trump's efforts to persuade her father in the white house. what's her role? all next right now on m msnbc live. we begin with those new comments by are russian president vladimir putin now suggesting russia has been framed by the perpetrators who meddled in the u.s. election. >> hackers can be anywhere. they can be in russia, in asia, even in america. latin america. they can even be hackers, by the way, in the united states. very skillfully and professionally shifted the blame, as we say, on to russia. >> later today, demonstrations in more than 130 cities here in the u.s. and around the world to ramp up cause for an independent commission to investigate russia's meddling in the u.s. election and its ties to the trump campaign. also new today, this headline in the "new york times," trump appears unlikely to hinder comey's testimony about russia inquiry. two senior administration officials telling reporter mr. trump wanted mr. comey to testify because the president had nothing to hide and wanted mr. comey's statements to be publicly aired. and more backlash over president trump's decision to withdraw the u.s. from the paris climate treaty. this as the trump administration officials have all repeatedly refused to say whether the president still believes it's a hoax. nbc's kristen welker has the latest. >> mounting fallout after president trump pulled out of the paris climate agreement. at the center of it, the white house unable to answer a key question. >> does the president believe today that climate change is a hoax? >> does the president believe that climate change is real? >> you're the epa administrator. shouldn't you be able to tell the american people whether or not the president still believes that climate change is a hoax? >> where does he stand? >> there's enough to deal with with respect to the paris agreement -- >> the president himself decline to go answer questions, but equipping in a bill designed to aim helping law enforcement. but the lash lash is only heating up. and cities all across the world showing their opposition by going green. many state and local leaders now vowing to cut down on harmful emissions on their own. >> this is an existential threat to the long-term future of humanity. it is not a game. >> the president, who ran as a jobs creator, now getting bitter criticism foremore than 100 measure ceos. >> he is surrounded by the vast majority of bright, intelligent people who feel that he's let the world down. >> and with the international community saying the deal can't be renegotiated until 2020, the epa administrator arguing european leaders want the u.s. to stay in the pact and carry the burden. >> i think they want us to stay in is because they know it will continue to shackle our economy. >> the u.s. is the second largest polluter after china, but the trump administration says it's also done the mos to combat climate cnge for offenders including coal ceos, it's all with about saving jobs. >> he was prudent in withdrawing entirely from the fraudulent global climate agreement. >> that was nbc's kristen welker reporting. let's bring in ozzie for politico, new york, and jonathan allen, columnist for role call shattered inside hillary clinton's doomed campaign. thank you both for joining me this morning. >> good morning. >> ozzie, let's pick up where the president left off. president trump made his view owes climate change pretty clear for the trail calling it a hoax. what is the calculation for holding back now? >> it's clear that the president doesn't want to answer this question and the administration sees no benefit in getting into that discussion. again, what they want to do is pivot and discuss policy. this is sort of unique for the administration. they often don't like to sort of do that. but answering the question of what the president believes has always been difficult for his surrogates and for his aids and they would rather talk about the paris agreement, the details of it and why they think it's not beneficial to them rather than reexplain why the president had called it a hoax and had questioned climate science. remember, ivanka trump, his daughter, and very trusted aide is one of the people that was trying to urge him to stay in this and is closer to what advocates say is a believer in sort of the manmade effects of climate science. so to have to answer that question and create a wedge between the president and his daughter is not something they want to do. >> jonathan, how much might democrats be able to profit off this cmateecision duringhe midterm elections? >> i'm not sure how much climate change is a persuasive motivator. i think most people have made their decision about whether they believe the science on climate change or they prefer, as i think the administration has framed it, to spend energy and time on producing domestic energy. that said, it could be a motivator in terms of money, in terms -- there's a ton of money on the left wrapped up in the environmental movement. i think there's, you know, what you're seeing on the policy level is people pledging money. i think i saw something about michael bloomberg, perhaps, pledging millions of dollars to try and combat climate change. if you see some of that money start pouring into the political field, it could help democrats in the midterm elections. >> let's talk about putin's comments during that economic forum yesterday. here is one of them. >> translator: the trump team has termed to be more efficient during the electoral campaign. sometimes i thought that -- i thought sometimes during the campaign. but it turned out that he was right. has been able to find approach and to reach out to those electors whom he hoped for .they voted for him. and the other team, they made a mistake and they don't want to recognize this mistake right now. they didn't want to say that they were not wise enough. >> ozzie, these comments can't do much to move the cloud of suspicion over president trump's head, right? >> no. anytime you have vladimir putin saying anything similar to president trump, you're going to have democrats point to it as evidence that there is some type of collusion or alliance between them, whether or not that's evident of it or not. it fuels the speculation. and to shift the blame to purely describe the election as one that was a choice between trump and hillary clinton without any kind of russian interference is exactly what vladimir putin wants to do. >> jonathan, i want to follow up on that. how are lawmakers taking into these comments about putin especially as we head into thursday's comey testimony? >> i think regardless of party, there's a lot of concern on capitol hill about the attempt by russians to interfere in the 2016 election. whether or not it was dispositive is a different debate, but i do think that there's a lot of frustration with president trump from some of his own allies in terms of his -- in terms of his unwillingness to distance himself from putin. i think that -- and i think that there's a lot of interest in the investigation, trying to figure out what happened and prevent it from happening again. that said, with jim comey coming up on thursday, that's going to away circus on capitol hill. it's going to be a huge news event almost no matter what he says. it's going to be bad for president trump almost no matter what he says. and i would expect the white house to do some things to try to distract from jim comey's testimony. >> and certainly a lot can happen in the next few days. ozzie, i want your take on a new article. is ivanka a white house leaker? there's speculation abounds after curiously timed puff pieces. is that too farfetched, ozzie? >> i don't know if you can hear me rolling my eyes when you're looking at that. anytime there's a question about who is the leaker in an administration like this one, i take some pause. but it's very clear that the president gets information through channels that prior presidents had not. he very clearly watches television, watches a lot of it, perhaps too much, and clearly the people around him communicate to him through the media. now, you did not see that to the same degree in obama's nistration, right? the no drama obama, they wanted to have private conversations kept private. i think jonathan .other people reported that the president became very outraged when parts of conversations and private meetings were leaked. here, it is very clear that trump's aides want to talk to him through the media. i don't know whether it's ivanka, but clearly there are people in different camps in this administration and they're trying to talk to him through the media. >> jonathan, before i let you go, i want to talk to you about hillary clinton's latest comments about the dnc not putting all its weight behind her. >> we're looking ahead. the truth is, we do need to do some improving. a little bit of criticism doesn't hurt us. we need to take it seriously .move out on what we have learned. >> shouldn't she also take responsibility for what she did? she didn't seem to. >> let me tell you, hillary clinton is a wonderful american. i think she's a wonderful person to serve this country. we can't relitigate the past. >> is this his way of mending fences with her? how did you read into that? >> well, first of all, keith wasn't at the dnc the last time so he's not going to feel as defensive about the committee as some of the others that worked there will. but it was an interesting toss of the dnc under the bus by secretary clinton. she raised $1 billion.. she had a modern data organization on her campaign that was, you know, that basilly was as good as it could get within the democratic party. you know, it's an interesting choice of place to lay the blame. >> jonathan allen, azi, thank you so much for joining me this morning. >> thank you. take care. capitol hill showdown as james comey is set to testify about the russian investigation. how the president could stop it from happening. and what the white house says about using that option. ee my friends know me so well. they can tell what i'm thinking, just by looking in my eyes. but what they didn't know was that i had dry, itchy eyes. i used artificial tears from the moment i woke up... ...to the moment i went to bed. so i finally decided to show my eyes some love,... ...some eyelove. eyelove means having a chat with your eye doctor about your dry eyes because if you're using artificial tears often and still have symptoms, it could be chronic dry eye. it's all about eyelove, my friends. whattwo servings of veggies? 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>> well, it is certainly high stakes and the expectations are through the roof. but the white house isn't saying they're worried. instead, they said they want james comey to be able to tell his story and the truth to come out. but there's also an option available to the white house that some presidents use under circumstances like this. it's possible that the president could try to use what's known as executive authority, that is intended to keep some of the deliberations inside the white house protected. it's unclear right now you if the president will do that. it's a long shot. it's a challenge. but he does have a certain amount of power that could cope comey quiet. >> president trump and james comey, the fbi director he fired, could be headed for a new power struggle this week. comey is set to go public thursday, about the russia investigation. but the white house is not ruling out a move that could block comey from testifying on capitol hill. by claiming an executive branch privilege that protects the privacy of a president's conversations with senior officials. in a new letter, democratic lawmakers warn the white house any assertion of privilege by the president would be seen as an effort to obstruct the truth. >> that preemptive strike came after white house officials, including press secretary sean spicer, said legal options are on the table. >> i think, obviously, it's got to be reviewed. >> so that is not a no. >> i have not spoken to counsel yet. i don't know how they're going to respond. >> getting answers proved difficult on another issue. >> thank you very much, everybody. thiss slightly less controversial than yesterday. >> aer psident trump broke with nations around the world over climate change. temperatures rose in the briefing room. epa administrator scott pruitt and the press secretary deflected all questions on the president's own view on climate change. after candidate trump mocked the science. >> does the president believe today that climate change is a hoax? >> yes or no, does the president believe that climate change is real? >> what does the president actually believe, climate change, does he still believe it's a hoax? >> neither pruitt nor spicer had any answer. >> i have not had an opportunity to have that discussion. >> and that question is important because the president said he is open to renegotiating with countries around the world, although there are no takers yet. and so it comes to the heart of the issue. if the president believes in the science that might affect how he would decide on policy. those questions have you asked again and again, trying to get an answer and the white house for political reasons it would appear -- they want to avoid the controversy of looking like the president has flip-flopped. it's not an easy answer for the white house.. it's politically somewhat treacherous. .for now, they're keeping mum. dara. >> kelly o'donnell live for u in washington. thanks, kelly. now to the headlines and take a look at this incredible video taken near calvary, canada, where a tornado touched down yesterday evening. no one was injured, but there was some property damage. joining me now, kelly cass. kelly, what is happening this weekend across the country? >> hey there, dara. we're going to have to watch out for some travel downpours in parts of the south, especially along the gulf coast. but it's nice to see the rain in florida, where we so desperately needed. sometimes too much of a good thing can lead to flooding on the streets out there. speaking of flooding, dallas put under a flash flood watch. up towards the midwest, we're talking severe storms a possibility. parts of wisconsin, the upper peninsula. tornado threat not running all that high. tomorrow, that severe threat will shift more to the east and even parts of new york and pennsylvania been otherwise, new york city talking rainfall for you guys, especially during the afternoon. more rain and thunderstorms across the south. but looking pretty, really nice weather out there along the west coast and we'll continue that on your monday, as well. 70 out there in seattle. portland, looking good. los angeles, 79. but, again, watch for the storms especially here along the east coast. dara, some of these storms could be severe as we take it back to work on monday. back to you. >> thank you, kelly. back to st. petersburg, kier simmons joins me next to talk about how he tracked down a russian banker last december. and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ it can be sculpted, in beautiful detail. or painted in luxurious strokes. ♪ and in rare cases...both. the opioid my doctor prescribed for my chronic back pain backed me up-big time. before movantik, i tried to treat it myself. spent time, money. no go. but i didn't back down. i talked to my doctor. she said: one, movantik was specifically designed for opioid-induced constipation-oic- and can help you go more often. number two? 