President trumps cabinet . People with small Bank Balances need not apply. And i love all people, rich and poor. But in those particular positions ijust dont want a poor person. Does that make sense . Welcome to the programme. Im Christian Fraser in london, jon sopel is In Washington. The European Commission supported theresa mays decision to call a snap election. They wanted reassurance the Prime Minister had a mandate for brexit and would be there to see it through to the end. Well, they have no such guarantees. So, the Dinner Conversation tonight might be somewhat strained. Over coffee, mrs may will be explaining to the other 27 leaders how the uk plans to protect the rights of eu and uk citizens once it leaves the union. The commission has already made its counter offer, some weeks ago. We will see how they compare. But president of the european council, donald tusk, stressed brexit wasnt the only thing on the agenda and had this to say about defence. Somebody needs to set up permanent uk corporation in defence. It is a historic step because such cooperation will allow the move towards deeper integration in defence. Our aim is towards deeper integration in defence. Ouraim is for towards deeper integration in defence. Our aim is for it to be ambitious and inclusive. So every new countries invited to join. Terrorism was also high on the agenda with Angela Merkel agenda announcing a new forum to combat Extremist Activity on social media. Well lets get more on todays developments from ros atkins, whos in brussel for us. We heard they would do these compare and contrast ideas of citizenship, do we know what the differences are . It is quite hard to get much detail on this. All of this is being done Behind Closed Doors and you are mentioning the fact that theresa may will be doing her briefing towards the end of a dinner that the 28 leaders will be having. Normally when you have a dinner party as the meal goes on and a few glasses of wine are drunk everyone loosens up and chat small. That will not happen here. Theresa may will be laying out here. Theresa may will be laying out her ideas for eu systems in the uk and uk citizens in the eu. Everyone will listen, say thank you, and then she will have to pick up her stuff and leave the room because it is only once she has gone that the remaining 27 can discuss what they think of that and how they think about the brexit negotiations have gonein about the brexit negotiations have gone in theirfirst about the brexit negotiations have gone in their first week. And as she looks around the room she will cease a new faces. Notably Emmanuelle Macron but also someone else. Both of them are under the age of a0 and both are seen as two examples of a new, enthusiastic generation of european leaders who are trying to invigorate the eu and what it stands for. He spends a lot of the day getting to know people. He needs to Start Building relationships in the eu and that is because hes concerned about the border between the republic of ireland and Northern Ireland, the north being within the uk and what brexit might do to the border. He wants the border to remain open in Terms Of Trade and freedom of movement. In terms of Emmanuel Macron, i was there when he arrived earlier, just a couple of hundred meters from here, and whatever you think of his politics he has star power and at home. He was confident, swaggered in, laughed with the the press, answered questions, and when he decided it was enough time off he went, looking incredibly at home and confident. You also mentioning the new defence deal. Emmanuel macron is a big supporter of that just as he deal. Emmanuel macron is a big supporter of thatjust as he is a supporter of thatjust as he is a supporter of thatjust as he is a supporter of these new measures to ta ke supporter of these new measures to take on extremism and extremist material being shared online. Thank you. Anand menon is here with me. Hes director of the research group, uk in a changing europe. Hes quite an interesting figure because he is the first non white premiere in western europe, he is young and he will go into this room feeling quite emboldened because ireland has a big stake in what britain is trying to do. It is interesting because there is the holder bite about the intra irish border bug busters curious because both sides are on the same size, no one wants a border, but no one can figure out legally how to not have a border if we decide to leave the customs union, and it is that the lawyers will be wrestling with to see if there is a way around it. We talk about what comes first, the divorce oi about what comes first, the divorce or the Future Trade Deal, but you cant decide on what sort of border there will be all no border without talking about the Future Trade Deal can you . No, but yes because our government has excluded the possibility of the customs union. That is a policy decision. They have said we wanted leave. As long as thatis said we wanted leave. As long as that is the case it is a headache for ireland because you need checks on the border. When it comes to theresa may, i was making the point in the introduction that they wanted her to come back with this mandate. The one thing i picked up on monday is they dont know whether she will be there at the end of the process. I think you can make too much of that. Personally, ialways i think you can make too much of that. Personally, i always thought the size of the majority didnt bother at the eu in the sense that they will negotiate with her, they know their position and that is quite simple. And