know, at least, is rolling back some stuff that obama did that presumably some of them agreed with before, like not giving guns to people who are seriously mentally ill. but now that they've got the chance to get rid of that, that's what they're prioritizing. now that they're fully in charge, that's what they're working on. that does it for us tonight. we'll see you again monday. msnbc live is next. good morning. i'm dara brown live in new york at msnbc headquarters. it's 7:00 a.m. in the east, 4:00 a.m. out west. here's what's happening. deadly storms sweeping across parts of the west coast. winds and rain leaving power outages and streets flooded. the latest in a live report. gearing up for a rally. president trump set to hold a campaign-style event in florida today, as he yet again tweets. this time about who he thinks is the enemy of the american people. strong message. vice president pence overseas with critical information about nato at a world security

conference. in the last few hours, and you'll hear exactly what he said. and the sudden and mysterious death of the half brother of north korea's leader. there are new developments out this morning. we begin with breaking news from the west coast. a powerful storm has killed at least two people in southern california. across the state, fear of flooding and mud slides has forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes. and take a look at this. scary moments for drivers in los angeles, when a sinkhole swallowed two cars. one woman had to be rescued, but was not injure joining me now, meteorologist bonnie schneider. bonnie, good morning to you. what is happening with this storm now? >> good morning, dara. we have very heavy rain working its way through san francisco. san diego getting drenched, a record-breaking storm with low pressure getting as low as we've ever recorded in february in san francisco earlier last night. and now we're seeing the flood

watches persist for san diego, palm springs, l.a., and santa barbara. the watch will go straight through the morning hours. at least we don't have warnings at this time. but we still have that threat for flooding. and not just once, but a series of storms coming through. the one that we've been focusing on yesterday and today continues, but there's another one that's out into the pacific, and that could be a rainmaker and potential floodmaker as we go into sunday and even monday. notice oroville, where the dam we've been watching will be impacted with rain going into sunday. saturday and sunday, the rain continues, mainly, i'd say, at least in southern california, more shower activity after about 10:00 a.m. but we're still looking at, again, a second storm coming through. so we tally things up through monday, we're looking at more heavy rain accumulating from this point forward, into northern california. at least an inch or two, maybe even more. san francisco already felt the brunt of the past storm on friday, but more rain is headed your way. now, on top of that, we're also watching for wintry precipitation. a snowmaker, not as much as

we've seen in sfrooempprevious but look at this, measuring the heaviest snow into the sierra by the foot, and veven more than that. and even mt. shasta looking at heavy snowfall accumulations from the series of storms that are coming through much of the region. elsewhere across the country, it is still looking mild and we're on tap for some potential record high temperatures going forward. we'll talk more about that as well, later. sara? >> bonnie, thank you so much. in just a few minutes, we'll check in with nbc's steve patterson. he's in los angeles, covering e storms now to politics. president trump taking his message directly to his supporters after anoer turbulent week in the white house. later today, he'll hold what's being billed as a campaign-style rally in florida. it will come a day after delivering these remarks before supporters at a boeing plant in south carolina. >> we are going to enforce very strongly enforce our trade rules

and stop foreign cheating. tremendous cheating. tremendous cheating. we want products made by our workers, in our factories, stamped with those four magnificent words. made in the usa. and as the white house deals with heightened scrutiny over alleged contacts between members of the trump campaign and russian officials, another republican lawmaker is joining the call for an investigation into russia. senator marco rubio took to twitter last night to say, i am now very confident, the senate intel committee i will serve on will conduct thorough bipartisan investigation of proven interference and influence. senator rubio's tweet came shortly after he and the intel community met with fbi director james comey behind closed doors on capitol hill. meanwhile, vice president mike pence is trying to reassure european allies of the u.s.'

