one on the schedule soon from senator cotton thanks to his constituents who would not give up. and a local press who covered their efforts. who wants to go next? that does it for us tonight. we'll see you again tomorrow. developing overnight. nbc news has learned the trump administration could hit iran with new sanctions as early as today. plus the president breaks with benjamin net ya hue. then there's this. >> my first day's here. i'm on the job. hi. i'm the new guy. >> in his first day on the job, secretarof sy rex tillerson tries to calm concerns from foreign allies while also acknowledging post-election tensions. ♪

good morning, everyone. it is friday, february 3rd. i'm alex witt alongside lewis burgdorf. >> we're following breaking news out of paris where they're getting reports of a soldier firing outside of the louvre. a man armed with a knife tried to enter the museum before attacking that soldier. the suspect was reportedly severely injured. officials say the area has been evacuated, but it is secured. the head of paris' police department says no explosives were found in the bag the attacker had on him. and he cried out akbar at the time of the attacks. meantime, msnbc has learned the president could hit iran with sanctions.

morning the entities to be sanctioned are the irgc and affiliated groups. more than two dozen of which could be impacted. in the opinion of the trump administration, the new sanctions will not violate the iran nuclear deal. it comes as a group of senators asked for the continued enforcement of iranian sanctions and to consider more writing in part, iranian leaders must feel sufficient pressure to seek destabilizing activities to continued testing of ballistic missiles. the imposition of additional sanctions on iran for its program are necessary. moreover, we are hopeful that the international community can unite around the common cause of countering iran's troubling actions. joining us now live from tehran, iran, ali arusi. said this is not the first time

an inexperienced person threatened iran and the country doesn't need permission to defend itself. so where is this leading? >> reporter: that's a very good question, alex. the nuclear deal is barely a year old. now sanctions are on the table for its ballistic missile test. which alex, was probably launched to measure president trump's response. it's the first hostile action they've taken. i'm sure they wanted to gauge how president trump would respond. although the president is uncharted territory for iran, animosity with america snts. iran's raison d'etre has been anti-americanism. over the last few days, the ruling establishment fired back lambasting the president promising more missile tests. but what they're probably really trying to figure out is their next move in this long-running chess game with america.

hostility with america gives hard liners a platform here which could spell trouble for president rouhani in may's election. he promised to de-escalate tensions with america, revive the economy. all of those things could be in trouble which could pave the way for a hard-liner to get elected. which would mean more antagonism with the united states. >> which will set back relations considerably further. thank you very much. lew lewis? >> for the first time since taking office, we are seeing what appear to be policy shifts on the front. dpiet promoting friendlier relations with kremlin, now demanding they withdraw from crimea. russian president vladimir pin has accused ed ukraine of start it all. in her first remarks to the u.n. security council, nikki haley

con zemed the violence. >> i consider it unfortunate that the occasion of my first appearance here is one in which i must condemn the aggressive actions of russia. we do want to better our relations with russia, however, the dire situation in eastern ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of russian actions. crimea is a part of ukraine. our crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until russia returns control over the peninsula to ukraine. >> meanwhile the treasury department has announced it will allow some american companies to do limited transactions with the russian fsb the successor to the kgb. the white house maintains it is not ease iing sanctions. >> the treasury department -- from what i understand, it's a fairly common practice for the treasury department after sanctions are put in place, to go back and to look at whether

or not there needs to be specific carveouts for different, you know, either industries or products and services that need to be going back and forth. i refer you to the treasury department on that one. >> and senator john mccain urged president trump to -- initially it looks like it's a technical fix. i've not fully explored it, but that's the impression i have of what it is. a statement by nancy pelosi was less critical. saying president trump lifts sanctions on the russian security service. vladimir putin's thugs meddle with an american election and president trump gives them a thank you present. president trump has said to keep a good relationship with israel. but yesterday there was a marked shift in tone. a senior administration official

warned israel yesterday to stop making settlement announcements that undermine the president's efforts to bring peace. the official also said the president is committed to a two-state solution. the netanyahu administration -- since president trump took office and it comes just two weeks before prime minister netanyahu is to meet. the american desire for peace between the israelis and palestinians has remained unchanged for 250 years. existing settlements may not be helpful in achieving that goal. all of this follows president trump's meeting with king abdullah. and according to jordanian state media, king abdullah warned the

