Telling her extraordinary story. After 13 years, cosby Accuser Andrea Constand breaks her silence exclusively to nbc news. I was crying out inside in my throat, in my mind for this to stop and i couldnt do anything. We begin today with diplomacy in action. Kim jonguns point man and President Trumps point man together in new york city. Make no mistake, this in the big apple is where the real work is getting done. I have a great panel here to break all of it down. First, lets explain where things stand. Any minute now, were expecting to see secretary of state mike pompeo and north koreas Kim Yong Chul. The two had dinner last night as a precursor to what expected to be meetings today. Discussions happening now along with one in new york. Officials are meeting in the dmz to talk diplomacy and teams are in singapore focusing on logistics. When asked about the significance of all these presummit meetings, a state Department Official said, quote, between now and a possible summit, the meaning of the meeting with North Koreans are going to have to make it clear of what they are willing to do. And we want to see what they have in their idea of making a successful summit. The official added, quote, i think were looking for something historic. Broadly speaking, that would mean convincing north korea to get rid of its Nuclear Weapons in exchange for security clearances and economic aid. Heres a question, how do we get from here to there . I want to bring in nbcs Peter Alexander live at the white house. Busy time from Kim Kardashian to Kim Yong Chul, dont we need to define what denuclearization is . Yes, what weve heard from this president in recent comments is while initially he was calling for the immediate denuclearization of north korea, hes now saying it could happen over time. Its obvious if it were to ever occur, the challenge would be to confirm it did happen, that it would take more than a decade, perhaps 15 years by some assessments. The key topic, this is the sticking point, is north koreas willingness to discuss the denuclearization. The talks breaking down. The president initially announcing he was canceling the singapore summit when north korea reupped its threat of a nuclear showdown. Todays meeting in new york city is significant. The secretary of state mike pompeo hosting Kim Yong Chul, the highest ranking official to visit the u. S. In nearly two decades. Theyll focus on reaching enough agreement to go ahead with the summit june 12. The scheduled date less than two weeks away. Kim yong chul is kim jonguns righthand man, the countrys top spy, now the vice chairman of the working rulers party. Hes been an enemy of the u. S. For decades. Behind the sack of Sony Pictures in 2013 for the movie they produced mocking the ruling kim family. We heard from director of National IntelligenceJames Clapper this morning discussing his past meeting with Kim Yong Chul saying the conversation was tense and nasty. One of the real questions is, is denuclearization a realistic option . The cia and outside experts tell nbc news that goal is impossible any time soon. Three u. S. Officials telling us a recent intelligence assessment concludes kim jongun would never abandon his Nuclear Program his countrys been developing for decades. If he would never abandon it, begs the question, whats the point of all this . Ned price served as nsc director under president obama. And tim obrien, bloomberg opinion. Ned, to you first, how much of a potential agreement needs to be set in stone before President Trump and kim jongun meet . Well, stephanie, its a good question. They have to at least come to an agreement on the contours of the talks. What precisely will be on the table. I think the challenge here is that so much has been focused on logistics. So much has been focused on timing and setting. That that may be at the expense of substance. There are these two other ongoing meetings around the world. Both in north korea and sing singapore between u. S. And north korean counterparts. But it sounds like this meeting between mike pompeo and general kim that will really start in earnest today in new york city, thats where substance will really be on the table, and thats where they need to come to least an initial understanding before anything substantive can move forward. The Trump Administration has completely has insisted, consistently, that complete verifiable and irreversible denuclearization is the standard. The North Koreans have consistently scoffed at that. They need to find a way to square that circle. Those images you are looking at now are live. This is historic. To see them meet in new york city, its massive. Elise, fast forward for us. Lets say these two men agree on the contours or the framework of what this is going to be. Is President Trump constrained by that once he gets there . Because, remember, this is the i, and i alone, president. I think is donald trump contaco constrained by agreement . I would say thats the least. His other advisers who are opposed to these talks with north korea, i think those are really the road mines. You look at what tripped up the process last week. It was really john boltons comments followed up by mike pences, comparing the libya model which, you know, might