commitment to nato. here's what he said earlier this morning at the munich security conference. >> today ton behalf of president trump, i bring you this assurance. the united states of america strongly supports nato and will be unwavering in our commitment to this transatlantic alliance. but europe's defense requires your commitment as much as ours. the promise to share the burden of our dense has gone unfulfilled for too many, for too long, and it erodes the very foundation of our alliance. >> joining me now, jonathan alan, roll call columnist, and kevin turley, political reporter of bloomberg news. great to have you two here this morning. >> good morning. >> kevin, first off, the meeting between director comey and the senate intelligence committee. no one talked the afterward. what can we interpret from that

rubio tweet? >> well, dara, i think what you can interpret from the tweet is that this investigation is going to continue and perhaps this is probably the most biggest issue that the president is facing, simply because it's not only senator marco rubio who is raising these questions. it's also people like senator bob corker and senator mccain. these republicans who are pressing the white house are quite frankly the ones who will be able to keep this story alive. this is a republican-controlled congress. however, this is also his own party that is raising these questions, not just the media and not just democrats. >> and jonathan, how much appetite does congress dominated by the gop in the house and the senate, do they actually have to investigate the president? and how long might they tolerate events like his news conference thursday? >> i think it's almost in exact direct correspondence with his popularity rating. i think as it falls, there will be greater appetites to investigate. as his approval rate rises,

there will be less appetite to do that. but if you look at the senate intelligence committee looking into these russia allegations, that can be kept on the back burner for a little while, but it is the thick to which donald trump that has greatest exposure right now. >> here's some of the president from his news conference on thursday. take a listen. >> as you know, our administration inherited many problems across government and across the economy. to be honest, inherited mess. it's a mess. at hole and abrome and abroad. it's a mess. >> kevin, conventional wisdom would suggest that the president did not inherit as much of a mess as president obama did in 2009. how did this pledge fly? >> well, it was a political message, republicans will always blame democrats and vice versa. but i would suggest that this was part of the broader

strategy, that marathon press conference that we saw on thursday, in an effort for this administration to begin to turn the page. because when you juxtapose it with what it immediately came before. of course, his boeing speech on friday. and now, of course, later today, when he has his rally in florida. this is an effort of this administration to begin to try to move on. and of course, the sources i speak with on capitol hill, dara, especially within the republican party, are quite concerned that all of these controversies or questions surrounding this administration could cost him political capital to execute his own legislative agenda. and the president said that in his press conference when he said his own chief of staff, reince priebus, former head of the political party, was having to put out so many political fires, that he wasn't able to negotiate with congress in order to carry out things like tax reform. that's why all of this, truthfully, is such a headache for this administration, because they won't be able to get things done when people like senator marco rubio are considering investigating the president's own party. >> it has been quite a month.

here's more from the president, take a listen here. >> i turn on the tv, open the newspapers, and see stories of chaos. chaos. yet, it is the exact opposite. this administration is running like a fine-tuned machine. >> jonathan, president trump says, all this reporting of chaos is essentially false. what's the actual read behind the scenes, those inside the white house feel that chaos is going on, or is everything running smoothly? because "the new york times" reports that his advisers are suggesting that he not hold the thursday news conference. >> it's running like a finely tuned machine if you consider a ticking time bomb to be a finely tuned machine. this is a white house where everybody is stabbing each other in the back constantly. you've seen shuffling of employees, you've seen a failure to be able to hire employees for key roles. you had a national security adviser already forced out.

nobody seems to be willing to take that job. it's an important job, the national security council staff has no idea what they're supposed to be doing on a daily basis, because they're not -- a, they have no leadership, and b, the white house doesn't seem particularly interested in what the career professionals have to say about our relationships with other countries. there is no relationship between the trump white house and congress at this point. i think they're trying to establish that. you see some upcoming on the schedule, some legislative sessions, strategy sessions for the president. so they are a white house in chaos now p. i understand why the president would go out and say they're not. it doesn't benefit for the idea in the public to be that he's not managing things. it is not true, but i don't think any other president would have said anything different under similar circumstances. >> and kevin, let's talk about this chaos. because how much of it has impaired the president's ability to actually get things done? beyond the executive orders, how do his first 30 days stack up with respect to any accomplishments? >> those on capitol hill i speak

with say after the house comes back from recess next week, they're going to begin repealin secretary, has been meeting with jeff hensarling in order to walk back parts of the 2010 dodd frank law. i think it's a reality congress will move slower than the administration would like. that being said, it really is no help to the president when you have people within his own party continuing to raise these questions. but president trump has tried to evaluate some of the members of congress who are newer to this. in fact, earlier this week, before that marathon press conference, he met actually with the original members of congress, who endorsed him at a time when many in congress weren't even taking his candidacy seriously. people like representative chris collins, a republican from upstate new york, who are now emerging as president trump's

