supermajority the senate. When he has tweeted today that he only wants it to be a simple majority. I think he is finding some aspects of democracy rather tiresome and irritating. There we are, we live in a democratic system. The leagues accounts of a Downing Street dinner to which Jean Claude Juncker, European Council president , was invited, are worth reading in full, but we will boil it down to just a simple abstained, the Prime Minister said she wanted brexit to bea minister said she wanted brexit to be a success, Jean Claude Junker replied, brexit cannot be a success, in other words, theresa may looking for a story with a happy ending and Jean Claude Juncker would prefer a greek tragedy, serving as a cautionary tale to any other Country Thinking of leaving the youth. The Prime Minister dismissed this story as Brussels Gossip, over the weekend, this afternoon, in a bbc interview, she was a little more forthcoming. If you look at what we did in triggering article 50 and setting out objectives and the guidelines of the other 27 countries set out, actually there is a lot of similarity there in a lot of areas, and areas in which we agree, what we have seen recently is that at times, these negotiations will be tough. During the conservative Party Leadership campaign i was described by one of my colleagues as a bloody difficult woman. i said at the time, the next person to find that out will be Jean Claude Juncker we are nowjoined from westminster. Do you sense there is a hardening of the town there from theresa may . Has she been going to the focus groups and that is what they want to see . Probably, further evidence of a dinner date that did not go quite as well as bland and this morning, the tory sources were briefing there would be no briefing war against the European Commission after these leaks. As you say, they have wrapped it up this evening, theresa may coming up, still saying that much of what was said in the leaks was Brussels Gossip but coming up with this strong line that she wants to bea with this strong line that she wants to be a bloody difficult woman in these talks. Of course there is election in the air but perhaps this gives us a little more insight that the tone of these talks may be more difficult than she had planned, a tiny morsel more evidence that there might possibly be Something Like no deal. Just to give you one example of the difficulties, in the interview theresa may was asked about the rights of expats, it is felt she wants to be able to say quickly and decisively that eu nationals living in the uk and vice Ve Rsa Ca N Nationals Living In The Uk and vice versa can remain where they are and the deal is done, now she could only say there may be some reassurances atan say there may be some reassurances at an early stage. Of course there is an election in the air, but maybe frustration behind the scenes as well. Do you think there is a sense in which there is strategy here, on the part of the european union, almost to put theresa may on the defensive for this period during the elections before the real negotiations get underway post election . Negotiations get underway postelection . Definitely, the french and german elections coming up, the eu not wanting to make leaving the group and attracting option. Attractive. This may help theresa may on the Campaign Trail, her reaction tonight, speaking in an area where the overwhelming majority voted to leave, maybe they want to hear this message, she also wants to steal the limelight from labour in another day when they had a big announcement to make, a conservative strategist, former director of communications, for david cameron, said just by using the phrase, bloody difficult woman, she will get ahead of labour and capture the headlines, which she has successfully done, but it has also given the opposition parties the opportunity to say that this is theresa may heading towards a cliff edge, that she has no plan, other saying she should be beginning these talks with a sense of goodwill. That is certainly not the feeling here tonight. For the moment, thank you very much. This week in the french will go to the polls in the second round of the french political election, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen trying to win over supporters from round one. Yesterday, supporters of Francois Fillon may have noticed something in the may day speech from Marine Le Pen, Notjust The May Day speech from Marine Le Pen, not just the the may day speech from Marine Le Pen, notjust the same sentiments but using exactly the same words put the two speeches side by side commuter need to speak french, it as badly as i do, you will see how remarkably similar they are our they are. Do you think we could soon have a quiz question, what does Marine Le Pen have in common with Melania Trump . Laughter that is it, it causes the similarities between the Republican Convention last year, that happened there. It calls for. This would be really embarrassing were it not for the fact that there was clearly smart thinking, in front nationale thinking, because it has been said, this was intentional, he owned up to it, what we are trying to do is show Francois Fillon longs supporters that we think the same. I suspect it did not start out that way they changed it, but that is the intention, anyway. Do you think there is strategy in there . In a sense, they want to do what happened in the us, the populist left, supporting bernie sanders, a lot of those people felt they could not vote Hillary Clinton and went straight to donald trump . There are some on the hard left who we re there are some on the hard left w