That there are some upcoming conversations about trade and the budget and the Health Care Bill. One of the problems is there is so much going on right now it is hard to know how to focus any conversation. The fire hose has been turned on and it is flowing freely right now. Charlie there was an interview with fox news yesterday or this morning, in which he said that the next big effort is health care, not tax reform, that helfrich care follows tax reform that health care follows tax reform. Where are you going to go on tax reform . There is a giant issue. Rewriting the tax code is a big issue. Cutting taxes is an important priority for republicans. Every time we try to go down the tax reform path, he has reverted to health care. We are going to get the Health Care Bill done. We are going to kill obamacare, replace obamacare. That all seemed to die away a couple weeks ago when the house could not muster the votes to get it passed. The present himself suggested the president himself suggested we are going to set health care aside, do taxes him about thats not the case. Now the message is we are going back to health care. We have to get this done first. We are close to making a deal. Arrangementut an with the republican conservatives who didnt like the approach we took before, and im close to doing that, or democrats can come to me when we squeeze obamacare and it starts to wither on the vine and say lets make a deal. One way or the other, he said, we are going to get health care done. I thought that was a striking change from a week or two ago. Charlie he seems to be changing on a number of issues since the campaign. And on Foreign Policy, a number of issues. One of the things i wrote about after the meeting was the extent to which he is developing a good working relationship, even a close one, with president xi of china. China was the subject of a lot of very tough campaign rhetoric, you will remember, on trade, on cheating the u. S. , on not playing fair. It was vladimir putin, the russian leader, who was supposed to be the one who was going to be the President Trump pal. The reverse has actually happened. He is developing a very Good Relationship with president xi, which he talked about at some length. They met for hours and hours in florida, maralago. They talked for an hour on the phone this week on tuesday night. Basically, i like this guy. We have a good chemistry. We can work together. When asked about vladimir putin, he said, well, i got a nice call from him after the election. I called him after the terrorist attack recently in russia to offer our condolences, but i dont really know putin. You have a quite different reality than the one that was presaged during the election. Charlie we know secretary of state tillerson met with putin today in moscow. Coming out of that meeting were not very positive notes about the future of u. S. Russia relations. There is tension. There is a lot of tension. Syria has brought all those tensions to the surface. The idea that the u. S. Was going to work with russia in syria, not against russia and syria, now seems a distant memory. There is still a common goal, lets eliminate isis, but a clear desire on the part of the u. S. Now to get rid of president assad in syria. And President Trump told us today im not demanding that, but i think its going to happen eventually. The secretary of state said he has invalidated himself as a future leader of syria. The russians continue to prop up president assad. There is certainly tension there. It came to the surface this week when u. S. Officials said we about the russians knew the chemical weapons attack that happened recently in syria. We think they may have condoned it. We think they are trying to cover up the evidence. We asked President Trump about that. He said we are investigating whether all those signs of russian complicity he was cautious, but there is a lot of tension in the air. Charlie he was also cautious in terms of saying that assad did not necessarily have to go. And i think thats a way of saying, thats not the goal of our policy, but if our policy produces a departure from assad, we would like that. And more than that, and this is the real message that you are seeing play out at the united nations, the world is going to decide that assad cant stay. We dont have to make that happen. President trump was very clear and said a couple times, we are not going to get into the quicksand of syria. The missile strike was not a prelude to some big, deep involvement of boots on the ground in syria by any means, but i think the message is the world is going to get rid of assad. We wont have to do that ultimately. Charlie he did say they would the president would order the launch of other missiles if there was another use of sarin gas or even perhaps because of barrel bombs. He did say that. He said we already sent that message. If there is other chemical attack, we will act. The question we post was what about something short of a sarin gas attack. What about barrel bombs . He said, we will see, maybe. Its a hard line to draw. In terms of basically striking out at syria for specific actions, that gain is game is on to some extent. The message to the syrians is, watch it. We dont want you to know for sure when we are going to strike back, but we are willing to do it. Charlie the russians and a rainy said we will meet force with force and the iranians said we will meet force with force. Does he feel this is becoming precarious . Gerald we did not discuss it at that level of specificity. The message was sort of, we will be proportional. If we see misbehavior, we will respond accordingly. Not we are going to basically force the hands of the syrians or the russians or the iranians. I think what the president is trying to do here is walk a pretty fine line, or at least this is my impression, between washing your hands of the problems in syria on the one hand or of getting deeply involved. This