thank all of those who served and gave their lives. >>> angela merkel says europe can no longer rely on the u.s. her comments come hours after president trump returned to washington. >> now he is back in the white house, the president is dealing with the cloud of the russia investigation gripping his administration. the fbi's investigation now looking into the president's son-in-law jared kushner and his contacts with russia. the president is reviving attacks on the news media. you won't be surprised lashing out at all of the leakers. we begin with cnn's athena jones at the white house this morning. good morning, athena. >> reporter: good morning, david. the president is kicking off the week, a week with a lot on the agenda and facing more negative headlines. angela merkel questioning the strength of europe's alliance with the u.s. tensions from the president's first g7 summit following him home. donald trump's tepid support for nato, harsh words on trade and lack of commitment to the paris climate agreement putting him at odds with the allies. angela merkel questioning the alliance

major challenge to security in europe and to nato is coming from russia. our allies are expecting to hear that kind of commitment and an understanding of what the challenges that are they are facing. >> so, ambassador burns, you see this as a unique meeting in the history of nato, because you say for any other president, this would be a first trip to assume leadership of the west, but trump, you say, is the first u.s. president whom europeans don't see that way. explain. >> well, unfortunately, that's the case. and i agree with ambassador evo dalder. this is going to be i think the most difficult trip, visit of president trump's visit to the middle east. every president since trumon has naturally been seen as the leader of the west and leader of nato. not so donald trump, because he has been exceedingly weak on russia, he's not been critical of putin for the theft of crimea and the insurrection that russia is instigating in eastern ukraine. he hasn't in a way that ronald reagan did stood up for the western values of freedom and democracy. he doesn't talk in that fashion. i've just co

pen layered all sorts of phobia. around europe there's been a lot of congratulations. i think what's really important is that the rest of europe knows that they dodged a bullet tonight and they have come out and supported him and especially the jury mans. basically the leaders of europe have said that in order for us to support macron as he makes reforms in france to be able to fix the employment problem of so many people, then we have to help him by cutting back on this program that we've had basically since the crash, since 2008. so that is very, very significant, what the germans have said. and it could begin to change the economic equation and try to -- and make people understand that the major european leaders are understanding the hurt that many of their employees and workers have been going through over the last several years. >> now let's talk about the potentially relationship between the u.s. and france. former president barack obama did inject himself into this election and he threw his endorsement behind emanuel macron. president trump at one point leaned toward la

europe and coming home he's having to deal with concerns over his top adviser and son-in-law jared kushner. kushner is under fire for considering setting up a system for back channel communications with russia before president trump took office. the president had one public event on his schedule. he spoke at arlington national s cemetery and visited section 60, the area where service members who served in iraq and afghanistan are buried. let's bring in our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. he's over at the white house. jeff, have we heard any response first of all from the president over the concerns involving the kushner controversy? >> wolf, of course in the speech at arlinton national sem terry the president did not mention this. the only comments he has made about his son-in-law and senior adviser were in a brief statement to "the new york times" this morning. he did say that he stands behind his son-in-law, that he is doing a good job and he's a good person. wolf, just the fact that the president issued a statement in support of his son-in-law and senior adviser sh

you ask. angela merkel said europe must take our fate into our own hands. >> the president back into the value office after his european trip escalating the rhetoric with a tweet. he wrote we have a massive trade deficit with germany, plus they pay far less than they should on nato and military. very bad for u.s., this will change. >> adding a third view, spicer then down played any clash between these two leaders. >> i think the relationship that the president has had with merkel he would describe as fairly unbelievable. they get along very well. he has a lot of respect for her. they continue to grow the bond that they had during the talks at the g7. >> unbelievable. the latest now on how this is going on with european allies. i want to bring in fred pleitgen. that could be read a lot of different ways. that could be positive or a very big negative. >> i think that's the way the germans see pinpoint they would say very unbelievable but in a different sense of the word. if we go back to that op-ed by h.r. mcmaster he said american first signals american leadership. since preside

election, because it is not just important for france, but for europe and for everyone. this after the nationalist populace wave that started with brexit traveled across the atlantic to you with donald trump's victory has now halted for the moment this populace nationalist wave here in europe. and this make no mistakes about it was not just about two outsiders. this was about two dramatic opposing world views. macron, 39-year-old who left the socialist party started his own movement forward just one year ago has managed to get to this .65.9% according to the predictions right now to win an election that he wasn't even meant to be a proper candidate perhaps. not even into the second round. marine la pen whose entire political heritage is based on the extreme right wing movement of her father, antisemitic, inward looking, nationalist, has lost this election. and so everybody around this country for sure, around europe and around the rest of the democratic world, is breathing a sigh of relief. because marine la pen said that she would conduct radical policies, pull france out of the euro,

