it works fast and you won't stink. hi, everybody, good morning, i'm thomas roberts here at msnbc world headquarters in new york. 8:00 a.m. in the east, 5:00 out west. on our radar this hour, day 37 of the trump administration with the president spending the day right there at the white house after making a headline speech at cpac yesterday. the president already up and tweeting his followers sending out his first ones. the doors are opening for the fourth and final day of cpac where the volatile issue of immigration will be a major topic this morning. meanwhile to the south at the democratic party meeting in atlanta today, a new leader will

be chosen and these are the three top candidates vying for that post. and then planned parenthood will send a message to house speaker paul ryan on his home turf in wisconsin with a big rally there like ones we've seen across the country. we'll take a look at the timing of today's demonstration and why it's so critical for women in need. now, all of this is going on. president trump is giving a preview of the speech that he will be giving before a joint session of congress tuesday. here's what he had to say in his weekly address this morning. >> i want every african-american child, family and worker to have access to great schools, safe communities and good-paying jobs. i want every disadvantaged child in america to have a choice about where they go to school. we're going to be working to bring back those jobs, and i mean really good-paying jobs. i'll be talking more about these issues in my joint session address to congress and to all

americans next tuesday evening. >> okay. so the countdown three days away from that but the white house is slamming reports that officials tried to clamp down on trump/russia stories and a new nbc news/wall street journal poll shows how americans feel about the trump administration's alleged ties with russia. 38% feel his relationship with vladimir putin is too friendly. 53% say congress should investigate alleged contact between the russian government and the trump campaign. 54% of congress should investigate russian interference in our past election. also new this morning, a separate nbc news/wall street journal poll showing the affordable care act is now more popular than it was throughout obama's presidency. 43% say it's a good idea. it comes on the heels of a political report on a draft of a house republican repeal bill which would dismantle the obamacare subsidies and scrap its medicaid expansion. and as democrats get ready to pick a new party chairman, we

have a fresh message from hillary clinton. >> we as democrats must move forward with courage, confidence and optimism and stay focused on the elections we must win this year and next. let resistance plus persistence equal progress for our party and our country. >> so a lot to dive into this morning. let's go to nbc's kelly o'donnell. kelly is at the white house today with the latest from president trump. first month, kelly. explain what we've seen. >> reporter: good morning, thomas. a clear theme from president trump. he says he is doing what he said he would do and that apparently includes a continued critique of the media, as fake news as he calls it. well, this comes as the president is planning to unveil a new version of his immigration travel ban this week, but there's also a report coming out from inside the government that appears to undercut the president's plan.

a fired-up president trump stirred a conservative audience friday, defending his controversial travel ban. >> we are going to keep radical islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. >> reporter: but a three-page draft document from the department of homeland security, the very agency responsible for enforcing president trump's travel ban, appeared to undercut the rationale behind the restrictions targeting seven mostly muslim countries, stating citizenship likely an unreliable indicator of terrorist threat to the united states. and citizens of the seven countries are rarely implicated in u.s.-based terrorism. >> i will never, ever apologize for protecting the safety and security of the american people. i won't do it. >> reporter: but the white house dismissed that document as incomplete. officials said a comprehensive report is coming that will be driven by data and intelligence

and not politics. the president himself went after fbi leaks on twitter. the fbi is totally unable to stop the national security leakers. classified information is being given to media. >> we are fighting the fake news. it's fake, phony, fake. >> reporter: as the president once again lashed out at his favorite target, the media, the white house defended chief of staff reince priebus, saying he did nothing improper when you asked the fbi to publicly discredit a damaging "new york times" story after the bureau told him privately it was inaccurate. the story said trump campaign officials had contact with russian intelligence. >> they have assured me that that "new york times" story was grossly overstated and inaccurate and totally wrong. >> rorter: top democrats jumped to accuse the white house chief of staff of attempting to pressure the fbi, calling it an outrageous breach. a senior law enforcement source said fbi officials also did not

consider any lines to have been crossed. "the washington post" citing u.s. officials reports the white house sought to enlist members of congress, including the heads of the senate and house intelligence committees, to knock down the russia stories when the fbi would not. another distraction over media coverage. the president decried the use of unnamed sources. >> they shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name. >> reporter: never mind that before he was president, mr. trump cited an extremely credible source on twitter in 2012 to make false claims about barack obama's birth certificate. despite the president's dislike for unnamed sources, senior advisers and staffers in his own white house routinely ask reporters not to use their names when giving information. and to give you another sign of how this has been a tense relationship between reporters and the white house, sean spicer, the press secretary, held a briefing friday that was

