In facing our common challenges we must ensure that nato members meet their financial obligations and way this they owe. Many have not been doing. That were not getting along with russia at all. We may be at an alltime low in terms of relationship with russia. This is built for a long period of time. But were going to see what happens. Right now, the world is a mess. But i think by the time we finish, i think its going to be a lot better place to live. Can i tell you, that speaking for myself, by the time im finished, it will be a lot better place to live in. Because right now, its nasty. The president also said that he no longer thinks nato is obsolete but needs to do more to fight terrorism. As far back as 2015, bill laid out a plan. Nato should declare war on eye sis. They could set up into syria and huge problem might begin to be solved n syria is in danger, protected by nato forces on the ground theres no reason to go to turkey, europe, or america. Joining us from washington, White House Press secretary sean spicer. Former press secretary, Current Press secretary in the no spin zone. Sean, will President Trump be able to support Something Like bill was describing, nato can get involved and combat isis and solve this problem in syria . Theres a lot of great discussion around. That you saw the secretary general discuss his commitment to further rooting out terrorism and isis through the region a lot of commitment that he talked about how there are five countries currently living up to their 2 gdp, what theyre supposed to be committing to, to be part of nato. That number is going to rise to 8. Well see a financial commitment as well as an overall strategic commitment from nato to make sure that we combat isis. Unusual, President Trump doesnt always admit that he changed his position. Today he was blunt and he said, to the sam ras and the audience that he used to think it was obsolete and no longer thinks that. Do you have any more insight . Its not so much what necessarily hes done, its what they have done. As i mention, hes made natos relevance and the commitment offers this to live up to their financial commitments. For many years too many countries got a free ride. Most suntries dont live up to 29 . The u. S. Exceeds it. If you realize that five of the nato countries have gotten their 2 commitment, under the current nato secretary general, he admitted in large part to President Trump that number is continuing to rise. Overall weve seen 3. 8 increase in nato funding, in funding from countries in terms of defense. We expect eight of those countries overall to make that commitment to 2 . Because of the president s stance on this and commitment and making this a priority, i think youre seeing nato move closer and closer to where it should be. Nikki haley, u. N. Ambassador, had a tweet after the voting that, took place around 3 00, if i can pull this up. I thought it was so pithy. After todays vote to hold syria accountable its strong day for the u. S. , a weak day for russia, a new day for china and doomsday for assad. Shes basically putting assad on notice. To the point that i think, is the white house saying your move, whats next for you, because we are changing the dynamics of the relationship. Theres a lot to untack in that one little phrase. You saw starting last week the president had, the president of egypt came and met, then president tsi. We asserted the United States place and prominence in the fight against isis and the conflict in syria, largely one place in the World Community and bipartisan here at home. What that also did, is those relationships that he built over the two days with the president , you saw russia stand today with the United States, because of the relationship, but i think he and the arguments and the persuasiveness of this president. Really, isolate russia, in their stance with syria. Syria continues to find itself and its actions in a very, very small group of folks, and mostly states aside from russia that are failed states. Victory of getting china to side with us is a huge diplomatic victory for the president and our country. Because they abstained from that vote at the united nations. That is different, for sure. Let me ask you something about one of the things, in fact in this morning it was talked about in the event that you participated in, that theres frustration with the white house, and i remember with Anonymous Sources especially about internal staff battles. Yesterday we had the president of the United States himself, not an anonymous source, questioning, i dont know if its questioning, let me ask you, what was he saying when he was talking to michael goodwin, the New York Post columnist, about steve bannon, his chief stradist, i like steve but. What comes after but . Well, ill be clear, he values steves commitment to the team and helping advance the agenda. But he also wants to make sure that everybody understands when you look back in the 1980s and 1990s, the policies that this president is now espousing and championing here in terms of trade policies, economic policies, are policies that he held in some cases two, three, four decades. Then he wants to make sure that hes clear that, he won this election because of the policies that hes been laying out for decades and commitment to american workers, to grow the economy and keep our country safe. Its the line thats blurred a little bit, he wanted to make it clear. But at the same time, express confidence in the team thats here and the talent that he has assembled. The democrats, were a hard on somebody as reasonable and competent as neil gorsuch, the Supreme Court juts advertise, within the first 1900 days of the administers, sproem court justice. How does the president plan to approach them on Something Else that he talked about, Going Forward with changes to thashg, but also more changes to healthcare and tax reform. Both issues, i think democrats here in washington have a choice to make. Its tlo whether or not they