i dont think they will negotiate about whether she is there not, they will negotiate to there not, they will negotiate to the end. If shes replaced they will have to deal with that. The problem the small majority bring all in the house of commons. A lot of legislation needs to be passed and Herfinal Legislation Needs to be passed and her final deal will go there for a vote and it is there we will see the small majority. That is clearly the frustration for all the leaders. There is not only difference within the Conservative Party and the cavernous but also the labour party as well. Its not as if you have an opposition with one plan. They are all over the place. You are too young to remember the john all over the place. You are too young to remember Thejohn Smith period, but you had a situation where labour didnt have a position on europe other than to oppose everything the government did. I suspect that will quite quite well now because they cannot agree amongst themselves but might agree to oppose the government. He wouldnt say i was too young i wonder, christian, of course the other eu leaders wanted britain to remain. But i wonder whether there we re remain. But i wonder whether there were certain transactions that will be taking place from now on west life has gotten a lot easier without those Recalcitrant Brits in the room. That is possibly true. We were talking about the Defence Procurement Thing that they agreed, and that is the sort of thing that some time ago with britain in the tent they would not have got through. You can look at other things Emmanuel Macron has been talking about in recent days. A future Finance Minister of the european union, the eurozone bill, anti dumping regulations, these are things britain has stood against. He is saying we are in this not to punish britain, but lets look at the opportunities. The irony is, you have heard from the likes of donald tasks today that he hoped brexit is cancelled and britain comes back, but some federalists think this is the kick that they wanted and perhaps they can progress to a more deeply integrated eu without the british. For weeks the president has kept us waiting. Tantalising the press and also the investigators on whether he had made recordings of his conversations with former fbi director james comey. Well, just a short time ago we got the answer and of course it came in a tweet. This is what it says. So why has he prevaricated for so long . I am about to put that question to read wilson. We arejoined by reid wilson from the hill. I loved the cheek of it. He was the one who set the Whole Hare Running and now it has taken him the best pa rt and now it has taken him the best part of five or six weeks to deny it. And the question is now what was the purpose of suggesting it . One of his close allies, newt gingrich, has suggested it was to rattle dames comey who testified before congress. Is that witness intimidation, Obstruction Of Justice . There is that witness intimidation, obstruction ofjustice . There is a Special Counsel looking into that and he has hired a number of very highly talented prosecutors with a lot of experience. It becomes increasingly clear that the president will have to answer questions about this, probably under oath,if questions about this, probably under oath, if he sticks with his claim that james comey was lying before congress. Somebody is not telling the truth. That could be a problem. Does this in anyway get donald trump off the hook . It may be in elegant to admit but maybe it helps him. The hook it gets him off as with the house of representatives, which had regret requested any information about possible tapes by a deadline of tomorrow. Now he has said there are no tapes so he hears of that short term hook. But this is a long term investigation. Short term hook. But this is a longterm investigation. Why has it taken him so long . Why didnt he say when it was obvious immediately that he had set something in motion . This is not a person who is accustomed to admitting when he is wrong or has said something that is untrue. Even on things that are easily verifiable, he has scrambled for some kind of information. And this notion that there were no tapes so they were trying to Keepjames Comey honest, that is some real spare stay with us reid, weve got another Story Developing , after weeks working secretly Behind Closed Doors, Senate Republicans have finally revealed their plan to replace 0bamacare. They had promised a top to bottom revamp of the health bill passed by the house last month but there are only modest adjustments. The debate over the repeal bill is shaping up as a titanic political struggle, which will have major implications for both parties in the years to come. The republicans can only afford to lose two senators in this vote. And they dont have long to sort out their differences. The Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell wants a vote before lawmakers return home for the fourth ofjuly recess. Lets pick up on that and what we have heard. I gather already a number of the more free dumb caucus right wing senators have said they are not happy. There are three very conservative senators in repealing the Affordable Care act and there area number of the Affordable Care act and there are a number of moderates with real problems because the Affordable Care act steered so much money to their states, people like the senator for nevada and ohio, a number in the rust belt region where the Opioid Crisis is killing Tens Of Thousands of people every year, this bill would defund efforts