surrogates within the republican party, because when you listen to leadership and read between the lines of the messages coming out of them, they're walking a tight political tightrope in order to continue to try to carry out the president's legislative agenda without getting bogged down, if you will, in the latest political water cooler talk of the day. >> well, let's turn to that water cooler talk of the day. a lot of this is about the media. jonathan, about the late tweet yesterday, saying that the media is the enemy of the american people. is that strictly playing to his base? what is the strategy behind that? >> i think he desperately wants to undermine the media. he needs to have enemies. he's chosen the media, particular segments of it. and now the entire media as a foil. i think that, you know, the founding fathers were pretty wise in terms of creating a media that is protected by the constitution, while the president's powers are limited and his term is limited. you know, i guess the term

limits came later than the founding fathers. the idea of the freedom of press is pretty well enshrined in that first amendment which came in the first package of the bill of rights. the president needs to have checks on him. he's made every effort he can to undermine every possible check on him, whether it's the press or the judiciary. i understand his thirst for power in that way, but it is certainly unusual. >> jonathan alan and kevn vilc i cirilli, great to have you. the tough questions legislators expect as they hear from voterthis weekend. this is a live picture in california where workers are at a massive sinkhole that heavy rain created. a live report, just ahead. internet dial up sound hi, i'm the internet.

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today donald trump will hold a campaign-style rally. it comes a day after a similar event at a boeing plant in south carolina. what is his strategy behind these rallies and do we know how far in advance they were planned? especially after all the setbacks this week? >> reporter: well, we don't have a specific answer on how long it's been in the works. in part because there's security elements to that. and we can tell you that the president has indicated for quite a while that he wanted to be out among voters around the country. that was part of the thank you tour, as it was known, after the election, and before the inaugural. but it really does stand out, after such a stressful couple of weeks with setbacks related to his travel ban, with the abrupt departure of michael flynn, his national security adviser. so for president trump, this weekend is about trying to send his message back to the voters. getting out of washington, with two of his grandchildren in tow,

president trump appeared ready for a big change of scene after a tough few weeks in office. today, returning to the same orlando site where he held his september 2016 campaign event. >> and we're going to put a lot of people to work. >> reporter: meanwhile, friday, on the first leg of his weekend travel -- >> i love south carolina. i love it. >> reporter: the president hit the trail with something candidate trump never had as a backdrop. air force one. built by boeing, president trump came to join that company's celebration, unveiling a new aircraft. and landing his own campaign-style message at their party. >> and we are going to fight to get more jobs and better-paying jobs for the loyal citizens of our country. believe me. >> reporter: avoiding controversy and heated rhetoric during his visit, with family along for the tour. but back on twitter, the

president said his feud with the media is bigger than him. the fake news media is not my enemy. it is the enemy of the american people. tweet storms frustrate senate republican leader, mitch mcconnell. >> well, i've been pretty candid with him and with all of you that i'm not a great fan of daily tweets. what i am a fan of is what he's been actually doing. >> reporter: late friday, supreme court justice sam alito stood in for the president and vice president to swear in the new director of the environmental protection agency, scott pruitt. a longtime critic of that very agency, after democrats fought hard against his nomination. and in palm beach this weekend, aides say the president will meet with job candidates for national security adviser, to replace the fired michael flynn. so, of course, that is a very big vacancy for the white house, and a job that they hope to fill soon, but they're not giving us

a specific timeline. we do know that the acting national security adviser, keith kellogg, is said to be in the running to take over that role permanently. john bolton, the former united nations ambassador, also in the running. and david petraeus, who had been cia director, is said to have been under consideration, but is no longer on the list. dara? >> kelly o'donnell, thanks for that update. and with congress home for a week-long recess, constituents who are fired up over health care await. beth fouhy is in asheville, new york, where a town hall meeting is set to get underway. beth, what doou expect to see today? >> reporter: yes, dara, it's asheville new york and rural western new york. this is republican territory and the home of representative tom reid. he is a four-term congressman from this part of the state. this is a district that went 15 points for donald trump in november. it was different in 2008. it elected barack obama and in

