hello. i'm stephanie gosk at nbc headquarters in new york. here's the stories we're following right now. par for the course. donald trump golfing with japanese prime minister shinzo abe, but not before taking to twitter to again slam the court decision to uphold the suspension of his immigration ba while the predent signalled he may be open to rewriting it, the white house sa nothing is off the table, including the supreme court. plus, civil engagement. more protests across the country today, including dualing rallies over planned parenthood and a

massive civil rights rally and protest over immigration. we have all sides covered. and growing fears. immigration advocates are sounding the alarm after hundreds of unauthorized immigrants were arrested in raids across the country this week. what ice is now saying about those raids. but, first, the trump administration is weighing its options deciding how to move forward with its embattled executive order on immigration. the president reiterated that no matter what happens, his administration's priority is keeping americans safe. >> we will continue to fight to take all necessary and legal action to keep terrorists, radical and dangerous extremists from ever entering our country. >> joining me now is asted herndon and shannon it pettypiece, correspondent for bloomberg news. thanks for joining us, guys. we appreciate it. i'm going to start with you,

asted. is writing an executive order that's new the best option for the white house at this point, do you think? >> we'll see. that depends on what happens next. i think the administration is going to take its options. the first thing it does certainly is going to wait for another decision coming from the courts, and if that comes down against them, then they may have to look at writing a new executive order, but, you know, these were the folks who put this out in the first place, and i think that they are going to want to prove that the first version that they put out is the correct one, and we know that this administration digs down to try to prove its point, and so we have not seen the administration back off yet, and that would certainly be a retreat that is out of the ordinary for a trump administration. my first guess would be to say that they're going to fight this, and that's certainly the indications we've gotten from the president, but if that turns out not to work, as it has not worked in previous courts, then they may have to take the option of rewriting the order or, you know, the -- they could not do that. they could let the court ruling

stand. if they do rewrite it, it's something that would be abnormal for president trump. >> the president almost made it sound like they were going to take both tracks potentially. shannon is anyone pushing for a move to the supreme court in the white house right now? >> when i left there late last night, i don't think they even knew themselves. i think it was a real division within themselves. at one point there was a group of reporters who were trying to get an answer to what they were going to do, and an official came out and told us that they would not take the temporary restraining order to the supreme court. something that nbc had been reporting and they came out and confirmed they would not take the temporary restraining order to the supreme court. less than ten minutes later we hear white house spokesman sean spicer saying who is telling the press we're not going to the supreme court? the white house official comes back. hands us a written statement saying just to clarify, we could take the temporary restraining order to the supreme court. all options are on the table. we'll dough whatever we have to do. as of last night, there was still confusion back and forth and the only explanation that we

got was there were a lot of people in the white house who weren't communicating and weren't talking with each other. >> is there some indication that this decision is going to happen in the next couple of days? are we expecting it on monday maybe? >> that's what the president has indicated. he said monday or tuesday, but he added that he would like to surprise us, which, you know, we in the media love surprises. there's that possibility too. i am a little bit surprised that -- speaking of surprises that, they haven't done something already because, sure, you know, you don't want to come out with a knee jerk reaction. take 24 hours to think about it, but when i talked to lawyers about this shortly after the decision came down, they thought they would expect to get more clarity within 4 hour24 hours, w we're a bit further out than that. i would have expected some resolution by now, but maybe it's going to happen in the hour now. >> we'll have a good surprise here on the anchor desk at 5:05.

will writing a new executive order help that perception, do you think, or are these opinions pretty much baked in? why don't you start, asted? >> it depends what the new executive order will come out with. i can say based on the rallies and the protests i have seen, i can't imagine any reworked executive order that would satisfy them. a lot of the opposition to the executive order is based on principle. they disagree with the fundamental notion that there is a need for niep of restriction or ban from these identified countries. i can't imagine an executive order that could be written in the way that would placate those people, but i would caution against saying, you know, just before it comes out that there's no way they could, but based on what i have seen, especially from what i saw here in boston at a large protest, i can't imagine any reworked -- any

