He is the president of the united states. We can assert the same privilege as other president s have. Are you confident the president will not take the fifth in this case . Oh, how can i be confident of that . On the campaign trail, trump said, no one who is innocent would plead the fifth. The mob takes the fifth. If youre innocent, why are you taking the fifth amendment . The former mayor is vowing to protect the president from a perjury trap set by mueller. They dont have a case on collusion or obstruction, which is why theyre asking these questions about, what do you feel . What do you think . Ill walk him into a prosecution for perjury, like Martha Stewart did . Every lawyer in america thinks hed be a fool to testify. Ive got a client who wants to testi testify. New questions about Michael Cohens role as Donald Trumps fixer and whether he maintained a secret slush fund to make damaging stories disappear during the election. Did Michael Cohen make payments to other women for the president . I have no knowledge of that. I would think if it was necessary, yes. Are you confident that Michael Cohen never told donald trump, i made this payment in order to why would number one, why would i be . And why would i be concerned . It is not a campaign contribution. It was done for other purposes. In addition to possible campaign purposes. I think that any seasoned lawyer in this position right now would be asking the president , is this really want you want as your chief lawyer right now . Well, certainly seems to be. This morning, white house officials giving Rudy Giuliani a vote of confidence. After the weekend saw zero slowdown in the news surrounding a payment from President Trumps personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to Stormy Daniels in the days leading up to the 2016 election. Cohen acknowledged the money was paid to keep daniels quiet about an alleged affair with the president back in 2006. The timing led some, like watchdog group, common cause, to claim the payment amounts to a Campaign Finance violation, since it was never reported on forms. Friday morning, the president bristled questions about the changing story surrounding the 130,000. When did you change your story on Stormy Daniels . Were not changing stories. Im telling you that this country is, right now, running so smooth. To be bringing up that kind of crap, to be bringing up witch hunts all the time, its all you want to talk about, youre going to see you said excuse me. You didnt know about the payment. Excuse me. Look at what i said. Youll see what i said. Lets take a look at the tape. Lets listen to what the president told us to do. It was just over a month ago, april 5th, when the president denied knowing anything about Michael Cohens payment to Stormy Daniels or where the funds came from. After reports cohen had complained about not being reimbursed. Did you know about the 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels . No. No. Then why did Michael Cohen make it if there was no truth to her allegations . You have to ask Michael Cohen. Michaels my an attorney, and youll have to ask Michael Cohen. Do you know where he got the money to make the payment . I dont know. No. That explanation stood for 27 days. Until newly hired lawyer and longtime friend of the president , Rudy Giuliani, went on a media blitz, beginning may 2nd, when he told Sean Hannity Cohen had been paid back by the president. That money was not campaign money. Sorry. Im giving you a fact now that you dont know. Its not campaign money. No Campaign Finance violation. So they funneled it through a law firm . Funneled through a law firm, and the president repaid it. The next morning, may 3rd, trying to smooth things over, he doubled down on the president s repayment. Then even gave the money a campaign connection. He was definitely reimbursed. No doubt about it. Imagine if that came out on october 15th, 2016, in the middle of the last debate with hillary clinton. To make it go away, they made this cohen didnt ask. Cohen made it go away. He did his job. In the middle of the last debate. Remember that debate, where the trump team brought bill clintons accusers . Oh, the irony. Later the same day, press secretary Sarah Sanders backed off giulianis narrative and what she did earlier. When did you specifically know that the president repaid mr. Cohen for the 130,000 . You personally. The first awareness i had was during the interview last night. On friday morning, may 4th, the president was asked about the changing stories, telling us, take a look at what he said. Adding to the record saturday night, giuliani get went on fox news, again implying campaign connections. Even if it was for campaign purposes, if it was to save his family, to save embarrassment, it is not a campaign donation. Yesterday morning, he flipped that rationale, still making the campaign connection. Even if it was a campaign contribution, it was reimbursed out of personal funds. The president did know about this after the campaign . Cant say that. I mean, at some point, yes, but it could have been recently. Could have been a while back. Those are the facts that were still working on. All of this, a dark day for the country. Last night in a phone interview, giuliani said he revealed the president s repayment of cohen to get ahead of the special counsel and Southern District of new york, where he will be, and what hell say today, only rudy knows. Joining me