'12 it went narrowly for mitt romney, but very firmly for republicans in 2015. so representative reid is doing something unusual this break. he's actually holding town hall meetings. we know that mm republicans across the country scared of what they've seen. some other republican congressmen have been met with protesters at their town halls aren't doing them. congressman reid is, going ahead with four town hall meetings in his district today. protesters and demonstrators and activists and concerned citizens are ready to be here. last night, we attended a meeting in jailstown, part of the district. several people who have not necessarily been politically active before, but say they've really been woken up by the trump elections, got together, started to talk about how they wanted to come too these town halls, speak to tom reid about their concerns, about obamacare, about potential contact with the trump campaign and russia. many different issues. we're already starting to see folks show up. you can see them over here, d a

dara, at the door. this thing isn't even starting for a couple more hours. we're seeing people show up, wanting to make their point to tom reid. i'm going to talk to somebody right now, one of the directors of lots of activity going on here. here's norm green, the head of the democrats. norm, tell us, what is the point of the activism and folks coming out today to talk to their congressmen? >> the point is we need to be heard and let people know that there are other thoughts that are going on within the county. and people are concerned about the issues happening in washington, d.c. >> reporter: have you seen this kind of activism in the past? >> i've been involved in politics since 1977 and i've never seen this home-grown sprouti ining up all over the cy kind of activism. >> you have to hand it to congressman reid. he's going ahead with these town meetings. he says he's excited. >> tom reid has always held the town hall meetings. our complaint is that the town hall meetings are not held in the metropolitan areas, he

always holds them in small towns like this. there isn't a single house within striking of this town hall here, so it's typical of tom reid to hold these meetings, but not exactly accessible. >> reporter: well, we'll see what he has to say out here. thanks, dara, back to you. >> an interesting day ahead. beth fouhy, thanks so much. well, mystery surrounding the death of north korea leader kim jong-un's half brother. new arrests overnight. a report from kuala lumpur, coming up. the great wall. rated pg-13. i can't wait for her to have that college experience that i had.

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welcome back. i'm dara brown here at msnbc world headquarters in new york. at the half hour, we're following breaking news from california. at least two people are dead after a powerful storm sweeps through southern california and a massive sink hole swallowed two cars in studio city near los

angeles. this video hoisting one of those cars just moments ago. that is where nbc's steve patterson is right now. steve, what is it like out there right now? >> reporter: well, dara, this is being billed as the most powerful storm to hit southern california in years. you're talking about mud flows, you're talking about flash flooding, you're talking about power outages. and as you mentioned, that situation behind me, crews pulling cars out of that massive sinkhole. the power of the storm on full display, and it's already proven deadly. this morning, southern california ravaged by rain. parts of the region getting a month's worth of rain in just one day. the rain and wind proving deadly. in victorville, rescue crews discovered a person dead inside a car submerged on a flooded road. and a 55-year-old man was

killed, electrocuted when a tree downed several power lines falling on top of his car. southern california is littered with trees from gusts up to 80 miles an hour. and at one point during the night, nearly 150,000 customers in los angeles with no power. gushing water careened down streets, overturning cars, and causing a rush hour washout. >> from the air, it's incredible to see how big this flood is. >> reporter: part of interstate 5, a major north/south artery, flooded. one driver tried powering through and had to be towed out. the freeway mess making for a painful sight. a massive backup for mile. in los angeles, a gaping sinkhole opened up in the middle of a residential street, swallowing two cars. both drivers are okay. in areas with already saturated hillsides, mud slides are the major concern. nearly 200 homes in the threat zone evacuated. >> i'm just going to ride the storm. i would rather be here and it

get really bad, i'll leave. >> reporter: following a massive landslide thursday stretching tlent of three football fields, authorities are keeping an eye on a mountain in san bernardino, worried that more of the saturated mountain could come down. at times, it seems nowhere is safe from the deluge, even the mall. >> that is crazy. >> reporter: this suburban center shopping center garage turned waterfall, forcing patrons to get out quickly. and we are far from out of the woods yet. the rain continues to fall. when it's all said and done, officials said there could be 10 trillion gallons of rainfall in a state that is frankly already saturated. the rainfall should end by the end of this weekend, but forecasters are already tracking a separate system, which could come as early as next week. send it back to you, dara. >> steve patterson, thanks for that report. well, back to the first 100 days of the trump administration. and vice president mike pence

making his first major foreign policy address this morning at the munich security confence the vice president affirming president trump's commitment to nato, to defeati isis, and to holding russia accountable for actions in ukraine. nbc's lucy cavanaugh joins us now from munich. lucy, what were the biggest takeaways from his remarks this morning? >> reporter: hey, dara. as we say, this was vice president mike pence's first debut on the international arena. his first trip abroad, as vice president. and this was seen in many ways as an attempt to soothe the fears and the anxieties of our allies, in light of things that candidate trmp has said, calling nato obsolete, questioning the merits of the european union. the message from the vice president today, unequivocal that the u.s. is strongly in support of nato, that it is unwavering in its support for their transatlantic alliance. he did echo donald trump to some degree saying that it is important for all of the nato members to pay their fair share,