meeting with president trump europe can't rely on the u.s. anymore. we'll discuss that. >>> and two heroes sacrificing their lives to defend two total strangers on a train during a racist attack. one of those strangers, a teenage girl, is speaking out about what haunts her. you're watching cnn on this memorial day monday. we'll be right back. for tech advice. with one phone call, i get products that suit my needs and i get back to business. ♪ ♪ there's nothing more than my vacation.me so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. booking.com gets it. they offer free cancellation if my plans change. visit booking.com. booking.yeah. beneful grain free is so healthy... oh! farm-raised chicken! that's good chicken. hm!? here come the accents. blueberries and pumpkin. wow. and spinach! that was my favorite bite so far. (avo) new beneful grain free. out with the grain, in with the farm-raised chicken. healthful. flavorful. beneful. mr. brady, we've been expecting you. will you be needing anything else? not a thing. beautyrest black. get yo

suggesting europe can't trust the united states the way it used to. >> and the white house taking new steps to try to minimize the fallout over-russia after reports the president trump's son-in-law tried to set up a back channel to speak with the kremlin. good morning and welcome to "early start." i'm allisonison kosik. >> and i'm dave briggs. it's memial day. and irtst's 5 #:00 in the east. and implied no confidence sfroet angela merkel. she says europe can't completely defend on on the united states and other long time allies. merkel did not mention president trump by name, but it was clear who she was thinking of when she mentioned recent international summits she attended with the president. >> translator: the times when we could completely count on others, they are over to a certain extent. i've experienced this in the last new days and that is why i can only say that we europeans must take our fate into our own hands. of course in friendship with the united states and friendship with great britain and as good neighbors wherever that is possible also with other countries, even with rus

72nd anniversary of the victory over europe celebration, end of world war ii, essentially. president macron will be in his first official engagement, taking part alongside francois hollande and then macron will resign from the leadership of the movement he created a year ago to begin this most unusual political adventure. really, christine it can't be said enough, no one believed he could do it when he set out to create this party, when he announced his candidateure. what happened in france marks a redrawing of the political map. he saw off the far right with 60% of the vote, and along the way, he saw off both the mainstream left and the mainstream right in this country that have shared power since 1958. france is really waking up to a new political reality this morning. >> it is fascinating to watch the euro at a six-month high, european markets all higher. they like, at least now today, what they think he will stand for. thank you so much, melissa bell. so many people have said there was an economic nationalism sweeping through some of these elections and would the trump effect tak

the kremlin. >>> and german chancellor angela merkel not backing away from her suggestion europe must go it alone. what does it mean for the u.s. relationship with germany and the european union? good morning and welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. welcome back, my friend. >> thank you! nice three-day weekend and i'm back, rearing to go. >> are you fired up like the president? back and ready to take on a full agenda? >> i will not be having a press briefing, but other than that. >> we look forward to spicy being back. it is tuesday, may 30th, 4:00 a.m. in the east. president trump back in the oval office and trying to return to the country's business after a long holiday weekend and an even longer overseas trip. some key issues on his very full agenda -- whether to pull out of the paris climate accords and the search for a new fbi director. the president also weighing a strategy going forward for afghanistan that could include more troops, a decision all the more significant after president trump's first visit to arlington national cemetery as comm

. angela merkel questioning the strength of europe's alliance with the u.s. tension from the first g7 summit following him home. trump's tepid support for nato, harsh words on trade and lack of commitment to the paris climate agreement put him at odds with the eu allies. angela merkel questioning his alliance with europe. the times we can rely on others is over. europeans must take our fate in our hands. president trump grading the trip a great success. he will decide on the paris agreement this week. trump targeting leakers in his white house. the latest bombshell leaks with trump's most trusted adviser. son-in-law jared kushner. during a december meeting, kushner asking sergei kislyak for help setting up a back channel for secret communications with syria and other matters with russia and the trump team. a back channel to bypass u.s. sa surveillance. >> this is off the map, michael. i know of no other experience in our history. >> my dashboard warning light was clearly on. i think that was the case with all of the intelligence community. very concerned about the nature of these appr