invitation only. it did not include some big news organizations that regularly cover the white house, including "the new york times" and cnn. thomas. >> kelly, thanks so much. we'll talk more about that gaggle later. for the democrats, though, and we talked about this, what's taking place in atlanta, an important vote later this morning will happen with the democratic national committee convening in georgia to cast their ballots on the final day of their winter meeting. sarah dallof joins me. is there a clear front-runner heading into this vote? >> reporter: that is a great question and there are three people that political analysts feel are strong possibilities. and when you look at the history of this, the dnc has not actually been in the position of having to elect a chair for years but with democrats no longer in control of the white house that time has come and the field of candidates is crowded

and competitive. it's tough to be a democrat these days. hillary clinton suffering a stunning loss in the presidential election. >> this is not the outcome we wanted. >> reporter: president obama flying off into retirement. republicans in control of the house, the senate and most of the nation's governorships. today the stakes are high as democratic leaders prepare to elect a new chairperson. this morning seven candidates are hoping to become chair and lead the party out of the wilderness. the front-runners, former labor secretary tom perez, backed by former vice president biden. >> we need a leader who can communicate our optimistic vision of hope and inclusion. when hope is on the ballot, we win. >> reporter: and minnesota congressman keith ellison favored by the left wing of the party, including bernie sanders and elizabeth warren. >> the tool that we have at our disposal is to win elections. that means we go to 3,143 counties over thi country. that means we turn on durihe

off year. >> reporter: plus a dark horse candidate, 35-year-old south bend indiana mayor pete buddigieg supported by howard dean. >> why wouldn't you put in somebody who's from the millenial generation. >> reporter: hillary clinton not leaving the spotlight just yet. in an online video released friday, she urged democrats to regroup. >> let resistance plus persistence equal progress for our party and our country. >> reporter: for the winner, a heavy inheritance, getting the democratic party back on track. one of the pressing challenges, transforming waves of liberal protests on the streets and in town halls into long-term political gains. and voting gets started mid-morning. political analysts are split on how quickly they feel things will unfold. some expect to see a winner after just one expedient round. others say expect this to be a

multi-round battle, thomas. back to you. >> the consensus has it anywhere between one to three ballots so we will wait on that. that's coming up at 11:00 a.m. sarah, thanks so much. joining me now is nile stanich and melanie from "the washington examiner." an article from the hill gives some credence to this division. what are you talking about the division, who is the person that could, i guess, stem the bleed from any of that? >> well, i mean the division is enclosurely the idea that this is in some ways a proxy war between the bernie sanders or elizabeth warren wing of the democratic party represented by keith ellison and tom perez who's perceived to represent more of the establishment wing. now, those, as your reporter noted, are clearly the front-runners. pete buddigieg has suggested

that if there is a deadlock he could come through as a compromise candidate. but i think it will be fascinating to see how the ellison/perez fight pans out because of what it says about where the democratic party is right now. >> and also, the young upstart, pete buttigieg, but the two men the likely front-runners. we'll see what happens becau there's a lot of work for the democrats to do. gabby, cpac in its fourth and final day but he was there yesterday and this was a big deal for the crowd. what was the reaction from the conservative activists in the room? >> well, you know, this is the first appearance that he's made since he really launched his political platform at cpac. i think a lot of grassroots activists who have been constantly paying attention were seeking reassurance from the president himself and that's what he aimed to deliver to them

yesterday in that speech. it was about halfway through that he tried to switch gears away from his attacks on the media and focus on assuaging concerns about his administration and saying i'm here to be a champion of the conservative cause and i hope that you bill hold me accountable, just as his chief strategist, steve bannon, had said a day prior. and i think it was well received. i mean you had a number of -- thousands of grassroots conservative activists in the crowd cheering him on, really energized by him, and it seemed to be a perfect appearance for him. it felt like he was at home, which certainly wasn't the case in previous appearances at cpac. >> steve bannon there hold them accountable for the campaign promises. typically the administration is held accountable by the media for whetor not they can deliver on campaign promises or anything else that is going on in a white house in their administration and of course donald trump took that opportunity yesterday to punch the media right in the snout. take a look.

