According to one source. The headline, kind of a lifeline for donald trump, given other news his Administration May not want to talk about. Like the russia investigation. Although, at least one top adviser is talking. Rudy giuliani ready for a fight, telling nbc news the legal team is about to send a letter the special counsel may not like. We have it all covered on this monday morning with our nbc News Reporters here with the latest from the white house and halfway around the world. We want to start with whats happening underground in thailand. Eight boys this morn ing have been pulled out after spending two weeks trapped in the cave. An International Team of more than 90 divers is racing to free the four boys and their coach, who are still inside, before oxygen levels drop and more heavy rain hits. Theyre trying to bring out the boys in pairs through an escape route which was widened over the weekend to make room for the rescuers to get through with the boys. Bill neely is on the scene, breaking down the hour by hour developments. Reporter hi, hallie. Good morning. Nightfall here. The operation is over for today. You can probably just see behind me some of the support teams and divers leaving. A hospital hovering overhead. It has been another day of success. Four more boys freed. Thats eight in all. Freed by the same team that did it yesterday. The same extraordinary britishled divers, who have this amazing technique, where they actually virtually carry or have a boy underneath them with another diver behind. All along the route, those boys are supported by oxygen, by blankets, anything they need. The boys themselves are wearing face masks for two and a half hours. Remember, these are boys that have never worn face masks before. Most of them cant swim a stroke. They can float, basic techniques. This is extraordinary in murky, submerged water. Great success. Those boys are now being treated at the hospital, as i speak. Tomorrow, we assume the operations will resume in exactly the same way, and they may take the remaining five out tomorrow. Ive been at the school where six of the boys are students. Three of the boys at that school were freed yesterday. I talked to their schoolmates, school friends, who are really happy. They say they want to get them back on the soccer field, then they want to take them for Fried Chicken. Boys, as usual, thinking, hallie, of their stomachs. An extraordinarily good operation, Successful Operation here. We also spoke to one diver who said that the worry today wasnt really about physical obstacles. It was about complacency. Because of the Great Success and euphoria yesterday. Complacency is the divers enemy. It can kill a diver. It can certainly do great harm to a weakened child. Those children, those boys, are now being strengthened in the hospital. Remember, they had virtually no food for at least nine or maybe ten days. They have energy gels in the couple of days after they were first discovered. The operation will resume tomorrow. Were expecting a News Conference sometime later tonight by the commander of the operation. The man who launched this with the dramatic words, this is dday. Today, freedom day for another four boys. Hallie . Bill neely there for us. Lets hope the boys get all the Fried Chicken they want. We want to turn to the other big news of the morning. President trumps supreme decision. He said he could make up his mind within the next two hours. Thats the deadline he himself talked about. Tonights primetime announcement, hell share who he picked to take the Supreme Court seat of justice kennedy. Im getting close to make a final decision. I believe this person will do a great job. Lets say, it is the four people. Theyre excellent, every one. You cant go wrong. Lets get the latest now from the white house and nbcs kristen welker. Great to see you. Lets talk about whats happening behind the scenes. Its my understanding, there is this war room operation happening in the west wing. Theyre planning for all contingencies, right . Reporter great to see you, hallie. Thats right, the white house setting up a war room operation for every contender, which underscores what we know about the white souse. Nothing is final until the president announces it himself. This morning, mr. Trump tweeting about this. The drama, i have long heard the most important decision a u. S. President can make is the selection of a Supreme Court justice. Will be announced tonight at 9 00 p. M. The former reality tv star really building up the anticipation, hallie, in the final hours. Now, sources familiar with the selection tells Peter Alexander that none of the top four contenders, amy barrett, hardiman, kavanaugh and kethledge, have been eliminated at this point, but there seems to be a focus on two of the candidates. Kava kavanaugh and hardiman. The president likes kavanaughs pedigree. He clerked for justice kennedy. The downside is he has a long paper trail. Worked under former president george w. Bush and was a member of ken starrs team which investigated former president bill clinton. You have hardiman who is getting a lot of buzz in the final hours. He is a federal judge who was a front runner last year. The president has been getting input from a number of people, including Senate Majority leader mitch mcconnell. Even fox news host sean hannity. Who will he pick . Were trying to drill down before the big announcement. Kristen welker, ill see you at the white house in a little bit. I want to bring in justice correspondent pete williams, who has been diving into all of this. Pete, kristen talked about a couple of the quote, unquote, final contenders for this pick. What else can you tell us about who is in the mix . Reporter