Hallie jackson, thank you. Right now on msnbc, tale of the tapes. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle call for President Trump to turn over any recordings he may have of his krfrgconversati with ousted fbi director james comey. Plus, recording history. New reports say President Trump has for a long time secretly recorded phone conversations when he was in private business. The reporter who broke the story will tell us what the president s former Associates Say and what it could mean for staffers now. And breaking right now, cyber chaos. The largest cyber attack ever is spreading by the minute, stealing information and demanding ransom from Hundreds Of Thousands of users across more than 150 countries. What you need to do to protect yourself. Good morning, everyone. Im Chris Jansing in beautiful washington, d. C. This morning, democrats are ratcheting up their pressure on President Trump on not one but two fronts. For starters, demanding any takes the president may have of
last week was regarded the worst of the presidency, and now a series of polls show new lows and Approval Ratings for President Trump. Any reaction there to what has been an onslaught of criticisms, frankly for both sides of the aisle . Reporter yeah, the polls to which you refer to show his Approval Rating below 40 , 54 of americans disapproving the president s handling of his job, his responsibilities as president of the United States. What is striking is the numbers are not too far removed from where the unfavorable numbers were on election day. Last year the president and his allies are quick to point this out as well, but be fair, the president is not focusing on the negative headlines. Doing what is best publicly to ignore issues regarding his comments about the tape. Sean spicer we heard last week say frankly they had nothing nothing further about it. Hell face other questions as democrats try to make an issue out of this right now. Widely the administration is
focusing on what they view a potential president. The president s first foreign trip heading overseas later this week, departure scheduled for friday, this is an opportunity to show they can successfully execute on the significant issue of great significance, given the fact it will be on the world stage, they view this as a unique, quote, global moment, as described to us. Whetherist . And in the meantime, even before he leaves for that big trip, we may hear about a new fbi director, eight candidates we are interviewed over the weekend by Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney general jeff rosenstein, what do we hear could happen before he gets on air force one. Reporter it seems unlikely they will get this done over the course of the next five days before he departs. Of the eight interviews conducted by the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney general, President Trump has not participated in any of the inperson interviews to take place. Hell likely only be involved with interviewing in person,
some of the finalists, whenever that may or may not occur. Though the president himself said he expects this will be a, quote, Fast Decision that could come before the end of this week. You showed some of the names. We heard from the group, the association that represents current and former fbi agents, they are putting their efforts behind the former congressman, mike rogers, formally the chair of the house intelligence committee, also a former special agent with the fbi. They believe he would be the best pick, andrew mccabe, the acting fbi director at the moment. What is striking is you have eight politicians, senator john cornyn, excuse me, of texas, a big trump supporter, lindsey graham, another republican, saying under different circumstances that would be a good pick, but right now the president should go with someone who is not a partisan politician. Chris . Peter alexander at the white house, thanks to you. Over to mike baquero there at
capitol hill now, donald trump posted, james comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. And it seems democrats and republicans agree if there are tapes, the president should turn them over. What can you tell us about where congress is on this right now . Well, chris, its the latest time the president s tweets have put the president in a position, where you talk aut tapes and recordings harkening back to water gate. We have heard from aumber of republicans very Unseizure Wieae tweets, including a couple on the sunday shows, when asked, if, in fact, President Trump should be turning over many of the tape recordings, if they exist. If there are any tapes, they have to be turned over. You cant be cued about tapes. If there are such recordings, i think that be subpoenaed and probably have to turn them over. Ive asked to make sure the tapes are preserved if they
or high Profile Items or controversial items, well see these time and time again, whether it be health care or the republicans looking into the russian meddling or work in tandem with what is already going on in the Senate Intelligence committee. Incidentally, Rod Rosenstein was invited by Mitch Mcconnell to brief all senators in a closeddoor session about the progress of the investigation on the fbi side. No date yet set for that. Chris . Mike baquero, thank you for that. Lets bring in mark fisher, coauthor of the biography trump revealed. Also joining us, White House Correspondent for reuters, aisha rasco and mike schmidt. You have been talking about
