a roomful of veterans. >> kelly o'donnell, ahead of the president's speech, thank you. we can tell you that the president on the economy once again talking about the fed chair, jerome powell, saying, quote, he raised rates too fast, toofute furious. "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," on ice. president trump canceled an upcoming visit to denmark, announcing on twitter because the danish prime minister refused to set him greenland, a sovereign territory. what's the fallout from denmark? a nato ally whose troops have died alongside americans. donald trump insulting american junes ews say when thee for democrats they show great disloyalty.

indefinite detention. the trump administration announces new rules to reverse court rulings limiting the amount of time migrant families can be held at the border. and we have breaking news. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. the president is leaving the white house for a speech to the veterans of foreign wars. he's been taking questions for about 20 minutes now about a firestorm of criticism on a lot of issues, including his decision to cancel that trip to denmark over greenland. the future of gun reform legislation and nerveness over the economy. joining me now as we await the tape to be played back from the south lawn, usa today washington bureau chief susan page, michael crowley, who covers foreign policy andu eugene robinson. the president out there on the south lawn and talking. we'll matter mohear more about

has to say. he's apparently taken a shot at the prime minister of denmark. this was an invitation by danish royalty to come for an official visit which was supposed to be after the g7. it was not a hot burner issue. >> let's pause to reflect on how much the president has been talking lately. the sheer volume of his talking is amazing. he's got so much on his mind. it's gushing out in all directions. interesting. on the specific point about this trip, a stunning move, even for this president. you know, it does make you wonder something doesn't add up. so either this trip was about his intention to try to buy greenland, which was more serious than he has led on. because in the days leading up to this, he was saying, no, that's not why i'm going. this isn't one of the front burner issues. i would point out that former president barack obama is scheduled to be visiting denmark

later in september, three weeks after president trump was going to be there. we know he's very interested in comparisons between receptions he gets and receptions president obama gets. >> how about crowd size? >> crowd size among other things. i think it's undoubted that president obama's more popular in that country than president trump. you have to wonder if that might have been a factor. >> you know, it seems funny, right. it seemed funny we were going to buy greenland. what are the consequences are allies when they see behavior like this? treatment like this? really, i think the leaders see this as insulting. what are the repercussions with our allies when the president of the united states does something like this. >> it's crazy. we're talking about buying greenland. are we having a -- >> do you remember seward's folly? it was considered when harry truman was president 1946, but

it was also considered in 1867 by seward who had just bought alas alaska. that's the context here, but i have spoken to nato ministers after he blows up in brussels and interrupts people and is rude to angela merkel. i've spoken to nato defense ministers, foreign ministers. already the view abroad is that this is a total aberration. they're not rejecting america and anti-american as they were doing disputes over iraq and previously over vietnam. but it's a real visceral dislike for him in most of these capitals. that's why he's going to poland where he has friends and hungary. he's found his soul mates and his people, his ambassador to germany has been talking about moving u.s. troops out of germany. the most important economic and

military partner in all of on your -- europe and nato and moving them to poland. that's on the map. >> speaking of where he's liked, he's also once again agitating to get russia back into the g-7. >> that is another whole issue. i wanted to play a little bit of the danish prime minister today. she spoke in danish, but also a little bit in english about the regrets. >> is it with regret and surprise that i received the news that president trump has canceled his state visit. a discussion has been raised about the potential sale of greenland. this has clearly been rejected by the position that i share of course. this does not change the character of our good relations. >> now, there's also a lot of

controversial comments. heidi, join us here on this. the president apparently did double down on controversial statements that he made yesterday in the oval office about american jews and whether they would be disloyal if they voted democratic. he's doubling down on his criticism on the so-called squad, including two muslim members of congress and his antipathy to their positions on israel. disloyal to people. >> like michael said, he's talk talk talking at this point. and i'm seeing two themes here when it comes to the foreign policy angle. two days into this, he's still conducting his foreign policy as if it's a real estate transaction. in this case it couldn't be clearer, it is a real estate transaction. you look into his book, the art of the deal, you don't get the deal you prepare to walk away

from the table. the former prime minister was much more blunt than the current prime minister about this. she called it some kind of joke. others are saying that they're highly insulted. so to susan's point there are great ramifications of this. it's rippling not just through our major allies in joueurope b even seemingly neutral countries we're managing to insult. as to his comments about american jews. there's a question about who he's talking about. is he saying they're disloyal to israel? which has a lot of anti-semitic undertones. or is he saying that they are disloyal to him personally? american junes haews have a lond of voting democratic. nothing has changed about that. all this is going to do is to further roil tensions and anger. it's also going to open him up,

frankly, to his own record here going all the way back to the very origins of his campaign, which he created on this america first slogan, which is loaded when it comes to world war ii and the history of the anti-semites who use that slogan in their opposition of the u.s. intervening in world war ii. >> the retweet he made of a very conservative blogger or -- i think also an fox news. i have to correct myself on that if that's not correct. but this retweet was of someone who is one of the original birther conspiracy theorists. >> yeah, i mean, the king of israel, donald trump. look -- >> also blasphemous to a lot of evangelicals. >> in saying that american jews have dual loyalty to the united states and israel, which is what he's saying, or single loyalty