reworked ban from the trump administration that would placate or satisfy that group. >> it does seem that a reworked version could placate some of the people that say this was just rolled out badly and who aren't necessarily against this kind of immigration position. what's your take on that? >> i mean, i think even though the public opinion isn't great around this topic, there has been a lot of protest and dissention. i think this is almost a better issue for them to have people talking about because at least they can frame it around national security. at least at the end of the day the president can look like i'm really trying to do what's best for the american people and keep everyone safe and there are still real strong feelings about security and terrorism in this country. i think the opinion on this is probably going to be better, and it's probably going to be better to be talking about this than the conflict of interest issues which when i look at the comments on facebook and twitter and the things people tweet and

pl e-mail to me, there seems to be a lot more negative public opinion about the perception of the president schilling his daughter's clothes or kellyanne conway promoting the clothing line. if they can get people talking about immigration again, that could be a good play for them. >> president trump was actually tweeting about immigration and about his wall today. particularly the reports that the cost of the wall is actually going up, saying he would negotiate the price down. is this the next big clash between the white house and congressional republicans? >> you can see that playing out. i mean, there are certainly some republicans in congress who have for the entirety record to be fiscal conservatives, people who were not looking to spend high amounts of money, that would raise the national debt or deficit. that's going to come to a head with something like a wall that

is projected to cost american people specifically at this time at least with no indications of where it would be paid for otherwise. it looks at this time that it would cost at least initially the american people a lot of money. that seems to be the point that we could see some tension between conservatives that say that they care about budgets and deficits. that could run into some problems with president trump, but that was one of his central campaign promises. he ran on the idea of pigment this wall here. of course, the wall was going to be paid for by mechanics could. at least that would be difficult to make happen. somewhere in the world where they weren't paying for that. that's going to be the tension. who will pay for that wall and that could be the point where we see some republican opposition. >> thank you both. now to the future of that ek andtive order. if the trump administration decides not to draft an entirely new order, here are just some of their legal options.

the white house can take its case to the u.s. supreme court and ask the ninth circuit to reconsider with a large panel of judges, or they can try their luck in the lower courts. joining us to discuss is immigration attorney julie go goldberg. thanks for joining me. do you see the administration going back to court on this? >> they could delay it long enough so they have their fifth vote back on the supreme court. they could take it back and build a stronger case in the district court, but -- or draft a new order. i think at this point it's anybody's guess. >> while still considering all of these court options, but let me ask you this. with just eight justices on the supreme court, could the

administration wait until they get that ninth justice on there and then move forward? >> well, they technically have 90 days in which to file a writ to the supreme court. possibly they could, in fact, delay it until they get their ninth vote. they could be a 5-4 vote. then finally, if they do put out a new executive order, what are the changes you will be looking for? i guess the big question is there a way to construct this where it's constitutionality is perhaps more intact according to some? >> i mean, in my opinion the only way to reconstruct this would be if it it's uniform across the board. the biggest problem with this was they put the cart before the horse, so there was no way to possibly implement this. having been overseas and watching the disaster, trhere ws no way to execute it. this time they need to start with possibly allowing anybody who already has a visa to come

in and set a date, like, say, beginning march 1st. any new applicant is going to have to go through these specific security procedures, and i think it needs to not be targeted towards muslims. we have issues in el salvador and nicaragua. why not make it uniform across the board and say, okay, these are the new security procedures that we're going to implement. some of the cases sometimes take 10, 15 , 20 years. if you want to implement a new security policy, it needs to be uniform across the board? >> julie goldberg, thanks for your time. >> thank you. >> in raleigh, north carolina, thousands turned out for the 11th annual moral march. protesters targeted president trump's recent policies. especially on immigration. the march was led by the state naacp. protesters pushed for the repeal of the controversial lgbt bathroom bill and voiced opposition to republican plans to repeal the affordable care

act. still ahead, an enforcement surge. that's how ice officials are describing their latest series of raids in multiple states. how this is now fueling new fears among immigrants. afternoon weeks of denial, national security advisor michael flynn is backing off claims he did not talk about sanctions with the russian ambassador before the president's inauguration. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis like me,

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of people trying to get into this country illegally? >> i do think that people here are seeing these images with anger, with disgust, and they are, indeed, scared. you also have to remember that mexican migration to the u.s. is really at its lowest levels. the real migration we're seeing is really from central america to the u.s., and that, of course, happens through mexico. mexicans here at this public plaza where i am just outside mexico city, they just keep asking me, you know, who is going to really do the work in america? who is going to pick your crops? who is going to do the manual labor in america? they know that obviously mexican labor is much cheaper over there. i want to introduce you to giovani diaz. he lived in america for 20 years of his life. you deported back to mexico a year ago. how hard was it for you?