is exactly the line that president obama saw out there and its one he tried to avoid having to walk, because its very hard as a superpower to get engaged a little bit. Once you getting gauged, you are expected to stay engaged and ultimately to fix the problem. Best not the message from the Trump Administration right now thats not the message from the Trump Administration right now. Charlie the message from the secretary of state is our goal is to get rid of isis. Gerald but he also said after that, then we will figure out how to solve the syrian problem. He is acknowledging that there is a syria problem out there that you can didnt cant avoid forever. We will deal with isis first, then we will worry about president assad and what happens to him. Thats not inconsistent with what President Trump told us today. He was more explicit in saying we are not going to go diving into syria. Am saying thats a mistake thats not what we are about right now. Charlie how does he expect to get the russians to negotiate . Gerald thats not clear. One of the things that was hanging in the backdrop of our conversation was the meeting that was going on at the time we were talking between secretary of state tillerson, foreign minister lavrov, and the conversation with president putin. Clear. One of the thing that have hanging in the backdrop of our conversation was the thing that were going on with tillerson and the conversation with president putin. And i think he was holding back a little bit. There is a question, when does President Trump meet with them. At a minimum thats probably where theyre going to have to sit down and look at each in other in the eye and say what are we going to do . What my plan, whats your plan . Charlie he almost in kiss enjers style has basically played the china hand as we believe between china and russia that china is the better place for to us do business. Gerald thats an interesting way to put it and i think thats right. You know, the superpower relationship that were going to have to invest our time and our effort in and the one that we really need to make work, maybe the one with china. Thats kind the impression you got. And by the wearing im very happy to discover that the chinese president is someone i can work with. Hes a serious guy. President trump said hes a real leader. I get along with him. There was a lot of indication in the body language as well as a the actual worlds, were going to work this china account. Were going to be touch, tough on trade, but were going to make this rhythm work. The win one thing that didnt come up and i think still looms in the background is the way china is asserting himself or bullying its neighbors in its own backyard in the south china sea. There a lot of tension in that area and some of that tension involves close call between the u. S. And russian navy as the u. S. Try to assert their rights to water and islands in that part of the world. There are places where there rhythm could still go sorryly off the tracks but for now, the impression that donald trump has is that i can make this rhythm work. Charlie he did talk about chinese currency, didnt he . Jarred he did and contrary to what he said in the campaign, the u. S. Government is not going to officially declare that china is manipulating its currency to increase it power in trailed, in kruise crease its ability to export and make it harder for people to send their products to china. That is a decision the government has to make in a few day and theyve already made the decision that theyre not going to declare china a currency manipulator. Why . Because theyre not trying to drive down their currency to gain trailed advantage. In fact trs opposite is happening. He trade is appreciating and the chinese are trying to drive up the value of their currency. The Trump Administration said we warned them they Better Change their behavior. Thats kind of the way the chinese have been heading in a while. Thats one area thats not going to be an area of conflict. Charlie he talked about janet yellen and the fact hes opposed to the idea of raising interest railts . Gerald he did and said basically i like low Interest Rate, which is a bit of a warning shot to janet yellen and the fed not to go too far and certainly not too fast in raising Interest Rates. Theres a question down the road and this is a ways off, another year or so of having to reappoint janet yellen as chairwoman of the fed or not. He wouldnt engage in narcs saying thats a way off but he essentially said when what he thinks about fed policy, which is Interest Rate lower better than Interest Rate higher and im reserving judgment on janet yellen. He said along the way he thinks the dollar has appreciated too much. And that makes it difficult for americans to sell their products abroad, makes it too espnive. When president say those sorts of things, theyre taken seriously in the financial market. Charlie and then there are the questions that were swirling around the touch presidency before syria and before the hinese president came to miralago. Steve bannan on the one hand. The faxal fightinging. Did he speak to that . Gerald a little bit. Not much. He basically said steve bannan is a smart guy. I like him. He didnt join my campaign until late and im my own strategist. I make my own zig on strategy, which was kind of a difficult formulation to read precisely. We asked him explicitly, are you going to make some change in your senior team and he said i dont think so. Well see down the road. A classic trumpian form lailings, if you think about it. For now, know, but dont hold me to that later. Charlie he also said you guys fix this or ill fix it. Gerald thats what hes saying impliftly in his public complefpblets and i expect ex plift lip in private conversations with his staff. I like steve bannan fine but lets not be queued. Hes not the president. Im the president. Charlie also, with respect to health care and