Good day, everyone. President trump is lashing out at the press today calling the coverage of his wife melania during her recovery from kidney surgery unfair and vicious. Claiming news out lets reported she was near death, recovering from facelift, leaving the president , the victim of abuse. Repeating some of the tabloid speculation thats not appeared in the mainstream media. Joining me Kristen Welker and msnbc political analyst robert costa. Welcome to both of you. Kristen, the president and the first lady are supposed to appear together this afternoon at an event. Its the first time they will be seen publicly. That she will be seen publicly in 26 days. In his tweets today about these nasty reports, hes recycling tabloid rumors that have not appeared on network television, thats i know of, any of our cable shows. Not appeared in most newspapers. Reporter youre right. In fact, some reporters have said they didnt even know about some of the rumors that he tweeted about today. Really giving oxygen to some of these rumors. Some of this buzz worthy gossip thats gone around. Were going to see first lady today with the president. The two will head to the fema headquarters later this afternoon for a briefing on hurricane preparedness. Earlier this week she did attend an event for gold star families with President Trump. That was not open to the press. There were a few pictures that did leak out but the press wasnt there. She did have what was described as a procedure for a benign kidney condition. She remained in the hospital for five days and undoubtedly did have some down time at the white house to rest. Robert costa, the other issue today, of course, is all of the controversy coming out of white house regarding white house aide who had demeaned and ridiculed john mccain and his recovery or his continuing treatment, i should say for brain cancer. Tell us about that. Reporter the staffer at question is miss kelly sadler who worked on communications at the white house. It is being widely reported that she is being removed from her post. Moving else wwhere in the administration or leaving. That was flash point for a white house thats very reluctant to apologize on any matter and even with regard to a senator, a veteran senator who is a military veteran dying, very much struggling with his health, they were trying to avoid apologizing for her remark. Looks like hes heading for the exits. Robert, you and kristen have been reporting on the president s fascination with pardons. Kristen, first to you. How many pardons is he considering making . Reporter i was told by a white house official earlier today that there are donzens of pardons. Theres no indication how many he will approve or when. We do know that Kim Kardashian was here last week lobbying to have great grandmother Alice Johnson pardoned. She is someone who is convicted in the 1990s of cocaine usage, selling cocaine. She said her punishment didnt fit the crime making that case. We know thats one of the pardons the president is considering. He said hes considering pardoning Rod Blagojevich as well as martha stewart. The big discussion here at the white house is whether the president thinks he can pardon himself. He says he thinks the constitution gives him the right to do so. Theres been a lot of push back against that. He said he doesnt think he will need a pardon. Of course, the broader question hovering all of this and the fact the white house is reporting this out is what message is President Trump trying to send with these potential pardons. One more note, for context here, its not unusual for the Justice Department to have dozens of pardons prepared for a president at any given time. Hes not been going through the normal process. Hes basically freelancing this and not waiting for the recommendations from doj. Reporter thats correct in our report today and the Washington Post, we look at how the president is being persuaded by friends, advisor, looking at celebrity and the individual nature of the case. You consult with the White House Counsels Office and the department of justice. Thats not to say those players are not involved in the process. This is the president himself driving the discussion, wanting to underscore his executive power and the time is important to note it comes amid the russia probe as indictments have happened in the Mueller Investigation and friends of the president like Newt Gingrich says he believes the president is trying to send a message to those entangled in the probe that the president could pardon them at some point. I want to talk to both you have, phillie fans. Robert youre from that area. Kristen youre a philly person. What we saw yesterday was this tribute to america about an eight Minute Program on the south lawn instead of the eagles celebration. Here is what lebron james and steph curry agree on that the nba will also not participate in any kind of white house ceremony. Lets watch. I know no matter who wins this series, no one wants to invite anybody. It wont be golden state or Cleveland State going. I agree with bron. The way we handled things last year, kind of stay consistent with that. Robert, the political motivation behind what the president did yesterday. We know a number of the eagles were not going to show up. The fact is the white house cancelled it because it was going to be too small a celebration. What happened next . When ever im back in philadelphia, for all of your work at nbc news, people still think of your time in philadelphia as a correspondent and anchor there. A lot of good memoriaes. This is a swing state and state that President Trump won, pennsylvania. It was state republicans had not won since 1988. Theres a political potential consequence here for a president who is able to win pennsylvania as a republican. Now he moves forward into the midterm elections into 2020. Having picked a fight with the most popular sports team, arguably in pennsylvania. Kristen we know