president that an early promise from president trump could raise tensions. the white house says the two had a good conversation but did not mention if the two discussed the president's desires to move the embassy. president trump is set to meet with corporate leaders on his advisory council today. but the group of 19 ceos is down one after uber chief quit amid mount b pressure after that executive order on immigration. saying in a memo to his team, quote, joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but has been misinterpreted to be exactly that. reality gap between who people think we are and who we actually are. now, spacex owner elon musk says he'll stay on the panel but hopes to make his thoughts on the executive order clear. this all comes after the president met with

harley-davidson executives and union officials at the white house yesterday reiterating his promise to create more manufacturing jobs. the president also met with a bipartisan group of senators to discuss trade reform and rge them to, quote, speed up the renegotiation of nafta. >> maybe we do it -- maybe we do a new nafta and put an extra "f" in there. for free and fair trade. i don't care if it's a renovation of nafta or a brand new nafta, but we have to make it fair. it's unfair to the american worker and very, very unfair to companies that do business in this couny. turning to numbers now, new polling shows president trump's job approval under water as americans size up his major moves on several policy fronts. in a gallup poll conducted monday and tuesday, half of americans, 52% disapprove of his

job performance. 43% approve. 47% believe he's moving too fast. 35% think he's running at the right pace. while 10% want even quicker action. that compares unfavorably with president obama at the same time in 2009 when 63% felt his pace was right. 10% thought obama was not moving fast enough. on the president's executive orders, 55% disapprove of the temporary ban on people entering the u.s. from seven majority muslim nations. 42% are in support. 58% are against last week's order to suspend the syrian refugee program. and in a 60% to 38%, more people disapprove of the president's order to construct a border wall with mexico. the republican controlled house has voted to roll back an obama administration regulation that sought to prevent those with serious mental health

conditions from purchasing a firearm. would have to disclose about individuals who receive disability benefits and have a mental health condition to the national gun buying background check system. critics argue the rule would strip law-abiding citizens of their rights. concerning the mental health of dylann roof. several experts determined he suffered from a variety of mental disorders. they included depression, social anxiety disorder, and substance abuse. one retired psychologist apparently even tracked him down based on a craigslist posting full of derogatory terms and offered him help. according to documents, that was four months befo still ahead, president trump mocks arnold schwarzenegger. but the host of the "new

celebrity apprentice" hits back. and the boss also has a message for the commander in chief. those and more when we come back. imagine if the things you bought every day earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. with the united mileageplus explorer card, you'll get a free checked bag, 2 united club passes... priority boarding...

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welcome back, everyone. we're going to get a check on your weather with bill cairns. we saw some sunshine yesterday. that was nice. >> a lot of areas did. the west is still where we're dealing with the big storm. all the rain in northern california. snow in the nevada range. nasty ice up in portland, oregon. headg down from washington into areas of oregon. that storm will be with us all through the weekend too. in the east, it's all about the cold. buffalo now with a windchill of negative 1. this is kind of what you'd

expect all winter long. but we haven't been this cold in awhile. negative 21 in montana. there is some true arctic cold air blowing in minneapolis. zero windchills. chicago at zero. then areas to the south. the cold air is toward the south, little rock with 29. you get the picture. everyone east of the rockies, it feels like winter with the exception of florida. as we go throughout the day today, again, the temperatures are going to recover a little bit. there is some sunshine out there. so we're below freezing, highs today, we start windchill at zero. we'll get back up to about 26 in chicago. 24 in minneapolis. so again, this is a little bit below average. but not horrible. kansas city at 33. and pittsburgh around 29. the only areas we're holding onto the warmth is miami at 80 today. good news for the upcoming weekend is the warmth returns in a hurry. brief cold shot then we warm up. dallas goes from 53 saturday, 71

on sunday. by the time we get to atlanta, 66 on monday. even washington, d.c. with a cold saturday. so again, it's cold, but it's not staying. >> all right. that's good news. i don't want it to stay cold. i got one for you here, bill. arnold schwarzenegger is throwing down the gauntlet to president trump as they trade shots in their feud. the dustup began yesterday while the president was speaking at the national prayer breakfast. mr. trump appealed to a higher power to help schwarzenegger who now hosts the show trump made famous. >> when i ran for president, i had a leave the show. that's when i knew for sure i was doing it. and they hired a big, big movie star arnold schwarzenegger to take my place. and know w that turned out. the ratings wt right down the tubes. it's been a total disaster. and mark will never, ever bet

against trump again. and i want to just pray for arnold, if we can, for those ratings. okay? >> white house press secretary sean spicer later said the comments were meant, quote, as a light hearted moment. but the former california governor took to twitter to issue a challenge to the commander in chief. >> hey, donald. i have a great idea. why don't we switch jobs? you take over tv because you're such an expert in ratings. and i take over your job. then people can finally sleep comfortably again. >> tough words from schwarzenegger there. a spokesperson for the former governor released a statement saying arnold is praying that president trump can start improving his own approval ratings which were the worst in history for an incoming president. okay. bruce springsteen sent a message to the leader yesterday one day