if the alliance was to succeed. but he does not flag any indications that the u.s. would pull out. this is something that the european allies very much wanted to and needed to hear. but, of course, the big elephant in the room, so to speak, was russia. president trump has expressed in the past his admiration for vladimir putin. he has suggested the possibility of ooeeasing sanctions on russi over crimea. he questioned who truly was behind the violence in korean. a very different message today from the vice president. take a listen. >> with regard to ukraine, we must hold russia accountable. and demand that they honor the minsk agreements beginning by de-escalating the violence in ukraine. and know this, the united states will continue to hold russia accountable, even as we search for now common ground, which as you know, president trump believes can be found. >> so a stern stance, although you heard there, they're still leaving the door open to

cooperation with russia. but i think there's a lot of question on the minds of allies here, whetherhe vice president, one voice with president trump. that is the big question going forward. and i think for the folks here, actions are going to be a lot louder than words, going forward. dara? >> lucy, thanks so much. let's bring in steve clemmons now. nbc contributor and editor at large at the atlantic "national journal" and courts. steve, thanks for being here. >> good morning, darra. >> do you think vice president pence was able to reassure the world leaders in munich in the early days of this new administration? >> i think he can take it to a certain degree, but fundamentally, donald trump puts the stamp on his presidency. he's the one who established the policies and we see both vice president pence in munich. we saw defense secretary jim mattis, all over at some of these european meetings, but in japan, recently, trying to send a different message that our core and key allies shouldn't worry. that we're going to be there for them. that we're going to stand by our alliances. and essentially, they're saying,

ignore our boss. he's really not as bad as we think he is. and i think there's a gap between them. but right now, honestly, from talking to various people at the munich security conference, they are much more happy to have mike pence's message than not have it. >> i want to turn to the latest over the concerns about russia. senator marco rubio tweeting that he's now confident that the intel committee will investigate russia's meddling in the u.s. election. do you suppose that that would said during the committee's cloe closed-door meeting with fbi director james comey yesterday? all we're hearing that the meeting lasted about three hours. >> i think whatever happened to that meeting, and we don't know what happened in that meeting, that both republicans and democrats walked away impressed with comey. and comey is controversial. there are some people who said, given what he knew about this set of issues going on with russia, mike pence and others, it is a bit of an outrage that he disclosed issues about hillary clinton and concerns about her e-mails and said nothing about this -- about the

russians before the elections. but i talked to a liberal u.s. senator on the liberal side of things who was equally impressed by comey yesterday and think that we don't know what it was, but rubio said he walked out. he is somebody who has been walking hawk on the issues of russia and he's been critical of donald trump being so casual about it. so, we're hearing from both sides of the aisle that they have confidence right now, in what's beginning to unfold from the fbi. >> steve clemmons, thanks so much for your input. always great to have you. >> my pleasure, darra. new today, malaysian police have arrested a fourth person in connection with the death of kim jong-nam, older half brother of north korean leader, kim jong-un. the elder brother died apparently after an reported attack at an airport . janice, what do we know today about how kim died? >> reporter: well, dara, it's

still unclear when the autopsy results may be released to determine whether kim jong-nam was poisoned and with what. in the meantime, there's a diplomatic spat brewing between north korean officials over his body and when they can take it back. at north korea's embassy, cars come and go, but officials say nothing about the arrest of a 46-year-old north korean man and first possible link of the regime to the death of kim jong-nam. so last night, north korea's ambassador accused malaysian police and officials of weaving a conspiracy. >> they are colluding with outside forces, who are interesting to demonstrate our republic. >> reporter: kim jong-nam was the estranged half brother of kim jong-un and long ago was said to be his pick for his father to secede him. instead, his life ended monday