youre an egegg eagles fans also. A Trump Administration policy separating children from their migrant family is sparking out ra outrage from critics about denials about the conditions those children are facing. My smart was just down in texas and said it looks like a lot of these kids are in what looks like cages. Thats completely incorrect. He didnt see the children because he requested at 4 00 p. M. On a friday to visit in texas or in california, a facility. These are minors. We accommodate requests from congress to inspect and look at our facilities. They are provided full education, medicare cal care, athletics meals. It sounds like summer camp. Nbc news reports Department Officials are going to tour three military bases to find ways to house the children because of the overflow. Oregon democratic senator joins me now from your inspection tour. What is your response to the hhs secretary today . He was talking about a detention facility and my comments about the cages was from a different facility which is one done by the home and security where they process the families that are seeking asy m asylum. They have presented themselves as families and theres an initial room that has series of si cyclone fence and fence post. Do you want to call them containers . I call them cages because they look like a cage. How big are they . About 12 by 12 or 15 by 15. A lot of people crowded into each one. Thats not the point here. This is really the same physical set that was used in Previous Administration administrations. Because the press is not allowed in to look, when the press wanted me to give a physical description, i gave it. The heart is the new policy. Thats started on may 7th. It has nothing to do with an existing law, an obama policy or anything else . Absolutely not. This is Jeff Sessions announcing Refugee Families would be treated this way and children would be separated from families as a deterrent to prevent them from coming seeking asyl asylum. Exactly. If we inflict pain on the children, we will deter parents from seeking asylum. What civilization on this planet does that . Harm children to deter or influence the parents. Its wrong on every moral code. Its wrong on every religious code. Its a deep, dark spot of shame for our nation right now that were doing this to these kids. The United NationsHuman Rights Commission come out and criticize the United States of america in a way that we hear other countries, totalitarian nations who are mistreating people at their borders. Almost all of us have histories in parents, grandparents, migrated. Many of them fleeing persecution. When family presents itself for asylum and is ready to tell their story of persecution, we have always treated these families graciously. We understand the difficult circumstances that so many have come from. Now what we have is a process where they are brought into a room and looks like a big warehouse with a lot of big cyclone fence like a dog kennel. Are the children isolated in the enclosures without their parents . The first room, there were a number of children in the arms of their parents. Then they go through a processing facility where they are interviewed. Then theres a big warehouse. Inside this, theres larger cyclone fence containers opinion there was a group of boys in one of them and lining up for food. They had the smallest in front and the tallest in back. The tallest was knee high to a grasshopper. I estimated he might be four or five. The youngest . Four or five years old. I couldnt get personal nchgs. I cant tell you exactly how old. Thats what it looked like. Some of them were unaccompanied when they crossed the border. Many of those kids, those young boys in that line have been just recently separated from their parents because their parents are seeking asylum, safety zone from hostilities and agony overseas. Theres Something Else going on here too. The folks who work with immigrants were telling me how the bridge into the reception center, the Border Center was proceeding to keep people wait on that bridge sometimes for more than a week. I was extremely hot when i was there. It was high 90s or somewhere like that. The idea of being on that bridge as one worker told me ch interviewed families 10 or 12 days. This is another form of deterrents to keep people from coming across the bridge. Thank you so much for your personal testimony here. I know theres been a lot of dispute over facts but its great to have you in person describing what you saw. Youre welcome. I so much hope that people will say this has to stop. Thank you. Coming up, gold rush. Who were the big winners in last nights california primary. Hell tell us next. Stay with us. Me feel sluggish. But those days are over. Now, i take metamucil every day. It naturally traps and removes the waste that weighs me down. So i feel. Lighter. Try metamucil and begin to feel what lighter feels like. And try new metamucil fiber thins, made with 100 natural psyllium fiber. A greattasting and easy way to start your day. P3 its meat, cheese and nuts. I keep my protein interesting. Oh yea, me too. I have cheese and uh these herbs. P3 snacks. The years biggest primary day close out with both democrats and republicans averting disaster in marquee california races. Warning signs still linger for incumbents in both parties. Nbc National Correspondent joins me from the big board. You have a cot there. I saw you at 1 00 in the morning. I know i did. No time to lay down. Lets dissect what happened in california and elsewhere and what it could mean for november. The big question heading into last night, where are democrats going to get lock eed out. They have these ripe, juicy targets they think they can pick off from republicans. The answer looks like its going to be no. 39th district. A lot of this is orange county. This is open seat. You see a republican there. Young kim running in first. You see some real distance between second and third. Democrats