Though two had discussed a bilateral meeting in the notsodistant future at a number of potential venues including the white house. We have nothing further to add at this time. John roberts joins us from the north lawn where its already been a very active monday, john. Not just because of the egg roll, either. Word of this first broke out with the kremlin today with the spokesman for Vladimir Putin saying that President Trump first raised the idea of a possible meeting at the white house and that march 20th phone call. The way it was presented this morning and the reason it was presented this morning seem to be wrapped around the expulsion or announced expulsion of 60 Russian Diplomats and intelligence operatives from the United States in retaliation for that nerve agent attack against a former russian spy in the u. K. Several weeks ago. Against the backdrop of these events, its difficult to discuss the possibility of holding this, russia sort of giving the back of their hand to the president over the expulsion of the diplomats. The president talked about the phone call into the idea that a meeting was going to happen when he was meeting march 20th with the crown prince of saudi arabi saudi arabia. The president said he congratulated putin on his election victory in that call. Somebody clearly tried to embarrass the president about that. The announcement from russia seemed more like political posturing than anything. Im told by the white house, thereve been no preparations for a meeting just yet. The last time the president sat down with Vladimir Putin was at the g20 summit last year. There were no conferences that will put the two president s in the same cities at the same time until november. Any meetings would have to be specially arranged bilateral meeting, likely President Trump would not visit russia so the white house is a likely candidate for a meeting between the leaders. The last time Vladimir Putin sat down with an american president in the United States was in 2015, that was when he and president obama got together at the u. N. The last time he was at the white house was back in november of 2001 when he visited president bush. He also went to the ranch in crawford. It has been some 16 years since hes been here at the white house. If you were to appear here for a meeting it would be quite a momentous event. Melissa john roberts, a lot to think about there, thank you. We are joined now by democratic congressman of california, a member of the House Armed Services committee. Your thoughts on that potential meeting . Its fraught with difficulty. Think about what happened when president kennedy, he was not prepared, that was in vienna in the 60s and it was a disaster for the United States. Youve got to be very careful about this, keep in mind that putin is no friend of the United States. His government is hacking into our vital infrastructure, putting at risk of this nation. To say nothing of whats going on in syria. Melissa is it better to not sit down and talk with him . Isnt it better to open the lines of communication, to look in his eyes and let him know we are serious . I think somebody looked and saw his heart. I think we need to be really careful here. This guy is out to diminish the United States, diminish our allies around the world. The attack, the chemical attack in Great Britain is but one example, the attack of the american electoral system, all those are things that putin has done to the United States, to say nothing of crimea and whats gone in eastern ukraine. Weve got to be we need to be very clear what our goal is, its not just to make a nice, its to make sure that russia stops what it is doing to us and to our allies. Melissa isnt that more effectively communicated face to face coleaders it could be but it could also be a disaster if youre not well prepared and know exactly where this is going to go. Thats why all of these meetings are preceded by very careful, thoughtful interaction at lower levels so there is no surprises. It could come out of this thing with a win, it could just as easily come out with a major disaster, a major giveaway of something thats extremely important to us and to our allies or maybe a serious escalation to confrontation. But i am saying is take care, be careful. Melissa in the meantime President Trump is taking to twitter, declaring that a deal the dreamers is off the table. Congressman, first of all, your thoughts on this caravan as we are looking at that video . We have always, at least in the last decade or so have people trying to escape the violence and the political unrest in those Central American countries. We have a process in place that works pretty well of determining whether they are legitimately fearing for their lives in which case there is our process. Keep in mind that President Trump ended one of those programs for honduras and i believe for guatemala. That program is not there. In all likelihood these 1500 people are going to be turned around and sent back where they came from. Melissa thats not the way we understand, the likelihood is that they will be taken into the country and given a day that they are supposed to show up in court, thats what a lot of experts have predicted is going to happen with them, that they will be let into the country and released into the community once theyve been taken into custody. I dont think they will necessarily be sent right back unless Something Different from what the experts have told us. It will be dependent upon how they present themselves, the rules and processes are very clear and have been in place for a long time. Some of them will wind up in detention centers, others may be released into the community but all of them will have their day if they are seeking asylum for fear of their lives. That is a process that is there. As i say the president has already significantly reduced those programs for those Central American countries from which these folks are coming. We are looking at about 1500 people, this is not an overwhelming invasion and its certainly not giving up the border. By the way, there is no democrat im aware of in congress, the senate or the house that is interested at all in an open border. We have put up money over the last decade when the democrats were in control, we voted in support of increased Border Security and border money most recently. Melissa let me ask you about that before we run out of time, the deal on the table, the 1. 