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(avo) new beneful grain free. out with the grain, in with the farm-raised chicken. healthful. flavorful. beneful. jared kushner had a meeting with a russian banker reportedly while his father-in-law was running for president. kier, good to have you here. you chased down that banker, sergei korkov. >> yeah. >> but he was not in a talkative mood. tell us about that. >> dara, that's right. we tried and we tried and we tried again to get an answer from him. but as you can see from the video, there was no chance of that. he left pretty quickly. we wanted an answer to a simple question which was why did he meet with jared kushner back in december. the white house suggested it was because jared kushner was part of the trump transition team whereas the suggested it was simply a meeting about business. this is no simple bank. this is a bank that is connected to president putin. some people call it russia's laser guided missile. others call it president putin's slush fund. the truth is probably somewhere in between there. the only truth we were trying to get to the bottom of is what happened to that meeting with jared kushner, what did you talk about? perhaps you can tell us it was completely incident, but he wasn't, as you can see, in a talkative mood. >> in st. petersburg is our colleague, megyn kelly. she had the opportunity to talk with russian president vladimir putin. she pressed him on several issues including whether had there was an agreement with the u.s. to ease economic sanctions. >> yeah, that's right. president putin denied, denied .denied again. he denied that the russian government was involved in hacking. he denied that the russians intervened in the u.s. elections and he denies there was any type of trump transition team in the idea of lifting sanctions. take a listen. >> that is just absurd what they're saying. i don't know where these people have come from that distribute this kind of information. my answer is no, no agreements whatever. we never even got down to that. >> and in the next hour, dara, we'll have more from st. petersburg looking in depth in that putin interview. meanwhile, president putin himself has left the conference here. you can see think of it, dara, as a kind of opening act if you like. we expect president putin to meet with president trump at the g-20 in july. that is going to be something. >> kier, we know megan is an sat down with putin for a one-on-one interview. were there any surprises? did he say anything different in that interview? >> well, of which he does say, what meg megyn says he said is perhaps the cia could have been behind the hack. this morning, a cia spokesperson pushing very hard back on that saying it doesn't even deserve any kind of response. and pointing out that a number of russian state news organizations have put out that line, if you like, that argument over recent weeks. so it appears to be another of the russian arguments trying to suggest that there was no way that they could have been involved in the hacking. >> it's amazing. he said a 3-year-old and the cia. we'll see what happens with her interview. kier simmons, great to have you this morning. and you can watch more of megyn kelly's exclusive interview with vladimir putin tomorrow during the premier with sunday night with megyn kelly. that will do it for me this hour. i'm dara brown. thanks for watching. at the top of the hour, the role of chief white house strategist steve bannon, why his star is on the rise again. if you've got a life, you gotta swiffer getting heartburn doesn't mean i means i take rolaids®. rolaids® goes to work instantly neutralizing 44% more acid than tums® for fast, powerful relief of your worst heartburn. trust my rolaids®. r-o-l-a-i-d-s spells relief. brtry new flonase sensimists. allergy relief instead of allergy pills. it delivers a gentle mist experience to help block six key inflammatory substances. most allergy pills only block one. new flonase sensimist changes everything. new biwhat are we gonna do?ys... how about we pump more into promotions? ♪ nah. what else? what if we hire more sales reps? ♪ nah. what else? what if we digitize the whole supply chain? so people can customize their bike before they buy it. that worked better than expected. i'll dial it back. yeah, dial it back. just a little. live business, powered by sap. when you run live, you run simple. good morning. these three small business heros turned around a town's economy be bringing back its cheese legacy. why the owner wants the federal government to regulate her industry even more. and wisdom from his lips to your ears. the ceo of carmax on why you need to respect and respond to customers. advice and stories to help you succeed, coming up next on your business.
you'll see the israeli/palestinian conflict. israelis want it to be its permanent capital. the palestinians want it to be the capital of a palestinian state. but president trump has cooled down on the notion of moving the embassy there in large part because of a lot of the diplomatic pressure being put on president trump to not move very fast on that particular issue. and that is the back door diplomatic bartering that is taking place. so we're looking at the pomp and circumstance of these ceremonies and the arrivals. but there's been a lot of groundwork leading up to this moment over the past several weeks. the saudi deputy crown prince was here. jared kushner has been meeting with the saudi foreign minister. all of that has led to this moment. it will be interesting to see what is officially announced over the course of the next 24 hours. >> well, we are watching the official welcoming ceremony of president trump in saudi arabia. it is just past 7:00 here on the east coast. at a little past 4:00 on the west coast. this is special coverage of president trump's first visit overseas with making his first stop in skraub. he was met on the tar mark initially by king salman about four hours ago. air force one landed and now this is the official welcoming ceremony at the saudi palace where president trump and his wife, first lady melania are there along with jared kushner, we saw, and ivanka trump, as well. and i'm joined by ayman and colonel jack jacobs, steve clemens and alisha habi. thank you so much for being here. colonel jack, i want to touch on this real quick because the president is in saudi arabia now but he's going to head to israel, italy and belgium over the next several days. is there an increased concern when it comes to security and the president's safety? that's something we haven't touched on yet. >> well, there is always an enormous focus on security wherever the president happens to be. the size of the presidential protection detail is much bigger than it used to be now. and when you're overseas, the requirements are even that much greater. there's an advanced team that goes several weeks out to coordinate with local law enforcement and with the national security apparatus in each of the countries that he visits. and it doesn't matter whether it's a friendly country or not. it's irrelevant. so you're talking about hundreds and hundreds of security people who go out .do the coordination well in advance. and attempt to make sure that everything is taken care of. you know, it's interesting where he's going. you did talk about reset. this is a reset, also, for friendly countries. he's going to brussels and to italy. we have a facially substantial contingent of american forces who operate from italy. a lot of air force assets operate from italy in order to support our operations in the middle east. but what really has to happen is there needs on to be a reset with nato, as well. there's been an attempt to do that since he took office, but remember during the campaign, trump talked at some great length about how irrelevant nato was and now, in an environment in which you've had brexit on the one hand, a threat from the right in france which failed on the other, but populist notions about how irrelevant international relationships are in mutual defense, it really is important that the president go to places like brussels and italy, maybe later on to great britain and other nato allies to reinforce the notion that talk about the irrelevance of nato was just that, its was talk to get elected and to lay out the notion that mutual defense in a very difficult environment is absolutely essential if we're going to increase our defense capabilities. it's really important reset takes place here, too, dara. >> ali with, we know this sa very different trip for president trump than for president obama. could you speak about that and tell us what the main differences that you are seeing and what the difference is going to be for saudi arabia and u.s. relations. >> i think the fundamental difference was that president obama had the more motherate view of iran's behavior in the region. and he was so obsessed with completing the nuclear agreement that he ignored iran's nefarious behavior in syria and iraq and in yemen. what has been very satisfied for the saudi government is that, you know, president obama, didn't see he came into office, surrounded himself with very experienced generals who have fought in the middle east and who have been on the ground and who understand how iran operates. general mattis, general mcmaster, and others who have had to deal with that revolutionary guard on the ground in iraq, who saw that the revolutionary gaus revolutionary guard was responsible for killing a lot of u.s. soldiers there. they they didn't have a naive view of iran's behavior. and i think that has been the fundamental change in policy, that this administration has been very clear about didn't see it came into office it put iran on notice when iran launched a ba lichtic missi ballistic missile test, for example. and, again, america took a very strong stand. so i think the whole understanding on behalf of this administration that iran is the key disrupter in the middle has been very well received by saudi arabia and her allies in the gulf and that, as a result, we think is going to make the region more stable because when you reintroduce american deterrents, and the perception of american deterrents into the region, the iranians get back into their box, really. to hold their syrian president accountable, you know, a month ago was, again, very important for its symbolism. unlike president obama, who allowed the red -- who allowed president assad to break the red line without consequences, there was a very clear message coming from the american president that there will be consequences for bad behavior. so i think all of that has brought america's deterrence back and that is very comforting to america's traditional allies that, to a certain extent, you know, obama was luke warm towards. he was so interested in somehow reaching out to iran. and we feel the iranians played him, frankly. >> ayman, you've been following this very closely. what can you add about this ceremony? >> not just the ceremony, but the point that ali made, as well, which is important about the reset in terms of the strategic interests between saudi arabia and the united states. there is something, also, that you're not going to hear donald trump do which is he's not going to lecture the saudis or talk to the saudis about their domestic issues, about human rights or the need for democratic reform. the indication that's been coming out of the white house is the united states wants to shift away from that. there was criticism that president obama at times came across as lecturing the conditions on its need to push for democratic reforms. obviously we all know and we're familiar with some of the accusations and allegations inside that kingdom in terms of the rights of women and in terms of the rights of minorities and what's happening in yemen in terms of human rights abuses that have been documented. you're not going to hear president obama talk about those in the bilateral relationship. that is something that has caused some concern for close allies of the united states who have been saying that the united states, because it has such a strategic relationship with countries like saudi arabia, it can help saudi arabia move in that reform. now, the saudi leadership, obviously, is embarked on particularly with the crown prince has embarked on an economic reform in that country that's trying to liberalize its economy, for employment for youth and those measures are not seen by critics of the kingdom. and that's something you're not going to hear president obama raise in his meetings consistently because, in fact, there has been a shift in the way president trump has conducted some of his foreign policy leaders like strong men and leaders in the foreign east and the philippines president, as well. so there is this criticism that president trump, perhaps, is trying to find more strategic interests that work with these countries than to find a set of american values when it comes to the middle east and that region. >> steve, i'd like you to weigh in here because we are expect 9 president trump to ask saudi arabia for more help in the anti-terrorism effort. do you think that that will actually come to fruition? do you think saudi arabia will put more into this anti-activity, anti-isis fight? >> i do believe they will and i believe they will outline for president trump the considerable things the saudis