>> i call the fake news the enemy of the people, the fake news. they dropped off the word "fake." they get upset when we expose their false stories. they always bring up the first amendment. and i love the first amendment. nobody loves it better than me. nobody. who uses it more than i do? it gives you the right and me the right to criticize fake news and criticize it strongly. >> hey look, it's a two-way street absolutely when it comes to the first amendment, how president trump, his administration wants to push back on certain facts. but niall, what do you think the strategy is here and does he risk really just appealing to his base and not all of the americans that he represents? >> well, i think in a sense that actually is his strategy, thomas. i think that one of the problems for the trump administration is

that if you look at opinion polls, his approval rating is historically low for a new low elected inaugurated president. that means he needs to keep his base fired up. i think people like steve bannon see that process being made easier if they have an enemy. and i think the media is an obvious enemy to choose, sadly for all of us the media is not particularly popular. and i think the trump administration is seeking to make us collectively a foil that they can contrast themselves with and take the fight to in a way that energizes their own support. but i think your point is well made, thomas. i don't think it necessarily reaches beyond that base of support to expand the number of people backing the administration. >> well, hopefully we all have thick enough skin to get through this and take the barbs in good spirit. obviously when facts are wrong, we want to correct them. we strive to get facts right.

gabby, i know you were at the white house gaggle yesterday. that got a lot of criticism and a lot of outlets were excluded. the pool was presentinso media information would be given to everybody in the white house press corps. other administrations of excluded certain journalists in the past, but was the bigger issue here the fact that the pool was in there but the circle was made larger for more conservative, more friendlier outfits to cover the president on a day that he would be at cpac? is that really the narrative, they're trying to say we expanded access beyond the regular pool? >> well, it certainly -- that's what you're hearing from the white house on their side of this. but you can understand the frustration for outlets who were not let into this intimate gathering with the white house press secretary on a day when so much news was going on and there were follow-up questions that many reporters wanted to ask and

unfortunately didn't have a chance to. look, i was there, i was with a number of other reporters in sean spicer's office yesterday, and, yes, it was particularly geared towards the pool, as you mentioned, but also right-leaning conservative outlets. there were some radio reporters there, but you didn't have the presence of, you know, cnn, "the new york times," the "l.a. times," a number of outlets were ex excluded. the administration said this has nothing to do with us being upset with their coverage, but it's hard to take that and -- you have to take that with a grain of salt when you hear constantly the president himself calling "the new york times" a failing news outlet, calling fake news -- sorry, calling cnn fake news. you know, it's really difficult to believe something like that. >> the white house correspondents association is pushing back to investigate. i just remind everybody of what the cast of friends did. remember when they were

negotiating their new contracts, they all wanted to get paid the same episode and they were all banded together. that's what the media needs to do and say we're not going to cover you unless we all get the same amount of equal and fair access. let's not try to pick winners and losers here. gabby, great to see you, niall, great to see you. democratic dissent. how far will democrats go to oppose president trump. and nuclear mike. what are the chances the president's comments on nuclear weapons could set off a new arms race. >> it would be wonderful. a dream would be that no coury would have nukes, but if countries are going to have nukes, we're going to be at the p of the pack. glad forceflex. extra strong to avoid rips and tears. be happy, it's glad.

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new leader more that six months after long-time chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz stepped down from the dnc. we've got the candidate leading the pack in minnesota congressman keith ellison and then the number two would be former labor secretary tom perez. i want to bring in congressman gregory meeks, a democrat from new york, to talk about that. it seems like this race is very close. 11 :00 a.m. is the official first ballot. who do you think it will be? >> i'm not going to protect on that, thomas, i'm just happy about the process. it's democracy at its best. so many great candidates. everyone wants to give of themselves. it's a sacrifice that they're willing to make on behalf of the party and the country, so it's an exciting process. you know, it feels good, it feels like democracy to me, so it's great being down in atlanta while it all unwinds. >> sir, do you think, though, that whoever wins can heal the divisions and also tap into the grassroots activism that we're seeing pop up around the country. be able to helm that momentum

into action? >> yeah, i do. really when you look at it all of the candidates have been talking to one another. they know what the ultimate goal is. the ultimate goal is that we've got to win seats back in the house of representatives and win gubernatorial seats and win state legislative seats and win senate seats in 2018 and come back in 2020. they're all focused in that. so whoever wins, they will be the head of the party. whoever loses will be an integral part of the party, still making a meaningful, substantial meaningful contributions working collectively together. because when you listen to the words of the 45th president of the united states, we know that we've got to stick together, we've got to make sure that our country moves in the right direction and not go back tots dark hole past. >> after we get past the election of this morning for the dnc and we look forward to 2018 and midterms, they're tough for democrats sometimes because there's not a lot of charge within the base to get out and vote.

