Exclusive interviews. Senator david perdue, in the private Oval Office Meeting. One of the president s toughest allies. Senator jeff flake, one of trumps toughest critics. Pushing a bipartisan deal on immigration. And democratic congressman john lewis who marched on the front lines with dr. Martin luther king. Plus, insight and analysis with our powerhouse roundtable. And the fallout from the a false alarm. This is not a drill. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard joins us live. Well break down the politics, smoke out the spin. The facts that matter this week. Good morning. This week was supposed to be a fresh start for President Trump. To combat the fallout from the explosive book, fire and fury he called cameras into the white house to watch him negotiate an immigration deal with a Bipartisan Group of legislators. It was an extraordinary moment. And it seemed to work. Until thursday. Another immigration meeting. This one behind closed doors in the oval office. Where the president repeated that profanity when discussing immigration from africa and haiti. Stunning remarks that put a lingering question in stark relief. Is President Trump a racist . Today, we celebrate dr. King for standing up for the selfevident truth americans hold so dear, that no matter what the color of our skin or the place of our birth, we are all created equal by god. President trump at the white house on friday, praising Martin Luther king like so many president s before. Then came the questions. Mr. President , will you give an apology for the statement yesterday . Mr. President , are you a racist . Mr. President , will you respond to these serious questions about your statement, sir . Questions about the vulgar and racist slur he used when discussing immigration from africa and haiti. It happened during an Oval Office Meeting with legislators on thursday. The president was frustrated by a bipartisan plan that would scale back the visa lottery program. But not eliminate it. Multiple sources confirmed for abc news that the president asked those in the room why they would want people from haiti, africa, and other expletive countries coming into the United States . Instead he suggested the u. S. Should bring the more people from European Countries like norway. The white house didnt deny the statement. The next day, trump tweeted. An ambiguous denil. Lindsey graham said he countered the president s comments in the moment. Richard durbin said trump could not have been more clear. He used the vile and vulgar comments calling the nations they come from [ bleep ]. The exact word used by the president. Not just once, but repeatedly. That was the nature of the conversation. Reporter Global Reaction has been swift and severe. Im sorry, there is no other word one can use but racist. Reporter condemnation from haiti, el salvador. And an emergency meeting of the u. N. African ambassadors, who called on trump to apologize for his racist and xenophobic remarks. Questions about trump and race have dogged him for decades. In 1973, the Justice Department sued him and his father for discriminating against black persons in the operation of their buildings. The case was settled. Without admission. In 1989, trump campaigned against the central park five. Five African American and latino men who were accused and later exonerated in charges of rape. He placed full page ads in four new york newspapers. I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer and when day kill, they should be executed for their crimes. As he prepyre prepared to run for president , trump promoted the Birther Movement against president obama. Of course theres a question. Was there a birth certificate . You tell me. Some people say it wasnt his birth certificate. Maybe it was, maybe it wasnt. Reporter as a candidate, his speech a blast against mexican immigrants. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, i assume are good people. Reporter a Mexican American judge. There is a hostility toward me by the judge. Tremendous hostilithostility. Beyond belief. I believe he happens to be spanish, which is fine. Reporter and as president , those inflammatory comments after a white supremacist rally in charlottesville. You also had people that were very fine people. On both sides. And with that, lets bring in congressman john lewis from georgia. A leader in the Civil Rights Movement who marched side by side with dr. King more than 50 years ago. Congressman lewis, thank you for joining us this morning. Let me start by asking you, how do you square the president s speech about Martin Luther king on friday with the comments he made behind closed doors on thursday . George, i dont think theres any way that you can square what the president said with the words of Martin Luther king jr. And what he said about dr. King. Its impossible. Theres not any way you can do that. Its unreal. Its unbelievable. It makes me sad. It makes me cry. As a nation and as a people, we have come so far. We have made so much progress. Here in georgia, when i visit schools, whether its Elementary School students, or middle school students. Theyre black. Theyre white. Theyre latino, asianamerican, native american. They look like the dream and act like the dream of dr. Martin luther king jr. We have come so far. Made so much progress. And i think this man, this president , is taking us back to another place. Do you think President Trump is a racist . I think he is a racist. How do you explain it . And what do we do about it . We have to stand up. We have to speak up. And not try to sweep it under the rug. And what does that mean . I have heard that many of you in congress, democrats in congress are going to try to bring forward a motion to censure the president . I tell you, as a member of the house, when that resolution comes up, ill be one of the people to speak up and speak out. I think we should do it. We must do it. We must educate our children and generations yet unborn. Youll not be in attendance when the president comes to give