are already doing. they have one of the most robust and capable abdomen tie terrorism intelligence forces, both inside their country looking throughout the middle east and also trying to reform those that have been falling a kind of a jihadist line. so the saudis have been real partners with us in a whole variety of things and i think they're looking forward to deepening that relationship with the united states. but they think that in doing so, they're also buying support for some of the things that they want, like yemen. and i think what ayman was just talking about, not want to go hear from the united states about human rights issues inside saudi arabia, they also don't want counsel from the united states on what may happen with innocent casualties and what about the in terms of saudi incursions and a tax inside yemen. i think they're going to want to hear less complaints from the united states about whom the saudis want to support inside syria. and i think in that arena, there will be a renegotiated element of coordination and the deepening of the anti-terror efforts between the united states and the saudis. >> and, steve, colonel swrak jobs had mentioned earlier about the possibility of them forming an arab nato. what would that look like if that came to fruition and is what would that do to our relations with saudi arabia and the middle east? >> well, this has been something that's been discussed for years and years and years. and it would be essentially the gcc, the gulf cooperation council of countries coming together and beginning to sort of collectively look at their joint military needs, how they assign the capacity and the military capacity they have in assigning it to various scenarios and security in the region. there's a lot of reasons this has always been discussed and a lot of reasons between them, particularly mistrust in many of the gcc countries that it has inhibited a real nato like relationship from coming together. we often look at the gcc and say why, isn't they operate as a unit in a group on occasion, why can't they do that? but inside the gcc countries, there's a lot of distrust of each other and distrust of the saudis in particular even among other sunni states. so i don't imagine that that's going to go very far. >> colonel jacobs, if you could weigh in here, what do you think it would take for the united states in our position to get the middle east on board to be a collaborative effort to actually fight terrorism? >> i agree with steve, that it's so fragmented both political i, militarily and geographical there that it's going to be extremely difficult to get everybody who has an interest in stability to coalesce in some major structural effort so that terrorism and other problems can be fought in a unified kind of way. there's just far too much fragmentation, which you are going to continue to have, however, is another thing steve mentioned and that's extremely important and that is continued and perhaps increased intelligence informationing sharing. that's the lifeblood of fighting terrorism and instability in any region, but particularly in the region of the middle east. so the best we can hope for is improved cooperation on development of finished intelligence so that we can all fight terrorism and instability in the region. but coalescing everybody into a unified effort long standing effort to solve mutual defense problems, probably not going to happen anytime soon. >> and colonel jacobs, we're watching live pictures and president trump was just given some sort of medal or award around his neck. i'm not sure what that is. >> it seems that they are giving him a plaque of some sort. i wasn't able to hear the actual comments that were -- >> it's a medal that he's been given. >> oh, it was a medal that's been given. ali may be more familiar with the process right now. >> ali, can you weigh in ones what's going on here? >> yes, yes, he's being given a medal that is given to saudi arabia's closest friends. it's probably the highest medal that saudi arabia can give to any foreign leader, really. >> i just wanted to jump in on the point of intelligence sharing. senior u.s. officials have stoeld me u.s.-saudi cooperation is among the strold strongest in the world. so i don't think that needs to get any stronger. on the concept of an arab nato, remember saudi arabia just put together an anti-terrorism alliance with 39 muslim states. obviously, some muslim states will be providing the brunt of the firepower. management and structure and headquarters for that has been put together in real. and i think america can play a very important role in helping coordinate and helping lite lead that in a way. also, the gulf cooperation council. so i think people understand in the region today that they have to work together. that's happening in the war on yes, ma'am b where saudi arabia and the uae are working very closely together. .america can play a very important coordinating role because america has strong ties and operational ties with everybody. and it can bring, you know, the operational pieces together very effectively. the so i think the fact that the president has shown a lot of interest in that and general mattis as a former head of the central command. so he has an intimate knowledge of the issues there. i think america can make a difference and make that sort of bilateral effort to fight terrorism in yemen and in the rest of the arab world much more effective. so i think there's something substantive there. i wouldn't diminish the talk about, you know, putting together a group to fight terrorism in the region with american involved because i think it's come a long way in the last couple of years and i think america can make a difference and this administration has shown that it wants to make a difference at that. >> ali, you had mentioned earlier there is mistrust within the arab nations and we are dealing with a situation now where president trump is being, obviously, the red carpet rolled out for him here. but during the election, there was a lot of rhetoric that came up, very anti-islam and he was very strong in his words. how will that play out now that he is in saudi arabia and in advance of his speech tomorrow where their trust might be reinstated? what is the president going to have to do to get saudi arabia on board and to actually have a communication that's working? >> well, he's already done a lot. when you see all the rhetoric that he used in the campaign and some of the early language that he used even when he became president, and then you see him making a decision to come to saudi arabia first and agreeing to meet all these muslim leaders and giving a speech on islam, i mean, he sent all the right signals, really, that he appreciates that, you know, and as a sitting president, he's different from a politician that really a lot of the rhetoric from the campaign was wrong. and that these muslim allies of his, particularly saudi arabia, is on the front line against terrorism. he needs them to fight terrorism. they have been working very well with america to fight terrorism and i think he's confirming that. and the fact that, you know, he is making such an important gesture is being well received, relate. and you're seeing the manifestation of that on the ground in riyadh now. >> and we're going to bring in ozzie paver, senior reporter for politico new york. what's the domestic background now and how is that going to influence president trump's trip overseas? >> well, the background is clearly the rhetoric from the campaign and the rhetoric that he's using in his first hundred days in office, having suspicion about refugees coming abroad, coming into the country. everyone remembers all the rhetoric he had used on the campaign trail and the politics behind this seeing here, at least, is that the president is going to be able to use this trip to underscore the fact that there is commonality between american interests in fighting terrorism and those with overseas allies. but it's also going to inoculate trump from the criticism that he's anti-islam, that he's anti-immigrant. whether or not he actually makes substantive changes to policies in his rhetoric is going to be something that we have to wait and see, but he's viewed very suspiciously on the left and from people who took seriously the rhetoric from his campaign. and now he's going to go overseas and possibly modify how he explains his policies. >> and i'd like to bring in jonathan allen, a columnist from roll call and coauthor of "shattered," inside hillary clinton's doomed campaign. jonathan, there's no denying that these headlines hit as president trump was in the air. which of these headlines that hit last night are going to be the most damaging, potentially the most damaging to president trump? >> well, i think you've got a wide variety of them to choose from. i think the investigation now is starting to see as a person of interest somebody who is described as a white house official close to the president. you know, i think that the way these investigations work, the higher you can work up the chain, the closer you get to the principal, the more the noose is tightening. so i think to me that's the most important revelation, obviously. you know, there are some other good headlines or interesting headlines there for those who like to see splashy stuff at the top of the paper, the nut job comment about game comey is interesting. but i really think that advancement of the investigation closer to his inner circle is the big thing. >> and we're going to go right now to nbc's kelly o'donnell. she is traveling with the president and she joins us from riyadh. kelly, can you tell us what's on the agenda today for president trump? >> good to be with you. this is, of course, the start of what will be an important trip for the president to be sort of graded on his stature on the world stage. and we've already seen the welcome ceremony which has been replete with lots of pomp and ceremony and gestures towards the united states. the streets here are lined with american flags. we heard the national anthem being played. and all of the ceremony to lend the stature of this being the first place where president trump has decided to visit as president in saudi arabia. there are meetings to be had on issues of common interests from business to fighting terrorism. but the start of the trip is much more about building some context personally, having the delegations with the u.s. and the saudis, have some time to meet. there are no big formal opportunities for the president to make remarks here today. but we'll watch for any chance where he may make some comments. but at this point, it is the hospitality of saudi arabia that is starting this trip for the president and the first lady. and the members of the delegation, many of whom are familiar to us at the white house from the chief of staff, reince priebus, to top adviser steve banyan and, of course, the president's daughter and son-in-law who are officials in the white house. this will be an opportunity for president trump to leave behind some of the controversy and the nagging headlines that have dogged him in the united states, to get a brief buffer from that.. it's all still relevant.. but in this timing, he has a chance to try and shift the conversation a bit and focus on the u.s. relationship with this important partner in the middle eastern world. of course, it is the beginning of a three-religion pilgrimage the president is making to honor each of these three great world regions. islam here .later it will be judaism in israel and of course to the vatican to meet pope francis. so it is a trip that has many layers from diplomacy so business to religious acknowledgement and in many ways for the in the man who is now president, so harsh about islam, this is a chance for him to try to build relationships and soften some of those rougher edges in the way that he characterized radical islam in particular and the religion more broadly as some interpreted it. dara. >> kelly, we have been watching live pictures of president trump in his welcoming ceremony. if you could, gives a brief description of what was going on in that room and where they're head to go now. >> well, there was the opportunity for the king to show some hospitality with what they've called a coffee ceremony. they'll also have a tour of the palace and there will be a delegation luncheon where there is business to be done, but also relationship building to take place, as well. and so this day, it will be -- it's already afternoon here, site will be a packed afternoon for the president and first lady and the u.s. delegation. but each of these things is steeped with a lot of formality and a lot of ceremony, clearly saudi arabia is prepared heavily for this. the hotel where the president is staying has had his image projected on the side of the hotel. american flags are very visible here. also, very tight security as you would expect for a visit of this magnitude. but consider this an opportunity for some of the graciousness of the saudi king to be extended toward the u.s. president, a chance for the president who is accustom to being the one who leads the moment. at the white house, when there are foreign dignitaries the who visit, it is the president who decides where they sit and move. this is a chance for him to be part of a ceremony around him and not the one directing the ceremony. but consider it an opportunity for the delegations to talk about those range of issues. dealing with business to terrorism to building the relationship. and there's a subtext here, as well. the u.s. has had a harder, more difficult position toward iran in the trump years as opposed to the obama years with the efforts to try to stifle the iranian nuclear program. this is a sunni country and the saudi arabia has a fierce foe in iran. so this is a different kind of back drop to this conversation here where the u.s. is certainly standing with a partner who has been an ally in this region for many decades, defense of saudi arabia's an issue, as well. the president said saudis could pay more for their defense. so all of these complicated issues will be a part of it. there are many opportunities for the president, but there are some trouble spots if he is not careful about how he proceeds. dara. >> kelly, thank you so much. ozzie, if i can just get one quick question in here, what do you expect out of this trip? it is sort of a news conference, no news for him for the nine days, but what is he going to walk back into and how is this going to work out? >> he's going to walk into an arena where he gets to say i have allies in the muslim world, we're working together, we agree, look at all my friends. that's the message that he's going to come out with. >> it will be an interesting nine days ahead of it. and then he moves on to israel and we'll see what happens there. so azi, thank you so much for being here. jonathan allen, great to have you. steve clemens, thanks for staying with us for these past two hours. ayman, great to have you weighing in on this situation, as well. and colonel jack jacobs, our military analyst, always a pleasure to have you here. ali, wonderful to have your input on this major trip for president trump overseas. this is his first overseas trip in saudi arabia. obviously, the red carpet has been rolled out for president trump. we saw it on the tarmac, we saw it again at the palace. and we will have live coverage continue throughout the day. and that wraps up this edition of msnbc live. i'm dara brown. stay with us. up next is "your business." coming up at 8:00 a.m., we hear from former fbi director james comey when he testifies before the senate intelligence committee. whoa! you're not taking these. hey, hey, hey! you're not taking those. whoa, whoa! you're not taking that. come with me. you're not taking that. you're not taking that. you're not taking that. mom, i'm taking the subaru. don't be late. even when we're not there to keep them safe, our subaru outback will be. 