6, 1. 8 million dreamers, amnesty basically in exchange for 25 billion for the border wall. Is that something you would sign and accept . We have already said we are willing to work along those lines. Senator schumer put 25 billion on the table. Im sure there were some details, it is not a blank check, you cant use that money for just anything you want but clearly we are interested in having Border Security. Everything from drones to gates defenses, as well as detection machines that are used at border crossings to detect all kinds of material. We are very much in support of all of that. Melissa 25 billion, is it too much right now . 25 billion is probably enough to be spent over the next five, six years as we very carefully determine whats most important. One thing you may want to consider is 200 tons of contraband were seized by the coast guard, 20 tons were seized at the ground border. You may want to consider putting more money into the coast guard that actually has taken more than ten times more contraband than at the border. Melissa thank you for your time today, we appreciate it. Thank you, have a good day. Melissa lets bring in the anchor of special report bret baier. I do think this president wants to establish a relationship with the russian president outside of all the coverage of the russia investigation. And that will make heads explode here in washington. Clearly russia has been attacking the u. S. , clearly they have been and trying to get an effect in the election. But for someones up on a pedestal, he is playing a hand with not a lot of great cards. His economy is not fantastic and if you as a country empower Eastern Europe or the Baltic States with energy deals and you took them out of the equation with russia, there could be leverage had by the u. S. You heard senator Lindsey Graham over the weekend advising the administration to look back at Ronald Reagan and how he dealt with the soviet union and of the threat from that. I think there is something afoot here, i dont know if this meeting at the white house will materialize. Melissa ive seen a lot of people already saying, why would you like Vladimir Putin into the white house, their technology, snooping, they are so advanced. Dont we have Better Technology . Cant we tell if we let someone into the white house and they plant a listening device . That strikes me as a little ridiculous, am i wrong . If thats the case and theyre worried about that, its too late, they had the Russian Ambassador in their office at the beginning of this administration. Thats always a concern but nothing the white house couldnt technologically overcome. I think the bigger thing is the atmospherics here. Joe manchin 16 years, since putin has visited the white house. If that comes to pass it will be a big moment. Melissa they always say, the president s critics, whether were talking about Vladimir Putin, kim jong un, they assume he will not prepare and hes going to walk in and Say Something off the cuff and the whole thing will be a disaster. Is that a fair criticism . Yes and no. This is a different kind of president who has a different kind of mentality about throwing a long ball, making a deal happen. The fact that north korea is where it is and essentially is talking to china, talking to south korea and the prospects of this meeting seem like theyre on track with President Trump is largely i think fair to say that because of how President Trump has played this, kim jong un is at the table. Administration after administration, it was the same deal with north korea. This has changed the dynamic for good or bad. Melissa let me ask you before we run out of time. I asked the Congress Ministry question, what about this deal for amnesty, for the dreamers in exchange for 25 billion for the border wall. He seemed to say yes, that there was support for a straight deal like that, what do you think . I think there was and it kind of eroded. The administration stepped back with some other conditions they needed to see happen on chain migration and other things and the deal fell completely apart. I think there is a mix here. You are likely going to see the democrats just want this as an issue heading into the election and we will see how that plays. Tonight we have the ambassador to mexico, the mexican ambassador to the u. S. Here on special report to talk about all these issues including the caravan you reference. Melissa i will be sure to watch that, thank you so much. China hitting back at President Trumps tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. What retaliation could mean for our economy and how the white house is reacting. Plus, former secretary of Veterans Affairs pushing back on a white house statement that he resigned from his post. Why that matters. Doug burns is here to weigh in. Weve always had a very good relationship, discussions focused on how we can do better, do things in a better way to serve our veterans. This was somewhat of a surprise. Theres little rest for a single dad. And back pain made it hard to sleep and get up on time. Then i found aleve pm. The only one to combine a safe sleep aid. Plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. Im back. Aleve