the state of the union at the end of this month . In good conscience, i cannot and will not sit there and listen at him as he gives the state of the union address. The president is up and tweeting this morning. Of course, this all came up in the context of negotiations on immigration reform. And how to protect the d. R. E. A. M. Ers. The young people here under daca. The president is tweeting this morning, daca is probably dead because the democrats dont really want it. They just want to talk and take desperately needed money away from our military. Are you worried that the young people in the daca program will pay the price for what happened here and that democrats will be blamed for it . We must take care of these young people. We must take care of these young people who know america as their country. As their only country they know. Its not fair. Its not right. And its not just to do otherwise. But it seems like were much farther away from a deal right now. We must not give up. Or give in. We must continue to press on. And get a deal. Are you going to demand that this daca protection be included before youll approve any extension of government funding . Well, i, for one, will not vote for government funding until we get a deal on daca. So it does increase the chances of a Government Shutdown this week. Finally, congressman, this is Martin Luther king jr. Weekend. We honor his memory tomorrow. What do you believe that Martin Luther king would be preaching this sunday if he were still alive . If dr. Martin luther king jr. Were still alive, he would be speaking the idea that were one people. Were one family. We all live in the same house. Not just american house, or the world house. We must learn to live together as brother and sisters. If not, we will perish as fools. Congressman lewis, thank you for your time this morning. Thank you, congressman. Want to bring in republican senator david perdue of georgia. Also of georgia, like congressman lewis. Thank you for joining us this morning. I know youre one of President Trumps closest allies in the senate. How do you respond to what we heard from congressman lewis, that he believes President Trump is a racist . Well, of course, i think thats ridiculous. I grew up in the south. I fully understand what that means. The congressman and i disagree on a couple of things. First, im from georgia. Ive been in the schools hes talking about. Hes exactly right that regardless of race, religion, anything, those schools, those kids are doing great together. The problem is, is when you get to the washington politicians. The career politicians, who want to pander to their base. What we have going on here right now is a gross misrepresentation. This all started with a total misrepresentation of a meeting from thursday. People forget that just two days earlier, the president , in an open media, with media in there for almost an hour, debated this with both sides. Democrats, republicans, house members, and the senate. And what we forget is that 72 of americans want us to solve this problem. We want to solve the daca problem. We want Border Security with a wall. We want to end chain migration and the diversity lottery. Thats the scope we all agreed on on tuesday. On thursday, we had a meeting. Coming out of that meeting, we had a gross misrepresentation of what happened in the meeting. Its not the first time. Lets get into that. No, let me finish, george. I want to know what the gross misrepresentation was . The gross misrepresentation was that language was used in there that was not used. And also that the tone of the meeting was not contributory or constructive. In 2013, senator durbin made the same accusation against a republican leader in a meeting with president obama. And said that he chewed out the president. So disrespectful to president obama that we couldnt have the meeting. Thats what he said in 2013. Later that day, the president s own press secretary came out and said, it did not happen. This is about a gross misrepresentation. Its not the first time. These people have been trying for 35 years to solve this immigration problem without success. For one reason. That is i dont believe theyre serious about trying to solve that right now. You said the words the president used were not used. That did not happen. But its not just senator durbin who said that. Senator Lindsey Graham has put out a statement saying that he countered the president s words in the moment. He told his republican colleague from south carolina, tim scott, that the reports of that meeting were basically accurate. Those comments had been confirmed by multiple sources. Youre saying it didnt happen . Multiple sources . There were six of us in the room. I havent heard any of those six other than senator durbin talk about what was said. Senator graham told senator skro scott that the reports were basically accurate. Youll have to deal with him. Basically is an operative word. The trouble is, senator durbin brought a proposal. Lets put this in perspective. I want to get to the proposal. But youre saying flat out, definitively, the president did not say those words. Im saying that this is a gross misrepresentation. Its not the first time senator durbin has done it. Its not productive to solving the problem. So whalt what did the president say . Most people in america, george, want us to solve the daca situation. Republicans and democrats want to solve the daca situation. We want to make sure were not back here in five years doing the same thing again. We have to secure our borders, george. This is a serious issue. Not just an immigration issue. A National Security issue. The president wants a wall. Were not talking about 2,000 miles. Were talking about 600 miles or so. Not talking about anything unreasonable. Or that democrats have not voted for in the past. The third thing we have to end chain migration. And this is where 72 of our population agrees. We need to limit to it the worker. The spouse, the immediate family. 