how do you think that president obama and hillary clinton fit into energizing that base? >> i think that every democrat fits into it. i think we're a big tent democratic party and everyone will come out to make sure that folks come out to vote. number 45 is energizing individuals because we understand how important it is in this time in history that our voices are heard in 2018, that there's so much on the line. when you look at domestically, the issues that donald trump is talking about, the issues that divide us as a country, if you look at internationally, the international community is very nervous and upset which could change moving forward. when we look at the threats that number 45 continues to give to the press, seeming as though he wants to be mr. putin himself because those are the same tax particulars mr. putin and a lot of my republican colleagues have gone against. when you think about hugo chavez or victor in hungary, those

individuals shunned the press. it seems donald trump wants to move in that same direction. so all democrats and independents and a lot of republicans, because republicans have long been against chavez' type of movement or albine's type of movement. so they have got to speak out loudly for the sake of the country and put party before country -- put country before party. >> a new nbc poll is putting out that 53% say congress should investigate the alleged contact between russian government and the trump campaign and darrell issa who sits on the foreign affairs committee with you has called for a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation into trump associates and any potential contacts with russia. how likely do you think that this is, given that it's not democrats, it is gop senators, it is someone like congressman darrell issa, how likely do you think it is that these broadened investigations will happen? >> the american people have got to continue to put that kind of

pressure on. darrell issa was in a verylose and contentious re-electi that took place not too long ago. those voices are being heard. there are at least 36 seats that are at stake in 2018. every american needs to look at their member of congress and hold them accountable and say where do you stand, because this is not about party, this is about the democracy of our country. where do you stand? are you okay with russia having a role or playing a role, a nefarious role in our elections? should it be investigated? should we know the facts of the matter? we've got a president who has not shown his tax returns. we see people within his campaign and now within his administration that has ties to russia. we have a right to save our democracy. the only way that we're going to do that is if we know. i think there's got to be mounting pressure on every member of congress, irrespective

of party, to make sure there is the kind of investigation that was done over a period of time and i think that it should be a special commission like the 9/11 commission because that's how serious it is for our democracy. we can't play around with this. this is not politics as usual. this is not democrat or republican politics. this is about the very -- the very democracies of which we live. >> congressman, darrell issa feels the way you do, also talking about an independent investigation, saying that the attorney general, jeff sessions, who is a friend of his, would need to recuse himself. you'd need to use the special prosecutor statute not just to recuse, because you can't give it to your deputy. that's another political appointee. have you seen anything that in your opinion demonstrates a connection behind the scenes between donald trump's campaign and russia? >> look, have you seen anything? yes, i've seen general flynn, number one. i've seen his former campaign

manager, number two. so there are definitely -- i see that there's business possibilities that has been connected. >> but specifically from the foreign affairs committee, specifically through the foreign affairs committee that you sit on, have you seen anything tangible that makes you feel like there needs to be more of an investigation. something that maybe you can't speak about because of class fiction, but something there? >> listen, we have had classified hearings and i'm not going to talk about that. but what i am going to say, at the last foreign affairs committee hearing, what i said at that hearing is we've had seven hearings on iran, i understand the threat of iran, but we've had one hearing -- we haven't had any hearings yet on russia and what those possible connections may have been. we need to be focused on it. the chairman of the committee says we will do one in a week or two so i'm looking forward to that hearing. but we need to continually put the pressure on that we have these kinds of hearings and investigations to take place on

the committee level, but most importantly a special commission coming together to really look at this and/or an independent prosecutor so we can make sure that all of the facts comes out, not just through the -- a secretive committee or anything of that nature because the people of america needs to know all the facts. it should be something that can be determined and come out in the open. >> congressman meeks, great to have you on today. we'll let you get back to the dnc meeting there in atlanta and we'll watch how things progress come 11:00 a.m. thank you, sir. >> good to be with you. attacking the media, president trump spent a lot of time during his cpac speech doing just that. >> i say it doesn't represent the people, it never will represent the people, and we're going to do something about it. >> so what will president trump do to stamp out what he calls fake news? we explore that next.