>> it was hard in the sense that i hadn't been in mexico for over 16 years, and one of my biggest challenges was missing my friends and then also adapting speaking bah being ck in spanis. >> you were living in georgia. you grew up in georgia. you had a car. you had a job, and now you're living in the mexican countryside with cows. do you think that's fair to you? >> i consider myself -- i'm a mexican-american, and i want to have that chance to go back and study and go back to work and help out the economy here and there. >> stephanie, especially the ones that have lived in the u.s. for deck asds, there's definitely going to be a transition an identity crisis that they're going to have to grapple with when they are debated back to mexico if that's the case. >> a lot of the people from central america fleeing some pretty terrible conditions.

congressman giaggo defended guadalupe garcia who was deported as part of the crackdown. the mother of two had been living in the u.s. for almost a decade and was convicted of a felony for using a false social security number in 2008. congressman joins us now. >> thank you, stephanie, for having me. i think what they're trying to say -- they're really not -- guadalupe has two children here. she has been in this cntry sie she was 14. she was caught up in illegal dragnet that was ruled unconstitutional and what really is happening is they're wasting time and money going after people who are just here trying to make a life for themselves and really celebrating families. these are american families. their two -- her daughter and her son are born here, and now

they are without a mother. >> what advice are you giving people in this community who may be deported if they follow the law and report to authorities? >> i mean, what's happening right now in our community, there's lots of fear. they don't know exactly what to do. they've been following the law. some of them have been reporting to ice their location and reporting in and are afraid now back to ice because they're afraid if they do they're going to be picked up so it's creating a very weird catch 22. more importantly, it's creating so much fear in the neighborhoods that a lot of people are starting to not send their kids to school, not going to hospitals, not leaving their place, and more importantly, not calling the police. that's danger ruz because a lot of these neighbors have some bad elements in there, and we want people to trust their local police force, so we know who the bad guys are and we actually get them, arrest them, and if they are truly criminals, deport them. >> you have been a critic of national security advisor michael flynn. now we're learning he spoke to the russian ambassador about sanctions before president trump took office. you tweeted representative ted

lu and i call on president trump to fire general michael flynn for lying to the american people and endangering our national security. what would firing flynn accomplish in terms of immigration in terms of your perspective? >> well, you know, i think most importantly we have to look at what is occurring within the trump administration right now. they are pretty much all over the place, and when you look at somebody like general flynn, who in my opinion is not really a rationale actor, who already has lied essentially to the american public, congress, the vice president who ended up lying on his behalf, this is the type of person that's giving the president advice, and somehow is wrapping up a lot of his national security credentials and dealing with immigration when really there are separate issues. as a matter of fact, the executive order -- this country needs immigrants now that we want to have good relationships with those in this country right now because they're a source of information, and at the same

time it's been giving us a really big black eye around the world where we need morale lies and not less. >> trump trump has always taken a hard line on immigration by firing flynn. does that really change the landscape? >> i'm sorry. say again? >> president trump has always taken a hard line on immigration by getting rid of michael flynn. does that then change the landscape in terms of the immigration question? >> i doubt it, but it certainly starts. hopefully he gets some rationale people around him. not a conspiracy theoryist like general flynn. i think donald trump really needs to understand that a lot of what is going on right now is not going to be helpful in terms of bringing more security to this country. as a matter of fact, it also is going to really clog up the courts. many of these immigrants right now do have a right to due process. they're going to start exerting that right to due process, and what's going to happen is instead of being able to, you know, deport a lot of these true, you know, drug traffickers, criminals that are

in this country, you're going to have the courts tied up with people that are just here cooking, cleaning, and building our homes. it's just not a smart way to do it. this is donald trump just trying to be a tough guy, but in the process he is really not making us any safer. >> arizona congressman ruben giagga, thank you. >> thank you, stephanie. after a week that saw multiple republican lawmakers getting an earful from their constituents, more town halls have seen packed crowds this weekend, with voters angry about the gop's push to repeal and replace health care. >> taking away the affordable care act and the help that i receive while in the donut hole will no doubt bring me down to poverty level. aren't there enough women already in poverty due to divorce and death? do we have to add medical poverty? >>. >> up next we'll go inside one town hall where voters in florida confronted their congressman. delicious natural cheese for over 100 years like kraft has, you learn a lot about people's tastes.

