And nancy pelosi make an unannounced visit to jordan and afghanistan, in the wake of President Trumps decision to remove troops from northern syria. Good morning, everyone, its monday, october 21st. Im ayman mohyeldin, alongside Yasmin Vossoughian. Mick mulvaney was still trying to clean up comments about why the Trump Administration withheld aid from ukraine. Mulvaney continued to walk back remarks last week about a quid pro quo arguing that reporters had misinterpreted his comments. Why did you say in that briefing that President Trump had ordered a quid pro quo that investigating the democrats, that aid to ukraine depended on investigating the democrats. Thats not what i said. Thats what people i said i said. There were two reasons that we held up the aid, we talked about this at some length. The first one was the rampant corruption in ukraine. The president was also concerned about whether or not other nations specifically european nations were helping with foreign aid to the ukraine as well. I mentioned in the past, the president had mention from time to time about the dnc server, he mentioned it to president zelensky in the phone call. It wasnt connected to the ate aide. Thats where people got sidetracked. In the press conference. You said that happened all the time. And reporters will use their language all the time. My language never said quid pro quo. I never said there was a quid pro quo because there isnt. Chris, you have been in these briefings. You know how back and forth it is. How rapid fire it is. Look to the facts on the ground, things that you can certify and what should put this issue to bed is that the money flowed without any connection whatsoever to the dnc server. That was sunday as we mentioned. Here is what Mick Mulvaney said in his own words clearly on thursday. He also mentioned to me in the past that the corruption related to the dnc server, absolutely, no question about that. But thats it. Thats why we held up the money. I was involved with the process by which the money was held up temporarily. Okay. Three issues for that, the corruption of the country, whether or not other countries were participating in the support of ukraine, and whether or not they were cooperating in an Ongoing Investigation with our department of justice. Thats completely legitimate. R secretary of state mike pompeo denied that quid pro quo was part of the process in determining whether to give aid to ukraine. Im telling you what i saw transpiring and how President Trump was working to make the evaluation but whether it was appropriate to provide this assistance. Thats what im asking is would it be appropriate to condition it. Im not going to get into hypothetical and secondary things based on what someone else did. You never would have done it when you were the spokesperson. Its not a hypothetical. We saw the chief of staff. It is, george, you just said, if this happened, that is by definition a hypothetical. The chief of staff said it did. George, you asked me if this happened. Its a hypothetical. Ive told you what i observed, what i saw the process related to this very funding. So despite those attempted walk backs, President Trumps Reelection Campaign is embracing the controversy, rolling out new merchandise that includes a 30 tshirt emblazoned with the phrase get over it, a memorable line from the acting white house chief of staffs briefing. The Product Description reads this america is ready for congress to get back to work. No more witch hunts. President trump won in 2016, and he is going to win even bigger in 2020. Get over it and get on with it. Proudly made in the usa. Following widespread bipartisan criticism, President Trump announced on saturday that the group of 7 summit will no longer be held at husband dural resort in florida. The president wrote i thought i was doing something very good for our company but using Trump National doral in miami for hosting the g7 leaders, it is big, grand, on hundreds of acres, next to Miami International airport, hundreds of ballrooms and meeting rooms and would set up better than other alternatives. I announced i would be willing o to do it at no profit or if legally permissible, zero cost to the usa. Therefore, based on both media and democrat crazed and irrational he or si irrational hostility, including the possibility of camp david immediately thank you. Trumps initial decision to hold the g7 at his resort faced scrutiny because it could violate the constitutions emolument clause. Acting white house chief of staff Mick Mulvaney raised eyebrows when he said the president was surprised at the level of push back he received after initially announcing plans to hold the g7 summit at doral, heres what he had to say. At the end of the day, he considers himself to be in the hospitality business, and saw an opportunity to take the biggest leaders around the world, and wanted to put on the best show, the best visit he could. He was comfortable doing that at doral. I think its the right decision to change. I just have it pick up. You say he considers himself in the hospitality business. Hes the president of the United States. Just a small reminder there. The Justice Department is distancing itself from President Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. According to the New York Times, the doj released a statement explaining