-called fifth republic started under dugalle. but it is the most important to europe as well and so much of the western democratic world, because two very different views of the world were dramatically opposed to each other in this election. his, macron, the winner, who outward looking, pro-european, pro-french, obviously, would not allow his opponent to seize the "patriot" part. her, ma lerine le pen, looking inward, extremist party, wanting to close borders to trade, wanting to suspend all immigration. his vision won. and one of the best signs that we've seen here tonight was people holding up signs that said, "hope beats hate." and that's basically the way it's been portrayed here today. we've already had reaction from the rest of europe. we've had emanuel macron spoke to chancellor merkel as his first call with a foreign leader. france and germany are the anchors around the european union. so this is huge. but it's big, also, because it will stop this nationalism that started with brexit, that went over to the united states. and now in a big way he's given a big fat obstacle here. wh

people in europe are taking very seriously and i was going through the german press earlier today, and they are taking those very seriously, as well. and wondering what the long term consequences of her remarks but also the president-elect trump presidency for germt it a anger europe are going to be. >> so how is she perceived with this new u.s. president?erm ger europe are going to be. >> so how is she perceived with this new u.s. president?rm germ europe are going to be. >> so how is she perceived with this new u.s. president?m germa europe are going to be. >> so how is she perceived with this new u.s. president? german europe are going to be. >> so how is she perceived with this new u.s. president?germany europe are going to be. >> so how is she perceived with this new u.s. president? is she credited for being strong enough or criticized for the opposite? >> reporter: i think that it will be a lot different than it was before. angela merkel was always one who had very, very good relations with the obama administration. i think we saw that also as president trump was on his trip

ringing across europe, really, because of the idea that le pen had come into power, it could be the beginning of the end of it eu. it's a political project. that did not come to pass. i think that it's a reaction. we saw -- people that had that experience. that was what it came down to. if he won. it was going to be hard to hold the eu together in any shape that we recognized and, of course, knows -- everyone who considered themselves part of the political center want to be on the coat tails. then there's the genuine political sense that there's new hope and revig ration, so everybody was reaching for words like reinvig ration, moving forward together. and emanuel macron he's got his victory now and zero seats in the parliament as you were saying a few minutes ago. it's the easy part that's done. he's got a lot of work to do. . >> is it going to be business as usual. >> it opens up, what he's done is teach them that you can embrace the eu and it's not the death. i think that the media sometimes and i know that my friends and my colleagues in brussels can be as guilty as well. and on

there's a hurdle of, however, when it comes to sharing across europe when it comes to sharing between the different intelligence services in the european union, information coming, say, from the french, british, from the ger mmans to e french. i heard frustration that that information is just not coming in sufficient quantity and sufficiently quickly given the gravity of the threat facing europe over the last few years. not enough yet has been done to improve that intelligence sharing, anderson. one thing the united kingdom has got going for it compared to the continental europe right now is it's much more difficult for these extremists to purchase on the black market or any other way ak-47s, kalashnikovs, in the uk. much harder to get guns on the streets of manchester, on the streets of london than on the streets of amsterdam, brussels, on the streets of paris. of course, in paris on that night back in november 2015, anderson, that was a coordinated gun and bomb attack on a stadium, on the concert hall and on the cafes. we have only in manchester at this time seen what appear

clapper. >> meanwhile german chancelloran angela merkel is doubling down insisting europe can no longer count on the u.s. how badly is the relationship fractured? we'll discuss that . ♪ ♪ nothing performs like a tempur-pedic. and now is the best time to buy one. now through june 11th, save $600 when you buy select tempur-pedic mattress sets. find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic.com. a lower a1c is a lot witabout choices.tes but it can be hard sometimes, 'cause different sides of you struggle with which ones to make. well, what if you kept making good ones? then? you could love your numbers. discover once-daily invokana®, a pill used along with diet and exercise to significantly lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. it's proven to lower a1c better than januvia®. invokana® works around the clock by sending some sugar out of your body through the process of urination. it's not for lowering systolic blood pressure or weight loss, but it may help with both. invokana® may cause dehydration, which could make you feel dizzy or weak when you stand up, so be sure to dri

, the others that twoish proceed in this political direction believe they were going to sweep europe and they expected to do the same in germany in the fall. it does not look like angela merkel is at risk in germany and certainly now has been shown that populism, nationalism and this sort of fear mongering campaign, this sort of inward looking and anti-eu, anti-europe, anti-nato, anti-free trade has won. it hasn't. ut la it lost here in france. the french are saying, look, we stopped this rather dangerous movement base ond hate and fear. and it's incredibly important to realize what we're saying. because france, more than any other country in the last couple of years has suffered most terrifying terrorism with dozens and dozens of people killed. in niese in, paris, before that, in paris at charlie hebdo. despite that, the french came out and rejected the politics of division and hatred and they voted for somebody who pledged to keep a strong europe, to keep a strong outward looking france, to reform france to actually get the economy and the unemployment issues resolves and the deep stru

fast and forget walking back. angela merkel digging in after signaling europe's ties with united states getting worse. >> the president looking to rework his message. here comes the messenger, folks. you will hear from sean spicer live today. does your makeup remover every kiss-proof,ff? cry-proof, stay-proof look? neutrogena® makeup remover does. it erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. need any more proof than that? neutrogena. it's about moving forward, not back.t. it's looking up, not down. it's being in motion. in body, in spirit, in the now. boost® high protein it's intelligent nutrition with 15 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for when you need a little extra. boost® the number one high protein complete nutritional drink. be up for it enamel is the strong, wof your tooth surface. the thing that's really important to dentists is to make sure that that enamel stays strong and resilient for a lifetime. the more that we can strengthen and re-harden that tooth surface, the whiter their patients' teeth are going to be. dentists are going to