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>> we begin with politics and lawmakers are coming face-to-face with their constituents for the first time since the senate republican's efforts to repeal and replace obamacare collapsed. here is how republican senator bill caddssidy responded yestery in a town hall which asked if he would vote on the bill. >> step on their necks by kicking them off their health care at this point, that's cruel, sir. i think what you need to do as a louisianan is go back to washington, d.c. and stand up for the people and say, we need our health care. >> i am doing my best to make sure that we continue coverage, care for those with pre-existing conditions, eliminate mandates and lower premiums. >> meanwhile, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is pushing back against president trump's new idea to repeal and replace obamacare at a later date. he told reporters after an event in kentucky last night that republicans are going to stick with their current plan. mcconnell's comments come as a group of senators are asking him to cancel the august recess so they can work on health care and other priorities. meanwhile, more republicans are speaking out in the wake of president trump's derogatory tweets about two msnbc holds this week. >> the president is hurting himself and congress's ability to advance an agenda because it becomes a distraction. and the last thing that the congress needs is distraction when you talk about something as important as health care or what comes next on taxes or what comes next on the budget. so i think it's more disappointing. >> let's bring in gabby and it's great to have you both this morning. >> thanks. >> thanks for having us. >> gabby, first to you because you are reported reaction from inside the white house to the president's latest tweets and this week's controversies. what are you hearing? >> i spoke to someone yesterday who is close to the president who told me after he fired off that tweet this week about joe scarborough and mika brzezinski, he ran around the white house asking him staff what they thought and admitting that he knew it was presidential, but still wanted their reactions. it seems like he was trying to gauge the fallout of what the repercussions of sending something like this would be because it obviously was a tremendous personal attack on somebody. and there were some white house staffers who responded and felt that it was just what needed to be said. others kept their heads down and just didn't want to, you know, respond and get themselves entangled in this mess. but i really do think that there comes a point where we need to ask ourselves where tweets like that one we saw earlier this week connect the president with the american people as the white house has said all along. i'm sure that there are some folks who want president trump to fight back against media personalities who have been especially critical of him. but i know that there are plenty others who really think that the most effective way that he can punch back is by focusing on governing and really enacting policies that are indisputably positive for this country. >> ozzie, you have covered new york politics for a while now. how much is this in line with trump's actions before he was president and can anyone convince him to slow down on twitter? >> well, apparently he has a couple members of his family in the white house that were supposed to be moderating factors on his behavior, ivanka trump, jared kushner. and there were all these people who were supposed to somehow be whispering in his ear and guiding him to a more presidential path of action. but the idea that these trumps sort of connect him with the people, he plays on these emotional argument, you know? and him deciding to do this, knowing that it is not presidential, that it is sort of beneath the office, that it is in line with every attack that he's done before is really no surprise. and he has picked his targets. he's attacked people for how they look. he's not really making an argument about the policy discussion that's currently on the table, which is the health care legislation and he is hoping to get passed. when he distracts himself and others with these kind of personal attacks, it makes people wonder, where is his attention? is he really working to get legislation passed? and it makes people on the edges of these discussions nervous. >> and i want to pick up on that health care. the president is now tweeting that he's okay with repeal and then wait to replace. that didn't flooit fly with mitch mcconnell. what is the timeline now? >> i think mitch mcconnell made it clear that the senate is going to continue on the path that they're already on. but that doesn't mean this tweet yesterday from the president didn't complicate things for the senate. this tweet suggesting that they should repeal now and then possibly delay for a year as they find a replacement or replace just later, eventually, i do think that it certainly came at a time, the crucial time for negotiations and wasn't helpful for ongoing talks. because conservatives who were at the the table have long advocated for this approach that the president outlined yesterday, repeal now and replace later. if they now think that is an option, something that the president fully supports, they're going to be far less likely to come to the table and continue participating in current negotiations. >> azi, senator chuck schumer is challenging the president to come to the table and meet with senate democrats on health care. do you think that's possible or do you think it's posturing? >> it would be a great show. i think we all would love to see donald trump walk into a room full of democrats and have him try to sell his argument. what we're seeing right now about this health care debate is one side wants to speak about health care and wants to explain the details. the other side, the republicans, are crunching the legislation behind closed doors, they weren't sharing it with other members. we haven't seen hearings about this hinge. they don't want to discuss what is actually in the legislation. when the senators come out and they talk about, you know, we're going to roll back regulations, what they're really talking about are -- is providing health insurance to people and essential services. so to have donald trump sort of meet with chuck schumer, it was a wonderful limitation for people that want to see this kind of debate. it's not likely to actually.happen. >> gabby and azi, stick with me. some state officials are pushing back a request for president trump's voter fraud commission which is skd asking for details about voters in every state. peter alexander has more. >> growing backlash against a sweeping request for president trump's investigation of voter fraud. >> this is an outrageous attempt by this administration. >> following this letter asking all 50 states to provide their voter data, names, addresses, dates of birth, party affiliation and even in some cases the last four digits of social security numbers. >> will rhode island comply with the this the request? >> no. first of all, i think this is an alarming request. i don't know where it's coming from. >> from mississippi's republican secretary of state, my reply would be they could go jump in the gulf of mexico and mississippi is a great state to launch from. >> my question is what are you afraid of? it's publicly available information. we're going to analyze it and present it to the public. >> the white house calling it a political stunt. the administration's move is months in the making. after losing the popular vote to hillary clinton, president trump has alleged without proof that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally. >> voting rights advocates question the entire process. >> not only should voters be skeptical of the results, but they should be extremely, you know, sir couple expect about the collection of this data and how it's going to be handled. >> peter alexander, nbc news, the white house. >> you heard them say all the information the white house is requesting is public, anyway. but both republicans and democrats are pushing back, so what is their biggest fear? >> a lot of this information, yes, it is public, but there is some sensitive data that hasn't been released yet. and i think if they question the motives of this commission right now, they're wondering why information that is obvious b in some cases would be needed to be sent to the white house for this investigation into possible voter fraud. i mean, there is an innocuous reason why some people are, you know, doubled up on voter data rolls. people move frequently. they die. and they're still kept on those. and these are reasons that have been around for decades. so for the commission to say we need copies of the last four digits of individuals' social security numbers, something that chris covack himself said kansas will likely not provide which is interesting and possibly a bit hypocritical win do think there are sensitive questions about the motives here. >> and azi, before i let you go, nbc has confirmed a new report that special counsel robert mueller hired andrew goldstein from new york to be part of his team. what is your assessment of that hire and how do you read it? >> mueller has taken this investigation incredibly seriously. and i believe people who had been the u.s. attorney in the southern district and very famously had a show yodown with donald trump where he ended up getting fired had praised the hiring, calling him a consummate professional. now, democrats are likely to see this hire and say it proves that this investigation is really being handled by professionals.. republicans, people like newt gingrich who are trying to raise doubts about what mueller is doing, is going to see this and say this is further proof that mueller is stacking the investigation of people that already have a motive and an idea about the outcome that they want. so when elected officials sort of take -- when they look at the investigators and sort of undermine their motives and call that into question, you really get the sense that whatever comes out of this result is going to be debated. irregardless of what the results are going to show. >> and gabby, last question to you, are white house insiders worried about mueller's investigation now? >> well, i think that you know what azi was saying, there are a number of individuals who have been brought on to this investigation who have a history of donating to hillary clinton's campaign, of backing democratic candidates. and so there is some concern about that. but we should also, you know, place our trust in this administration -- i'm sorry, in this investigation. the president himself said that mueller is a highly respected individual. he is -- you know, has decades of experience as a federal prosecutor and i think that that's something that everybody should be taking into account, whether they support this administration or are eager to see what this investigation determines ultimately. >> gabby, azi, thanks so much for joining me this morning. >> thank you. shouted questions president trump faced at a bilateral news conference with the south korean president had nothing to do with the number one issue, north korea. why some republicans say that is problem. the details, um next. how are your teeth whiter than mine? 