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this weekend. this as his team is still weighing their next step after the ninth circuit court of appeals upheld the suspension of his immigration ban. the president signalled he may be open to rewriting it, but the white house says nothing is off the table, including the supreme court. more controversy surrounding the president's national security advisor michael flynn. new questions are emerging about his communications with russian officials before president trump took office. the issue of abortion sparked protests today in new york city. hundreds gathered at washington square park in support of planned parenthood. just blocks away protesters demonstrated against government funding for the nonprofit organization. nbc's morgan ruan radford. what did you see from your vanitiab vantage point? obviously having a bit of

problems there with morgan's signal. apologies for that. we'll take you to the town halls that we were talking about earlier. there's anger boiling over at town hall meetings across the nation as republican lawmakers navigate huge crowds and tough questions. the outrage started seven years ago when democrats were met with tea party opposition to obama care. this was the scene thursday night at a town hall held by congressman jason chaffitz. he was presented with loud shouts furious with president trump and his policies. next tammy -- pardon me. we do not have tammy laettner. she witnessed conflicting factions that were critical of trump, but then also supporters as well, and she mentioned that there's actually quite a bit of anger between both of these groups and tension in these town

halls. typically congressmen and women will have these town halls, and they remain fairly tame affairs, but that has not been the case in the last week or so. there has been a concerted effort by people critical of trump to attend these town halls and be very critical of their congressmen as well in the process. now to president trump's national security advisor, michael flynn, as he faces new scrutiny over his ties to russia. nbc has confirmed one of flynn's top aides was just kicked off the national security council. up next what we're learning about that decision. ♪

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we are ironing out some of our technical glitches here at 30 rock. i'm told that we now have nbc's tammy leinert. she's been following these town halls. she was in one today. what did you see there, tammy?

>> reporter: hey, stephanie. things started very early. people lined up hours before this town hall started, and then it became very contentious very quickly. people lined up wanting their voices to be heard. person after person, many offering personal medical stories. most people here supporting aca. very few not in support of it. let's go ahead and listen to a few of those personal stories. >> i am 77 years old, and i think it's unconscionable for this politician to tell me that at 74 i will be facing death penalties. >> i like my medicare. i want to keep my medicare. >> please, there are parts of the aca that make my medicare easier because of the aca, so do not get rid of the aca. it will have so many people big problems. they're not funny. if this is a little bit after your thing and then here, don't

you get the message? >> this town hall today was just one of many across the united states that played out this week that were extremely hostile, and the take-away from many of those town halls is that after seven years people are finally used to the affordable care act, and many people rely on it and, stephanie, they don't know what they'll do without it. >> all right. tam tammy, thank you very much. it's a big weekend for the democrats this weekend. right now each candidate vying for the role of democratic national committee chair. speaking in baltimore about why they should be the democratic party during the trump presidency. here's just a bit of what they have to say so far. >> we are all in this together right now. we are only a few weeks removed. it seems like a few decades removed from barack obama. i miss barack obama a lot, my friends. the last eight years i have been a vice chair, and i don't know what the hell is going on in

this party any more than any of you. >> our party has a lot of work to do, and there is no way that we can do it if we're not unified. >> it is everybody's job to make the american people know deep in their hearts that the democratic party is here to fight for them. joining us now is nbc news political reporter alex seitz wald who is at the democratic retreat. a fair amount of self-recrimination there, isn't there? >> absolutely. a lot of criticism for hillary clinton's campaign, her messaging, her strategy, and even for former president obama who is very popular on everything except for party building. there's a general consensus among a lot of the people in the room today that he didn't do a good job building up the state parties. of course, you know, those people were not making the criticism known during the obama presidency or the campaign, but now they've come to a place where democrats have lost the white house, the house, the senate and about two-thirds of