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welcome back. i'm thomas roberts at msnbc headquarters in new york. democrats will be voting in about two and a half hours for a new party leader of the dnc. former labor secretary tom perez reportedly has the largest share of supporters going into that vote. we'll bring you the results of that election and take a look at what it means for the opposition to president trump's polical agenda. now to the otherig story of the day. we're following the fallout after several news organizations were excluded from a white house press briefing yesterday. now here you see one of the cell phones used by reporters from those banned outlets to listen to the briefing, all thanks to reporters who were allowed in. now, the white house briefing room was practically empty as press secretary sean spice er m with reporters in his office. the move is being viewed as retaliation against those who criticized the president in their reporting. because the press pool was present, every media format had

access to the information that came out of the briefing so no organization was barred from getting information. it's like when you're absent that day from school and your friend brings home your homework, it's like that. so president trump took to twitter to further slam two of his main targets. we've got "the new york times" and cnn. joining me now is jill abramson, former executive editor with "the new york times." jill, it's great to have you here with me in person, especially as we begin this new adventure together covering this administration this a paradigm that is completely unique. so when you heard about this move and no organization was banned from the information that was given from sean spicer to reporters, why the big deal? >> well, the big deal is just the symbolic barring of reporters as they tried to go in as they customarily do to a briefing. and because it was "the new york times" and cnn and buzzfeed, which of course published the

dossier and very much angered president trump, you know, it seemed like a targeting or a kind of unofficial black listing of certain news organizations. >> i think the buzzfeed dossier, it probably also angered many media folks because of -- >> yeah, it was criticized. >> because of the fact and merit of it. but when it comes to the bigger deal with certain more conservative folks were granted access. >> right. >> over other people. >> so there was a more inclusive effort to have conservative friendly outfits in that meeting with the pool. >> i guess i'm not sure i agree th tt because i just think the constant hammering, even the tweet you just showed of the failing "new york times" which

has never had more digital subscriptions than today and cnn. it's just, you know, calling the press the opposition party and the enemy of the people, it's just part and parcel of this, you know, drum beat of attack on the legitimacy of the press. >> there is a certain demeaning to our credibility, so when something real happens that we are not going to look as truthful and honest as we can be. we know there have been through other administrations on occasion certain journalists or outfits that have been excluded but here was sean spicer explaining this decision when pressed by reporters. take a listen to this. >> i think we have shown an abundance of accessibility. we've brought more reporters into this process. the idea that every time every single person can't get their question answered, we've actually gone above and beyond with making ourselves, our team and our briefing room more

accessible than probably any prior administration. so i think you can take that to the bank. >> so, jill, if you think that this is a pattern that develops and say when they have the pool going in, and we know the pool -- that's like if you're sick. >> right, i've been in the pool. >> you come out and you help all the colleagues from the white house press corps with the information. for folks at home, like if you're sick at school one day, the other kid will bring home your homework and the information that you need. do you think if this is a pattern that continues that the media needs to lock arms and boycott? we know that "time" and the a.p. didn't go in because they felt that this was egregious to do this, to allow other more conservative outlets in, opposed to other folks. do you think the media needs to lock arms and send a stronger message? >> i think they should send a message. i don't know about boycotting. and i think the overreaction to some of the extreme measures that the trump white house has taken against the press, it's

too much about us. i mean we have -- >> we're not supposed to be the story. >> no, exactly. and a little bit enough already. and things like the white house gaggle, like staged press conferences, you know, i wish more reporters in washington were out doing their own enterprise stories athan focusig on what is essentially often spoon fed spin room type information sessions. >> and also things that are leaked that they put out on purpose so they can discount them in public. it's kind of the boy who cried wolf syndrome, republican national convention and repeat on a daily basis. jill, it's great to have you on. >> thanks for having me, thomas. >> former executive editor with "the new york times" and "the new york times" airing an ad tomorrow night during the oscars. we all look forward to seeing that and probably talking about subscriptions that are up. >> truth. >> true facts, yes. >> so we've got voices from

cajun country coming up. the concerns that people have there about making ends meet. that's next. and on tuesday, we invite you to watch all-day coverage of president trump's address to congress. it begins with "morning joe" at 6:00 a.m. eastern. go to protect your vehicle?