at kuala lumpur's international airport, allegedly poisoned by two women, fueling a mystery of espionage and murder. a prime suspect i custody, an inindonesia, though in her hometown, no one believes someone who aspired to be in perfume ads could be an agent or a killer. her mother says she was in malaysia to film a comedy show like "just for laughs" that p l pulls pranks on strangers and she was tricked b eed into atta kim jong-nam. even indonesia's police chief says she was duped. she was given a few dollars, he told reporters. she wasn't aware it was an assassination attempt by alleged foreign agents. in malaysia, officials still won't reveal what might have caused kim jong-nam to collapse and die within minutes. and a standoff is brewing over his body, until his family provides dna to confirm his identity, he won't be released to north korean officials, who

are demanding to return kim jong-nam to pyongyang and the regime widely suspected of killing him. three other suspects possibly all north korean men are said to still be on the run. nor nearly a week, the mystery has deepened and still the regime in pyongyang has said nothing. dara? >> janice, thank you very much for that report. well, firing away at the press and implementing changes inside his administration. was it the right decision to allow the president to speak for more than an hour this week on national television? and in the next hour -- >> are you going to include the congressional black caucus and the -- >> well, i would, i'll tell you what, do you want to set up the meeting? do you want to set up the meeting? >> no, no, no. >> are they friends of yours? >> we'll talk with a member of the cbc with the perceived discondudi disconduct with the president. panera. food as it should be.

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i turn on the tv, open the newspapers, and see stories of chaos. chaos! yet it is the exact opposite. this administration is running like a fine-tuned machine. >> in aed wide-ranging news conference thursday, president trump fought back against accusations of disorder in his administration, not yet a month old. let's bring in joe watkins, former white house aide for president george w. bush, and former national spokesman for droou drooted cruz, and jillian maxwe. great to have you three today. >> good to be here, dara. >> what a week. this week alone, we have seen one top trump adviser step down, a cabinet nominee withdraw his name from consideration, and another potential adviser turn down the position. rick, let's start with you. how is this not chaos? >> well, chaos is a subjective word. to donald trump, this may not be

chaos. this may be, indeed, how he's lived his entire life, so maybe he doesn't recognize it as chaos. but to any astute white house observer or people who worked in the white house, it certainly los a lot like chaos. look, you're going to le nominees. we lost -- he lost one for a cabinet post. that's par for the course. but the fact that his pick, harward, for national security adviser decided not to take the job, that's really a misstep. it's remarkable to me that his name got out there without an agreement for him to join the administration. >> to be fair, is it realistic to expect the administration of a first-term president to run like a fine-tuned machine within less than a month? >> well, certainly, there's going to be some growing pains with any mirpadministration com in, but we haven't even got through the first month of this administration. usually it takes presidents at least two terms to have a major scandal. and what we learned this week

about russia i think is takeaway in addition to the long sort of meandering press conference that we all witnessed midday on thursday. so i think the chaos really is just like rick said, anybody who has eyes and firing neurons can look at what's going and see that it does not look like a fine-tuned machine at all. >> let's talk about thursday. fox news spoke to a number of trump's supporter who liked the trump's confrontational style in their press conference. one man said it was the most impressive presidential conference of his life, largely pause it was so unorthodox. it was hyperadversarial between the president and the press, and yet he was able to control the questioning and tone and mood in the room. joe, what's your reaction to that? >> my reaction is if this was campaign mode, if he was trying to win an election, there might be some positive note to that. but we're in governing mode now. and the president has to govern. he's got to work with congress, with members of the house and

the senate, to one, on the senate side, to get his nominees confirmed, and he's got to work with house and senate members to get his legislative agenda through. and i don't see anything in that press conference that built confidence with the congress. and certainly he didn't help the members of the republican party who have to go back to their districts and explain to their constituents, e people who put them there, what's going on right now in washington and what's happening specifically with the white house. so it was not a good press conference. >> and according to "the new york times," some of the president's top advisers didn't want him to hold the conference at all, and advised him to be less confrontational. zerlina, who do you think was right in the end? >> i think the people who didn't want him to come out and be confrontational were right. i think there were moments who were very uncomfortable. when he told the jewish reporter to sit down when he was simply asking about incidence of anti-semiti anti-semitism, which are real and concerning. and the moment with april ryan, a veteran reporter, to

essentially say she must know the members of the congressional black caucus, almost implying that all black people know each other and are friends. it just seemed to be really unorthodox, but in a bad way. and i think that it doesn't look like he really has a full grasp, like joe said, of the fact that we're in governing mode. you have to look like, you know, you're calm and deliberative in not only your answers, but your decision making processes. and also that you're not trying to undermine the entire institution of the media, which is a very important component, holding the people in power accountable. >> rick, if the president is not listening to the people that he hired to advise him, where does this lead? >> it's funny that you say that, because nbc's peter alexander stood up and listed all the presidential -- the presidents who had gotten more electoral votes, and his excuse for that was, that's what i was told. so maybe he should be listening