72 george. Almost 60 believe we should move to a meritbased immigration system similar to what the commission did when you were in the white house in the 90s, president clinton received a report from Barbara Jordan and a president ial commission on immigration that said they wanted to end chain migration and move more toward an immigration system based on merit, and who people were, not where they were from, which is what our system does. The supporters of this bipartisan deal say they limit chain migration and there is some border wall funding in there, as well. About 1. 6 billion. Just to be clear. Im not clear on what you say happened in the meeting. You say its a gross misrepresentation. Senator durbin has been very clear. Senator graham has told others that the reports are basically factual. Are you telling me the president didnt use the term reported . Im saying he didnt. Its a gross misrepresentation. How many times do you want me to say that . This is similar to what happened in 2013. We had a press secretary of your president in a different meeting that said that didnt happen. We were listening to a proposal that the democrats are bringing forth. Its not a serious proposal. With 1. 8 billion basically approved. Its in the current budget. What we want to do so get serious about a compromise. This deal has got to find symmetry. So far, the potential is there. We can solve the daca. We may be able to solve some of the d. R. E. A. M. Er numbers. That senator durbin wants to talk about. But we have to talk about ending chain migration and securing our borders, george. Its nomore complicated than that. Youre sounding more optimistic than the president. He put out a tweet saying daca is probably dead. We have to find common ground. Both parties, and americans want this, both parties want to solve the daca issue. I keep coming back to the statistics. 80 of americans want the daca situation fixed. Almost 75 want the chain immigration system fixed. Once and for all. So were not back here in five years with the same problem. Youre saying youre only going to see a deal if we have daca in the context of overall immigration reform. Youre against that more limited deal, daca for Border Security in order to keep the government open . Its not a symmetric deal. I have done big deals before. And big deals like this, they have to be symmetric. We have limited the debate from the comprehensive debate that has failed three times in the past 11 years, george. Now, were dealing with just the Legal Immigration system. 1. 1 million legal immigrants come into our country every year. Were focusing on four things. The president is consistent all along. I have been consistent. Senator cotton has been consistent. That any deal on daca has to include Border Security, including a wall, and the end to chain migration. Thats been consistent for the past year. Senator perdue, thank you for your time this morning. Thanks, george. Were joined by senator jeff flake. Of arizona. Senator flake, thank you for joining us this morning. I know you werent in the meeting on thursday. Youre behind this bipartisan deal presented by senators durbin and graham on thursday. You just heard the objections of senator perdue. Your response . Well, this is a bipartisan deal. Its not the democrats bringing this forward. There are three democrats. Three republicans. Were working now to add more republicans to that list. And we will have more this coming week. This is a bipartisan deal with both sides have compromised. Theres a change to what the d. R. E. A. M. Act was. This is different from that. And i can say, weve got to get 60 votes. Were not under rules of reconciliation where one party can impose will. This is a bipartisan solution. I believe there is a deal to be had. I know you were not in the meeting on thursday. You have spoken to those who were. You heard senator perdue say the president didnt use those words that were widely attributed to him. Do you believe that . Well, all i can say is, i was in a meeting directly afterwards where those who had presented to the president our proposal spoke about the meeting. And, they said those words were used before those words went public. So, that thats all i can tell you is i heard that account before the account went public. In the moment on that same afternoon. Thursday afternoon. The president is tweeting this morning. He put out another tweet on immigration this morning that i want to read to you. I, as president , want people coming into our country who are going to help us become strong and great again, people coming in through a system based on merit. No more lotteries. America first. Your response . Well, in this compromise, we do get rid of the visa lottery program. We allocate those visas to a couple of different programs. Like tps, temporary protected status. And the discussion of that program, as well as another, is what gave rise to the language that was used. But i think there is broad agreement to get rid of the visa lottery. Theres agreement between us, the republicans and democrats, that we do get rid of chain migration as it relates to the covered population. Those who benefit from daca will not be able to use chain migration to become citizens. We dont do it for everybody. Like the president wants to do. If we want a comprehensive bill, im all in. But we cant do a comprehensive bill that will take months and months to negotiate before the march 5th deadline. One thing i take big issue with the president on is hes saying the democrats are not moving forward in good faith. I can tell you, i have been negotiating and working with the democrats on immigration for 17 years. On this issue, on daca, or on the d. R. E. A. M. Act for a number of years, the democrats are negotiating in good faith. Were trying to come forward with a compromise. And i think we have. Youll see that this week. Are we farther away from a deal than we were on thursday morning . Im not sure. I think that when we get back into town, people will realize theres only one deal in town. Only one bipartisan bil