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lawmakers head back to washington from their home turf this weekend and they come back with an earful of concerns from voters who flooded their town hall meetings across the country this week. vaughn hilliard has been at town halls and hopping around all the country this week. he joins me from buck and johnny's in louisiana. louisiana also home for mardi gras right now. vaughn, explain what you've seen, what you've heard and the true concerns that constituents are expressing. >> reporter: thomas, lawmakers are actually going back into session over on capitol hill on monday, so this was the end of their tour of their hometowns.

you think about it, only four republican senators, one of those being bill cassidy here in louisiana, actually talked to constituents. you saw tom cotton, chuck grassley, some of these town halls that got a little messy, got a little chaotic. yesterday we were here and bill cassidy tried to have much more control over the situation. he didn't take a question for the first 20 minutes. he was accused among the crowd of running out the clock. but pretty much if i've got to say, bill cassidy started essentiay off mardi gras weekend here. we're here over at buck & johnny's which you're going to see some dancing taking place in the next hour or two inside of here. but here in louisiana, it's your populist energy. we went out to town last night trying to get people to talk about politics to start out mardi gras and it was a little difficult. but people had thoughts. what it really comes down to in a place like louisiana is to what extent donald trump actually represents the populism mentality and represents the common man. we have a little bit of that sound we'll play for you.

>> he's not going to let the media influence him. you know, i think that he represents the common working class people. the people that get up every day and go to work and bust their behinds. i think that's the people that he represents and i feel like i am that person. >> because donald trump has a cabinet of billionaires and i don't think you're going to find a whole lot of billionaires in this community. and i don't think he cares about the common average hard-working man. >> reporter: thomas, there's a lot of service jobs, a lot of low-paying minimum wage jobs. 25% of this area lives in poverty. there's a big concern over whether medicaid expansion will continue as part of a potential affordable care act replacement plan. there's a lot of questions that are up in the air. among the people you talk to, you talk to crawfish fishermen and there's concern over the things going into the basin down

the way. bill cassidy came and listened to their concerns. >> vaughn, great to see you. thank you, sir. coming up later today, organizers are holding a rally in wisconsin in support of planned parenthood. the event comes as speaker paul ryan pledged to strip funding from the organization in his state and congressional dtrict as soon as congress reconvenes next week. beth joins us from the speaker's district. beth, what are you hearing from constituents and what have they got planned for this rally? >> reporter: good morning, thomas. i am in kenosha, wisconsin. it is very chilly here today. it is the largest city in speaker paul ryan's district, the first congressional district of wisconsin. it's also home to this planned parenthood clinic behind me, one of 22 across the state and one that could face some jeopardy in the event paul ryan goes through with his pledge to strip federal money from planned parenthood. he and many other congressional folks object to the fact that planned parenthood does provide

abortions in addition to other primary care and reproductive care for women. there's going to be a major rally today up in milwaukee. cecile richards will be there pressing paul ryan and other congressional republicans not to strip this federal funding which is essential to these clinics continuing to run. paul ryan did not agree to an interview request from nbc and msnbc. he's actually not in the area today. but i did speak to an activist yesterday at wisconsin right to life who's very excited about the new political climate in washington, the opportunity to strip that money from planned parenthood. take a listen. >> we want to make sure that every woman has an opportunity to pursue her health care needs, but she should not ever be forced to have her only option be planned parenthood, which is an abortion provider. i know many women would have concerns if they are pro life and they are low income. do they really want to go to an abortion provider for the services that they need? >> reporter: so paul ryan and

others say the federally qualified health care clinics across the state and across the country can do the job planned parenthood can do, but many of those providers say that they relyon'tave the capacity. i also spoke to a young woman who's been a patient here at the ken oe kenosha clinic and she said let's just leave things alone. take a listen. >> i would say that we need to stop focusing solely on something like abortion as a means to defund planned parenthood. actually no federal tax dollars go towards abortions provided by planned parenthood. we need to come together and say there's good preventative care that's being offered. >> reporter: so there you have it, thomas. we'll be up in milwaukee a little later today to see the planned parenthood rally. back to you. >> beth, great to see you, thank you. so why the agenda on this last day at cpac, which includes heavens gate and snowflakes. yeah, it's a weird combo. we'll have that ahead.