to israel which is what he's implying is anti-semitic. that's an anti-semitic quote going way, way back. >> let me talk a moment about vladmir putin and what he said about the g7 and the g8. as i recall covering the first g8 i think it was in naples where boris yelt wasin was brou into the fold. and that was a stretch to bring them in. of course, under vladmir putin and russia became more and more part of it. then under obama kicking russia out over ukraine and crimea. that has not been reversed as far as i can tell. yet here he's going out on a limb in favor of vladmir putin at the very time when putin has

perhaps covered up a nuclear accident. when there have been according to the "wall street journal" when four monitoring, radiation monitoring sites went dark in siberia for a number of days. >> not the mention the u.s. pulled out of the inf treaty because of what this administration said were brazen russian violations. so much going on there with those comments with the g7 and g8. first of all, the president saying that we should bring russia back in, they belong in there, adding no conditionality to this. bring them back in. this was not a day after french president emmanuel macron said publicly maybe russia could come back but they have to resolve the situation in eastern ukraine. president trump attaching no such conditions. then kind of bizarrely spinning

the narrative that russia was kicked out of the g8 because of barack obama's wounded pride. >> he's repeating that as we speak according to people who are e-mailing us. >> as he's want to do, yeah. so that's not the reason. he cast it as a matter of ego that putin outsmarted obama because the u.s. had said to russia don't take crimea, and putin did. he's skipping over the issue and making it about obama's ego. the key here is the substantive issue. what is russia doing? russian aggression in ukraine. trump just doesn't seem to care about that at all. i don't think the idea is going to get any traction because the other g 7 leaders do still care. >> the president, the white house acknowledged last night that the president talked to macron yesterday. i expect it was macron trying to figure out before the g7 this weekend what is this, had how serious is he about pushing

putin as being reintegrated with macron had the day before set conditions

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the president ripped for approaching 40 minutes out there. but let's start with where you ended right there. that was the president now sort of defending his remarks yesterday where he was that democrats, american jewish democrats vote for a democratic candidate they're disloyal to the jewish people and israel. the question was to whom. today he clarified.

there has been fierce condemnation of the president's initial comments yesterday with the argument being made by some jewish groups the president was echoing anti-semitictrop trope. that is to say that they have a dual loyalty. they are more loyal to israel than their own country. you heard the president's remarks on this specific topic. it's obvious he's been trying to make those democratic lawmakers, rashida tlaib and ihlan omar who have been largely criticized. he's trying to make them the face of the democratic party. let's go to the topic of guns. he confirmed he had a conversation with wayne lapierre. he said he still wants more background checks, but he again reemphasized the idea that the background checks that exist right now are very strong in his words. a kcouple weeks ago shortly following the el paso and dayton

shootings says the nra says thicthis can be a slippery slope. he says he doesn't believe it's the case. be a he said it could slippery slope. it appeared to be parroting one of the nra's points. i tried to ask him what he stands for in h terms of gun reform, in terms of background checks. he did not answer that question. i tried to ask him why americans should be allowed today own assault weapons. it's another question that he ignored. on the topic of denmark, you played it. he referred to the danish prime minister as being a nasty woman for initially referring to the president's suggestion, or desire to buy greenland as absurd. he said that was the reason he canceled it. he said she could have been nicer about that. you remember a couple days ago the president suggested the topic of buying greenland.

you'll remember yesterday as it relates to what was formerly the g8, now the -- vladmir putin had outsmarted obama and that's why he was kicked out of the g8. the fact of the matter is, it was because russia had annexed crimea. i asked him point blank why russia should be allowed back into the g7 when he would have the g8 given the fact that russia still controls crimea and, again, he said to the president, president obama had been outsmarted by vladmir putin but did not say what circumstances had changed that should allow their entry back into the g7, g8 at this point. the president said the only way to talk to russia is to include them and he wants world peace. last thing if i can, there was one moment where the president was talking specifically about china and saying in terms of the trade war, it's not his trade war. he said it's a trade war that past presidents should have taken reup.

it's america's trade war, then in what was a remarkable moment, the presidentab looked to the s and said i am the chosen one. that he was the one who would have toe take up this fight to crack down on what he describes as china's unfair trading practices, andrea? >> peter alexander, in 80 degree heat -- you said 100 degrees. >> reporter: it's a hot one. >> the heat index is wild and the heated rhetoric as well. thank you so much. just to nail down the business about the g8, again defending putin. he's going tond walk into a meeting hosted by macron, who would like to think of himself after angela merkel is stepping back. he has aspirations to lead europe. we see a lot of turmoil politically in italy. now thisca president embracing putin. >> absolutely.mb and, puagain, a day after macro