pm for a better am. Melissa a fox news alert, conflicting accounts on whether former Affairs Secretary was fired or resigned. I came to the va because the men and women of the country fight for us and dont give up. I came to fight for our veterans and i had no intention of giving up. There would be no reason for me to resign, i made a commitment, i took an oath. Melissa then white house director of communications appeared to confirm that he was ultimately fired. General kelly called him and gave him the opportunity to resign. Obviously they key is that the president made a decision. He wanted a change in the department of Veterans Affairs, he felt it was time. Melissa mike emanuel is live in washington with the details. My . David shulkin says he was not expecting to be fired, he said after a phone call with President Trump, he made plans to meet with the president before his time in the administration suddenly and abruptly came to an end. We spoke the day he sent to the tweet out. Just a few hours before and we talked a lot about issues in the va that were important and how we could continue to make progress on policy issues. We set up a meeting for the next day where i was going to meet with him at 11 00 in the morning. A vocal white house critic has said hes worried that the Trump Administration will allow a push to privatize the va. I work very closely with a major American Veterans organization. All the veterans organizations. And what they say is they want to strengthen the va, not dismember it, not privatize it. Dr. Ronny jackson has been called a fine man by those who knew him in the Obama Administration but some are questioning his ability to lead such a massive bureaucracy. Hes made lifeanddeath decisions on the battlefield, hes been in the middle of this war. He needs somebody to go into the va room to fight the bureaucracy and i think admiral jackson is a good pick because hes been on the battlefield, he knows what the fight is all about. Others not the va has been a mess under a wide range of secretaries with varied backgrounds or perhaps dr. Jackson will be the right person to shake things up. Melissa they need something, thats for sure. Joining me now for all of the legal applications of all this is formal federal prosecutor doug burns. Whether he was fired or quit, what difference does it make . The reason it makes a difference is theres a law from 1998 that federal vacancies, let me explain. The text of the law addresses somebody who either resigns or cant fulfill the duties of their office. It is silent apparently on if somebody is fired. So the argument from those who oppose the president putting the temporary replacement is you cant do that when somebody has been fired. I think its a little weak legally because theres some legislative history with senators indicating they wanted to include somebody who was fired and the obvious political back story, which is that the number to go in the va is similarly opposed to the president s approach. So thats why he put in the temporary replacement. Melissa its a fight between whether he could put in a temporary replacement are hes forced to elevate the number two . Normally if somebody is out, the number two assumes the post. The other thing thats interesting, is this a trial run, if he didnt want to get rid of the attorney general, Rod Rosenstein would move up, he doesnt want that. This is a trial run to see if he could put in a temporary replacement. Melissa that speculation. Its still interesting to think about. Theres also the idea, some people in my household to the president loves to fire people. Maybe it makes it harder to hire down the line, thats something senator ron johnson said. Its not the way i do it. You would understand if people are like i dont know if i want to take this job. The president needs to understand the effect it has on attracting other people. Melissa that makes logical sense. At the same time, the honor and if somebody calls you and asks you, the president calls you and asks you to take any job, are people really going to turn that down . You dont think youre going to get fired when you take a job. Is crazy as it sounds, what you put forward is so interesting. Im not a psychiatrist, lets check that at the door. He was on this massive tv show, the essence of which was terminating and firing people. Many wiser than i have said this president and presidency take on some indications of reality television. Melissa does it truly mean people are reluctant to take the job because they think they are going to get fired . When he called someone, i think their ego is hes calling me, im wonderful, im not going to get fired. You never think youre going to get fired. There are two aspects of this, discussing in a vacuum and the reality. As people have said, i think its hard to turn down if the president comes knocking and says he wants you and the administration but i dont think weve seen a level statistically of this many terminations. Melissa a lot of people have wondered why he is going around doing so many things, even talking about the way in which he was released, i wondered if theres another agenda there. As a lawyer do you feel like he is teeing up for something . Hears it somewhere speculation that i dont think its that outlandish. The supreme court, they go around, find a plaintiff, find a case. Maybe somebody enlisted him on this idea, the president cant pick the interim person because they have an agenda of what they want versus the president. Melissa that would be an interesting thing to look out for going forward, good insight, thank you. The u. S. And south korea kicking off annual joint military exercises after a delay for the winter olympics. How north korea is responding and what it means for a possible meeting between President Trump and kim jong un.