can swing the other way, it will change which way controls the party in the state of connecticut. it's very exciting. we'll keep you posted. watch this. that does it for us tonight. "first look" is up next. this morning president trump is standing by jeff sessions while democrats call for him to quit with his contacts over russia. plus, there are reports that mike pence used personal e-ml for state business as governor of indiana and was hacked. and the senate confirms two more trump cabinet picks bringing together a so-called team of rivals. good morning, everyone. it's friday, march 3rd. i'm ayman mohyeldin. jeff sessions will stay in his job, but reuse himself from

anything that has to do with the election. he will stay out of the election probes until other cabinet members are sworn in. here is the exchange with jeff sessions and al franken. >> if there's evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? >> senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two. and i didn't have my communications with the russians. my reply to the question of senator franken was honest and correct as i understood it at

the time. i appreciate that some have taken the view that this was a false comment. that is not my intent. that is not correct. i will write the judiciary committee soon, today and tomorrow, and to explain this testimony for the record. >> and the attorney general continued to defend his answer to the judiciary committee. in an interview with fox news, he said his recusal was planned ahead of time. >> a little over two weeks later the national security adviser has to resign due to conversations he had as a non-surrogate for the campaign with the very same ambassador. did anyone say to you, holy smokes, perhaps we should clarify this because you can see how this could be a problem? >> no, i never gave that a thought, never considered it. i don't believe anyone ever menaced that to me. mentioned that to me. quite different circumstances to me, tucker, unrelated. we had a full meeting a week or so ago.

and planned to have a meeting today. it was on our schedule to make a final decision about whether or not i should reuse myself. and the reason i believed i should reuse myself is because i was involved in the campaign. to a degree, i think it would have been perceived is that i wouldn't be objective in participating in an investigation that might involve the campaign. i do not confirm or deny any investigation. i just felt like i should clear the air and that we were moving toward that end even before this latest flap. >> just hours before, attorney general sessions made his recusal, the president responded to questions about the controversy. during a tour of an aircraft in virginia. >> mr. president, do you still have confidence in the attorney general? >> total. >> should sessions reuse himself from the campaign in russia? >> i don't think so. i don't think at all.

>> when were you aware that he spoke to the russian ambassador? >> i wasn't aware at all. >> when did you find out? >> after sessions' news conference, president trump released a written statement saying, quote, jeff sessions is an honest man. he did not say anything wrong. he could have stated his response more accurately but it was clearly not intentional. the whole narrative is a way of saving face for democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win. the democrats are overplaying their hand. they lost the election and now they have lost their grip on reality. the real story is all of the illegal leaks of classified and other information. it is a total witch hunt. now, according to two senior clinton officials, no one from the campaign of hillary clinton spoke with russia during the 2016 campaign. the republicans appear to be satisfied with sessions reusing himself, many democrats say stepping aside is the only option.

nearly 70 congestiressional democrats have called for sessions' resignation. kamala harris is calling for a vacation of his position. senator cory booker joined other democrats in trying to apply pressure on their capitol colleagues. >> he did not tell the whole truth. and that's bad enough on its face, but for someone who themselves is a prosecutor, and someone who themselves was a senator really made the high bar ability making sure there was full disclosure of those testifying before congress. he withheld information from all senate confirmation hearing when he was under oath. and that to me is a serious, serious violation and merits him resigning from his office. >> the fact that the attorney general top cop in our country lied under oath to the american people is grounds for him to

resign. it's grounds for him to resign. he's proved he's unqualified and unfit to serve in that position. >> now as all of this unfolded, revelations of other meetings between people in the trump campaign and the russian ambassador also emerged. nbc news has now confirmed with the white house what "the new york times" was first reporting that michael flynn and jared kushner participated in a previously undisclosed meeting with the ambassador back in december at trump tower. and then there's this, jd jordan and carter page spoke to the ambassador on the sidelines of the rnc. and while it's not known what they discussed, and it's not unusual for staff or adviss t meet diplomats at political conventions, if further -- it further contradicts meetings between the staff and the russian government. >> did you have meetings with russian officials in russia, outside russia, anywhere? >> i had no meetings.