now, former assistant u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york. Right here in manhattan. And pbs news hour white house correspondent. And former assistant director of the fbi for counterintelligence, robert anderson. Harry, walk me through what the president and Rudy Giulianis game plan is here. It is naive of us to say, theyre just making a mess. They dont know what theyre doing. Yeah. They know what theyre doing. Rudy giuliani is the former mayor of new york city. Donald trump, like him or not, is the president of the united states. Thats all true. I agree it would be foolish just to say, theyre clowns and they dont know what theyre doing. At the same time, im not sure theyre executing their plan in the whey thay they would have h. One of your comments was they needed to get ahead of the Southern District investigation. They clearly believe there are some facts known to the prosecutors in the Southern District that will, in the fullness of time, come out. Theyve obtained documents from cohens office. They believe in the long term, it is not sustainable for President Trump to say, i had no idea about the payments. Giuliani continues to say, were working on facts. I dont understand how a fact is worked on. A defense is worked on. Coming up with a story is worked on. A fact is a fact. Thats right. The facts at this point are a mess. There have been so many different renditions of the story. He knew, he knew eventually, it had something to do with the campaign, didnt have much to do with the campaign. It keeps going back and forth. I think at this point, its hard, really, for anyone watching this to say, with confidence, this is what happened. I can say this based on the president s statements. Is all of this a bait and switch . Rudy giuliani did not need to go on tv and talk about any of this chaos. He chose to. When we say, hes stepping in it, robert, is he . Rudy giuliani is leading this narrative. He wants to talk about this. No, he definitely does. I think as we just talked about, one of the things theyre actually trying to intentionally do is muddy the waters and confuse and cloud the issues. A lot of what theyre talking about in the Campaign Finance part of the case, whether it is personal funds or funds from a lawyer, whether theres Different Things the president is saying, contradicting earlier statements, it is probably all part of a well orchestrated plan to cloud and muddy the waters when it comes to the investigations. Theyre pushing this narrative that this is a phony witch hunt. Theyre going on and on, saying, this has gone on long enough. Theyre putting pressure, saying that mueller is up to no good. Matthew dowd pointed it out yesterday. The benghazi investigation took four years. No indictments. Hillary clintons email investigation, two years, no indictments. This investigation has taken 14, 15 months, and theres 21 indictments. Yet, the president is getting traction. If you poll people around the country, theyd say, yes, this investigation is taking forever. Its not, by comparison. Oh, no, not at all. Matter of fact, i think because some of the questions potentially were leaked the other day, that bob mueller and his team were looking at actually questioning the president on, depending on how the legal side plays out, i think it shows how close they are toward the end of this thing. Usually in any longterm, sophisticated operation or investigation like this, youre never going to talk to the individual until the very end of it, when you have all the answers. From my side, i think theyre closer to the end than people realize. Take us inside the white house. Rudy giuliani, nobody is happier to be in front of the mic than he is. The president is happy with what rudy is doing for him. Last thursday friday, humiliating for the white house, specifically, Sarah Huckabee sanders. Their heads are spinning with all this. Take us inside whats going on there. Are those people going to stay in their jobs . They may not like what is going on, but theyre choosing to voluntarily go to work every day. Sarah has proven she gets up at the podium, destroying her own credibility by lying. Well, ill say two things. The first is that, i remember calling up several white house officials when Rudy Giuliani started talking about the fact that the president reimbursed Michael Cohen. I asked them, did you does is the president happy with how this is going . Is he happy he has to clarify . My understanding is that the president is still very much happy with the way Rudy Giuliani is doing his job. He brought him in not as a legal mind to really head up the case, but i believe, as a spokesperson, to talk about media, go through the different interviews. Whats really important is Rudy Giuliani was brought in to deal with mueller. One of the first things he talked about was Stormy Daniels, which has nothing to do with mueller on the surface. The second thing, as of now, Sarah Sanders was blindsided, of course, by all that Rudy Giuliani was talking about. There are two ways to look at it. The first way is, of course, the White House Communications office is completely out of the loop. Sarah sanders could be upset or embarrassed bid the fact shes having to answer questions about things she doesnt know the answer to because shes not being told the facts. The second way to look at this though is that Rudy Giuliani is not supposed to be talking to the White House Communications