state legislature. they move on going forward, which is part of the reason why you are seeing this division between the two front runners in this race for dnc chair. keith ellison on one hand who comes from the bernie sanders wing of the party. the anti-establishment wing. tom perez who was in obama's cabinet, supported hillary clinton, comes from the more establishment wing of the party. flz a lot of other things going on in this race, but that is certainly one big factor at a time when democrats are not very happy about the way the party has been run. >> i mean, alex, that is the big question. do you stay on this establishment lane, or do you break off and go anti-establishment? you mentioned there's a lot of kind of monday morning quarterbacking going on. what do you see happening here? >> well, from everything that i have heard from the people who are counting the delegates, this is a very unusual race, we should keep in mind. there's only 447 people who actually get to cast a ballot in this race, which will happen

about two weeks from now in atlanta, and everything that i have heard is it's pretty closely tied between ellison and perez in the first places and then a distant third and fourth and fifth place down the line. to get over the top, to get over 50% i think you're going to start seeing a lot of deals being cut with those lesser candidates to throw their support behind one of the top two, and some of that will fall into the anti-establishment, pro-establishment mode, but other things will depend on who gets what job, how much money goes to what state party, and the kind of back room deals, the kind of politicking that doesn't really happen as much in washington anymore these dawes, but this kind of race, this is really where you see those kinds of deals being made. >> on top of a lot of hand wringing. thank you very much. nbc's alex seitz and wald, appreciate it. now to national security

advisor michael flynn, and he is backing on of claims he didn't talk about sanctions with the russian ambassador before the president's inauguration. after weeks of denial a spokesman is telling nbc news now he can't be 100% sure. the reported communications happened right after president obama announced election hacking sanctions in december. the response was not as harsh as officials thought it would be, raising concerns about what was said in those conversations. president trump friday denied even knowing about it. >> i don't know about it. i haven't seen it. what report is that? i haven't -- >> reporting that he talked to the ambassador to russia before you were inaugurated about sanctions. >> i haven't seen that. i'll look that. >> joining me now is scott jennings, former white house deputy director of political affairs under president george w. bush, and joining me on set is emily scheir politics editor at bustle.

let's start with you. there were a lot of denials that flynn discussed sanctions with the ambassador of russia. now those officials are coming back out, and they have a very different message. >> yeah. i think what might be most problematic for the trump administration with this is now mike pence and sean spicer don't look particularly good because they were denying that michael flynn did talk about the sanctions when he was on the call with the russian ambassador. there's now a concern did michael flynn mislead these officials? that would certainly cause concern and raise issues for the trump administration, and that internal conflict might be the bigger deal than whether there's a security threat at play. when you have vice president pence coming out and saying, well, i was just saying what i had been told. >> that's particularly what's bad. then there's a very serious concern. did michael flynn specifically mislead the vice president? that would be a dramatic move, and he does have a reputation for going rogue. this might be validating some of those concerns.

>> and moving now to -- where do you see this going at this point? >> well, look. i think, first of all, it should be acknowledged. mike flynn is an american patriot. he has served this nation with honor. he is a man of high integrity. i think you have a lot of people relying on a lot of anonymous information throwing around accusations about someone who served with high honor intentionally lying or intentionally misleading, and i think we're making a lot of jumps here. we're talking about an american military officer here. before we start impugning someone's character, i think more information needs to be known. second issue, i think, is important to realize the big picture issue here is it's not really unusual for an incoming national security advisor to be talking with foreign counterparts, and you can't really control what a foreign counterpart might bring up on the phone, but the real, real story is this coordination going on between flynn and other countries really has to do with the trump administration finding new alliances to fight isis. i think we're getting fixated on

a lot of anonymous sources and people that have a stake in the political game to impugn mike flynn's character. i think we can put some of that aside because a lot of this is using information that's not really all that well sourced and, you know, people weren't on this phone call, and so calling someone a liar saying they intentionally misled right now, really i think is off the rails. >> well, i guess my question to you, scott, is if this was not out of the ordinary, why not just come out and say he had done it? >> well, i will let mike flynn speak for himself, and he has done that so far. again, i would just point out this is not someone who has a history of doing anything other than serving this nation with distinction. he is an american military officer. he is an american patriot, and i have a hard time believing someone with his service record would be intentionally misleading anyone. i do think he wants to protect america. i do think the trump administration wants to coordinate with other countries to defeat isis, and i think that's what mike flynn exists to do, and so i think the big