after reports of a contentious phone call over refugee policy with turn bull. the boss said in melbourne, we stand before you as embarrassed americans tonight. the singer singing "don't hang up" as the message to donald trump. then on monday night the rock star also spoke out against the president's travel ban. come up, we're looking ahead to this weekend's super bowl game. the stakes could not be higher for some of the folks on the "first look" staff. right there jason and ben. you know what that's all about. louis is going to explain why next in sports. one of them's got to go. "how to win at business."

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clueless gamer. super bowl edition. >> does bill belichick know you're doing this right now? >> absolutely not. >> okay. i cannot believe he would be okay with this. let's start playing the game. now i'm coming towards you, tom. you're headed towards -- i'm chasing tom brady. focus! what! what did i just do? i didn't know you could just fall. are you okay? >> round two. in the corner. it's over. it's over. >> no, no, no! >> how many times i got to hit this guy? you're tough. >> thank you, tom brady. >> you're tough. >> thank you.

how did that feel? >> well, i won that. so it's 1-1. >> round three. this decides it. oh! what the hell happened? >> dropping the video game controller. welcome back. that was patriots quarterback tom brady last night. time for sports and college hoops. gonzaga bulldogs remain the only undefeated team in the country. improving to 23-0 on the season after an 85-75 win at byu last night. the bulldogs dominated the cougars in the first half leading 42-26 at the half. byu cut the lead to single digits in the second. williams kept the cougars at bay with 33 points in the game. gonzaga now riding the longest winning streak in school history. elsewhere in college football, mike krzyzewski expected to return to the sidelines for the blue devils when they host pittsburgh on saturday.

coach k. missed the last month after undergoing back surgery. duke went 4-3 without their hall of fame coach. all right. to the nba where san antonio spurs head coach gregg popovich tallies victory 1,127 with san antonio. a 102-86 win against the sixers. most career wins with a single franchise. popovich is tied with jerry sloan. congratulations to him. and in los angeles, blake griffin is back. the former dunk champion slamming one home against the warriors last night. despite his 31-point effort, the warriors knock a ninth straight victory for the bay area against their l.a. opponents. steph curry led golden state with 29 points in the game. kevin durant added 26 and the warriors won their fifth straight. 133-120. to houston where the hawks warm up the stage for the falcons and atlanta fans ahead of the big game against new england. dwight howard back in houston for the first time since signing we the hawks in the off-season.

he scored 24 points s s and gra 23. he made that look easy putting up 23 in the period to finish with a career high of 33 in the game. atlanta wins it 113-108. and finally, the most important sport story of the morning. the stakes are extremely high for the weekend's super bowl. pinning the atlanta falcons who have never won a super bowl against the new england patriots who have four. they couldn't be higher here than for our producers in a beardoff. one beard leaves. our senior producer is from atlanta and pulling for the falcons. our other is a pats fan. loser goes home. full of shame and also will have to lose the beard. results next week o the show. no matter who wins the super bowl, one thing for certain here. someone here at "morning joe" is

going to be losing the beard. i feel badly for them because i've never seen either of them without a beard. >> i know. i did the tug test. and jason's got more beard but ben's got more all over. >> i kind of want to see ben without a beard. i don't know why. >> ben hasn't been without one for years. that would be revelatory to see what's under there. i think it's a handsome face though. so keep writing nice stuff for me. okay. still ahead, on his first day rex tillerson is going to get down to business already reaching out to some of our closest allies. plus the breaking news this hour, in paris a soldier opening fire outside of the louvre. we'll bring you a live report next. so beautiful. what shall we call you? tom! name it tom! studies show that toms have the highest average earning potential over their professional lifetime. see? uh, it's a girl. congratulations! two of my girls are toms. i work for ally, finances are my thing. you know, i'm gonna go give birth real quick and then we'll talk, ok?

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♪ welcome back, everyone. we're starting off this half hour with the breaking news from france where a french soldier on guard opened fire outside the louvre who tried to attack him with a machete. lucy has the more on this. what more do you know? >> reporter: good morning. this is being described as a serious public security incident by the french interior ministry. it took place just a few hours ago outside of the louvre art gallery and museum. an armed man appears to have attacked or tried to attack a soldier or group of soldiers outside of this museum. the paris police chief said t