to fight that. There is a very narrow window that the majority leader has to get through. He will not get any democratic votes and somehow has to marry those moderates with the ultimate conservatives. The politics dont look particularly good . When you look at the polling for it its actually pretty poor around the country around the plan. I would suppose that Senior Republicans are looking about polling. They certainly are. The Health Care Debate has been a larger issue in several of the special elections here in the us over the last few weeks than even President Trump and his dismal approval rating. It was health care that crossed democrats their majority back in 2010. They really hope it will be health care that costs the republicans their majority in 2018 midterms. Great to have you with us, thank you so much. Well, health care along with the rest of President Trumps agenda has been overshadowed lately by the multiple investigations into alleged russian interference in the president ial election. But how do the die hard Trump Supporters feel about the investigation . The Bbcs Rajini Vaidyanathan was in cedar rapids iowa on wednesday night for the president s rally and no question who they blame. All Everyone Wants to concentrate on is this russia thing. And it is bogus. Russia does not bother me at all, whatsoever. Im not really worried at all, to be honest with you. God bless the usa. Politics In Washington might be dominated by the Russian Investigation but what do trumps supporters here in iowa, a state the president won in last years election, make of it all . So youre not concerned . No, why would i be concerned, why would i . What you mean concerned concerned about what . He might be under investigation, because. Investigation doesnt mean hes guilty. This investigation has been going on for seven, eight months. Nothing. Weve got pictures here of various people. Why . We dont like him james comey is a liar. Liar. Why is he a liar . Just when he speaks he is a liar, because he is involved with the crooked hillary gang. Leaker, liar, i dont believe him, i dont believe what he is saying. It seems him and President Trump both have two opposite viewpoints about what has happened. Why would he lie . He went under oath. Well, yes, he did. The president has not been under oath yet. No, but he has also said he will go under oath, and i think its a disgruntled employee. I dont trust james comey and its not because he went after trump. I dont like what he did in the election, period. I dont think it was right that he said that hillary was under investigation a week before the election. Robert mueller what you think of him . I dont know how tight he is yet with comey, so i dont know whether or not he can be trusted or not. They say he is respected on both sides of the aisle. I dont like that he appointed Hillary Clintons friend as Special Counsel to the investigation, but im not going to bash somebodyjust off of that. Well see what happens. I think he is a little bit too connected and he should either resign or be removed from that position. Hes onlyjust got the job, though. Well, in my opinion, i think it needs to be a total outsider. There aint no doubt i love this land. This man is taking care of the United States of america. Good to get out of washington, you get a different view. What about that rally . The president was back in Campaign Mode last night, buoyed by that republican win in georgia this week. He has been cooped up for too long and this was an opportunity to come out fighting. He defended his administration against the attacks from the press and he had this to say about the criticism of his cabinet. And i love all people, rich or poor. But in those particular positions i just dont want a poor person, does that make sense . Does that make sense . If you insist, ill do it, but i like it better this way, right . Ididnt i didnt ask, i have it in my contract that i shouldnt have to do present with polar presenters, i hope you are wealthy enough present with polar presenters, i hope you are wealthy enough i will have to disappoint you. |j hope you are wealthy enough i will have to disappoint you. I cant believe it. Do you see this on Campaign Literature . I dont want to work with poor people. These are all appalling. Bluecollar workers thats the huge difference between a lot of british and european politics compared to the us, they love the fa ct compared to the us, they love the fact he is a Swaggering Billionaire who seems to have appointed a bunch of other billionaires to his cabinet. Ina of other billionaires to his cabinet. In a way which would be just unthinkable in a lot of other democracies. But blue collar iowa we re democracies. But blue collar iowa were cheering him last night when he saidi were cheering him last night when he said i dont want poor people around me. One other thing i wanted to talk about, we took a lot about the republicans and donald trump but lets talk about the democrats, there have a lot of headlines about georgia and how the democrats got it wrong they said they begged it up and then lost it and that is embarrassing. But this was a headline in the new york times. they came very close in georgia and in another special election seat in places that were absolutely safe republican. They are not doing terribly, they are doing pretty well. But they are not making the breakthrough and there is a Battle For The Heart And Soul of the Democratic Party going on with some people saying we must be more like bernie saunders, appealing to young people, more radical. And there are t