staff. Theyre supposed to be two separate entities. Rudy giuliani does not work for the white house. In some ways, you can say, Sarah Sanders is being kept out of this whole fiasco to kind of, in some ways, insulate the white house from what might be coming or might happen from the payments to Stormy Daniels, Campaign Violations and other things. Sarah sanders could be kept out for the good of the white house. Harry, giuliani says the president does not have to comply with a subpoena, citing other president s. Other president s who have been served the subpoena have either eventually given up the information or resigned. Thats right. The two cases that are most relevant here is, one, president nixon, given a grand jury subpoena for documents, namely, the tapes, and the Supreme Court said, no president is above the law. He had to turn over the tapes. In a civil case brought against president clinton in the 1990s, the jones b. Clinton case, Supreme Court said, president cant avoid sitting for a deposition. While it is true that the specific question of, can you be compelled to sit and give testimony in grand jury has never been answered by the Supreme Court, these other president s give us a good indication that the mueller team has a good shot of enforcing it. The catch is, this will take a long time. If mueller wants to finish his investigation before the elections, as we saw some reporting this morning that he doesnt want to be announcing major investigative steps in a way that would influence the midterms, it is going to be hard to get this resolved with the Supreme Court during that time period. Robert, does mueller have a lot of time . That judge on friday in virginia, who was overseeing Paul Manaforts case, he had some pretty tough rhetoric, not from manafort but from mueller and his team. Theres no doubt. I personally have been before that judge many times over the years. I think he was laying down ground rules to let them know, listen, this isnt an open ended scorecard. Ill keep you on track and looking down the road where you need to be, and not straying off to one side or other in the investigation. I do think, towards what weve been talking about here a few minutes ago, i do think hell be cognisant of the midterm elections. There is extreme guide lines around this regarding doj and fbi procedures. I think whatever is going to happen is going to happen way before the elections or be held off until afterwards. Midterms are coming soon. The president has been one to not necessarily stand by his word. It was stunning to me that Rudy Giuliani is sort of opening the door that trump can plead the fifth. Lets look at what he has said in the past about doing just that. He pleaded the fifth amendment. What are we going to do with this guy . What happened . He pleaded the fifth. Right . He pleaded the fifth. Where is he . Fifth amendment. Fifth amendment. Fifth amendment. Horrible. Horrible. Pleading the fifth amendment in front of congress. You saw that today, yesterday. Fifth amendment. When you have your staff taking the fifth amendment, taking the fifth, so theyre not prosecuted. Taking the fifth amendment, how about that . You see the mob takes the fifth. If youre innocent, why are you taking the fifth amendment . I hear that. I agree with that, mr. President. Now that the door has been opened by Rudy Giuliani, how on earth is the white house going to handle that question . I know theyre going to be asked that in the press briefing room. Theres one thing. Rudy giuliani has speculating about all sorts of things. I think we should all take it with a grain of salt, whether or not he understands or knows whether or not the president is actually going to do that. If the president actually does take the fifth, in some ways, the president has shown that he can go back on his word. He can change his story. He can do all he wants to do and still remains teflon. He said that on the campaign trail that he can basically do almost anything. Hes right. And people will stick with him. Hes probably right. Hes gotten to the white house by doing this. To me as a reporter, he just does what he does, and then if his supporters back him up, they continue to back him. Quickly, his supporters go nowhere. Theres no political consequence. Harry, legal consequence. He pleads the fifth. No big deal . Well, if he pleads the fifth, the government has a choice. Even someone who asserts the fifth can be compelled to speak if the government is willing to immunize them. Whatever President Trump says wont be used in a prosecution against him. It could be used in a prosecution against others. There is the question then of, will the mueller team seem to immunize him to pursue other investigative leads, or will they simply allow the invocation to stand and move on and finish their investigation . Well soon find out. I know one thing, were going to be covering it. Thank you so much. Were going to leave it there. This afternoon in the white house rose garden, something we havent seen before. First Lady Melania Trump will announce her official agenda. A set of new initiatives on children. Im definitely going to be paying attention because thats important to me. Stephi in stepping up her public profile and how she spends her days in the white house. Separate from her husband. Devoted to her son. You are watching velshi ruhle here on msnbc. Yes or no . Do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet . Do you want 4. 