continue to be, you know, exhibit obstructionism and stand in the way of progress, whether or not there are issues like tax reform and healthcare reform. Take them one at a time, healthcare reform is going bankrupt. The way that the obamacare system is set up, its continuing to reveal fewer and fewer choices to the american people, premiums are going up, and the infrastructure is crumbling, its costing more to piece it together. The president laid out a hand and said that people Work Together to achieve a common goal he wants to work with them o tax reform its similar story. On the corporate size our businesses arent competitive in the global world. We need to give tax relief to the corporations to help them hire and expand and relocate in the United States. And we additionally have to help middle class taxpayers, who have been bearing the brunt of this. If members of congress on either side of the aisle want to join with this president to grow the economy to put people back to work, then he wants to extend a hand and have them help. Yesterday, you made an error in the briefing when talking about atrocities committed by the syrian president when you compared it to hitler. You immediately corrected that mistake. I thought your apology was quite sincere and genuine. It was interest to be me that all three networks led the news with that mistake and that apology, rather than the other news. Setting that aside, when did you know, at what point in the briefing did you know that you had something that you had to fix . Theres two pieces of that, i guess. I really, im not focused on that so much, i think i recognized that i made a mistake. One is theres a personal factor, a lot of people that took offense to that, wanted to make sure they understood that was yearly not my intent. More importantly, not more importantly, but equally, to your point weve been having a great week here advancing the president s agenda, hes dochb a phenomenal done a phenomenal job reasserting news the world, helping millions of people who need help, as we continue to combat isis, help the peep in syria. It was unfortunate help the people in syria. My mistake created a distraction from the great work the president is doing for the country and throughout the world i knew that it needed to be fixed. And i sincerely, not just regret that what i did to other people, my own mistake, but a mistake and you let down the president who you serve. My job is to help do what i can to advance things, not get in the way of it. Unfortunately yesterday i did just that. Were you a little harder on yourself, than even the president was . I mean, did you have a chance to talk to him . I did. Hes one of the most gracious bosses and leaders i can haj. Man. But you are harder on yourself, you know this better than anybody, this is an awesome responsibility to have this position. When you are guilty of making a mistake, you recognize that, you know, that at least for me, a little bit hard on myself because i realize that i was a distraction from the great work that this president has and continues to do on behalf of this country. When you overshadow his accomplishments and the commitments that hes making to put people back to work, reform healthcare, on ed kwags, keeping this country safe in so many ways, you have to reflect and just, you know that you are a distraction to his great work and the privilege and honor that hes given me. So, its disappointing to myself. I hope people will acknowledge that. I think you are harder on yourself than you need to be. I appreciate that. You immediately identified it. Looking back for me, i think one of the things i most learned in that job, the most important lessons, were about dignity and graciousness, empathy, certainly humility. No job will hullble you like the White House Press secretary. Anything else youve learned so far, youre about 83 days into the administration. Anything surprise you . No, i think you gave me some very sage advice during the process. I think it really is, you have to go in every day and be prepared as you can be. You have a lot of homework to could every day, trying to represent the american people, the president. Making sure that you understand the key issues at hand. And frankly some of the issues that havent bubbled up to the top. Youre as prepared as possible. And you are as focused as possible. You see sometimes what happens when you are not. But it is an awesome responsibility, takes a lot of hard work every day, and you do your best to represent this president , this white house, this administration, and this country. And it feels, the press is slightly ahead of where the policymaking is. Because events have moved so quickly, especially Foreign Policy, swamping other things, then the continued russia investigation and all of the other unknowns out there. Thats right, but if you stop and look at what the president has been able to accomplish over the last 10 days, three world cleeders coming in last week leaders coming in last week, making progress, its amazing how many World Leaders the president meets w reboulding the relationship the u. S. Has lacked for eight years, reestablishing that, working with this president to advance shared goals, economic or National Security ones. And the president had a tremendous week last week and took decisive, justifiable and proportional response with syria, got huge praise from around the world. He makes great traction. What we did today continues to show that, with the alliance with nato. Get home to rebecca. Thank you. Thank you. Next, reaction to reaction to sean spicer. Press secretary sea. Stay with continuing with the top story, major developments in American Foreign policy and on the home front. We heard from sean spicer. Joining us for reaction to that, from boston, james sindell, from the boston globe. And the lovely aaron mcpike, white house correspondence. Big day, james. Some days i cant figure out what is the headline. I dont know you as