just want to be in the top two. That was the bottom line for them in districts. Looks like mission for them establish in 39, 48. Looks like theres still to be settled here. Very close. They are both democrats. Second place going to go to one of them. Democrats getting what they wanted there in terms of surviving. In the 49th, same thing. Democrat second and third. If you continue the screen, youll see them down in fourth place as well. Also this one emerged as the votes started to come in. The 10th district in the central valley. Democrat. We havent called this one yet. About a 900 vote advantage for second place. Still keeping an eye on. Democrats look like they will probably get this one but not quite there yet. If they do, Mission Accomplished for them. Half to say republicans, democrats are happy about that. What republicans are happy about when they look at these results in california. You cant see every candidate is republicans will say if you looked at the entire ballot in districts like this, the ones democrats are targeting, you add up the republican vote and democrat vote, the republican vote exceeding the democratic vote sometimes by a fairly substantial margin into the low 50s for republicans and mid50s for them. There is some relationship. This is a very strange system. A lot of states dont do this. There is some relationship in the past between adding up the party votes and the primary and how it breaks in the top two. Republicans pointing to that. Theyre on the ballot. They are in the game in these races. I think thats where they wanted to be coming out of last night. The action though wasnt just in california last night. It was elsewhere. See if we can call this one up without me breaking this thing. Its the most fascinating story of the night. This one you can file under to be continued. Alabama second congressional district. You see the southern part of the state right here. What do you have . You have martha roby. 2016 during that campaign year, donald trump, all the controversy specifically the access hollywood tape. She refused to endorse him. Shes going to a run off with a protrump. Senator menendez did not do as well as a lot of people expected. That could be a competitive race. Thank you. You covered it all. We got there. Thank a lot. Kochl mexico fighting back many Trump Trade War with pork farmers paying the price. Pork farmers paying the price. Well be right back. A hilton getaway means you get more because. You get another day in paradise. Get a sunset on a sunday. Get more stories to share. Get more from your Summer Getaway with exclusive hilton offers. Book yours, only at hilton. Com but he has plans today. Ain. Hey dad. So he took aleve. If hed taken tylenol, hed be stopping for more pills right now. Only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Aleve. All day strong. Until her laptop her sacrashed this morning. Eks, having it problems . Ask a business advisor how to get on demand tech support for as little as 15 a month. This week get boise case paper for only 29. 99 at office depot with pg e in the sierras. 29. 99 and im an arborist since the onset of the drought, more than 129 Million Trees have died in california. Pg e prunes and removes over a Million Trees every year to ensure that hazardous trees cant impact power lines. And since the onset of the drought weve doubled our efforts. I grew up in the forests out in this area and honestly its heartbreaking to see all these trees dying. What guides me is ensuring that the public is going to be safer and that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future. President trump is supposed to head to quebec later this week for the g7 summit. What top officials are calling the g6 plus one because of the president s decision to hit them with tariff. Mexico is already retaliating and imposing import taxes on 3 billion of u. S. Products including pork. Thats bad news for american pig farmers like dave moody. If it gets into a trade war, its not good for anybody. We definitely seen some drops in the pork market since the initial discussions of tariffs and whatnot coming from Different Countries back in march and to this point in time. Dave moody in iowa. Joining is nick burns. Welcome. This is before the big korea summit in singapore which begins on monday. Were expecting the president will be at the g7 and its going to be a pretty unfriendly welcome. Prime minister trudeaux is angry. Ange Angela Merkle is angry. The mexicans are furious. One wonders what can he accomplish there . Its going to be a chilly summit on friday and saturday. I dont think the United States has been as isolated from its allies, really in a century. You have to go all the way back to when we rejected the league of nations in 1920 to find a time when we were so distant from them and were the natural leader of the western alliance but were not acting like it because on climate change, iran, je r jerusalem and trade. Donald trump appears to have no regard for the european union. Doesnt appears to want it to succeed and hes been a very weak and disinterested leader in nato. We havent seen a president like this in long, long time. Hes really alienated canada and mexico. Mexico really because they have an election july 1st. They will have an antiamerican leftist president elected. Hes squandering two decades of good u. S. Mexican relations. Thats true and now we have this decision by President Trump not to negotiate with canada and mexico on the modernization and future of nafta but to negotiate them or try to separately and i think both governments have said they wont do that. You cant break apart nafta into individual components. The question for the president is how many trade wars can we afford at once. The big problem for us is the offensive trade, the violation of trade rules by the chinese. We ought to want to have the canadians, the mexicans, the europeans on our side all pushing for kmie thchina. Thats not t