mean this is massive given the way the rest of europe is piling on the european union. and he end ed wied with the nat anthem of france. and it was so dramatic. everyone here waving french flags and european union flags and basically voting for hopefully, they hope, reform, as he promised. he kept saying, our task is enormous and he kept listing off the enormous challenges to bring reform in france, to reach those people who have been hurting so badly that they could even have considered giving even more than 30% to the far right extremist leader, marine le pen. he thanked his own supporters and voters. then he said he respected those who voted for marine le pen, and that he hoped that his term of five years would mean that they would never have to vote for the extremes again here in france. he promised to fight terrorism. he promised to guard the climate. and he promised to work for the benefit of all french people, all european people. and he said the whole world has been looking at us, and this is what we have to offer tonight. ana? >> so true, the world is watching the result

allegations of wrongdoing yet on the part of jared kushner. the president in europe right now. yesterday he spoke before nato. before the nato aleens there was no defense or reaffirmation of article five. this follows a trip to saudi arabia where he said we're not here to lecture you. he went before nato, some of america's greatest allies, and did lecture them. >> rich irony. he was in saudi arabia. i thought it was a pretty successful visit. but the country has been at least accused of massive human rights violations. certainly the extreme form of islam was born there and arguably they continue to export it by funding terror activities outside of saudi arabia. not so productively, i would say. then he comes to europe, his allies and didn't say anything about article five at a time when these isis fighters are squeezing out of the middle east, coming to europe and attacking soft targets in europe, don't we want europe to have our back? and let's talk about intelligence cooperation, too. because although manchester has now revived the cooperation between our police department, i was last nig

rates all around europe. and there's a homegrown radicalization problem who's feeding this, radicals who are staying behind and being encouraged by groups like isis to take action and being given instructions over the internet and over secure and encrypted channels. >> if memory serves me correct, manchester, we have seen arrests in manchester in recent years, have we not? >> that's right, we have seen quite a few arrests in manchester in the years since 9/11, there has been sort of local islamist scene there, the problem of extremism in manchester and the surrounding areas, back in 2009, there was a major al qaeda plot targeting a shopping center in the city, which has really full at the last minute by british authorities east ee eeaster. we have seen people move from that area to syria and iraq, people move from syria and iraq back to those parts of the uk, that's part of the mix they're facing right now, a very elevated terror legvel, and there's a general election coming up here in a couple of weeks. isis has not got on a big attack through in the uk, there was another tack that seem

happen in europe. and netherlands and france and ultimately in germany. it looks right now, trump may have been the high watermark of the populist movement. it came to a crashing halt in france. it suggests president trump will have a harder time dealing with european allies where he hoped he would get much more sympathetic grouping. >> panel, stick around. we have more stories and questions for you. former president obama breaking his silence. urging the lawmakers to have the courage to deal with the health care. cnn's brianna keilar is live in washington with more. >> reporter: good morning, alisyn. it is note that president obama did not mention the health care repeal and replace vote that we saw on thursday. it was obvious what he was talking about. the first time we heard from him publicly since the vote took place. somewhat unusual he takes a position on policy. he was getting the award. the profile in courage award from the jfk library foundation in part because of the efforts on health care and climate and cuba. he acknowledged in 2009 and 2010 and paid for their jobs with it.

the combination of political forces inside europe, especially in france. it's not a secret that many forces, but forces, extreme right forces, mainly, backed by russia. i mean, they like russia consider that russia is not a threat, it's an ally. yes, we have seen, especially yesterday, right before the end of the official, we have seen the results of the alliance hacking and massive dissemination and that we can track. and we know where it comes from. >> we do need to be clear at this stage. no confirmation that it is russia that is behind the hacking and even in other european cases, no confirmation, just a suspicion is what you're telling us. >> the presidential campaign does an investigation in the way and, i witnessed that many russians have been expelled from the usa at that time. wat we can already see is that the dissemination. not the hacking itself, but the disseminations of the fake news and combination of fake news comes from supporters of what the sphere on the internet. that is quite visible already. >> the official campaign in france is actually over. but do you think t