said that russia has to take action to bring peace to eastern ukraine, there was some reporting that the president spoke to macron yesterday. and that they somehow -- one version i heardme was that macr putin to the g7, g 8 next year. i bounced this off a french official and i've seen other reporting that confirms the response i got which was nothing has changed from macron's position yesterday. if the white house is trying to suggest now that macron is coming trooaround to trump, doe seem to beou the case. t barack obama, this is what it's really about for trump. this has something to do with, you know, putin embarrassed obama and trump is going to fix it. that seems to be -- we were trying to talk earlier about animates hisar foreign policy. to a remarkable degree, it keeps coming back to what obama do, how can i show up barack obama by doing something he couldn't do? this may be another example of

this. there was a lot of other disunity going into the g76. they're there to have consensus. this meeting could be a g6 plus one scenario. trump is not talking about that right now. >>ut and, in fact, when you say what did obama do, i'm going to do something d differently. there's the paris accords. there's tpp. there's so many other steps with the iran nuclear deal is probably the most prominent to do anything in contrast to president obama, no matter what some of his initial advisors were telling him in terms of salvaging pieces of the obama legacy. >> you know, the capital cities of our allies and our adversaries right now, they're watching that. and they're looking at that performance. you know, you're absolutely right this is going to beu the6 plus one. plus or minus one. because they have to move on in a sensible way. you listen to that and you get to the point where he looks at

the sky and says i'm the chosen one. you get to that point and you cannot -- i don't see how any responsible leader could say this is a guy i could count on. this is a guy i can count on in a crunch. >> let me just interject. on china with the failures of past administrations, smart tru china andli there was a deal toe done with the smaller deal where oey were initially. ne to deal with china is so beyond and the trade war with china that's lot of volatility and who got that clip. let's play a little bit of that. >> this is not my trade war. it is a trade war that should have taken place a long time ago by a lot of the president. i am the chosen one. somebody had to do it. i am taking on china. >> susan.

>> maybe he's being humorous but he looked serious there. does not look like he's being witty or ironic. >> when you look at his concerns of the economyt and the talk about whether he would embrace a payroll tax cut, this is the area which he could do to keep the united states going into a recession. ending the trade war with china which is disruptive to the market. this would be something within his power and we'll see if he does it. >> susan page, michael crowley and peter alexander and eugene robinson. >> coming up, honor the veter s veterans. to preserve disableability paym. we'll talk to the woman who's behind all this. you are watching "andrea

mitchell reports" on msnbc. a mitchell reports" on msnbc ♪ spending time together, sometimes means doing nothing at all. holiday inn. we're there. so you can be too.

trump is now on his way vetl convention, just days before new bankruptcy protection for veterans are going into effect. it is going to fix the flaw in the bankruptcy code that protected disabilities for most americans but not veterans. joining me now is holly petraeus

who worked and help to get this bill passed. >> congratulations. >> it is quite exciting. you did this having left the governme government, you were in consumer protection bureau for six years, working in military affairs. you were a military spouse and spent your life with your father, you lived on bases around the world. you saw this loophole. tell me what happens aed and wh was the problem? >> they limited what income would not be counted in bankruptcies in three things. payments to vilctims of war crie and terrorism and disability pensions. nobody in the room realized that veterans don't get their pensions from social security,

they get it from department of defense. by using that language, they shut the doors in the face of disabled veterans. >> this comes to your attention? >> bunch of bankruptcy lawyers came and found me. this is wrong, we want to fix it. we heard that you may be able to help us. >> yeah, i will help you. how long did it take to get it fixed? >> you know, i think it took us about a year, more than that possibly. sometimes i thought of the old car ads, push, pull or drag or used cars into our showing. it is not easy to pass a bill even one as worthy as this. >> working with some great staff, the senator many missouri who wrote the bill. her cosponsor was senator

cornyn. 40 senators came on as cosponsors and the house represented mcbeth and florida and a lot of people were working on it and the veterans service organizations that stepped up and said we support this, it is a good thing. >> how many people are affected by this? the numbers are a little tough. i would say over 100,000 of veterans declared bankruptcy in 2017. so it is a lot of people. and you figure about a quarter of them are disabled. it is a significant number. >> holly petraeus, congratulations. for you to come in and do this and put yourself behind it, maybe you can take on gun reform and immigration and a lot of other things that never gets

done on capitol hill. so gratifying and i am grateful you came onto talk about it. of all people should not be disadvantaged by our laws is the veterans who have served and are disabled. >> i consider them my extended family. if i can do something to help them, i will. i very delighted this bill is going to be law. >> thank you very much. >> before we go, who makes the impossible possible? carly lloyd, the two-time world cup soccer champ made this unbelievable 55-field yard on monday. she was visiting practice on monday. she was a huge eagle fan. may they can draft her for the upcoming season. follow the show online and on facebook and on twitter twitter @mitchell report.

here is ali and stephanie for "velshi & ruhle." >> president trump is headed to louisville, kentucky. he gave a wide ranging talk on the white house's south lawn. a lot of topics on economy, guns and the border and being the chosen one and israel. >> he talked about the trade war with china. >> jay powell and the federal reserve totally missed the call. i was right. he should not have done that. he raised interest rates too fast and too furious. we have a normalized rate, if you can call it that. now we have to go the other direction. we'll see if he does it. if he does it, we have a strong economy.

we could be in a place