95 commissions for stocks, 0. 50 options contracts . 1. 50 futures contracts . What about a dedicated service team of trading specialists . Did you say yes . Good, then its time for power e trade. The platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. Looks like we have a couple seconds left. Lets do some card twirling twirling cards e trade. The original place to invest online. My digestive system used to make me feel sluggish. But those days are over. Now, i take metamucil every day. It naturally traps and removes the waste that weighs me down. So i feel. Lighter. Try metamucil and begin to feel what lighter feels like. And try new metamucil fiber thins, made with 100 natural psyllium fiber. A greattasting and easy way to start your day. Mr. Elliot, whats your wiwifi . Ssword . Wifis ordinary. Basic. Do i look basic . Nope which is why i have xfinity xfi. Its super fast and you can control every device in the house. [ child offscreen ] hey lets basement. And thanks to these xfi pods, the signal reaches down here, too. So sophie, i have an xfi password, and its daditude. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Xfinity. The future of awesome. Welcome back. Youre watching velshi ruhle. Melania trump getting ready to formally announce her initiatives as first lady. She will make the announcement in the white house rose garden at 3 00 p. M. Today. Her office says the first lady will focus on a variety of issues affecting the wellbeing of the nations children, something mrs. Trump has spoken about on a number of occasions. If im honored to serve as first lady, i will use that wonderful privilege to try to help people in our country who need it the most. One of the many causes dear to my heart is helping children and women. Whether it is drug addiction, bullying, poverty, disease, trafficking, illiteracy, or hunger, its the children who are hit first and hardest in any country. I have been heartened to see children across this country using their voices to speak out and try to create change. Theyre our future. They deserve a voice. I would agree with that. Mrs. Trumps announcement comes as more and more headlines emerge about a porn star and playboy playmate allegedly having affairs with donald trump before he became president but while he was married to his wife. The white house denies the allegations. The Washington Post reports that while mrs. Trump has not addressed the scandal, she has, quote, noticeably begun to raise her profile, independent from the president s. Todays News Conference is a, quote, public appearance that would have been almost unthinkable just a few months ago. Thats a very big deal. Joining me know, marry jy jorda National Political correspondent for the Washington Post. Lets take a look at who melania is. Shes 48. Hes 71. She married donald trump when she was 34 years old. While he has a very antiimmigrant stance, his wife was born in slovenia. His first wife, ivana, also born outside the united states. They were very different people before the presidency. Walk us through, right off the bat in your piece, what blew me away, the very different life she leads. She wakes up in her own bedroom. Not something we normally see. She doesnt eat with the president. She really lives a life similar to a lot of moms out there. Except shes not just any other mom. I think why this is so interesting is that if he wants to run again in 2020, she was a big part of dismissing allegations in the campaign about his alleged affairs. Any sign of strain in the white house, you know, has a lot of political analysts wondering about really what is going on there. When we took a look and talked to a lot of people over the last several weeks, many people said it was really striking, how rare it is for them to spend much time together. You touch on how she has been caught sort of rebuffing the president s advances, you know, to put his hand on her side or hold her hand, which to regular people might not seem like much, but on the political stage, its massive. Well, first of all, donald trump, who spent years in television, and shes a professional model, know the power of visual images. Theres many, many instances. One time, she introduced him at a podium at Andrews Air Force base, and he reached out and shook her hand. Women in the crowd were, like, wow, i cant remember the last time my husband shook my hand. Again, today is a really big day for melania trump. She is english is not her first language, and she is going to not just have a press conference, but have it steps from the oval office, right in the rose garden, and say, you know what . Aisle fir im first lady. This is my agenda. Though the white house advisers told her, stay away from cyber bullying, because her husband is the tweeter in chief, shes going right for it. It is very interesting dynamics that a lot of people will be watching. Is the president going to be there or first daulghter, ivank trump . Ivanka has been front and center, outspoken in the early days of the presidency. Ivanka and jared you dont see often. Melania has been the reverse. Yes. I expect both the president and probably melanias stepdaughter, ivanka, to be there. It is very interesting that, you know, melania, her profile is coming up at the same time that you see less of the stepdaughter. Shes 38, ivanka. Melania is sorry. Ivanka is 36. Melania is 48. Theyre both former models. You know, by all accounts, they dont