to other people. but look, donald trump won the cage match coalition that's out there, that loves him to be combative with the media, but as far as expanding that coalition, because in a constitutional republic, you need a majority support to get the congress to move. and the congress doesn't see that the american people are behind your agenda, they're not going to move. and so far, he's not broadening that coalition. >> tt press conference on thursday, the president felt the need to look back to election day. let's take a listen. >> i put it out the before the american people, got 306 electoral college votes. i wasn't supposed to get 222. they said, there's no way to get 222, 230 is impossible. 270, which you need, that was laughable. we got 306. because people came out and voted like they've never seen before. so that's the way it goes. >> and joe, you just said that

he shouldn't be in campaign mode. it's been three months. why is he still talking about this? >> well, the press conference ought not to be a free-wheeling when words are chosen more carefully, and when you look forward as to opposed to looking back. we want the president of the united states to look forward and tell us what the future holds and how to kwget there. we don't need to look back to the campaign and fight that battle over again. i think he didn't necessarily help himself or any of us by looking back and by falsely quoting the number of electoral college votes, that is how many he got with regards to others. he didn't outpoint reagan, he didn't outpoint george h.w. bush and others. that's not so important. he's the president of the united states now. let's look forward and figure out where we go as a country. >> zerlina, rick, and joe, stay with us. after the break, i want to ask

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a new report from "the new york times" alleging several trump campaign aides had contact with senior officials in months leading up to the election. the president insists there is no truth to the stoirp. >> you're not aware of any contacts during the course of the election? >> how many times do i have to answer the question? >> can you just answer -- >> i know you have to get up and ask a question, so important. russia is a ruse. i have nothing to do with russia. haven't made a phone call to russia in years. don't speak to people from russia. not that i wouldn't. i just have nobody to speak to. i have nothing to do with russia. to the best of my knowledge, no person that i deal with does. >> let's bring back our panel. joe watkins, rick tyler, and zerlina maxwell. does it matter if trump staffers

had contact with russia? he's in the white house, he's president. what changes if the allegations are true? >> it certainly matters because what we need to find out is whether or not foreign agents interfered in our election. that may not change the results of the election. i have a new job. i have moved on from the campaign. i wish president trump would move on from campaign mode. i think we need a bipartisan, transparent investigation into what happened. it ho be indendent of congress. certainly the senate intelligence committee is going to do its own investigation, but that's a secret hearing, and it's not going to be public. the public needs to hear what went on and exactly what happened in the election so that it never happens again. our election is really is cornerstone of our democracy and not something that we can real hi believe in. that's a really big problem going forward. >> rick, how much patience do you think congressional republicans have for the apparent unsettled nature inside the white house? >> depends on the polls.

when donald trump loses support by the american people, and i'm not -- it's not clear to me he has entirely yet, although his poll numbers are historically low, then it will be tougher to resist an investigation. look, we know that the russians' agents interfered in the election the last time. that's very clear. what's not clear yet is if the trump campaign actually collaborated or colluded with the russians to help donald trump in the election. that's what's not clear. and donald trump talks about it as fake news. but if you remember back to the campaign, he used fake news in many instances, you know, ted cruz's father involved in the jfk assassination, on and on he was talking about different fake news stories, but now he doesn't like fake news. >> joe, what are the chances republicans abandon the president? >> well, i think it just depends. it's a case-by-case basis for most members of congress. you've got to consider first the

fact the people -- you were elected by the people in your home district or your home state, so every member of congress, be it the house or senate, has to consider what their people feel like at home. >> joe, rick, zerlina, thanks for being here this morning. appreciate your time. ? thank you. that'll do it for me. thanks for watching. thomas roberts is up next. he'll speak with a member of the congressional black caucus about what she would like to hear from the president. across new york state, from long island to buffalo, from rocheer 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 youthat's why you drink ensure. sidelined. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals.

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good morning. day 30 of the trump administration. it's a working weekend for the president in florida today, donald trump looking to refort ti his campaign administration with campaign-style energy. he's holding an event hours from now in only, but in one of his latest tweets he talks about who he thinks is the