visiting with donald trump. So he didnt push a button, he didnt pick up the phone, everything just appeared. Right. And hes been up front on this through the years. In fact, during the reporting for the book, he told several of my colleagues that he was recording their conversations when they were doing Phone Interviews with him. So aisha, you were talking about the calls now to turn over the tapes, are we looking at a showdown potentially here . Well, if there are tapes, it seems like they will have pressure to actually turn them over to produce them. If they are not, then it seems like this could be a bit of an embarrassment for the white house. This is something that President Trump brought up on his own. As senator graham said, he said you cant be cute about tapes. So hes going to have to, the white house is going to have to address this one way or another, you would think. In the meantime, michael, our new nbc news Wall Street Journal poll finds that just 15 think
congress should be the ones to handle the russia investigation. This other number is astonishing to me. 78 are calling for an independent commission or a special prosecutor. The question is, will there be any movement on the republican side . I dont know, those town halls where we have been seeing people sort of switching a little bit from talking about health care to getting upset about the comey firing. What are you hearing . Well, whatever political impact there has been on the firing of comey with the russia investigation, the new details we have learned, it doesnt seem like its enough to push the issue forward, to push the republicans to feel like they need tind po push the independe investigation. It fills out the story more about whether there was collusion with russia to actually put enough pressure on the republicans. Because at this point we have learned a lot about what the government knows about this. And its clear that they are going to hold steady and not go forward with it. Mark, 29 of americans approve of President Trumps decision to fire comey, 38 disapprove, but 32 dont have it on their radar. What do you make of that . I think a lot of people in the country dont follow Washington News as closely as viewers here might. And when you go out to trump rallies and talk to people, they are only tuning in sporadically. And when they tune in, they tune in because the president is achieving something they wanted in the first place. So theres a lot of controversies like this one that registers as just more washington noise, more washington backfighting, to a lot of people who are political observers. Meantime, michael, the article that you wrote on friday continued to have reaction. You elaborated on your reporting that at that big January 27th Dinner at the white house, President Trump demanded essentially loyalty from then fbi director comey. I want to play what the president said when asked about that in an interview that aired over the weekend. Apparently the New York Times is selling that you asked comey whether or not you had his loyalty was possible inappropriate. I read that article. I dont think it is inappropriate. Did you ask that question . No, no, i didnt, but i dont think it would be a bad question to ask. I think loyalty to the country, loyal tty to the United States important. Depends how you define loyalty. Number two, i dont know how that got there. Because i didnt ask that question. So michael, what did you think when you saw that . The president s reaction to what you wrote . Well, you know, either the president Doesnt Recall what happened in that meeting or hes trying to portray his question of loyalty to a larger thing about the country. But our understanding from talking to several people that have spoken to mr. Comey about this is that it was a question whether mr. Comey would be loyal
to mr. Trump. Mr. Trump came back to it two times in the meeting. And by the end of it said to mr. Comey, well, do i have your honest loyalty . Comey said, you have my honest loyalty but comey understood he wasnt giving loyalty to trump that trump really wanted. If you study comey, you know that trump takes loyalty extremely seriously and comey, for whatever you think about his judgment, takes his independence very seriously. So we probably should have seen this, you know, break up coming earlier than we did. Well, mark, as someone who has studied trump, as michael wright, should we have seen this coming . And what do you make of the whole Loyalty Thing . Loyalty is very important to donald trump. It always has been. Hes really worked throughout his career until joining or entering the white house with a very tight inner circle of literally no more than half a dozen executives who have immediate and constant access to him. Those people are he didnt get that the fbi
director has to be independent . No, because the way hes always worked with the tight circle of people, they have been loyal to him and he shows loyalty to them. They tend to stay with him for 20, 30 years at a time. So the idea that hes disloyal and that he just discards people is really not the case. What happens is, though, theres a second tier of people around him, and they are essentially road kill as far as he is concerned. Straight out, unless you are in the inner circle, he really doesnt feel he owes a great deal of loyalty to those people. And to comey, he obviously fits in the latter category. Hes not in there every day nor should he be as fbi director. I see where the white house is, they have the know, his aidss have to know what a bad week it is for him, do they think they can turn the page with the trip hes taking, turn the page if he names a nominee for fbi director, maybe he can get bipartisan support . I think thats the idea. They will try to move forward as much as they can. That they will try to focus on this trip. The trip will give him the opportunity to be very president ial. Hes going to be meeting with foreign dignitaries. So it gives them a chance to be on foreign soil and kind of get away from all the troubles they have had on u. S. Soil recently. And to kind of present a more dignified image of President Trump. Of course, with all of this going on, the question is, how much has he been able to prepare for these meetings . How much has he been able to prepare for this trip, because that can open up another can of worms if he gets over there and there are issues. There have been a few diversions. Ayesha rascoe, thank you, michael schmidt, appreciate it. Next up, log in and lookout. Right now, vicious ransomware is demanding users pay for information. Well have tips on how to protect yourself and explain why this attack is particularly dangerous, threatening banks,