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>> good morning, dara. we can imagine that the president is going to have some time with family, maybe a little time at the golf. you know, he's at his golf club, so one might expect he would be doing some golfing. but at the same time, he's also probably doing a little preparation for a big trip that comes next week. that's his second foreign trip where he'll be heading to poland and to germany and that's for the g20 summit. .that stands out because it will be his first opportunity as president to meet with vladimir putin. so there's a lot riding on that. but there's been so much turmoil around his administration. and you talked about the tweets, that certainly got in the way of a big visit from the south korean president. and this holiday weekend may give his administration a little break from the controversy. >> the trump family version of an american summer tradition. with a presidential lift to get them to their new jersey home. a fourth of july getaway that leaves the biggest fireworks behind in washington. tweet fallout in the rose garden. and on morning tv. >> he appears to have fragile, impetuous child-like ego. >> the president's series of tweets with personal insults aimed at the msnbc host drew quick bipartisan criticism. >> he needs to put the twitter account away. >> but the white house described it as social media self-defense. >> it's incredible to watch people play arm chair psychologyist. >> host joe scar bureau row claimed three white house officials told him they could prevent an unflatering "national enquirer" story if they pulled back criticism of the president. >> they said if you called the president up and if you apologize for your coverage, then he will pick up the phone and basically spike the story. >> the "national enquirer" said it had absolutely no involvement. while the president hit back tweeting, he called me to stop a "national enquirer" article. i said no. president trump said no to any questions, despite inviting journalists to cover three separate event wes south korea's president friday. reacted to jostling for camera positions in the oval office. >> you guys are getting worse. >> so there the president was willing to talk with journalists to comment about the, i think, elbows that were being thrown in the oval office when you had the american journalists familiar with being in the oval office, but the contingent who was with and traveling with the south korean president. so they bumped a table and that's what prompted the president to sort of tease them about quote/unquote getting worse. the president will make a brief trip this evening back to washington and then back here to new jersey. he'll be speaking at a veteran's event that's part of the fourth of july holiday sell wragzs. dara. >> kelly o'donnell, thanks so much. and happy now skiing in july? the slopes at man muth mountain are still open just days before the fourth of july holiday. this has happened only one other time. joining me now, the weather channel's reynolds wolf. hey, reynolds. >> good morning, dara. let's take a look at the forecast. it will involve showers and storms moving through the eastern third of the country. dallas and atlanta, storms early, but looks better by the afternoon. chicago, 84 degrees. denver, fantastic. plenty of sunshine. highs going up into the 80s. and los angeles with 76 degrees. we go from today into tomorrow's forecast and what we're dealing with is another bout of severe storms this time across parts of the central plains into the corn belt. chicago, a bit warmer, too. bismarck, mid 80s. seattle, partly cloudy and 78. new york 91. atlanta 87 degrees. your monday will be fantastic out towards the west. still quiet. that severe weather a possibility across the parts of the plains. deep south, new york, hot times. 90 degrees and partly cloudy skies. back to you. so now you're looking at video of iraqi troops raising their country's flag in mosul. richard engle joins us next as the battle for mosul appears to be coming to an end.the. ♪ at johnson's we care about safety as much as you do. that's why we meet or exceed 15 global regulations for baby products. and where standards differ, we always go with the toughest. johnson's. when heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. at crowne plaza we know business travel isn't just business. there's this. 'a bit of this. why not? your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. which is what we do. crowne plaza. we're all business, mostly. ♪ at lincoln financial, we get there are some responsibilities of love you gotta do on your own. and some you shouldn't have to shoulder alone. like ensuring your family is protected, today and tomorrow, no matter what the future brings. ask a financial advisor how life insurance from lincoln can help start protecting your family's financial future now. sgro a couple of top stories making news this hour. legal sales of recollection rectal marijuana begin today in nevada. the silver state becomes the fifth in the nation to allow the sale of marijuana. the state 10% tax on pot is expected to raise $60 million over the next two years. and the ntsb is now investigating the crash of a small plane on a busy los angeles area highway. the the terrifying moments of that fiery crash were caught on cell phone video. the cessna crashed moments after the pilot said he lost power at the last moment. and a developing story, hundreds of people are fleeing eastern mosul as iraqi troops pull out the last pockets of isis in the state. at the same time, iraq's prime minister has declared the end of the isis caliphate after government forces won back a key symbolic site. rich engle is in mosul with the latest. richard. >> we are now in downtown mosul with american and iraqi troops. they are working here in very spartan conditions and working extraordinarily closely together with the iraqis doing most of the front line fighting and american troops providing intelligence device ask calling in air strikes. >> it's taken iraqi backed forces nine months after house to house fighting, but now they're in the final stages of clearing isis. >> that intat you see back there, that's uncomfortably close.. that's 20 meter gun fights. >> the colonel demands more than 1600 american fighters helping to fight isis. any idea how many isis fighters? >> no. in fact, i'm not even sure it really matters. the daesh fighters are in there are going to fight to the death. >> we went to see the fighters -- holed up in an area now in ruins. >> when you come to the front line one quickly realize how difficult this terrain is. this is the ancient part of mosul. it is a warren of small alleyways, perfect for hit and run attacks. many of the small streets are too narrow for american and iraqi armored vehicles to pass through them. so it's clear to see why isis would choose to make this part of mosul its last stand in the city. caught the in this battle zone in mosul are thousands of families. many now escaping its isis of terror, its draconian laws and public beheadings. this man saying he was reborn, thanking everyone he saw, even us.. in a mosque not far from here three years ago, isis leader abu al bagdadi announced the creation of its so-called state, caliphate. last week, iraqi forces raised their flag on the spot. >> what does that mean for the war against isis? >> it's a setback for isis. >> just a few more blocks to go to clear mosul, but they could prove to be the hardest yet. >> american commanders won't put an exact timeline as to on when they think the mosul operation will be finished, but they say it is likely matter of days. back to you. >> richard engle there. thanks for watching. next hour, an aclu lawyer on new travel bans. next, your business with j.j. ramburg. david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "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 mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪ (vfirst ingredient?g food's corn? wheat? in new purina one true instinct grain free with beef, real beef is number one. no corn, wheat or soy. support your dog's whole body health with purina one. take 5, guys. tired of your bladder always cutting into your day? 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we begin with politics and another setback for that senate gop health care bill. two major insurers are asking majority leader mitch mcconnell to remove senator ted cruz's amendment which would allow insurers to sell cheaper plans with fewer benefits. they say cruz's proposal is unworkable in any form. despite the hurdle, the trump administration is working on its outreach to governors in an attempt to pass the bill. tom brice will speak with governors in a closed session later this morning. > and here is president trump in his weekly address this morning. >> i am pleased to report that we are very, very close to ending this health care nightmare.. we are so close. it's a common sense approach that restores the sacred doctor-patient relationship and you're going to finally have great health care at a lower price. >> vice president mike pence used his appearance at the governor's meeting to meet privately with nevada republican governor brian sandoval. the republican governor has been an outspoken critic of the bill. also today, the trump at administration is reportedly considering giving the department of homeland security expanded powers to deport unadult the immigrants. meanwhile, scrutiny surrounding donald trump jr.'s meeting with a russian lawyer. >> he had not even mentioned this meeting to his father. and why would he? nothing transpired at that meeting, so there was nothing to discuss. this was a setup to do what? to really get in on the magnitsky act. she went right down to washington, d.c. and did the same thing in washington and the end result of that was nothing. i think the whole thing was a put up to begin with. >> nbc news learned there were other previously undisclosed attendees at that meeting. new information is challenging the younger trump's original account. peter alexander has the latest details. >> president trump back home after taking part in french bastille day celebrations return to go a parade of problems. nbc news has learned that this man, rinat akhmetshin who some u.s. officials suspect has ongoing tie toes russian intelligence was also in had that room at trump tower last summer. alongside donald trump jr., jared kushner, paul manafort, russian lawyer natalia veselnitskaya and a russian translator. >> if you're an investigator and you care most about ties between the trump organization and the russian efforts to meddle in the election, this meeting now looks a lot more significant. >> trump junior's lawyer now tells nbc that veselnitskaya was accompanied by two people, but didn't name them. it's ever evolving drama after dismissed concerned more revelations would follow. >> so as far as you know, this is all of it. as far as information is concerned. >> this is everything. this is everything. >> the fact they failed to mention the attendance of this russian lob buyest is going oenl going to peak the interest of robert mueller and other vgz investigators. >> veselnitskaya said she brought two documents and trump junior asked whether she had financial records to prove it. >> my answer was no, that it was never my intention to collect financial records to that end. >> the president repeatedly defended his son. >> most people would have taken that meeting. it's called opposition research. >> still, democrats are pouncing. >> this provides yet another conduit back to the kremlin that the trump campaign would eagerly accept to help the russian government. >> that was nbc's peter alexander reporting. let's briven in kevin surilli and azi. great to have you both here this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> kevin, any sense if there are more shoes to drop on this story or is this all out there now? >> dara, i spoke with several republicans yet yesterday on capitol hill and all week. i can tell you there is a frustration about the twist and turns that this particular story, including this meeting now that has taken place back in last summer about the people who were undisclosed who were in the meeting because the republicans feel that every time that this happens, it hinders their chances of moving on to other issues like passing health care reform. now, brad pascal, the digital director of the trump campaign is going to announce that he is going to meet with the house intelligence committee, the investigations in the senate intelligence and house intelligence committees are very much ongoing. there will be several meetings next week. but all of that said, there's a frustration that is palpable about every new twist and turn that this story takes. >> and azi, what is the effect on the white house of this drip, drip, drip of information on the donald trump jr. meeting? >> well, there's only so much that the administration can handle at one time. it's very clear that they're trying to pass through a very unpopular health care bill and at the same time trying to answer questions which in their process raises even more questions. so if you are a senator that's sort of wavering on whether or not to pass through a health care bill that has 12% support among the american public, you might take a second look at throwing in your vote with the administration with all these new revelations coming out. if you are a die hard supporter, you may say, hey, everyone else is talking about a different issue. this may be a good time to ramp through this policy that is not very popular. >> kevin, any way to know what the special prosecutor robert mueller might be interested in with respect to this episode? >> first and foremost, donald trump jr. is maintaining there was no conclusion there and i spoke yesterday with republicans who as of now are -- while critical of this meeting from taking place, are not withdrawing their support or suggesting that any laws were broken. why that matters, dara, is because that suggests that there still is a cohesive policy agenda behind -- policy agenda push behind the white house. now, the special prosecutor robert mule ser going to be definitely taking a look at this meeting. and we should note that christopher wray, the president's nominee to be fbi director testified earlier this week before the senate judiciary committee saying that he would be very independent in continuing the investigations. of course, now former fbi director james comey having with been fired by the white house, president trump, and this would be his successor. so all of this, again, very much suggesting that these investigations are ongoing as health care continues to bubble in the background. >> and, azi, do you think a more seasoned political operative would have taken this meeting? do you think this would have happened if he had been more seasoned politically? >> hell bleeping no. but what about paul manafort? >> he was in the meeting, too. there's a lot of questions. >> the part of the meeting that would have triggered a warning bell is this is part of the russian government's effort to help elect donald trump. that is the part of the e-mail that someone who reads their e-mails, reads them all the way through, would have said what are you talking about and would not have let their brother-in-law, the campaign manager and other people into that room or would have at least asked what are you talking about with this effort? you would not have wanted to put yourself in had there or anyone else in there especially with this e-mail floating around and putting out there themselves, i have no idea what he was thinking. >> do you think paul manafort knew? >> i totally agree with azi. i think that's where republicans are at. they're ideallogically opposed on different sides of the aisle, but both agree that there are significant questions about this meeting. and