have a very close relationship. But one is working in the west wing. Melania is in the east wing. There is kind of the de facto wall, where the first lady doesnt spend much time over with her stepdaughter and the president. The dynamics of the first family, like i suppose in many white houses, is super interesting. Have you been able to get anything . She said nothing publicly about the first ladys reaction to the alleged affairs. I think about her all the time, how humiliating this must be for her. Her number one priority is her 12yearold son, who uses the internet, who watches the news, who knows all thats going on. Thats what we keep hearing. You know, she is, quote, used to headlines, used to noise this is not headlines and noise. Well, theyve only been married 13 years. This is his third marriage. These affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen Mcdougal both happened during this 13year marriage. While were all reading the tea leaves about how upset she is, were certainly hearing that she is not with him as much as she used to be. Well, there we have it. When we do see her, she is always with her son. She is a devoted mom. I look forward to hearing what she has to say today. Mary, thank you so much. Thank you. Next, were going to take you live to hawaii, where an erupting volcanic force is sending hundreds of people out of their homes. The lava is destroying buildings and roads with no sign of stopping. Were going to take you there. Youre watching velshi ruhle. Man it takes a lot of work to run this business, but i really love it. Im on the move all day long, and sometimes i dont eat the way i should. So i drink boost to get the nutrition im missing. Boost high protein now has 33 more protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. And it has a guaranteed great taste. Man boost gives me everything i need to be up for doing what i love. Boost high protein. Be up for it. Boost high protein. When it comes to travel, i sweat the details. Late checkout. Downalternative pillows. And of course, price. Tripadvisor helps you book a. Hotel without breaking a sweat. Because we now instantly. Search over 200 booking sites. To find you the lowest price. On the hotel you want. Dont sweat your booking. Tripadvisor. The latest reviews. The lowest prices. burke seen it. Covered it. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum to keep our community safe. Before you do any project big or small, pg e will come out and mark your gas and electric lines so you dont hit them when you dig. Call 811 before you dig, and make sure that you and your neighbors are safe. Welcome back to the ruhle part of velshi ruhle. Trumps pick for cia director, gina haspel, is set to meet with members of the Senate Intelligence committee ahead of her confirmation hearing on wednesday. Nbc news confirmed haspel considered withdrawing her nomination last week in light of controversies, including her role in an Interrogation Program that some say was torture and claims of destroying evidence. Secretary of state mike pompeo just met with Boris Johnson at the state department. Johnson was there to convince pompeo to stay in the iran nuclear deal. President trump threatening to pull out in less than one week, by may 12th. While in washington, johnson will also meet with Vice President mike pence and National Security adviser john bolton. And the first road signs for the new u. S. Embassy in jerusalem went up this morning. That is significant. The embassy will be formally relocated next monday following President Trumps controversial decision to move it from telaviv. Also today, theyve changed the official twitter handle. Concerns are growing. You have to look at these images about an ongoing volcanic eruption on hawaiis big island. The earth is literally opening up. Mount kiluaea continues to erupt. It is the islands most active volcano. Hot lava flowing out of the cracks in the ground and destroying absolutely everything in its path, including homes and vehicles. Dont forget about the toxic fumes eroding the air. Nbcs Steve Patterson is live, in hilo, hawaii, 30 minutes from where the lava flows. The toxic gases i mentioned, theyre dangerous to children. Theyre dangerous to old people. Theyre bad for everyone in the area. Reporter yeah, the gases seem to be sort of the immediate threat. The thing about lava, obviously, it is going to do a lot of damage. It is going to cause a lot of problems. Specifically, gets into the infrastructure. If it gets anywhere near homes, which it is, these ten fissures all sort of clustered in this residential area, causing 1,800 evacuations there. Again, its slow moving. Likely, youre going to walk away from an event like this. Your home may be destroyed, but youre likely to survive. The more immediate threat is likely the sulfur dioxide. This is a toxic gas that gets released through those fissures. It smells nasty. If you inhale a bunch of it, you are likely to get a sore throat, a headache, likely to feel sick. As you mentioned, if youre very old, very young, you have respiratory or lung issues, that could be a deadly substance, if you spend a prolonged amount of time within that zone. The National Guard is doing all they can to keep people not only away from the lava flows but, again, that toxic gas, which is really clouding everything over that neighborhood. Not to mention, as you mentioned, the fissures that erupt, split open the earth. We were speaking