have been okay in 2003 but by the end of it didnt end gadhaf. If they decide theyre going against mike pompeos effort, thats not good for any potential agreement. Trump is speaking. Were going to have a little fun today. Thank you very much. [ inaudible question ] i dont know. I dont know. If you know, steve, let me know, okay . I think it will be very positive. I think it will be very positive. Meetings have been very positive. Well see what happens. Its a process. Its all a process. Well see. Hopefully well have a meeting on the 12th. Thats going along very well. I want it to be meaningful. It doesnt mean it gets all done in one meeting. Maybe you have to have a second and a third. And maybe well have none. But its in good hands. That i can tell you. You know that actually. Thank you. Thank you. The president there basically leaving the door open. Talks are happening. Theyre good. Maybe we have one meeting, maybe we have two, maybe we have none. But heres the thing. A lot of questions need to be answered. Basic questions. I just want to pull them up. We talk about what are they going to say. We dont know. Would an agreement cover Nuclear Weapons or other weapons as well . Is there a deadline for total disarmament . Is there a scenario where there can be Nuclear Capabilities from a civilian perspective . Are we getting ahead of the game that you got joe hagen, you know, worrying over there in singapore dealing with logistics . And the basics of this massive meeting arent covered yet . I think whenever the president starts out a morning briefing saying were going to have a little bit of fun today, its worth tightening our seat belts. Because nobody really knows whos driving the trump train. Is it john bolton this week . Is it pompeo . Is it the president himself . The reality is he doesnt have an intellectual or strategic framework informing all the choices hes making here. I think hes positioning himself around how he appears in the media. His framework is how do i win, how do i become the most popular and win, and whomever can help him get there. The problem is hes defining women by selfagrandizement. Not clear policy goals. The North Koreans have everything to gain by simply getting him to the table. Thats not a win from the United States. John bolton makes it clear that he wants a north korea that doesnt have nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. Ned, you wrote a piece where they said theres two clear traps for the president. What are they . Theres two clear questions the president needs to be able to answer. One, does kim jongun still have his Nuclear Weapons . And number two, does he still have his Ballistic Missiles . If you can answer no to both those questions, its a good deal. If you have to answer yes, its either incomplete or not a good deal. The Bigger Picture here, stephanie, is the fact that youve spoken a lot about the president s financial conflicts of interest. In this case, he has a diplomatic conflict of interest. What the American People need and deserve is complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of the sort that, yes, both mike pompeo and john bolton have spoken to. What the president needs and wants is a quick win, a shortterm, even a hollow or name flimsy deal that he can hold up, wave around at a rally and get his supporters to chant nobel prize. Those two things may not be consistent with one another. Theres a real possibility that President Trump will sell out our longterm National Security interest for this shortterm political win. Lets go to state department who may be talking themselves into a corner. I think we are looking for something historic. I think were looking for something thats never been done before. Thats a really high bar. Yes, not exactly low expectations there. The way that the state department has been proceeding in my observation has been somewhat on the fly. Theyve been caught offguard by Donald Trumps statements. You had last week on tuesday mike pam payo said he was leading the negotiations. On wednesday, hes suddenly, the negotiations are off. Well, go fish. Its our fault they were caught off guard. They decided to swim in the deep end with President Trump. They also havent staffed up the basic, you know, infrastructure. I believe theres not, still, assistant secretary for east asia at the state department, and we are just getting an ambassador, hopefully soon, but its just he does not have a lot of the players in place for this kind of extensive negotiation. When ned mentioned conflict of interest, my mind went to russia. We know the Russia Foreign minister was in north korea meeting with kim jongun. We havent heard anything from russia. Although he released the statement saying we have a joint interest in preventing their dominance in the region. So i think its worth stepping back and looking at who the hidden players are in this negotiation. Obviously china has a very big hand to play here and the chinese, the russians and the North Koreans have all made great strategic hay and i think are playing a longterm game here you also have three leaders in north korea, china and russia who are there forever. And i think they realize they can toy with trump. Trump does not have the strong hand