while it's, you know, essentially paul manafort is a seasoned political operative. decades long in the washington. so paul mamafor the is going to be facing a lot of questions about his involvement. on the flip side of this, just from a policy standpoint, i think something that republicans like senator lindsey graham both agree on is what is the house of representatives going to do to respond to the 2016 meddling in the election with regard to russia sanctions? the new comments from president trump in the last 24 hours suggests that he wants to make sure that the sanctions with bill is done right. it passed nearly unanimously out of the senate several weeks ago. the house has yet to take it up. but i'm hearing there is a lot of pressure from republicans in the house of representatives to pass some type of response to take up the senate sanctions bill against russia as a response to what happened in the 2016 election. >> and, obviously, russia is a very hot topic here. azi, you've covered new york politics now. are you surprised at how all this transpired with donald trump jr.? >> everything is surprising sort of with this administration. i think what was most surprising is that you have such clear evidence that their story is evolving just from day-to-day. you can sit in front of your television and watch the evolution. >> the day-to-day, week to week, month to month. >> minute to minute, tweet to tweet. also surprising was that donald trump jr. released these e-mails on his own as if there is nothing in there that people would have questioned. his act, it was meant to be an act of transparency. went on tv. this is easy, this is done. the meeting was a waste of time. read the e-mail. there was something there that should not have been there. the fact that he disclosed it thinking that the act of disclosure would somehow overcome or over-shadow the actual words in black and white is sort of stunning and it speaks to how much the people around donald trump valued being an outsider anti-establishment, pooeg people with no experience. they valued the inexperience and now it's costing them. >> interesting. azi, kevin, thank you so much for being here. this conversation, obviously, will continue in the future. have a great saturday. >> thank you. >> thanks. you, too. is there a way to find out what the president actually knew about his son's meeting with a russian lawyer? 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>> well, the white house itself is really not talking about this issue. but they have brought on a new lawyer who will be joining the team to deal with some of the inquiries coming from congress, coming from the media, trying to help them deal with how this is all being played out in realtime. this weekend, the president is here in new jersey. and he comes here often. but this is different. his golf course is hosting a major golf tournament and he'll be attending. and the president is also trying to deal with the political fallout from his son don junior's meeting. we've seen the changing stories. that's been a big problem from the initial reaction of russian adoptions to seeking dirt on hillary clinton. back in new jersey, where president trump's bed minister resort is hosting the women's u.s. open golf tournament this weekend. the president and son eric watch from the clubhouse. a big event for the trump family business while the trump white house is in the rough over the russia investigation. political pressure turned up. >> this has got another disturbing turn of events. >> it's been one week since the revelation that donald trump jr. met with a russian lawyer at trump tower during the campaign. he tried to control the damage himself. >> so as far as you know, as far as this incident is concerned, this is all of it. >> this is everything. this is everything. >> but that wasn't everything. the 2016 meeting brought donald trump jr., jared kushner and paul manafort face-to-face with a former sergeant the in a soviet military counter intelligence unit. rinat akhmetshin is now a d.c. lobbyist and russian-american known to work on soviet issues. some suspect he may have russian intelligence ties. he denies that. also there, natalia veselnitskaya, a russian lawyer. and there was an interpreter. trump junior says nothing came of the meeting. friday on capitol hill, former trump campaign operative michael caputo met with the house intelligence committee blind closed door and then together to the media. >> with growing demands for information, the trump white house is expanding its internal level team with russian lawyer ty cob who will tackle requests from congress and the media. >> and at this point, the different legal teams are trying to sort out more discipline as it's been described to me. so you'll have the white house attorney who will be dealing with some issues, the president's outside personal council. and find the lanes where family members can talk to each other, where the lawyers can strategize with one another but they don't want them talking to these issues altogether. they're trying to make sure they handle these issues properly so they're not strategizing out of the presence of their lawyers, trying to keep things a little more controlled than what we have seen in the first week since this really sort of blew up. so that's one of the complications for the trump family being so involved in the white house. dara. >> kelly o'donnell, live for us from new jersey, thank you, kelly. happening now, several people forced to evacuate from the site of a massive sinkhole near tampa, florida. two homes have been destroyed. the 225 foot hole is 50 feet deep and growing, threatening other homes in the neighborhood. joining me now for a look at the weather headlines, the weather channel's reynolds wolf. good morning, reynolds. >> good morning, dara. let's take a look at your forecast. it is going to include a chance of severe storms in a couple places. one on the carolina coast. some of the storms we have across the deep south today could reach severe levels, but rain will be the biggest feature we'll have day after day. out towards the west, stagnant air for the san joaquin valley. 88 degrees in los angeles. but it's the interior valley that will be roasting for you. denver with 88 degrees, showers moving into the ohio valley. new york, a lovely but somewhat warm day for you with 87 degrees. and plenty of sunshine. atlanta, chance of thunderstorms possibly by the afternoon, but more rain for the gulf coast into central florida, south florida. miami, 88 degrees and a chance of storms by the afternoon. let's get back to you. >> reynolds, thanks so much. what is the most significant thing that we've learned about donald trump jr.'s meeting with a russian lawyer? i'll ask one of the reporter who broke the story. when you switch to progressive. winds stirring. too treacherous for a selfie. 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>> well, ranat was born in russia. he did a stint in the soviet military as a counterintelligence sergeant. i wouldn't read too much into what. he then moved at some point to the the united states, got oouz citizenship and has been working for many years as a lobbyist/fixer in washington, kind of in the shadowss, often for russian interests, sometimes on behalf of the putin government or at least causes near and dear to the putin dwoft. in recent years, he's been lobbying along with this lawyer on these magnitsky act sanctions. he says that's one of the reasons he was in the room with -- at trump tower with the trump teal. there's an entirely different story coming out of those e-mails from goldstone. but rinat, the fact that his presence at the meeting was only disclosed yesterday adds a new layer of ip trying to this meeting which obviously is dogging the trump team and the russian investigation. >> knowing now that there are more people in the room, what more have we learned about the details of the actual meeting? >> well, you know, veselnitskaya gave an exclusive interview to nbc news early last week and we learned a lot then. rinat akhmetshin has now added to the story. we're learning more about a document that they may have either shown to or turned of to the trump team that purported to discuss what they viewed as questionable b contributions to the democratic national committee. but it seems like the trump team didn't think much of this, didn't think it was actually derogatory information that they could use in the campaign and they sort of dismissed it. at least that's the account we're getting from both the russian side and the trump side. >> and what of this document? do we know what it contained? do we have any visual on this document? >> we don't. obviously, we're working hard to determine that, but we think it has to do with -- this -- the anti-magnitsky act people have been discussing for a time the way they've been truth to influence trump politics. the trump didn't didn't think much about it. >> what do you think is the most significant things we can conclude that we have learned from this meeting so far? >> i actually think this meeting could be a game change ner this russia investigation because the e-mails that we saw that led to the meeting being set up really amount to the first evidence of actual collusion. they're not proof, but it's evidence. these are e-mails describe ago russian government overture to help the trump campaign where it was very explicit. the e-mails said the russian government wants to help donald trump. and we have derogatory information about hillary clinton. we would like to provide. and don junior, instead of calling the fbi, took the meeting. so whatever actually happened in this meeting it raises questions about what other contacts there were because it showed a clear willingness of the trump team to play ball with the russians. >> is there any way to find out what president trump knew about this meeting? the white house says he learned about it recently. >> that's right. his lawyer is saying he didn't know about it. but i think that's an open question. there's been reporting that his lawyers learned about it in june and many people who have volumed donald trump very closely find it hard to imagine that he wouldn't at least pop into a meeting with his top aide necessary trump tower. i'm sure that's a question investigators will be asking. >> ken, thanks so much. that will do it for me. i'm dara brown. at the top of the how, hugh hewitt interviews the las vegas mayor. you're not taking these. hey, hey, hey! you're not taking those. whoa, whoa! you're not taking that. come with me. you're not taking that. you're not taking that. you're not taking that. mom, i'm taking the subaru. don't be late. even when we're not there to keep them safe, our subaru outback will be. 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magazine called to say that i was probably going to be named man, person, like person of the year like last year but i had to agree to an interview and a major shoot. i said probably is no good and took a pass. thanks any way. time magazine fired back on twitter saying the president is incorrect about how we choose person of the year. time does not comment on our choice until publication, which is december 6th. meanwhile, the white house is down playing a new development in a russia investigation on whether ousted national security adviser michael flynn has cut a deal with robert mueller. kristen welker has more. >> reporter: while president trump hit the links with tiger woods in florida, the cloud of the russia investigation is growing. a source familiar with the legal proceedings tells nbc news a lawyer for the president's ousted national security adviser michael online notified the president's team they would no lo nger share information. the change reported by the new york times so signal a significant shift in flynn's cooperation with robert mueller. >> what might it indicate. >> it could mean that he's cooperating with prosecutors. on the other hand, it might just mean he's negotiating with them. or trying to secure some favorable plea deal. in order to do that, though, he's going to have to demonstrate to prosecutors that he has some valuable information. >> reporter: the white house is down playing the very many one officialing telling nbc news, even if flynn is cooperating with mueller there is no concern at the white house that flynn will implicate. the president mr. trump's former campaign manager, cory lewandowski. >> there is no liability because he didn't collude with russia in any way shape or form. >> this month nbc news reported that federal investigators have enough information to bring charges in the flynn investigation and under scrutiny for his foreign lobbying work involving russia and turkey and fired after just 24 days on the job. although later in an interview with lester, president trump praised flynn. >> he's in my opinion a very good person. >> that is kristen welker reporting. and let's bring in gabby moren and jonathan allen, reporter for nbc news digital. great to have you both. jonathan, what are you hear being how the white house and others in president's trump's inner circle are processing this news about flynn. >> there is great reporting from kristen welker, i think the message that we're mostly hearing out of the white house and from allies like cory lewandowski is they are not worried about the president being implicated. i'm not sure whatt -- what else they would say. their argument is that he didn't do anything and the idea that implicate is at odds with what the president has done. kristen has reported there is -- at least one person close to the white house that said there is some concern about this. i think the big picture is what we're seeing is the splitting or dividing of the interests of people who are involved in this. so the president's interests are not the same as michael flynn's interest and may not be the same of his own interest or jared kushner's interest or when you see the legal defense teams say we can't cooperate because their clients have different interests. >> and gabby what are you hear being this, with hope hicks now in the spotlight. >> there is a growing concern about these staff interviews that are taking place between mueller and former and current white house officials. and i do think that there is some concern among white house staff over this deal with flynn. flynn's lawyers had been in contact with the white house counsel