no meetings. i might have said hello to a few people as they are walking by me at my graduation speech i gave in july, but no meetings. >> did you meet kislov in cleveland? >> i'm not going to deny that i talked to him. >> so you did? >> i will say i never met him anywhere outside of cleveland, let's just say that much. >> the only time you met him was in cleveland. >> i may have met him, possibly, might have been in cleveland. again, i'm respectful to the organizers. i'm respectful to confidentiality. whether inside or outside. >> but you are not going to deny talking to him in cleveland? . >> i do not deny that. page continued his work with the campaign later that summer. and the controversy to a speech he gave later this summer

contradicted that he met with russian ambassadors. gordon reportedly helped change the republican party's platform at the convention regarding ukraine. and during the convention, the rnc eliminated specific calls to provide arms to ukraine in the fight with russia, though then the campaign manager paul manaforte denies the campaign played a role. the fbi is reviewing a case in which a black muslim teenager was found hanging from a tree in washington state. police say 18-year-old ben kata went missing in january and was found hanging in a wooded area in the area of lake stevens. the cause of death was called strangulation and a week later changed to undetermined. cal perry is with us. great to have you with us. the story is, to say the least, very interesting because of all

the developments. atirst they may have dismissed the strangulation, but now we are learning more about it. what have we learned? >> what we are keeping our eye on is what his family and friends are saying about this 18-year-old. we have the photo to put up, that he was a, quote, very happy young man. he was already in a running start program that is an educational program. he was on his way to becoming a medical doctor. that certainly does not fit with the suicide. as we look at the timeline, this started just after thanksgiving. as you said, the medical examiner changing the cause of death from strangulation to, quote, undetermined is what really has sort of set the chain of events down the line. we had a statement from the lake stevens police, and this was really in response to that change from the medical examiner saying, while they have not uncovered any indication of a criminal act, they are still asking the community for any information. and that is true until now. authorities really want the community to share any information that they get. the council on american

relations, islamic american relations, put out a statement as well. and this is really forcing the fbi onto the scene. they talk about how they have reached out to the fbi office, especially in the current climate we're talking about in a rise of anti-semitic attacks across the country. that's why you have this statement from the fbi as they say they're not going to close the investigation. and that's the key here. while there's no sort of foul play, they are leaving it open. >> any time the fbi gets involved in the case, that gives you the idea of how substantial that has become. thank you for that. well, house republican leadership says they have an obamacare repeal and replace act, though it is heavily guarded that no one has seen it. rand paul wrote in part, i've been told that the house obamacare bill is under lock and key in a secure location and not available for me or the public to view.

this is unacceptable. this is the biggest issue before congress and the american people right now. what is the house leadership trying to hide? i demand the house release the text of the bill. every elected official and every american deserves what they are trying to do. later the senator went on an excursion in search of the secure location. >> i think there's a bill in there, but i asked for the copy of the bill and i'm being told i can't have a copy of the bill. it's the secret office for the secret bill. >> senator paul apparently brought along his own copy machine just in case. and respective nancy pelosi offered to pitch in. and the president has two more cabinets underway this morning, ben carson has been sworn in along with rick perry. the new energy secretary

yesterday at the swearing in ceremony talked about a team of rivals. >> sharing with the people of this country, the extraordinary vision that donald trump has, that we as a team have, and senator cruz, i want to say to you, thank you for being here. being in this room today and seeing this group of former rivals who are now on the same team, making america great again, gives me great joy. >> talk about arriving in style, the secretary of the interior ryan zinke showed up for his first day of work on a horse. he accepted the invitation from the u.s. park police for an escort and the warm welcome at his new office. still ahead, sweden was all over the news last week after president trump seemed to imply an attack had taken place. well, now the country is reinstating the draft. and president george w. bush

makes the headlines and shows jimmy kimmel his drawing of him. those stories and more when we come back. 's just a date. i can stay. i'm good. i won't be late hey mom. yeah. no kissing on the first date, alright?