that Department Officials would not have met with giuliani to discuss clients had they known they were investigating two associates. The head of the Justice Departments criminal decision, along with lawyers met with giuliani several weeks ago to discuss a bribery case in which giuliani and other attorneys were representing the defendants. The meeting took place before the United StatesAttorneys Office in manhattan, publicly charged the two giuliani associates, and trying to unlawfully influence politicians. Part of giulianis efforts to push Ukraine Foreign inquiry into democrats. Officials were not aware of any investigation into giulianis associates in the Southern District of new york and would not have met with him had they known. President trumps lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, attempted to secure a visa from the state department for ousted ukraine prosecutor, victor shokin, familiar with george kents testimony in front of congressional investigators last week. It is unclear when giuliani requested the valley isa but he two associates recently indicted for Campaign Finance violations interviewed the prosecutor by phone this past january. According to documents given to congress by the intelligence community, Inspector General and obtained by nbc news as well. Two days later, giuliani and associates interviewed the successo successor, the interest revolves around claims that joe biden attempted to shield his son hunters work in the country by aiding and shokin ousting the top prosecutor. Hillary clinton suggesting Tulsi Gabbard may be the favorite of the russian government. She said that russia has quote got their eye on somebody whos currently in the democratic primary, and are grooming her to be the third party candidate. Gabbard th gabbard hit back at the comment with a series of tweets, hillary and her gang of rich powerful elite are going after me to send a message to you, shut up, tow the line or be destroyed but we will the people will not be silenced. Gabbard pushed back on claims that she is planning a third party run in 2020. The hawaii congresswoman has defended bashar al assad, an ally of vladimir putin. A recent report from the New York Times and nbc News Analysis from february showed that russian news sites and social media linked to the kremlin have been promoting gabbards candidacy. Still ahead, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of lebanon amid huge antigovernment protests. A tornado rips through dallas last night, leaving thousands without power. Were going to take a look at the storm damage and have a full check on your weather coming up. Ted goin on a trip, huh . Takin it off road Station Wagon, eh . You know its an suv your family is duckin and rollin. While we stowin and goin but thats cool, i know for a fact your suv does not suck. And why is that . It aint got that vacuum in the back, whoo sucking stuff up what else are we gonna find . We got to go. Vacuum in the back, hallelujah get 0 financing for 60 months plus 2,250 total bonus cash on the 2019 chrysler pacifica. Rather than worry about how to pay for longterm care. Brighthouse smartcare℠ is a hybrid Life Insurance and longterm care product. It protects your family while providing longterm care coverage, should you need it. So you can explore all the Amazing Things ahead. Talk to your advisor about brighthouse smartcare. Brighthouse financial. Build for whats ahead℠ brighthouse financial. But were also a company that controls hiv, fights cancer, repairs shattered bones, relieves depression, restores heart rhythms, helps you back from strokes, and keeps you healthy your whole life. From the day youre born we never stop taking care of you. Here, hello starts with hi mple. How can i help . A data plan for everyone. Everyone . Everyone. Lets send to everyone [ camera clicking ] wifi up there . Ahhh. Sure, why not . Howd he get out . a camera might figure it out. That was easy glad i could help. At xfinity, were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. So come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. Welcome back, lets get a check on your weather with nbc morl meteorologist bill karins. We had a significant report of a tornado thats now confirmed, visual confirmation, numerous pictures, a lot of video from it. Some of it is frightening, with the tornado, people didnt even know there was a tornado there. In between the lightning flashes, you can see it there. It was like a stove pipe tornado, and it did roll through numerous businesses and commercial areas and neighborhoods. Walnut Elementary School is one of the Elementary Schools thats been significantly damaged. The kids will not be able to attend that school for a while until they can fix it up. Life has been interrupted. Just north of dallas near the University Park area, there have been injuries. We havent heard any reports of any fatalities from this tornado, but again, this only happened about five, six hours ago. So well continue at daylight. They have been going door to door, doing search and rescue, and trying to make sure that everyone is safe. That happened not far away from the dallas cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles game last night, only about 10 to 15 miles away from where a hundred thousand people were in a stadium. This is downtown dallas, University