east, in europe. two of the most important geo-strategic regions to the united states. second, we've seen the administration is able to stay on-message. the trip was orchestrated and carried out very well. even some critics early on -- even supporters of the administration, including myself early on, did criticize the administration for message discipline, having a hard time sticking to a core strategy. and here, we've seen the administration has stuck to its message on this trip. you may not like the message. but they've stuck to it. and third and finally, we've seen improvement over the previous administration in some areas. including most notably, in the middle east, where trump was welcomed by israel, by saudi arabia. you know, the obama administration left a lot of am biguity in the region. they stand with israel and with partners in the gulf, and against our enemies like iran and radical groups in the region. >> i was struck by the fact that, at one level, the optics were, the president of the united states was palling around and supporting a bunch of arab autocr autocra

including with german chancellor angela merkel who says europe can no longer, quote, completely rely on other countries. pretty clear she was pointing to the united states. and the president lands in a deepening crisis at home. multiple reports that his son-in-law and one of the top advisers jared kushner tried to set up a secret back channel communique with the kremlin. athena jones is at the white house and has more. finally last night we did hear from the president on this statement to "the new york times" but the line out of the administration across the board just seems to be, this is not a big deal. >> hi, poppy. that's right. the president came to jared kushner's defense last night in that statement to "the new york times" i'll repeat part of it. he said jared is doing a great job for the country. i have total confidence in him. that statement went on to say that jared kushner is respected by virtually everyone, is a good person. but this latest news, despite what the white house is saying, despite folks like homeland security secretary john kelly saying this is not a big deal to

, maybe a little arrogance and hubris. >> we at the same time had the president with -- in europe his first foreign trip and goes to nato and ears perking up from european leaders and what is he going to say about nato? we're hearing disappointment. you're a former intelligence office and look at jared kushner's behavior here plus other things we've heard about trump campaign contacts with the russians. you've pieced together incomplete information many times in your life. what is your best read? do you think it was intentional, like intentional collusion or something more innocent? >> i'm not prepared to say it was intentional collusion. i've not seen any evidence of that. people's whose judgment i trust, james clapper, john brennan, said by the time they left there was no evidence of clowe lose, but naivety, disrespect for established process eds, actually lead you into a position where you could be exploited by an adversary, and we might find that to be true. >> the thing is clapper and others have said when they left no evidence, but now you hear and the once fbi director as recen

forward a vision for the important role that france plays in europe and around the world. and he is committed to a better future for the french people. >> now on the eve of the election in an eerily similar situation, the u.s. candidate macron campaign's was hacked. thousands of e-mails dumped. voting ends today at 2:00 p.m. >> we are covering all angles of the election there in france so with our reporters and panelists across the globe, lets start with cnn international anchor hala in paris. >> we have a very significant number that was published an hour ago. >> reporter: in france you have reporting restrictions that you can't talk about candidate platforms or polls either. what you can report, a benchmark many people use to try to figure on out which candidate is favored by this number and that is voter turnout. so at noon local time, 28.23% of voters in this country turned out to vote. that is lower than five years ago. a low voter turnout number tends to favor the more extremist candidate. in this case, it would be the far right candidate marine le pen. let's talk about what w

. in just nine days, the president traveled across europe and the middle east and interacted with nearly 100 foreign leaders. it was an unprecedented first trip abroad. just four months into this administration and it shows how quickly and desize scisively th president is forming new partnerships and rebuilding america's standing in the world. we've never seen before at this point in a presidency such sweeping reassurance of american interests and the inauguration of a foreign policy strategy to bring the world back from growing disasters and under years of failed leadership. the president's trip began in saudi arabia in the nation that is the custodian to the two holiest sites in the islamic faith. the president was greeted by the king of saudi arabia and received with incredible graciousness by the kingdom and its leaders throughout his stay. the president's address to the leader of more than 50 arab and muslim nations was an historic turning point. he did exactly as he promised in his inaugural address, united the civilized world and fight against terrorism and extremism. the p

negative word about president putin but is lashing out at our closest allies in europe at the g7 and afterwards? >> cnn's reporting that sources say that intercepted conversations during the campaign show russians discussing having potentially derogatory information about then candidate trump and aides of his, perhaps derogatory information that's financial in nature. it's not clear whether the information was real or they were boasting or whether it was disinformation, but on these intercepts the russian officials believed they could use the information to influence president trump and then citizen trump. do you know anything about this story? >> well, all i know is that the putin playbook has been around for a long time, and -- and it's all about getting kompramat, getting stuff on individuals to be able to use something against them, and it wouldn't surprise me if they had derogatory information on the president. they were certainly trying to go drum up derogatory information on hillary clinton and certainly through the dnc did a major dump of e-mails and texts about her campaign