schools and hospitals worldwide. This is the largest Cyber Crime Attack we have ever seen before. A and your doctor to maintain your health. Because in 5 days, 10 hours and 2 minutes you are going to be 67. And on that day you will walk into a room where 15 people will be waiting. 12 behind the sofa, 2 behind the table and 1 and a half behind a curtain. Family surprise but only one of them will make a life long dream come true. Great things are ahead of you when your health is ready for them. At humana, we can help you with a personalized plan for your health for years to come. Theres nothing more than my vacation. Me so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. Booking. Com gets it. They offer free cancellation if my plans change. Visit booking. Com. Booking. Yeah. I am totally blind. I lost my sight in afghanistan. If youre totally blind, you may also be struggling with non24. Calling 8448442424. Or visit my24info. Com. Lwhos the lucky lady . Im going to the bank, to discuss a mortgage. Ugh, see, you need a loan, you put on a suit, you go crawling to the bank. This is how i dress to get a mortgage. I just go to lendingtree. I calculate how much home i can afford. I get multiple offers to compare side by side. And the best part is. The banks come crawling to me. Everything you need to get a better mortgage. Clothing optional. Lendingtree, when banks compete, you win. Okay . Awkward. For 10 years my tempurpedic has adapted to my weight and shape. So i sleep deeply and wake up ready to perform. Now through june 11th, save 600 when you buy select tempurpedic Adjustable Mattress sets. Find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic. Com. Whattwo servings of veggies . V8 or a powdered drink . Ready, go. Ahhhhhhhh shake shake shake shake shake
done you gotta shake it i shake it glad i had a v8. The original way to fuel your day. This affected hospitals, schools and Companies Worldwide by encrypting the files and demanding payment to unlock them. Now two versions are being detected. Nbcs Kelly Cobiella is here. What do we know about how fast this is spreading and where . Reporter companies and organizations in asia have been pretty hardhit this morning. But that may just be a question of timing. A lot of the companies and organizations were already at the end of business friday when this started spreading. So maybe a case of those booting up their computers for the first time and finding out they have been infected. Now, having said that, there are some new versions of this virus coming out now, china has detected a version. They say it spreads much faster and is harder to kill than the first one we saw on friday. But so far were not hearing about secondary waves of attacks. Nothing reported in europe or
the United States, but American Computers along with the rest of the world could still be at risk. The big key here is whether or not your computers or Computer Networks have been updated with the latest Security Patches from microsoft. Chris . Meantime, a researcher who is believed to have stopped the attack over the weekend is talking about how he did it. What do we know . Reporter yeah, its a little bit technical when you get into the weeds about how exactly he activated this killswitch. But hes a 22yearold Cyber Security researcher. He says he first noticed the attack friday morning, didnt think much of it at first, until he saw it spreading across hospitals in england and scotland. He says he found a domain name that was linked to this malware. He registered it and noticed the virus slowed down in how quickly it was spreading. He also said, chris, that he was surprised by its lack of sophistication. He said it looked like something that someone had written in their free time, which may offer
some clues as to who may have started this. Or how bad the Security Systems are in some of these places. Kelly cobiella, thank you. I want to bring in a firm that specializes and preventing and investigating cyber breaches. I just want to go to what she just said, which is if its true, that this wasnt very sophisticated, but its having this global impact, what are the implications here . It doesnt need to be that sophisticated as long as it is efficient and getting the job done. I think that is probably the biggest problem is that this code doesnt need to be that complex just to do a simple test. Thats pretty scary when you think what could happen as a result that the carmaker had to shut down. I mean, why are people looking at this and saying, this is horrible. This is the worst we have ever seen . No, its that it spreads by itself. In most previous cases, you would actually get an email, you would have to click on the email or click on a link and become infected. In this case, it can spread from computer to computer by itself. It doesnt need any help, doesnt need any user interaction, which makes it so dangerous. What do we know about where it may have come from . Vladimir putin said the virus originated from u. S. Intelligen