picture here is the trump administration and its agents are looking to find new ways to defeat isis. if that means talking to people on the phone who are in comparable positions in foreign governments, so be it. more information needs to come out before you can start making character attacks on someone like mike flynn. he deserves the benefit of the doubt when it comes to character and integrity questions. >> emily, regardless, democrats are certainly jumping on this. they're calling for an investigation. where do you see this going? >> i do think this will be pursued because to the point scott is making, i don't think people are questioning whether mike flynn is a patriot, but he has raised concern in the past how he handles intelligence information. a report came out in december that while he was handling intelligence in afghanistan, he shared classified intel with foreign officials. he didn't mean to do it in a way to harm america, but he does have i a tendency. i think we also see the trump administration may not mind that

they're hitting hard. the cia recently denied flynn's top aide robin townley clearance, and that's a huge move, and it suggests there's going to be infighting. i think democrats have a lot of room. >> do you see some ganging up on here where you have these leaks coming out two months after these calls, more or less, and then you have one of his top advisors not getting national security clearance? >> i'm very concerned by the leaks coming from different corners of the federal government, and i think some of it is designed to hurt the trump administration. these people who aren't political appointees, but maybe career folks. maybe they don't like the fact that donald trump won the election, but what they're doing is damaging to our national security, and it really ought to stop, and i think there should be some investigation into these leaks. they may be illegal in and of themselves. i think if you are in a position and you are leaking information with the purpose of hurting the commander in chief and his staff, that is really, really

wrong and it undermines american security. it does concern me greatly. >> scott jennings and emily, thank you both for joining us. >> thank you. >> coming up, president trump's advisor kellyanne conway sparked controversy after she promoted ivanka trump's brand during a tv appearance. it's raised more questions on ethics over the president's conflict of interest. the government watchdog group public citizen joins me to discuss the growing concerns. across new york state, from long island to buffalo, from rochester to the hudson valley, from albany to utica, creative business incentives, infrastructure investment, university partnerships, and the lowest taxes in decades are creating a stronger economy and the right environment in new york state for business to thrive. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today at esd.ny.gov

go buy ivanka's stuff. it's a wonderful line. i own some of it. i fully -- i'm just going to give a free commercial here. go buy it today, everybody. you can find it on-line. >> that was kellyanne conway.

the day after president trump complained about nordstrom dropping his daughter's fashion line. he tweeted my daughter ivanka has been treated so unfairly by nordstrom. white house press secretary sean spicer said conway had been counselled but defended the president's actions. i think this was more of an attack on his daughter. he won. he is leading this country, and i think for people to take out their concern about his actions or his executive orders, members of his family, he has every right to stand up for his family. >> the incident is raising questions about whether trump is using the office of the president to support his family's business. >> i'm joined by greg -- public citizen. i guess my first question is what affect does trump tweeting negatively about nordstrom's have on the company itself? >> well, this -- i mean, this is

clearly -- donald trump is setting the town for his administration. where he is mixing his business interests and his family's business interest with government service. that's providing a license for the rest of the administration to do similarly. donald trump is clearly setting the town. his family's mission has always been to pursue their business interests, and the mere fact that the president of the united states would take to tweeting about nordstrom's because nordstrom's decided to cut ivanka trump's line of clothing from their stores shows that he is using the white house to promote his own family business. this is a serious conflict of interest we're seeing going on here. >> does he have the right as sean spicer says he does, to defend his daughter? >> well, you know, let's be

clear here. i mean, donald trump certainly has a right and should by all means defend his daughter. but to defend his dauger's business interest is where it's going beyond the pale. now, the conflict of interest law and the specific law that was violated here by kellyanne conway declares that no government official shall use their public office for private gain, but it specifically exempts the president and vice president, but it does not exempt anyone else in the administration. bh kellyanne conway from the white house briefing room went on television saying she's going to provide a commercial for ivanka trump's clothing line and encourage everyone -- every viewer to go out and buy her clothing, that just clearly for if's, and's, or but's about it, crossed the line.