angela merkel says europe must be prepared to take its fate into its own hands. >> here in europe there are a lot of folks looking to hear things from him. >> reporter: trump again targeting journalists acuesing the fake news media of fabricating lies. >> if you tweet every day and complain about the media you're not going oget your deals down. >> jared kushner sought to develop a line of communications with the russians that could not be monitored. >> it's a good thing. >> there ought to be a review of his security clearance. >> i don't trust this story as far as i can throw it. >> what manner of ignorance, chaos would you have to have think of doing this with the russian ambassador was a good idea? >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> chris cuomo is off and david gregcy joins me this morning. in just hours president trump will lay a wreath at national arlington cemetery to honor our nation's fallen heroes. looks as though the weather is cooperating at this moment for these event. >> one of his first acts i think as president during his inaugural weekend was to

across europe. i think when you've had a spate of vehicles being used as weapons in europe in recent months after taking the lead from the niece truck attacker back in 2016. but ultimately the problem is there are venues like the one in manchester in cities all over the u.k., in leads, nottingham, lots of them in london. and this is the situation across europe. so really there's no way you can have any kind of police capacity to be able to safeguard all of these venue. ultimately this comes down to having the best intelligence possible. and europe has different quality levels of intelligence service. the british are actually about the highest level you can get in europe, but it wasn't enough. >> yeah, mi-5 when they track the people on their list, critics have said the french authorities should take a page out of mi-5 book for how they track there -- >> it's 3:51 eastern time. in nine minutes theresa may expected to hold a cobra meeting. we had expected to have already heard from president donald trump along with the palestinian president. that was slated for around 3:40 eastern time

hammered her view europe must take our fate in our own hands. >> the president back in the oval office after his european trip escalating the rhetoric with a tweet. he wrote we have a massive trade deficit with germany. they pay far less than nato. very bad fours. this will change. >> press secretary spicer then down played any clash between leaders. >> i think the relationship that the president has had with merkel he would describe as fairly unbelievable. they get along very well. he has a lot of respect for her. they continue to grow the bond that they had during the talks at the g7. >>> so for the latest on how this is going on with european allies, let's bring in fred pleitgen live for us in thrown. there's a lot to unpack in this "wall street journal" op-ed and i know americans and world leaders will all start to decide what it means to them but one part i want to ask you about, it says while confirming america's commitment to nato and article 5 and goes on. do world leaders see what president trump see as reconfirming their commitment they have nato allies back? >> yeah. i'm not

trade practices, its foreign minister didn't hold back, saying flat out that trump's policies put europe at risk, calling it short-sighted, a new american isolationism. >> this is a crisis of sorts in the trans-atlantic relationship. these are our best friends in the world. there's a major difference of opinion on trade. there's a major difference of opinion on how to handle russia. we've never had an american president who was so weak, frankly, and dismissive of the big institutions that have binded us to europe over the last 70 years, nato or the eu. >> reporter: it was the new french president emmanuel macron who called on putin to his face for spreading fake news, trying to influence his election. in asia, with the u.s. scrapping the huge trading block that would have been the trans-pacific partnership as well as slashing the state department budget and foreign aid, china has been work on big deals and is trying to expand its soft power and influence around the world. russia is also looking for inroads. if the u.s. does step away from its push against climate change, that again leave

. what i can say is that from here and europe and most people in the u.s. i think did actually see trump's tweet as a threat to former director james comey. as if he wanted to warn him now that you're out, please don't say anything. don't talk to the media and watch out. we have to see what happens going forward. >> you play out that sean spicer says it is a fact on twitter. looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, i think we call it a threat. we are calling it a veiled threat on cnn to the least. mr. trump hints there might be recording device present during conversations with comey. the president nor his press secretary would confirm or deny whether recording devices are there. what are the implications if they are there? >> i mean, the fact they wouldn't confirm or deny is already quite telling in itself, we know about trump and spicer have always very forcibly rebuked any statement they thought was inaccurate. the fact that they're vague hints at the fact there might have been some recordings. at the same time in the states it varies state to state whether it is legal to report c

essentially alone in europe. we cannot count on others the way we did in the past. >> she's holding a rally and she says we truly have to take our fate into our own hands. we have to fight for our own destiny. she said the times in which we completely depend on others are on the way out. i've experienced that in the last few days. >> yes. >> a very profound statement. what is to be interpreted of that? is that, you know, germany, europe, we're going it alone, we can't count on the u.s.? >> well, i think that is a profound statement. it's a remarkable statement and goes along with the remarkable communique that came out of the g-7 yesterday in which they said essentially all of us are together in affirming the climate agreement and emissions and combatting climate change except for the u.s. and i think there was a very stark kind of plurality in this trip where the president felt more comfortable when he was in saudi arabia than he did certainly in the last 48 hours with european alleys where gaffes that we haven't seen before occurred in terms of the distance between the u.s. and traditiona