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welcome back. sweden is reinstating the draft over growing concerns amid russia. the defense minister specifically cited the russian annexation of crimea. he is reintroducing the draft because of difficulties filling the ranks on the voluntary basis. this is the first time they have scripted women. the plan is to call up 4,000 young people each year. elsewhere, the series is for more than 20 air strikes a year in yemen.

the pentagon says the strikes were conducted by drons and aircraft near the peninsula that left navy s.e.a.l. ryan owens dead. these are not the direct result of information gained from the raid, although the intelligence may have corroborated previous intel. the senior intelligence source tells nbc news the strikes are part of the new administration's more aggressive approach to fighting the aqap. and the pentagon says they will conduct this in leadership with the yemeni government. let's get a check on the weather now with bill karins. we spoke yesterday, it was looking kind of rough, how is it looking today? >> just two little storms to deal with over the weekend, nothing to cause too many problems or cancellations of your plans. you are looking at snow this morning betweenleveland and pittsburgh. we have snow showers in northern maryland out there. so i'm not expecting much accumulation, but it is just a reminder that temperatures have dropped and the cold air has returned. this is the snow forecast. this is an inch of snow in the white. the blue is two inches.

areas of northwestern pennsylvania and into the appalachians. it's more of the cold than the snow, but don't be surprised if you see a path of snow showers in the northeast through the great lakes and the midatlantic region. the current windchill is a dose of reality of winter. 9 in syracuse, but down the in the teens from hartford to boston. in the 20s from new york city to washington, d.c. the problem is, this isn't the coldest. the coldest is saturday morning. we'll take you through the forecast for today. still very cold, not as windy at least, so airport delays shouldn't be that bad. highs today in the 20s. that's it for cleveland, the area of buffalo and syracuse. we are getting barely above the freezing mark in new york, boston and hartford. and then look at saturday morning, this is like fireplace-type weather. 15 in new york. 9 in scranton. there's a good bet this is the coldest air we'll have until next winter. so it looks like a good warm up will take place after saturday because even saturday during the day is a very cold day throughout top region. a high of only 27 in new york in

march is pretty rare. the average high is in the low 40s. so for the rest of the country, we'll take you through the weekend forecast. there's not a lot of bad weather out there. we could see showers today in miami. we're nice in the middle of the country. this is where it's going to continue to be a gorgeous spring. 63 in denver today. st. louis goes from 46 today. saturday, up to 68. so there's the warmth returning. the cold air in new england gives way. sunday will be an improvement with a good deal of sunshine in the eastern half of the country. but there's really only bad spots of weather out there. south texas has some rain this weekend. and then the west coast, especially in northern california. but compared to what we dealt with earlier this week with the tornadoes, nice and calm. >> some good news for the folks out there. bill karins, thank you for that. well, former president george w. bush has been making the rounds promoting his new book of paintings of soldiers, marine, sailors and airmen. in fact, last night the president turned artist and jimmy kimmel practicing their art skills drawing each other. and, of course, talked about his time in office and a certain will ferrell's classic impression.

check this out. >> you want to hea sething terrible? >> yeah. >> so i had dinner with lorne michaels, the writer of "saturday night live," and he came up with stategery. and i said, wait, i said stategery. >> did it bother you, the guys imitating you, did it bother you? >> no. i love humor. the best humor is when you make fun of yourself. >> well, tell that to the president. >> words of wisdom there. still ahead, an nfl player's protest comes to an end. a hail mary buzzer beater. and an incredible one-handed catch. you don't want to miss that. sports is next. let' 's take a trp to la plata, colombia. this is boris calvo. that's pepe.

boris doesn't just grow good coffee, boris grows mind-blowing coffee. and because we pay him a fair price, he improves his farm to grow even better coffee and invest in his community, which makes his neighbor, gustavo, happy. that's blanca. yup, pepe and blanca got together. things happen. all this for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee. packed with goodness. dude. your crunching's scaring the fish. dude. they're just jealous. new kellogg's raisin bran crunch with crunchy clusters and the taste of apples and strawberries. (excited) i got one! (jokingly) guess we're having cereal for dinner. new kellogg's raisin bran crunch apple strawberry so with our ally cashback credit card, you get rewarded for buying stuff. like what? like a second bee helmet with protective netting. or like a balm? you know? or a cooling ointment for the skin. how about a motorcycle? or some bee repellant. i'm just spit-balling here.