>> trump rebuked hillary rodham clinton helg to help raise foreign deanations for the clinton foundation. is this the same thing with kellyanne conway? >> what we're seeing here, by the way -- i dohere, i do want to emphasize this. donald trump is not abiding from the conflict of interest code. he's not even addressing his own conflicts of interest. by doing that he's really signaling to the entire administration that conflicts of interest really don't matter and the ethics haus really don't matter. what kellyanne did was really follow in the foot steps of donald trump in mixing business with public service. this is going to be a major problem with the trump administration. if he doesn't address this, we

will likely see the moscandal r presidency. federal rule has been broken that declares public office cannot be used for private gain. the white house is pretty much conceded at that point when it came to kellyanne when they said he counseled her about the behavior. that shows how the trump administration doesn't that i can these conflicts of interest ve very seriously. what do we get as a response from the white house, nothing by we're going to counsel kellyanne about this. there should have been some more drastic steps taken to small to the entire administration that

you do not mix business with government service. but that is not the signal we're getting from the white house. >> there is a different signal coming from congress, however, we'll have to wait and see what happens there. the issue of abortion sparked protest in new york city today. protesters demonstrated against government funding for the nonprofit organization. morgan rad ford has been covering this all day. a lot in the city today. what did you see? >> a lot happening, stephanie on both sides of that issue. in fact thousands of abortion activists filled this park in new york city and said they want to support planned parenthood because it's about reducing the barriers of access to health care for people in the transcommunity and low income women.

alt 10:00 a.m. this morning they were anti-abortion activists a few steps away. take a listen to what both sides of the aisle had to say. >> planned plarnthood is more than abortions. it's sexual education, coverage, cancer screenings. it's more than that but also recognizing that wave choice. >> our representatives let them know that we are here and want to defund planned parenthood. we want the funds allocated to be redirected to other federally qualified health centers. >> stephanie, i have to say i've been following and covering these different protests and rallies across the country for the past few weeks, but the ones today seemed particularly personal. i remember one woman getting up to the podium, this abortionism

rally. she said i had the choice to become a mother or a murderer. people said that this was a choice that was facing our nation and a time that's perhaps more important now than ever. >> you say yew been covering lot of these protests. can you describe for me the tone on the streets, not just today but in other protests you have seen. is it anger, is there room here for civil discourse? >> i think there's room for civil discourse, at least in the people i've seen. the interesting thing i've asked you understand that president trump is in office, so whys protesting the form that you've chosen to specimen your vce and they said we understand he's your president now, but the point is to let him and his cabinet members know that we are hearing and watching and we are vigilant and to send a message

to people who feel he was excluded in his discourse. we're here, we include you, and we're supporting you. >> running line among liberals is protest is the new brunch in places like new york city. the people you're coming across on the weekend, tell me about them. are they new to protesting, is this something they're used to? >> one of the favorite gentleman that i interviewed, he said, look, i was going to the spa today. i was going to be with my friends. and then i got up and said this is my first time protesting and because the issues right now are just too important. i was too young in the '60s so now i'm going to getting out there. i interviewed two 18-year-olds who said it's their first time protesting. >> morgan rad ford, thank you.

that's all for me this our. my colleague picks up our coverage. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced, our senses awake, our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say: if you love something... set it free. see you around, giulia ♪

hello, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin here in msnbc headquarters in new york. president trump hosting japanese prime minister shinzo abe at his mar-a-lago estate in florida where they discussed a wide range of topics and played a round of golf. the controversial travel pan continues to spark protests around the country. another big issue, the funding of planned paranoidhood. fallout of a u.s. intelligence issue saying mic flynn discussed hacking related sanctions with the russian ambassador before president trump took office. democrats now calling for flynn to step down. the president has yet to comment

on the matter publicly. but first we'll start with president trump's working weekend in mar-a-lago in florida. after ending day with prime minister shinzo abe and his wife. he says his first priority is to keep americans safe. >> we will not allow our generation system of immigration to be turned against us as a tool for terrorism and truly bad people. we must take firm steps today to ensure that we are safe tomorrow. >> the president also tweeting this morning about another campaign promise, the border wall and its price tag. kelly is here latest. >> the president using his personal residents at mar-a-lago, the golf courses that bear