international correspondent jim bittermann. jim, is this a sign europe is starting to push back on populism? >> reporter: i think so. i think you could say that, anna. at least the kind of things that we have written about and talked about over the last few months, about the rise of populism may not prove out to be as stru as we thought because now we've had the second election here. we had the netherlands where a populist candidate did not do so well, and we have the election here of emmanuel macron tonight who defeated le pen, who was widely regarded as a populist candidate. it shows some push back on that. the whole idea of sweeping populism in different parts of the world may not hold true as a lot of pundits have thought. ana. >> now, this new president, as another new president to form a relationship with in washington, the french/american relationship is a strong one. where do mr. macron and president trump have some common ground? >> reporter: well, they've got common ground, they have contrasts as well. i mean you've got in president trump the oldest president that the uni

doing a lot of things she wanted to do, both in europe, in the middle east. she feels like she doesn't know what she's dealing with president trump and he's certainly not a partner like obama was. can you say it led to the comments yesterday? it's difficult to say. it's srp th it's certain they are approaching from opposite ends of the table. >> it's interesting to watch the trip play out. it started in the middle east. visits to saudi arabia and isreal. two places where the leaders were very happy to see him because he wasn't barack obama and then he ends up in europe where a lot of people are weary about him because he isn't barack obama. >> and if you look at the incoming from diplomats, i wish i could be on this trip, but the incoming from the germans and brits and others in europes they don't think trump understands and appreciates the nato alliance. they get his point about puburd sharing. you could see a lot of the leaders when he talks about saudi arabia and saudi arabia is going to help us, the great leader of saudi arabia is going to help us crack down on terrorism. some of t

think some of the things that angela merkel heard on president trump's trip to europe last week, specifically in brussels, but also at that nato trip in italy, really made her feel as though america might not be fully reliable or at least the sense the germans be fully reliable as a partner to the ju germans. i think several things stood out. one was when president trump was highly critical of other nato nations saying they needed to pay up more. also not being leer that america fully stands behind other nato countries. and then he appeared to attack the germans also in a newspaper article where he gave an interview where he apparently criticized the germans for importing too many -- exporting too many cars to america saying that the germans were very bad. so those are two things that certainly didn't sit very well. and it really shows that the germans, i think they want to increase their ties with countries like france in europe, f but it really seems as though theo is alienated by president trump. >> i want to bring in our panel. cnn contributor ben ferguson, bill press, and k

europe that we stand with, we can work out the financial situation with nato and, of course, they should contribute more. since 1949, it's been an alliances that provided for the security of the international community, including the security interests of the united states. president trump continues to disrespect that. he did it on the campaign trail. he's continuing to do it as president. >> gentlemen, appreciate both of you. congressman jolly, andre bauer, thank you. we've got to keep going. >>> all right. top of the hour here on cnn, we begin with breaking news, the white house responds to exclusive cnn reporting on this investigation into russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. two former intelligence sources telling cnn that russian government officials discussed having potentially derogatory information about then presidential candidate donald trump and two of his top aides. this, as one of president trump's personal attorneys, michael cohen, declines an invitation to provide information and testimony to both the house and senate intelligence committees who are con

east and europe, the first of his presidency. now, he is still in saudi arabia. he has already met with several middle eastern leaders. they include egypt's president seen with mr. trump here. >> now, later the president is set to have one of the key moments of his visit. that's when he will give a speech on combating radical extremism. >>> also interesting, given the president's heavy use of twitter. president trump will be taking part in a twitter forum with saudi youth. >>> our international diplomatic correspondent nec robertson joins us live. i can't resist, george brought it up. we're going with it a. twitter forum. please explain. then we'll move on. >> reporter: some may say made to measure for president trump, given his proclivity for using twitter. the idea here is that trump comes here within he's had his bilateral meeting with the bahraini king and he said he's going to go visit soon in egypt. his meeting in speaking to all these lieaders. the idea is this tweets he is attending, 20 minutes, young people will be asking questions on twitter is to reach the arab populatio

nine-day visit to europe and the middle east. this is is how he summed up the trip. take a listen. >> that's what we're going to have. a lot of strength. we're going to have a lot of peace. >> so, you've been highly critical of the president's plan to cut funding for the state department. what do you make of president's argument that beefing up the military should be the priority? >> well, it should be. i support the arm sells to saudi arabia. we need to beef up our ally's ability to help news the war orrer. i thought it was a good trip. good message to saudi arabia. nato need to pay more, but is probably the wrong venue at the 9/11 memorial, but soft power was your question. 29% reduction state department funding. that takes soft power off the table. all the things we've done in aftrica to eradicate aid ss compromiseded, our ability to help partners like jordan, front line states like the ukraine and the baltic nations have really been severely limited. so, destroying soft power does not make us safer. that's what his budget does. >> senator, let's turn to the bombshell report fr