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talk with your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. so the doors are just opening at cpac on this final day of its conference featuring a series of panel discussions. now, they include if heaven has a gate, a wall and extreme vetting, why can't america? then rust belt religion and realignment, is it real. and then is political correctness killing u.s. institutions? and then among afternoon panels, facts, not feelings. snowflakes, safe spaces and trigger warnings. all that before a straw poll at the end of the conference. president trump wants to make america great again with the best nuclear weapons in the world, but why isn't the country's current nuclear arsenal good enough? that's next. kids to get a rep. liberty did what? yeah, with liberty mutual all i needed to do to get an estimate was snap a photo of the damage and voila!

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maryland, day four of an event that's the super bowl for conservatives. the president was the headliner at cpac yesterday where he blasted the media and laid out an agenda but it's an interview that he gave to reuters that's raising concerns about a new arms race. >> it would be wonderful, a dream would be that no country would have nukes, but if countries are going to have nukes, we're going to be at the top of the pack. >> joining me now to talk about it is the president of the plow shares fund, an organization aimed at reducing nuclear stockpiles and increasing global security. so, joe, i want to start by asking you about a new column that you put out earlier saying, it was on the 24th, you characterized these nuclear remarks as insane, that's your word. >> yes. >> where does the u.s. stand on the world stage in comparison to other countries with its nuclear arsenal? >> i'm not sure what the president is basing his remarks on, but they don't conform with the nuclear realities in the

world today. were aeady the leader of the nuclear pack. we have the most modern, moet lethal nuclear arsenal in the world. there's not a general that would trade our nuclear weapons for that of any other country. we have enough weapons to destroy human civilization several times over. we could drop a hydrogen bomb on every major city in the world. we could destroy all major food crops in the world with just a couple of hundred weapons. so how many do you need? we are already committed to spending a trillion dollars on new nuclear weapons over the next couple of decades. the president's talk about these weapons is fairly loose, fairly cavalier, and he seems to disregard the treaties we have limiting russia's nuclear weapons and ours at equal levels. if he pulls out of any of these treaties, that's what worries people. that's what worries military experts that he could start a new arms race. >> he said in that interview

that it would be a dream that no country would have nukes. but if countries are going to have nukes, we're going to be at the top of the pack. if he's saying that the dream would be that no country would have nukes, why doesn't the administration put out a different type of policy plan? i know that they're trying to take something off of reagan, peace through strength, and its mantra. and that's an era when the arms race really started the cold war. why do you think there is this reinvigoration of peace through strength as opposed to the dream comment he made? >> i think the president is listening to this minority of hard right advisers that he has. groups like the heritage foundation have long advocated building more nuclear weapons. john bolton, who's under consideration by the president for a senior post is arguing that we should pull out of the arms control treaties that we're in and we're better off racing with nuclear arms. this is where president trump could take a page out of ronald reagan's playbook. ronald reagan said his dream was

to erase nuclear weapons from the face of the earth and then he went and did something about it. ronald reagan was the greatest arms control president in history. he cut our arsenals and the russian arsenals by 50% and set us on the path we're on today. if donald trump really wants to govern in the reagan tradition, that's the way he should be tilting. >> is your biggest fear, joe, that north korea and its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons? >> north korea is certainly a flash point and its assassination of kim jong-un's half brother using vx, a chemical agent to do it, is another sign of how unstable this country is and how on the brink they are. so, yes, north korea doesn't have many nuclear weapons. maybe 10, maybe 15. we have 5,000 nuclear weapons in our stockpile. but they might be on the verge of using some of those nuclear weapons. we're coming up to a tense period where we're going to have south korean and u.s. military

exercises in the region. look for a north korean provocation. this will be a test of donald trump's ability to govern with a steady hand. >> also from your article you say there's 15,000 nuclear weapons. the u.s. and russia have almost 95% of them. joe, great to have you on. appreciate your time, joe. thank you. >> thank you, thomas. so we've got an imbalance of power. what can democrats do to counter gop dominance? i'll speak with martin o'malley about that in our next hour right here on "msnbc live."

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