Park, hit between 9 00 and 9 15. Thats not the only weather, in rogers, arkansas, a tree fell on a home and killed a person. The wind damage is causing problems, 80 reports of wind damage. All the blue dots showing wind danger from southern missouri southward. We have a risk of severe storms. Its ongoing now. It will continue through the day, so everywhere in louisiana, a little section here from houston, over towards the louisiana border. All of mississippi, the memphis area, and about the southern half of alabama, and a little portion from pensacola, almost over to panama city. Thats the area of a risk of severe storms today, and tomorrow, another 7 Million People in the carolinas will have a chance of damaging wind. Tomorrow, rain moving in. Not Severe Weather for the northeast. Just rain tomorrow. Thank you, bill. Over the weekend, lebanon experienced its largest protests in 14 years after antigovernment demonstrators took to the streets. Protests arrested after the government announced a plan to add a tax of 6 a month to the popular messaging apps, whats app and face time. This morning, lebanons cabinet is currently meeting at the president s palace to discuss a reform package which is expected to be approved. Joining us from beirut, lebanon t nbc news correspondent call perry. Walk us through reforms that could essentially meet the demands of the protesters. Reporter the reports that are going to be announced have been leaked to the media. The Prime Minister is putting out a trial balloon to see if people will accept it. Keep in mind, the deficit is 150 the gdp. The Prime Minister is going to say lets take 3 million out of the banks and get it back into the economy. Your question is the question everybody has, will it satisfy the Million People that came on to the streets yesterday and will be on the streets today. You can see some people arriving behind me. This is an economic protest, if you hear chants of down with the regime, thats a default chant, when really what youre talking about, what people here are talking about is corruption. Such a small minority of lebanese are benefitting from the economy here, and many of them are in positions of power, and it is a system that after decades has not worked, which is why were seeing historic protests, what officials are worried about is damage, like the damage over here. Ill get gabe to slowly pan over and you can see some of the stores that were looted last night and a few nights before. Violence at a minimum. So far, the atmosphere is jovial, as it was yesterday. Well wait and see after the Prime Ministers speech if that holds, guys. What are the protesters really want to hear from the government . Reporter look, i think its about access to the economy, access to the financial benefits that lebanon has to offer. This country is a country that is divided along sectarian lines that has been historically. You have people in positions of power, especially after the civil war, a 15 year brutal civil war. People went into positions of power and the view amongst the public is they line the pockets and line the pockets of their children. If you have an entire generation that feels as though they do not have access to the economy, unemployment is somewhere between 35 and 40 . Its very hard to imagine what the Prime Minister can say that will satisfy that very basic need that people have here on the street sgls this. Think about that, unemployment that high, that is incredible. And such a young population as well cal perry live in beirut, lebanon. A federal Appeals Court ruled that President Trumps finances must be turned over. How that ruling might affect the inquiry, coming up indication. Ie inquiry, coming up indication. Even a ernie lost rubber duckie . burke you mean this one . Up next. Up next. Okie jar . burke again, cookie . cookie yeah. Me bad. grover yoooooow oh what about monsters having accidents . I am okay by the way burke depends. Did you cause the accident, grover . grover cause an accident . Maybe. bert how do you know all this stuff . burke just comes with experience. all muppets yup. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum on a scale of one to five . Wait. One to five . When it comes to feelings, its more like five million. Theres everything from happy to extremely happy. Theres also angry. Im really angry, clive actually, really angry. Thank you. And seat 36b angry. Youre clive owen. And youre barefoot. Yeah. Theres also apprehension. Regret. Relief. Oh and theres empathy. Ah, i got this in zurich actually, whats the opposite of empathy . But what if your business could understand what your customers are feeling. And then do something about it. You can turn disappointment into gratitude. Clive, you got to try this. I cant im working. Turn problems into opportunities. Thanks drone. Change the future of your business. Change the whole experience. Alright who wants to go again . 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Welcome back, a federal Appeals Court ruled that President Trumps Accounting Firm must turn over all records. In april, the House Committee subpoenaed the firm, and trumps lawyers fought back, arguing that congress had no legitimate legislative purpose for getting those materials. However, an april memorandum from the late Elijah Cummings ruled that the four main o