successful they were in driving wedges when the president was in europe last week and a lot of our allies now expressing some concerns. but they also like to do that in washington, and it's almost like every one of these leaks that comes out, the white house reacts predictably, and it's sort of a win for the russians. so, you would think that even in their own interests, the administration would change tactic and say something along the lines of jared kushner's going to testify tomorrow and he's going to explain all of this, or you know, these are very serious allegations and we hope the investigation gets to the bottom of this sooner rather than later, we stand by to help on that. but they're taking a different tact, which for the russians is a good thing. >> you could say look, there are no financial irregularities here, but boy, we hope the russians weren't spying. it'd be really, really bad if they were saying these things and passing that information. susan, there is another strain of reporting which has to do with jared kushner and meetings he had during the transition, once with th

calling those behind this attack evil losers before landing in europe to meet with the pope. plus, enough to make the former cia director worried. john brennan testifies about the trump campaign's contact with the russians, but does he see any concrete evidence of collusion? good afternoon, everyone. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we begin with the world lead. at least 22 innocent people including children as young as 8 have been killed in the deadliest terror attack in britain since the 2005 london bombings. nearly 60 more people have been injured. the attack happened in manchester which is about a four-hour drive north of london as an ariana grande concert was ending at the manchester arena. panic and chaos ensued after the blast which was near the box office part of the arena complex. >> oh, my god. what's going on? >> what just happened? >> [ bleep ]. >> what's going on? oh, my god! >> police say that they believe as of now a lone suicide bomber, 22-year-old salman abedi, carried out the attack. authorities are now trying to determine if abedi was part of a larger net

is considering expanding the laptop ban, expanding it to flights coming from europe. this move is already being blasted by the airline and tourism industry. this would, again, expand a ban that right now covers ten airports in the middle east and africa. cnn aviation correspondent rene marsh has new details on this. rene, what's going on here? >> well, john, all indications are that this is going to happen and it's going to happen soon. it will undoubtedly mean inconvenience for passengers going from europe to the united states. it will also mean long lines at those international airports. right now, as you mentioned, the ban is in place for flights from ten airports in muslim-majority countries. now the new focus is europe. and while a decision has not been announced yet, we are told that deliberations are still ongoing about whether to institute the ban at select airports in europe or across the board. now, a ban across europe for all u.s.-bound flights could impact more than 350 flights a day. the europe-to-u.s. track is the world's busiest international traffic corridor. delta

die to liberate europe from the evils of nazism. you know that. america military power helping to free the world of oppression. today americans of you are battling the force of the middle east. american military history is rich with noble traditions, missions and self less heroes like your parents. but, at its core, the moral of the story is always the same, it is the story of good over coming evil. you will pour out your hearts and souls and your blood for this nation. we'll pull out our gratitude to you in return. we'll show our gratitude especially this monday on memorial day when we thank god for our heroes who have laid down their lives for our freedom. [ applause ] right? among those heroes was a young navy sailor from omaha, his name was john joseph parlon. he enlisted after the attack at pearl harbor. he soon ended up not far from here, in the waters of the m mediterranean. on the night of july 9th, paul was among the tens thousands of our forces, right here about 70 miles away to be exact. it was to be a major ally offense on european soils and it was important. on a ship

with president trump german chancellor angela merkel says europe can no longer completely rely on others and germany's foreign minister says president trump's actions have put europe's peace at risk. is a crucial alliance on rocks? >>> democratic terrorism? domestic terrorism. the fbi is investigating a violent attack on a commuter train after two men are killed trying to stop a man yelling anti-muslim slurs at two young women. the president tweets that the victim stood up to hate and intolerance. was this a hate crime and domestic terrorism, and catastrophic war. north korea launches its third missile in three weeks as defense secretary james mattis warns a won flikt with north korea could be catastrophic. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." president trump honors america's fallen laying a wreath at the tomb of unknowns and visiting the graves of service members killed in iraq and afghanistan, but as the commander in chief considers boosting america's battle against terrorism, the white house is now on the defensive amid growing questions about contacts with russia

the whole argument over europe's refugee crisis. cologne of all places is now the example for both sides of an increasingly bitter argument over whether europe, and by extension the world, should turn their backs on the millions of refugees spilling out of syria, iraq, and a middle east spinning into chaos and slaughter. with the bodies of children washing up on greek beaches and few other countries willing to help, germany has taken in 1.1 million people fleeing isis, russian and syrian bombs, and war. one should, i believe, be admired and even celebrated for doing the morally right thing over the probably wise thing. sakher al mohamad is one of many who found his way to cologne. hani zaitoun helps refugees as they try to integrate into german society. this is unsurprisingly easier said than done. getting to turkey, no problem. >> sakher: yes. >> anthony: turkey to greece, problem. >> hani: getting to turkey is now a problem. >> anthony: right. >> hani: but at that time it was not a problem. >> anthony: next, went from greece to macedonia? >> sakher: yes. >> anthony: correct? welc