to a woman on the outside rim of the zone, sort of nin the outer edge of te zone. She was, like, look, we can do the interview. Because we are in the zone, you may want to hurry up because the ground can literally open up below us at any point. That is the danger that people face. That is why officials, the National Guard, want to keep a close eye on whats happening and push people out as best they can. They let some residents back in to collect personal belongings, medical supplies, things of that nature. Then they told people, you have to get the heck out of here before there is another volcanic event, which are ongoing. They have absolutely no idea when this could end. Stephanie . Steve, thank you so much for the update. Please, my friend, stay safe. Were going to leave it there. When we come back, we are counting down to major primaries in four states. Theyre all states President Trump won handily, but they are now once again up for grabs. We have a very special eye on the state of West Virginia. A convicted criminal could win the republican nomination. That is former coal executive don blankenship. Even President Trump has come out against him. Well explain that next. In the primaries, the fringe candidates are no longer on the fringe. Heres john oliver, who reviewed some of blankenships recent political ads. Blankenship is not only surging in the polls right now, but he recently put out an ad, doubling down on everything youve seen so far. Mitch mcconnell created millions of jobs for china people. While doing so, mitch has gotten rich. In fact, his china family gave him tens of millions of dollars. Drain the swamp and create jobs for West Virginia. I will beat joe manchin and ditch cocaine mitch for the sake of the kids. For the love of god, someone, at the very least, tell don bangen sh blankenship that he can make emotions when he talks, there is no such thing as a china family, and taking kids from a water park is not draining the swamp. dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance. Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. And its time to get outside. Pack in even more adventure with audible. With the Largest Selection of audiobooks. Audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. Or discover magic when you hit the open road. With the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. And for just 14. 95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. If you dont like it exchange it any time. No questions asked. You can also roll your credits to the next month if you dont use them. So take audible with you this summer. On the road. On the trail. Or to the beach. Start a 30day trial and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. No matter where you go this summer make it better with audible. Text summer17 to 500500 to start listening today. It is almost primary day. President trump is warning voters about the republican front runner in a race for West Virginia senate. Trump is urging voters to reject candidate don blankenship. Remember who this guy is . The former coal executive who served actual prison time for his role in the 2010 Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion that killed 29 people. This morning, trump tweeted in part, balankenship currently running for senate. Cant win. No way. Remember alabama. West virginia is among four states which is going to have primaries tomorrow, including indiana, North Carolina and ohio. These are states President Trump won in 2016. I want to bring in msnbcs Garrett Haake who covers the hill. Lets go to West Virginia first. President trump didnt say, dont vote blankenship because he is a convicted felon and what this guy has done. He said, look what happened in alabama. We need to remind our viewers, President Trump, while he originally supported luther strange, he supported roy moore in the end. Reporter this might be a once bitten, twice shy situation here for the president and his supporters who dont want to be attached to don blankenship, who Establishment Republicans believe, if he wins the nomination, would throw away potentially their best chance to knock off a sitting democratic senator in the cycle. Remember, West Virginia was the state donald trump won by the largest margin of any state back in 2016. Makes joe manchins seat a tempitemp i tempting target. The baggage has gotten heavier for republicans. You saw President Trump throwing blankenship over the side today. He fired back. The president is a very busy man, and he did you waoesnt kn. He doesnt know how flawed my opponents are. The establishment is misinforming him because they do not want me to be in the u. S. Senate and promote the president s agenda. Tomorrow, will send the swamp a message. No one, and i mean no one, will tell us how to vote. As some said, im trumpier than trump, and this morning proves it. I cant argue with the statement because i dont fully understand what it means. If it sounds like something roy moore would have said, it encapsulates why republicans are nervous about the possibility of blankenship sneaking through the threeway primary. Trumpier than trump. I dont know what that means. Like him or not, there is one and only one donald trump. Lets talk about indiana. That has been called the nastiest race in the nation. Why . Reporter you have two congressmen, republicans, beating up on each other in this race, and a third man, braun, businessman in indiana. The