well, any one of these people would be more conservative than justice remember addidadd kennedy, w retiring. Brett kavanaugh is the only finalist with an ivy league education. We went to yale and yale law, and it is something the president said is important. Thomas hardiman, hes a finalist last year. You may remember, there were several hours where we didnt know if it was going to be between hardiman and gorsuch. He was the first in his family to attend college. Drove a taxi before law school at georgetown. Serves on the 3rd circuit of appeals in pennsylvania, and so does the president s sister, who put in a good word for him. Kethledge is an Appeals Court judge, has been for ten years. Last year, he wrote a book with an army officer about the importance of solitude. He gets that, working in his personal office in a converted barn overlooking lake huron. Amy Coney Barrett is the only woman on the list. The youngest on the list. Devout catholic. There is a potential negative on her. Shes only been judge for eight months and has no other government experience. Pete williams, you and i are getting red dady for a long nig. Thank you. Joining me now is the dean at the college of law and author of true faith. Judge gonzalez, thank you very much for being on. Good morning. It is good to have you back. Lets start off talking about the ins and outs of this. This is something you know well. I understand you, obviously, advised former president bush on his Supreme Court picks. Of the final four, what would your recommendation be to the president now . Well, this is a very important pick, obviously. Yeah. Itll have a Lasting Impact on our jurisprudence and on our country. Therefore, you want to try to avoid surprises. The notion of going for a pick that is splashy or, you know, newsworthy, i think at this juncture, you want to avoid surprises. Go with someone who has an established track record, experience. Best predictor of how someone is going to perform on the Supreme Court is how they performed on the bench. I would look for someone that you can you have information that you can evaluate how theyre likely to perform on the court. Reading between the lines then, would that indicate that youd be leaning away from, for example, amy Coney Barrett, who has not served on the bench that long . Yeah. I would have questions about that. I think youre better off going with someone who has, as i said, an established track record, someone like kavanaugh or hardiman. Obviously, you look at what theyve done. It is a good indicator, but not a perfect indicator. Weve seen throughout history that it is not a perfect indicator. Once you get on the Supreme Court, you dont have to follow precedent. You can decide cases based on what you think is right. Based upon what your oath of office demands. It is not a perfect indicatoind but it is probably the best indicator of how someone will perform on the Supreme Court. Let me ask about brett ca kavanau kavanaugh. He worked for former president bush. There are concerns, based on my reporting inside the white souse, about the bush links, given this is a president , President Trump, who has not always been fond of those who served under president bush in the past. How might those ties affect the president s decision, as well as the paper trail that there is concern about over on the hillside . I cant speak for how this will affect President Trumps view of mr. Kavanaugh. Brett worked for me in the white house. He was one of my lawyers. From my perspective, i think it would be totally unfair and wrong to penalize or in any way cast doubt upon bretts ability based upon his service as a young lawyer in the white house, and later on in the staff secretarys office. From my perspective, Brett Kavanaugh served with honor and distinction. Hes likewise served with honor and distinction as a circuit judge. That carries far greater weight in terms of his evaluation as a Supreme Court justice than his service in the white house. Let me play what republican senator blunt said over the weekend to chuck todd on meet the press regarding this final list of contenders. Listen. I think theyll all be theyre good judges. I think theyd be fine justices of the Supreme Court. I do think the president has to think about who is the easiest to get confirmed here. I expect well do that on sort of the normal timetable of a couple of months. So, who is the easiest to get confirmed . Do you believe, judge gonzalez, that should be the test, the confirmability of the candidate, or should it go beyond that . I believe it is a factor that should be weighed. Obviously, the confirmation, looking at the calendar, who controls the senate, who is the Senate Judiciary committee chairman, all of those are considerations. The number one consideration for president bush was ideology. How is this person going to approach the job of judging . If youve got the right person, then that person is worth the fight. You work with the senate republicans. Hopefully get some democratic votes and get this person confirmed. From my perspective, youre not going to look solely at confirmability and ignore ideology. Ideology and qualifications are the two most important indications in terms of what i think a president should look for. Alberto gonzalez, thank you for coming back on the show. We appreciate your perspective. Thank you. Joining me now is political reporter for the Associated Press and the National Political reporter for bloomberg. Well talk more later in the show about the political pressures that are building on some of the, for example, red state democrats, but there is Something Else that has gone under the radar a bit. The Political Team pulled this out in the newsletter this morning. Yes, this is a major headline for President Trump. It is also a lifeline. There are other major stories that the president sure doesnt want to be talking about, that he doesnt have to talk about because of the Supreme Court pick. Everything from the debacle happening in north korea, the putin summit coming up, the trade war that is hurting farmers, which of whom voted for him, migrant kids still separated from their parents, the special counsels showdown. The president , in a way, is almost getting rescued by this pick tonight. Exactly right. Thats why you see it being debuted like the premiere of the apprentice. 