well, you might qualify for lovely after this interview. Probably not. You can tell me what the headline of today was. Look, i thought it was a great master stroke for donald trump to have nato in the white house, at the very moment he has Rex Tillerson in moscow. Im not sure anyone is quite positive what exactly our relationship with rush why at this point. You hear from russia and from trump that this relationship has soured, that its in a bad place. And obviously creates opportunities and lowers expectations to make a deal. One thing that trump was clearly doing today was bolstering the american position, when they try to negotiate, make a better deal, when it comes to russia, when it comes particularly to syria. After these bombings on thursday night, were wondering what comes next. We thought that donald trump would dons answer that question, shift Foreign Policy, or was this just a oneoff. But were waiting for assad and waiting for putin. And if donald trump is serious about repositioning himself on backing nato he may be bolstering the position from america as it faces negotiation with russia right now. Erin, when you look at you know Rex Tillerson well, you went on that trip with him earlier this year, hes setting expectations so low, President Trump saying things are the lowest theyve ever been. Rex tillerson says theres little trust. President trump call Bashar Alassad evil, a butcher, thats strong language. Asking the question from the press corps standpoint, mr. Trump, what is your next move. If he is an evil butcher. And, thats a great question. I dont know the answer to that. The Trump Administration, thats the one thing we dont know yet. I will tell you what i think the headline is for today. Which i know your motto has been embrace the chaos, since the inauguration. And this week were seeing this administration become so much more conventional. I think we are seeing the impact of steve bannon losing a lot of ground within the white house, and youre seeing a lot of these positions coming from the Trump Administration that just look so much more conventional. Based on everything we heard from that press stress today, including donald trump saying that china is no longer a currency manipulator. Let me ask you, james, if things are moving in a more conventional direction, republicans think, okay, this i can understand, this makes more sense to me, more within my world view. Does that make it easier for President Trump to drive on his agenda on capitol hill with members of congress, not only his own party but possibly reaching across the is a toll democrats on things like tax reform . First off, it was interesting in your interview with sean spicer, how he totally dodged the question about steve bannon in the interview. I couldnt get him. Very good of you to answer that question. Very interesting how he answered it. In terms of the other question, at some level we see a conventional donald trump, i agree with erins assessment. But raises a larger question, what is the trump doctrine, if he said that nato was obsolete a few months ago now its very, very relevant in this particular case. Thats a big deal. If he makes, comments and changes on syria, like he did last week that,s a very big deal. When you bring it back home to capitol hill, if tax reform is the biggest piece of the agenda for him right now, and then back it off the last couple of case, maybe our deadline of august isnt going to happen, theres a lot of shifting dynamics going on. If youre a republican on capitol hill you try to figure out where to land, what exactly is the game play right now. And donald trump, pretty confused on that question. Where do you think they try to go, they have 17 days left, the first 1900 days, maybe 16 days and three hours. They think that the first 100 days. Theyve gotten a lot done, the critics say couldnt get all of the things they wanted done. But where do you put things at 17 days to go . I think this has been very unexpected that theyve done so much more on the world stage than they have domestically. They havent gotten through any kind of signature piece of legislation, but they are making some moves on the world stage. I would also point out, as sean spicer said in the interview, if the secretary general of nato said some of the reason theyre seeing the uptick in defense spending is because donald trump made that an issue. You saw the secretary general kiss the ring today. Were seeing it from other World Leaders, quite surprising. No doubt the meetings at the white house, 1on1s have been good. Thank you, james, erin, appreciate it. Lovely james. Thank you. When we come back more palace intrigue in the white house, ed henry is here to tell us whats really happening in the west wing. Catherine tells us about new revelations, the trump advisor was surveilled by the fbi during the campaign. Wait until you hear this. Hear e come right dana in the impact segment, two big stories out of washington. Some explosive new information about the fbis investigation into russias influence on the 2016 election. And more palace intrigue with the Trump Administration. Joining us from washington, fox news chief national correspondent, ed henry, the author of the rest of the Jackie Robinson story. Glad to have a copy. Theres a reason they call it palace intrigue. Numerous report of internal strife between Jared Kushner and steve bannon. It was reported that the president isnt giving a influential endorsement of bannon. Sean spicer, the press secretary, addressed that. Is the chaos in the white house in terms of the staffing and this battle becoming a distraction that the president doesnt want to see any more . Yeah, i mean, i spoke to two top advisors to the president this past weekend, who told me on friday at maralago he told the advisors get together and straighten it out. Another piece of it that the advisors said, the president went further, he said straighten it out or im going to straighten it out. That tells me hes ge