here. Theyre playing him. All three of those countries in different ways have been playing trump since he was inaugurated. Its not good for u. S. Policy in the region. Its not good for the executive branch. On that positive and comforting note, were going to leave it there. Up next, a confidential memo about the firing of fbi director jim comey now in the hands of special counsel bob mueller. Why that could spell trouble for Rod Rosenstein. First, late nights trevor noah on the socalled fast food diplomacy under way between north korea and the United States. So instead of shutting down its Nuclear Program, north korea is instead offering to open a burger joint. Yes. Yes. I dont even know how that makes sense. I like to think that was intended to kim jonguns opening gambit, you know, to get the ball rolling. Then trump heard hamburgers and hes like, were in, were in. Wheres my noble prize . Burger, nobel. Com you always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed . Lets get someone to say it with a really low voice. Carl . Lowest price guaranteed. What about the worlds lowest limbo stick . How low can you go . Nice one, carl. Hey ive got an idea. Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Badda book. Badda boom. Nice. Always the lowest price, guaranteed. Book now at choicehotels. Com at fidelity, our online u. S. Equity trades are just 4. 95. So no matter what you trade, or where you trade, youll only pay 4. 95. Fidelity. Open an account today. 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Rosenstein reportedly told mccabe trump asked him to reference russia in his statement that recommended comeys dismissal. Rosenstein did not elaborate on what exactly trump had wanted him to say. Rosenstein ultimately did not reference russia in his recommendation and instead pointed to comeys handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. That reportedly raised a red flag for mccabe. According to the times, quote, to mccabe, that seemed like possible evidence that comeys firing was actually related to the fbis investigation into the trump campaigns ties to russia and that Rod Rosenstein helped provide a cover story by writing about the clinton investigation. I want to bring in Jeremy Peters from the new york times. Seth waxman, former federal prosecutor. And elude jordan back with me. This ones a wow. So jeremy, walk us through this. Within the past hour, we got this choice tweet from the president , quote, not that it matters, but i never fired james comey because of russia, exclamation point. The corrupt Mainstream Media loves to keep pushing that narrative but they know its not true. So heres the thing. We dont have to push anything. One year ago, heres what the president of the United States on record on tv told lester h t holt. He made a recommendation but regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. Knowing there was no good time to do it. And, in fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a madeup story. This russia thing. How does trump possibly, now, completely reverse that story . This seems like a sound bite thats haunting the west wing. Facts are stubborn things. This president only likes to adhere to those facts, mentions those facts that conform with his narrative of persecution everywhere he looks. Persecution within the government he leads from the quote unquote deep state that has been spying on his president ial campaign and is now out to undo his presidency and cost his party seats in the midterm election, possibly control congress. Mike pompeo and chris wray have dismissed this notion of the deep state and those are two trump appointed guys. As is trey gowdy, somebody who until recently was very well regarded on the right for being a man of the law, for somebody who respects Law Enforcement institutions and understands the proper role that the Congress Plays in investigating the executive branch. Now, one of the interesting things here, stephanie, is when President Trump evidently asked for this reference to russia in that letter about firing comey, he wanted the government, once again, to function as his own personal pr machine. And this goes to how President Trump views institutions in the United States. They are not there to serve the people. They are there to serve him and the people who run those institutions are most importantly there to protect him. Oh, goodness. Could this potentially get rosenstein in trouble . I think what were seeing is two rosensteins. A tale of two rods. A staunch defender of the Mueller Investigation and the rule of law going as far as to saying the Justice Department wont be extorted. And the Rod Rosenstein of a year ago who is struggling like don mcgahn to figure out why james comeys being fired. Mr. Mccabe thinking of course he was part of a coverup. I think we have to know a lot more before concluding that rosenstein intentionally tried to mislead. I think what it does tell us is rosenstein has moved much further away from the president in the last year. Not as much giving him the benefit of the doubt and allowing the Mueller Investigation to go forward. I guess thats how he doubles. If you call him rosenstein, hes one guy, stine, is another. Whats your takeway, elise . He wou