some other things, hes got to risk his base and hes got to negotiate with his base, which is in part the Freedom Caucus in the how. Is he prepared to abandon them . Gerald well, i think what he was suggesting was that were going to bring the Freedom Caucus around. They like me, he said. They want me to succeed, i want them to be happy so were going to find a way to do it. One of the things that happened in the Health Care Debate that actually works to the president s advantage is that some of the things the Freedom Caucus, some of the changes in obamacare or some parts they were trying to eliminate turned out to be fairly popular with those blue collar pop allows voters who supported donald trump. Hes got a little bit of leverage i think on the Freedom Caucus because as people understood some of the changes that were being suggested in health care, they realized those things werent playing all that well with trump voters who benefit from some of those voter. I think trump is saying i may be able to bring those people around but also saying if that doesnt happen, im willing to cut a deal with the democrats. If i do, you guys in the Freedom Caucus arent going to like the outcome so much. Charlie where does he think north korea is going . Gerald i asked him whats the message youre sending by sending an Aircraft Carrier and it associated ships toward north korea in recent days. He said you cannot allow a country like that to have nuclear weapon. Thats the message he wants people to get. Now, the North Koreans already have Nuclear Weapons. They have Nuclear Devices that theyve exploded. But i think his message was im sending this as a sign to the North Koreans and probably to the chinese as well that this program is going to have to be stopped one way or the other and in particular, the ability to develop missiles that can. Com Nuclear War Heads is going to have to be stopped. Charlie finally this you have interviewed him before, youve seen him in action before. Youve been you been reading and writing about all the controversy about the first how many days its been so far. What was his demeanor . Jarred i thought he was more relaxed than i expected. Given all the controversy, given the syrian episode. Gifrpbl the fact hed just been through this highstakes episode with the chinese. He seemed pretty relaxed about all of that. Maybe surprisingly so we asked him, youve been in this job 75, 80 day, whatever it is. Hows it changed you . Whats your reaction . He said i dont think every changed but the gravity of the office does kind of present it to you. You cant avoid the fact that every decision is a big decision. Theyre life and death decision. He said its not like closing a real estate deal where you win or somebody else wins. Knees are life and death decisions and every one of them is a big zig. It was an interesting look into the sober reality of being president , which donald trump has figured out. Charlie its that and all president say theres no experience nall give you everything you need to handle this job. They all said that. Gerald and he said you have to have all the skills you have need to be brought to bear in this job. Theres clearly some element of being president that is humbling to anybody, everybody whos ever walked into that office and certainly the current occupy pant. Ok pant. Charlie jarred, thank you so much for joining us. Gerald sure, charlie. Clearly we continue with david sanger of the new york times, who was in moscow. There was a meeting late today at the kremlin. Tch the first facetoface meeting of the russian lead we are a top Trump Administration official. Earlier this week, the white house accused putins government of covering up bashir assads role in the chemical attack. Todays meeting could determine future relation between russia and the United States. David sanger is the National Security correspondent from the new york times. He joins me from moscow and i join him by complathe congratulate him on the recipient of his team or a of a plitser prize. Congratulations. David thank you very much, charlie. It was a great time and all russia related. The story of the russian hack and the information program. Charlie there was much drama this morning as we went to broadcast at cbs about whether vladimir put listen meet with rex tiller son. Why did he decide to do it, did he always decide decide to do it. Was there any reporting on the subject . David that would be inside Vladimir Putins held. But weve seen this before. Moments when he kept john kerry and president obama at various points about whether or not or when he was meet. Weve seen this happen. In this case, because hes known mr. Tiller son from the days that he was the chief executive of exxonmobil, it surprised us a little bit because he was obviously dealing with a known quantity here. This have the first meeting between anybody senior in the Trump Administration and vladimir putin, or at least the first we know about. It have somewhat critical to watch whether or not they could get past this remarkably difficult set of fact theyve been describing and based on the only voice weve heard since then, tiller son with the Russian Foreign minister, it doesnt sound like theyve gotten any closer on the facts. The american view is that it have the Syrian Regime that have responsible for the sarin gas attack. Mr. Putin himself in other broadcasts today gave some completely alternative theory. Theyre still not in the same place about who hacked into the election process. While mr. Tillerson hasnt wanted to dwell on it since his boss is a skeptic. He said its basic live an established fact that russia messed with it and of course putin denied that. Charlie a lot of people from putin to tillerson to others are saying that the relationship is at a low point. What are the implications of that . David the implications is what happens if it spirals downward . I mean, we can fight over syria. We have proxy