and lawyers for president trump, kind of sharing details of the ongoing investigation with them and suddenly cut those ties and said they will no longer be able to share that information, which typically in previous investigations is signal that perhaps he's other coordinated with mueller, cooperating with him or has cut a deal. and i do think that although they feel he cannot implicate him knowingly, perhaps there is something that mike flynn would say, whether it would involve t the comey firing, that took place during the campaign or the transition or the early days of the administration that might get the president in trouble on the obstruction of justice or something unrelated that hasn't been reported yet. >> and we'll have to see how that unfolds. and donald trump jr. saying they are serving up nothing burgers and telling his critics to bring it on. is this a coping mechanism for him? it. >> maybe. i'm not that any lawyer in the country would advise their client to good on twitter and sort of poke the special counsel bear. this is not behavior that is typical of somebody who is perhaps under investigation, obviously donald trump jr. has talked to the senate judiciary committee and others have interest in him. so he's not doing himself any favors. >> and gabby, how do you think that the white house insiders are now reacting to president trump's sparking a feud with time magazine and do you think that they could ignore that kind of stuff? >> well, president trump has always had a pen chant to comment on these types of things and i do think that it is comical on the surface but it is part of a growing concern that he isn't focused on the policy priorities that his administration has and he isn't focused on advancing his agenda, instead he wants to be in the middle of pop culture and be the commentator and chief and that is something that has gotten him into hot water previously and i know that time is now pushing back on this saying that the way that president trump has portrayed the series of events is inaccurate and so i think that there -- this will be an ongoing feud and i'm sure it will overshadow tax reform heading into next week. >> and the push back was rather quick. jonathan, what is your take on that? >> i think that it is interesting and indicative of the president's sort of desire here, which is to be in the middle of the news. if gow back through the history of times man of the year or person of the year, it is not in the -- an award for the best person of the year, just the biggest biggest newsmaker. so there are people that have done positive things or -- but what is true they were the most important person in the news and i think president trump wants people to know that time is interested in him. i'm not sure how they could not be interested in him. whether or not he would win person of the year. >> interesting. thank you. and gabby, i want to turn to the white house handling of the roy moore allegations because kellyanne conway is facing an ethics investigation for discouraging alabamans for voting for doug jones in an interview this week. it is a clear indication of where president trump and the white house now stand on these allegations? >> well if you recall about a week ago kaeellyanne conway mad an appearance on fox and friends single-dig -- and said it would be better to have moore than doug jones and the president echoed that days later when he was speaking to reporters before departing from mar-a-largo. so i think that is the stance of the white house. whether or not they want to say that it is the official position is up for question. but i do think that that is -- what this administration has been saying so far. they would prefer to see roy moore, somebody under scrutiny for sexually assaulted a number of young girls in alabama in the senate than a democrat. somebody who would likely vote against a lot of the president's policy priorities and most of his agenda. >> and jonathan, what is the latest on the impact that this is happening in the race down in alabama? >> this is a really hard race to poll. it seems fluid. i was in alabama a week or so ago and i think there are a lot of republicans there who are trying to figure out what to do. is it that they ignore these allegations and vote for roy moore or stay home and in some cases do they vote for doug jones because they think this is too much to bear and i think we're going to see over the next couple of weeks how that breaks. but moore is certainly fighting hard and doug jones is fighting hard and this is a much more competitive race than anyone expected in alabama. >> it might come down to the wire. gabby, on thanksgiving senator al franken apologized again for his sexually inappropriate behavior and said to speak with reporters tomorrow. do you know anything more about tomorrow's event and might it be part of his strategy as the ethics investigation gets underway. >> well i think he has to be careful because this investigation is going to get underway soon. but i imagine that this is just going to be another position where he -- or another press conference where he makes an apology and takes questions about the allegations and reiterated that he has no intention of stepping down from his senate seat. which is something that has put democrats in a peculiar position because they've been calling for roy moore to be expelled from the senate if he is elected. they've been in -- having conversations about the validity of number of the sexual assault allegations against al franken and now a member of the party is facing criticisms and accusations. and so if he doesn't want to step down and has no intention of resigning, this is something that democrats are going to have to answer for in the coming weeks. >> gabby and jonathan stick around because in a few minutes i'll ask you about the confusion after the head of a government consumer watchdog group calls it quits and two people are named as interim directors. and egypt's military goes on the hunt for militants. how do you chase what you love with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis? 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>> reporter: good morning, dara. as you say the death toll rising all of the time. it is just over 24 hours since this attack took place. the death toll now put at 305. and as you say 27 children. truly horrific, not just the worst terror attack but one of the worst ever in the middle east. it is a day of mourning here. but also of military response. with war planes bombing what are described as terrorist targets. fire at a mosque, a massacre without mercy and mayhem after egypt's deadly terror attack. even ambulances targeted outside and inside more than 300 people dead. murdered as they prayed. nearly all were men, but there were dozens of children among the dead and injured. more than a hundred wounded. hundreds more traumatized. this morning relatives took bodies away for a burial and entire families were killed. after militants singled out the mosque in the town of al abed, 200 miles from cairo. a suicide bomber detonating inside of the mosque. then a gunman perhaps dozen of them and four off-road vehicles opening fire both inside and out on worshipers. even by the deadly standards of the middle east, this was a ruthless attack. >> islamic militants have been conducting attacks in the sinai but a attack against a mosque crosses a new threshold. >> the mosque is in sinai province, now a war zone that isis is trying to take over. two years ago in the skies over sign i-isis brought down a plane killing 224. this year isis has attacked dozens of christians. including inside of a church. a tax egypt security forces seem unable to stop. president trump condemned the horrible and cowardly terrorist attack. egypt's presidencisy said it makes it more determined. and he sent in bombers, war planes destroying vehicles said to of been used in the attack and bombing what the military claim are terrorists in mountain hideouts. in egypt today, deep shock at the massacre of so many civilians at worship. inside of a holy place by islamist gunman. well there has been no formal claim of responsibility but no one here is in any doubt that the group responsible is the sinai affiliate of isis. so a manhunt here today. three days of mourning but a long-term problem for egypt's president sisi. he standed for stability and security. there is neither here. dara. >> bill neely reporting live from egypt. thank you so much. let's get reaction from the white house and nbc's kelly o'donnell is in west palm beach florida where the president is spending thanksgiving weekend. kelly, good morning. president trump tweeted that he called the president of egypt and any sense of what came out of that conversation? >> well what is interesting about the trump white house, when you are looking at an incident like this, which has a global impact and really long-term diplomatic issues, you see two very different sets of responses. a formal response, what is described as i read out of the call between the president and the president of egypt. where that went through the different levels of review. before it was published. and it describes the tone of the call from the president to president al si si and conveying a shared partnership and then the twitter feed is a more casual and shoot from the hip donald trump who talks about thoseesh use but also links to his own agenda for what is happening inside of the united states. so a terror attack in egypt may not have any direct impact on his policies domestically but he finds that link. for example, he calls it a -- a horrific and cowardly act so he does speak in that predictable tone but also said it is a sign of needing policies like a border wall or the travel ban. that not involving egypt but for his domestic political audience and as a sign that if there is terrorism elsewhere in the world, he has a responsibility to try to protect the united states. so you get these two very different tracks on how the u.s. government responds. the formal sort of diplomatic sense through the official statement from the president, and the white house, and then through the twitter feed, a much more casual and yet reflective of the president's thinking on these issues when he talks about what he would like to see done and his connection reaching out to the president of egypt. dara. >> kelly o'donnell live in florida, thank you so much for that report. and tax bill wrangling, the maneuver that lies ahead on capitol hill to get the bill passed next week. 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(neighbor starts singing) sorry. customize your deliveries with fedex delivery manager. we're on a mission to show drip coffee drinkers, it's time to wake up to keurig. wakey! wakey! rise and shine! oh my gosh! how are you? well watch this. i pop that in there. press brew. that's it. so rich. i love it. that's why you should be a keurig man! full-bodied. are you sure you're describing the coffee and not me? full-bodied. pai'm open to that.medicare? lower premiums? extra benefits? it's open enrollment. time to open the laptop... ...and compare medicare health plans. why? because plans change, so can your health needs. so, be open-minded. look at everything-like prescription drug plans... and medicare advantage plans from private insurers. use the tools at medicare.gov. or call 1-800-medicare. open to something better? start today. ♪ now back to politics and a bit of confusion about who was in charge of the consumer financial protection bureau. president trump last night appointed nick mulvaney from the management and budget to serve as the acting director. coming hours after richard cordray officials redesigned. warren tweeted the dodd frank bill is clear. the deputy director becomes acting director. trump can't override that. let's bring back gabby moore and jonathan allen. and gabby, nick mulvaney running both of these agencies. how is that allowed to work? >> well first of all, poor nick mulvaney has a ton on his plate considering both of roles he's likely to play but the trump administration signaled early on they want to hollow out this agency. they didn't think that it was doing a good job or that it was really carrying out what they would like to be doing under this administration and so i think that was the primary reason and putting nick mulvaney in this role as interim director but it is causing controversy because there are conflicting statueutes here. one that directors that the director of the cfpb could appoint a acting director but another that allows the president to apoint somebody to fill a vacancy permitting that they are -- if they are actually confirmed by the senate in order to fill that vacancy during the interim. so there is a question here of who is going to play this role going forward until we have a permanent director and i'm eager to see how this plays out. >> interesting. and jonathan, what is mulvaney's history with respect to the consumer financial protection bureau because wasn't he a critic in the past. >> not just a critic rkt he called it a sad sick joke and he wanted wanted to rein in or dismantle the agency and now he will be in charge. i think we could pull back the camera a little bit, but not literally and just see what interests are here. richard cordray head of the cfpb is interested in running for the governor of ohio and allowing president trump to name a successor and dismantle it. that will get him hit by rivals for the democratic gubernatorial nomination in ohio. he puts in a replacement and said i'm allowed to name the replacement and set up a clash and a fight with the trump administration and i think that will happen. not to say that he doesn't believe that mick mulvaney shouldn't be the director but it is interesting to see how it plays out legally. you saw in elizabeth warren's tweeting say that it is clear -- the law is clear, it says an absence is filled by a deputy director and this may come down to a question of whether richard cordray leaving that job open is an absence or a vacancy. >> which is interesting for 2018. gabby, i want to turn to the tax fight because the president is heading to the capitol hill to meet with senate republicans on tuesday and so what should we expect out of this meeting? >> i think they are in the final push for tax reform and they want to get this done by christmas which is the dead line that the president has set for congressional republicans. and there is still a the of details of the tax bill that need to be worked out before they bring it to a vote. so they are still talking about the corporate rate, whether they want to leave it at 20% or raise it by a couple percentage points or half a percent point and they are still looking at the child tax credit and a number of the other features of the tax bill. whether they want to consolidate the income tax brackets. and so there is questions and stake ho stakeholders and interest groups lobbying for different things that complicates it and on top of that it doesn't look like they have the votes among republicans, forget democrats for right now, but just among the republican party to get this through the senate. >> gabby, i have to wrap. did mitch mcconnell have the votes. >> not yet. >> great to have you here on saturday morning. thank you. and that will do it for me. i'm dara brown. thank you for watching at the top of the hour hugh hewitt but first it is your business with j.j. ramberg. 