outsider may split the difference between two, arguably more wellknown, wellestablished politicians in the statie. What we are seeing in some primaries, and we wont know until the votes are counted, with Traditional Office holders on the ballot, people who are outside and can present themselves has not being part of washington or traditional policymaking at a state level, are getting an opportunity to squeak through. All three candidates have tried very, very hard to present themselves as the most protrump candidate, something that will be tested in a general election against joe donnelly, the sitting democratic senator in indiana. Earlier, i said that blankenship was a convicted felon. I was wrong. He was charged with a felony. He was cleared of everything except a misdemeanor. That is what he went to prison for, for just over a year. Thank you, Garrett Haake. Were going to be covering the primary races all day tomorrow. Up next, time to look at your money, money, money. Specifically, your tax dollars. President trump has a new plan to cut spending, but it is not nearly as much as he wanted. Why our next guest says this might be more of a publicity stunt than serious policy. Remember, its policy that people need. All of those forgotten americans who dont live on the coast, who said, i was left out of the recovery, theyve turned to the president and voted for the president for that economic boost and boom. Its got to be more than positive sentiment. Were also watching the markets this hour. Take a look. Market up 150. Looking at the dow. We heard today from warren buffet, who said he is not concerned that were going to face an oldfashioned trade war. We are also being led by tech numbers. Apple. Big tech having a big week. Im only in my 60s. Ive got a nice long life ahead. Big plans. So when i found out medicare doesnt pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. Then i got a Medicare Supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if youre eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. 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If you move your old 401 k to a fidelity ira, we make sure youre in the loop at every step from the moment you decide to move your money to the instant your new retirement account is funded. Oh and at fidelity, youll see how all your investments are working together. Because when you know where you stand, things are just clearer. Just remember what i said about a little bit o soul welcome back. Youre watching velshi ruhle. President trump sent to ask congress to cut 11 billion in spending as early as today. The plan exists, in part, to placate the president , who is reportedly furious with the 1. 3 trillion omnibus spending bill that he signed. Thats what i dont get. How can he be furious . He signed it back in march. Where will the spending cuts come from, and what exactly will they accomplish . Lets look at trumps plan for your money, money, money. To begin with, 11 billion is a far cry from what the white house wanted. The initial figure they floated was 60 million. It shank and here we are at 11 milli billion. Thats if the white house gets everything they want. 11 billion is a drop in the bucket when we talk about federal spending. Itd be less than 0. 3 of the federal budget of this years p deficit, likely to rub some fiscal hawks in congress the wrong way. Theyre already rubbed the wrong way on this one. So where would the spending cuts come from . Certainly not from the omnibus bill itself, which mandates the extra spending trump doesnt like. Instead, the plan is to cut what is known as the Budget Authority of certain federal agencies. Thats basically how much money theyre given permission to spend, and the federal agencies are likely to fight to keep all of it. But heres the kicker the planned targets unspent funds that were approved in the past. So basically theyre cutting funds that were unlikely to be spent in the first place. For more, im joined by my old friend sam, professor of public policy, and former staffer on the house and budget committees. Sam, you warned people not to be fooled by this. What do you mean . You laid it out pretty well. Its 11 billion, far less than the 60 billion. Second, its likely to be a lot less than 11 billion, because a lot of this money was not going to be spent any way. Its like a corporation cutting a position that wasnt being filled and taking credit for reducing head count. So my guess is, if the president gets anything, it will be worth just a couple of billion dollars. This is a publicity stunt. The president will take credit for cutting 11 billion, get almost nothing and well move on. Yikes. You also write, with regards to the 11 billion, does the phrase rounding error immediately come to mind . Well, you laid out the numbers very well. As a percentage of the deficit, a percentage of what we call Discretionary Spending . That is appropriations, what theyll be reducing. This is not significant. This is not the kind of things markets would notice or the bond market would cheer. Its a publicity stunt. Its too small to make much of a difference. You raised the right point, which is the right time to have done this would have been when the president signed the bill. That is he should have said no, im not going to sign it, lets renegotiate. He didnt do that. He approved it. Lets move on. Go through the technical side of this. The president is reportedly going to atevenlt