9 00 network spot. Down to four. Who is it going to be . I mean, if there is something that we know this president understands, it is how to make a media splash. He is doing this to the fullest possible extent. In part, to wipe those thousands of kids still separated from their parents off the front pages. I think it is unclear whether hell be successful. He may be successful for a couple days. You know, this is going to go on for weeks. To be clear, this is a critically important piece of the president s legacy. Of course. Of course, hell Pay Attention to it and focus on it, rightfully so, given how big of a deal this is. It is a rare issue that unites all aspects of the right and the republican party. Whether it is President Trumps base, whether washington elites, whether it is never trump conservatives who depispise him but like that he is picking a Supreme Court justice. Two picks will be on the bench. 50 right now. The next is either going to be in her 40s or early 50s. Going to be on the bench for probably another three decades, if not more. In addition to this, hes put more judges on the circuit courts than any president at this point in the presidency, which is 21. Enormously consequential. Mitch mcconnell liked this, as well. Coverage later on tonight in primetime, msnbc, 9 00 eastern, full coverage of the Supreme Court announcement. Ill see you there, as well as on the network side, in front of the whitoe house on the north lawn all night. Also, the ultimatum in the russia investigation coming from the president s legal team. Well tell you what his lawyers now say they have to have from Robert Mueller before President Trump will think about sitting down for an interview. Thats next. Or break a trip. And at expedia, we dont think you should be rushed into booking one. Thats why we created expedias addon advantage. Now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. Addon advantage. Discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. Only when you book with expedia. Breaking news coming out of the uk. Boris johnson has Just Announced he is resigning. This is a big deal. 10 downing street released a statement saying this afternoon, the Prime Minister accepted the resignation of Boris Johnson as foreign secretary. His replacement will be announced shortly. The Prime Minister thanks boris for his work. Remember, this comes on the heels of two of theresa mays most senior advisers on brexit abruptly resigning overnight. That was breaking news that we woke up to this morning. It comes as there is open warfare inside members of the conservative party in the uk, about how to handle brexit. She was supposed to be briefing lawmakers later on today regarding the uks plan for this. It is all happening just four days three days now before donald trump actually heads to london to meet with Prime Minister may. We are continuing to follow this story. Well have more on it later in the show. Again, this is significant, as it relates not just to internal politics inside the uk, but as it relates to the relationship between the United States and one of our closest allies internationally. Much more to come on this with the uk government in serious brexit turmoil. Were also following another headline at home. Sometime within the next 24 to 48 hours, the president s lawyers planning to get in touch with Robert Mueller. Why . Rudy giuliani tells us the legal team is going to send the special counsel a letter asking them to demonstrate the basis for the investigation into the president s actions during and after the 2016 election. Giuliani says they need the justification before the president would sit down for an interview. We would not recommend an interview for the president unless they can satisfy us that there is some basis for this investigation. Is this the witch hunt that a lot of people think it is, or is there a factual basis for this . This morning, giuliani is leaving a little bit of an opening for mueller. Watch. They had narrow questions about collusion, where theyre confused about, did he find out something, did he know something, did he talk to anyone . Wed be happy to give answers to that, so long we knew he was concluding it. Joyce vance, former attorney and contributor, lisa and sahill are with us, as well. Interesting stuff from giuliani, who has reemerged on the scene after hiding from public view for a few weeks. What happens, if and when, the legal team sends the letter, makes contact with the special counsel . Giuliani seems to have forgotten his days as a prosecutor, that it is the pr t prosecutor who holds the cards in this situation. Typically, prosecutors dont let targets or subject of an investigation set the terms under which theyll be interviewed. This sets up an interesting little confrontation perhaps. What is this . Is this letter a little bit of a grenade into the special counsels office . Will it be ignored by mueller . Could it yield fruit . This is a Public Relations campaign. Okay. We saw reporting over the weekend that, increasingly, the American People are losing confidence with Robert Mueller.