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tower meeting. details next. we begin with politics and fallout over the gop memo alleging fbi and justice department abused their authority to target a trump campaign adviser. we're learning now that the state department, among other agencies, are targets in what house chairman devin nunes is calling phase two of the investigation. >> this completes the fisa portion of our investigation. we are in the middle of what i call phase two of the investigation, which involves other departments, specifically the state department and some of the involvement they had in this. that investigation is ongoing. we continue to work towards finding answers and asking the right questions to try to get to the bottom of what exactly the state department was up to in terms of this russia investigation. >> meanwhile democrats on a house intel committee pushing for a vote as early as monday so that their memo could be released as a rebuttal and at the same time ramping up efforts to avoid another saturday night massacre. >> clearly this is not about oversight. this is about a narrative they want to tell, get out in the public domain. >> hypocritical aspect of my colleagues, we just had a vote on the fisa reauthorization not too long ago. they were fine then. now they are saying something else. clearly to me it's to obstruct this investigation. >> we must do all we can in congress to pass legislation to protect rosenstein and mueller. clearly the intent is to get rid of them. >> nbc's peter alexander has more on what it means for the investigation and whether the targets are safe. >> good morning. the release of the memo comes after months of relentless attacks by trump against the very people leading the investigation. it's not a legal document, not an intelligence finding. this morning even the president's own lawyer said it's the opinion of the house republicans who wrote it. president trump did efying the and justice department. >> why make it public. >> a disgrace what's happening in this country. a lot of people should be ashamed of himself and much worse than that. >> that memo leaked to media outlets, house republicans, accuses of abusing powers carter page who they suspected was a foreign agent for russia. the warrant relies on unwarranted dossier compiled by steele, ex-british intelligence office and fails to disclose the role of the dnc or clinton campaign in funding steele's efforts. a democratic congressional court said the court was told about steele's political bias but may not specifically have been told the information was financed by democrats. what matters is whether steele knew what he was talking about, not what motivated him. >> we shouldn't be surprised when our informants, the basis for our affidavits, are less than savory. >> democrats in the intelligence community argue the memo is inaccurate and misleading. the disputed document reveals trump appointed justice officials including rod rosenstein, among those who signed off four times renewing the request meaning the justice department with carter page was producing results. it's undercut trust in the intelligence community and members of congress that oversee it. >> it's that undermining of the trust which makes it enormously more difficult for fbi and cia to do their job. >> fbi director christopher wray sending a message to all his employees strongly defending his agen agency, making clear he's not going to leave. peter alexander, nbc news, the white house. for more on this, we're going to have white house reporter for nbc.com and kate martel, national politics for the hill. i want to start with you. we've had some time to digest this memo. what was your major takeaway here. >> this came out yesterday. i think the big thing in washington, how little was in the memo but the precedent it sets up. obviously the memo alleging some misuse of power in law enforcement agencies when they were pursuing targets in the russia probe. the precedent it sets up is one that law enforcement have said on our multiple teams as well and peter's package as well, you're politicizing intelligence agencies and putting a cloud of doubt over the way the united states gathers its intelligence. i think that sets a really interesting and somewhat dangerous precedent as you go forward in terms of believing your intelligence agencies but also go forward-looking at what special counsel bob mueller finds in his collusion investigation. >> does this materially change special counsel mueller's investigation. >> as far as the actual investigation goes, this really doesn't necessarily change it. there wasn't much in this memo we didn't know already. that definitely could change if the democratic rebuttal memo came out, because there very well may be new information there. as far as the actual investigation goes, this just kind of confirmed what both sides had already known. i think what's interesting about that, both sides think they won. the implications here are political. republicans think this proves that there's corruption within the upper tiers of doj and fbi, and democrats think this doesn't materially change anything and that we still know the investigation started well before this fisa court warrant in october of 2016. so both sides are thinking they won out of this politically. when it comes to the investigation, this is a blip in a little bit of a distraction in the greater investigation. >> allie, president trump is at mar-a-lago this weekend. we've heard nothing from him since the memo was released, just a statement from sarah sanders. hogan was on and that's it. what are you reading into this silence? >> also on cnn last night, one of the things said new york city considerations of firing mueller. i think the quote he said is trump has confidence in rosenstein -- i said mueller before and i meant rod rosenstein. that's important when you think about attorney general going forward. yesterday in the oval office as the memo was released, president trump said you figure out when asked about confidence in his attorney general. that was left murky. now both publicly and privately telling us, there's in considerations of firing rosenstein, keep things the same at justice. that's meant to quell these cries from democrats after the memo, look, this is like the saturday night massacre. this is looking to calm the waters, the memo didn't have anything substantively in it we didn't already know, trying to tell us we're calming the water. what they say and what the president does doesn't always match up. we've seen that before. that's something you're going to want to watch when he's at mar-a-lago when he's prone to make outlandish statements and make turbulence in the water, so to speak. next week when he gets back to washington, will this sentiment stand. that's what we're looking for right now. >> we'll certainly be looking for some of those statements. going back to what chairman nunes said about the state department being the next phase of this investigation, do you know what he and republicans are actually alleging here? >> yeah, dara. that part is a little confusing saying this is stage two. what we can take from this is that the house intelligence committee is saying that they want to investigate all top tiers of government and to know exactly where this investigation was lying and who made these decisions. it started with the fbi and department of justice and now they want to see as far as what levels were politicized. this is not surprising that devin nunes would say they are going to investigate, look at the state department and try to figure out where exactly in government this came from. i think it will be interesting to see what exactly are there any other memos that came out. he was asked about this. he didn't totally give an answer and say there will be other memos as far as the russia investigation and involving other departments such as state. it's not just state department they are looking at, i think they are going to be looking at all the top tiers of government. >> is it presumptuous to think the president would deny the release of the democrats' memo? what is this thinking there? >> as with this memo there were extremely partisan undertones to it. it was released to conservative outlets first. have you to take the partisanship done with this and weigh it whether the white house wants to continue in that partisan way and potentially block a democratic memo of its own kind, or say, look, we're in the issue of full transparency, we want all of this out here. we want the republican side out here and democrat side out here. the rope i say republican side, important to look at don mcgann, the special counsel's memo or part of the memo that came before the devin nunes piece. that is to say the views in this memo reflect that of the authors. yes the white house okayed this memo's release, and the president talking in the oval office called it a disgrace and people should be ashamed and more than that, so obviously he's okay and behind the release but the white house giving distance when don mcgann says it reflects the views of the authors of it. it could be when democrats come out to release their rebuttal the white house says, sure, get it out there. >> it is an opinion. stay with us. we have more to talk about. does the controversial memo support claims that the russia investigation is a witch hunt? we'll ask our legal expert next. this new day looks nothing like yesterday. trails are covered. paths aren't what they used to be. roads nowhere to be found. 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>> the memo is a noble statement of the goals of fisa and the fisa courts, it's just not legally accurate. here is why. the memo a little that the fisa warrant application included biased information, and it also omitted information that was important. the answer to that is, yeah, that happens every day in not only fisa courts but in regular search warrants alone. the omission of facts isn't always fatal to a search warrant application. and at the same time a potential informa informant's bias, a bias is part of the search warrant process. confidential informants routinely are biased in favor of themselves. they are basically people giving up information that's helpful to their own crennel caiminal caseg to a suspect or target or criminal defendant. that's the essence of the defendant. search warrants and fisa warrants have always contained biased information. they have always featured informants who are paid. they have always omitted facts because there's no requirement to include every favorable exculpatory fact. the memo states a noble goal for search warrants. as a criminal defense attorney it is a noble idea that these courts should protect citizens rights. the practical reality is the fisa court does not protect these rights. even regular criminal courts do not reflect these rights. applications for warrants are ex parte, which means one-sided, and encamera, which means secret. by their very nature biased. >> this memo claims it concealed from the fisa court including steele's personal views of the president. is this relevant information that should have been disclosed. >> legally, no. morally maybe it should have been disclosed, politically, maybe. the fact that an informant is paid, the fact that an informant is biased will not alone invalidate a fisa warrant or any warrant. that bias can rise to a level, certain level in a particular case that it should have been included in an application. but the mere fact an informant is paid, the mere fact there's bias, political or otherwise, or even that they have a financial motive is not fatal to a warrant application. it never has been, and it isn't going to start now. that being said, this is, again, the memo states an optimistic and idealistic view of the way the search warrant process and fisa process should be. it's just not the statutory reality. >> no legal precedent of indictment for a president, only pair of justice department opinions saying it is not a viable option. concluded the criminal prosecution of a president would undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionality assigned functions. does this mean mueller can't indict the president without going to the supreme court or does it mean he shouldn't. >> reasonable academic minds disagree on this. if i were a judge, my view is that the sitting president cannot be indicted. first, because he's the unitary executive and therefore he's the only person in the government that if you arrest him, you essentially arrest an entire branch of the government, the executive branch. secondly, the language of the constitution proceeds -- and i'm paraphrasing -- that the president must first be impeached, then removed, and then he can be prosecuted. i think the implication there is he cannot be prosecuted until he's impeached and then removed. so therefore he is immune while in office. however, very, very reasonable academic minds have concluded the opposite, and it's equally tenable. after all, if one of them were a judge, they may reach a different conclusion. >> thank you so much for being here this morning. it's amazing how we're making fisa and indictments like normal household words. great to have you here. so who is hope hicks? find out why robert mueller might be focusing on the white house official who avoided the spotlight until now. up next. 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