thtempt this t through. What is the benefit of that, giving Congress Less say . This was created by congress in 1974 to deal with richard nixon. Its an impoundment, and it essentially means the president is saying i want you guys to unappropriate the dollars that you previously appropriated. Congress then has 45 days, congress, both the house and senate, have 45 days to approve this rescission proposal from the president , otherwise the money must be spent as originally appropriated. At this point, theres probably not enough time for congress to deal with this before the 45 days runs out. How could the president be furious about this . He signed it. You remember, he was fuming, he almost didnt sign it but heres the thing. It doesnt matter if he was in a bad mood or not, he signed it. Well, thats my point, which is the right time to get to this would have been when the bill was presented to him. Instead he signed it, why are we arguing over something thats a rounding error . Lets start thinking about the 2020 budget, the 2019 appropriations. Lets start dealing with the trillion dollar permanent deficits that happened during the trump administration. Isnt this why Congress Votes on a spending bill . If the white house is unhappy with spending, isnt this why they vote on it . Absolutely. It was clear when congress voted on this appropriation back on march 23rd when they sent it to the white house, that the trump administration, the legislative director was heavily involved in negotiations. It was only after the president watched some tv that he changed his mind that what he already agreed to. Sam, thank you so much. I could have cold feet about my boyfriend all day and all night, but when i say i do, i kind of own that relationship. It is time for our monumental americans, people who may be deserving of more recognition than a statue of their own. Today, in ligs of asianpacific heritage month, it is former congresswoman patsy mink, a japaneseamerican, born in hawaii in 1927. In 1965, she became the first woman of color and the first asianamerican woman elected to congress. Then back in 1972, she coauthored the title nine amendment to prevent discrimination in School Programs due to sex. She was also the first asianamerican to seek the president ial nomination of the Democratic Party in the 1972 election. After 12 determines in congress, she passed away in 2002 at the age of 74. In 2014, president barack obama awarded her the president ial medal of freedom. We want to thank lyle hendricks, a retired schoolteacher, who tweeted this suggestion and says hes a faithful viewer. Please send us more suggestions. We want to recognize and honor those who arent in the headlines. People should know a lot more about it. If you have a monumental american, tweet us. If your adventure keeps turning into unexpected bathroom trips you may have overactive bladder, or oab. Ohhhh. Enough already we need to see a doctor. Ask your doctor about myrbetriq® mirabegron . It treats oab symptoms of urgency, frequency, and leakage. Its the first and only oab treatment in its class. Myrbetriq may cause serious allergic reactions. If you experience swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, or difficulty breathing. Stop taking myrbetriq and tell your doctor right away. Myrbetriq may increase blood pressure. Tell your doctor right away if you have trouble emptying your bladder or have a weak urine stream. Myrbetriq may affect or be affected by other medications. Before taking myrbetriq, tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney problems. Common side effects include increased blood pressure, common cold symptoms urinary tract infection, constipation, diarrhea, dizziness, and headache. Need some help managing your oab symptoms along the way . Ask your doctor if myrbetriq is right for you, and visit myrbetriq. Com to learn more. Woman i stay active by staying in rhythm. And to keep up this pace, i drink boost optimum. Boost optimum with 5 in 1 advanced nutrition helps support muscle, energy, bone, normal immune function, and vision. Boost optimum. Be up for life. Mr. Elliot, whats booyour wiwifi . Ssword . Wifis ordinary. Basic. Do i look basic . Nope which is why i have xfinity xfi. Its super fast and you can control every device in the house. [ child offscreen ] hey lets basement. And thanks to these xfi pods, the signal reaches down here, too. So sophie, i have an xfi password, and its daditude. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Xfinity. The future of awesome. Welcome back. We want to give you an uplifting update on a tragic story weve been following. This weekend in nashville, debony rose was honored after being shot to death at a waffle house. At her graduation, her mom, cheryl baker, tearfully accepted her daughters degree in of all things, social work. He brother also graduated saturday, and the school announced a social works scholarship in her honor. That is a storey i wish we didnt have to share. But beautiful that her mom got to share in that ceremony. Thank you so much for watching this hour. Im stephanie ruhl. Check us out on social media and connect with our show. Right now i hand you off to Andrea Mitchell for Andrea Mitchell reports. Right now on Andrea Mitchell reports, look whos talking. Rudy giuliani is still trying to explain the president s legal strategy. But telling his client not to talk to special counsel robert mueller. Every lawyer in america