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to make news under the salary cap. the jets will receive brandon marshal. the 33-year-old is the latest player to be cut by the jets. they also released durrell revis this week. and in other nfl headlines, colin kaepernick ended anthem protests this season. kaepernick has been backup for san francisco for much of last year after taking the spotlight from the sidelines for kneeling during the "national anthem." he will become a free agent next week. and the warriors were ice cold from downtown. this is the first game without kevin durant since his knee injury on tuesday. steph curry and clay thompson combined for 3 for 22 attempted from beyond the arc last night. however, the two-three-pointers

were from kobe bryant. the warriors beat golden state. here's the important stat on all this, it's the first time in 146 regular season match-ups, almost two full seasons, that the warriors have actually lost back-to-back games. that brings us back to april 2015. congratulations to them. very impressive. the portland thunder ended the first game of the match-up this way against the trailblazers. >> he is a former baseball pitcher at notre dame showing off that. deflection and time -- he got it! >> he gets it, take that! it's like they are playing catch. the hail mary buzzer beater gives them a three-point lead at halftime. that's a 61-foot heave. there was also 45 points from russell westbrook. but it was not for oklahoma city to beat the thunder, 114-109. and major league baseball

training in port st. lucy, florida. a show of very quick reflexes. cool, calm, casual. everyone else dives for cover in the background, but that's louis gilmore who makes a hair-handed grin. just like he does that every day. >> one-handed. he didn't even take his left hand off the rail. >> cool, calm and collected, just like you. >> knowing how well of a shooter you are, looks like the warriors could have used your help. >> 3 for 22, at least i could bank one in. thank you. what happens next for attorney general jeff sessions after reusing himself from russia-related probes? we'll talk to ari melber about that. and the ambassador of russia to the united states seems to have met with several officias.s

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welcome back, everyone. i'm ayman hol ma demohyeldin. it's the bottom of the hour. let's start with the top stories. al qaeda confirms the deputy leader was killed in a u.s. strike in syria. the top leader has been there since the killing of osama bin ladin. and the pulse nightclub

shooter won't be getting out of jail today. she is charged with aiding and abetting her husband in the deadliest mass shooting in the u.s. ever. the judge said she needs to stay behind bars while awaiting trial. and the secretary of hud ben carson will oversee 8,000 employees while rick perry vowed to rely on the energy department's federal scientist, including those who work on climate change. and attorney general jeff sessions is depending his conversations with treasurussia man in washington. hours after signing a recusal to the trump campaign, passing his role overseeing the russian meddling in the election, which he has not confirmed or denied, today in bentay. this until roger rosenstein can be confirmed. last night he defended his

answer to the judiciary committee in an interview with fox news and said his recusal had been planned ahead of time. >> a little over two weeks later the national security adviser has to resign over conversations he had. also his capacity as a non-surrogate for the campaign with the very samed a ba ed d . so did anyone on your staff say, holy smokes, we should clarify this because this could be a problem? >> no, nobody ever mentioned that to me. quite different circumstances to me, tucker, unrelated. we had a full meeting of some of -- a week or so today. we planned to have a meeting today, it was on our schedule to make a final decision about whether or not i should reuse myself. and the reason i should reuse myself is because i was involve in the campaign. to a degree, i think it would have been perceived is that i wouldn't be objective in

participating in an investigation that might involve the campaign. i do not confirm or deny any investigation. i just felt like i should clear the air. and we are moving toward that end even before this latest flap. >> now, a number of republican lawmakers called on sessions to reuse himself before he announced his news conference. just over a dozen congressional republicans called on sessions to step aside from the russian investigation. in that list, that includes darrell issa, jason chaffitz, rob portman and tom coal along with senators susan collins, representative mike kaufman and senator dean hillner. >> i don't the information in

front of me, i don't want to pre-gym, but from the investigation going toward, you want to make sure everybody trusts the investigation. that there's no doubt in the investigation. >> does that require his recusal, congressman? >> i think it would be easier from that standpoint, yes. >> less than an hour later, mccarthy walked back the suggestion claiming he was not calling for sessions to reuse himself. so what remains to be seen is what happens next for the attorney general. joining us now is msnbc legal chief analyst ari melber. is there anything the democrats can do against jeff sessions? and what does this mean for the ongoing investigation within the justice department for the russian involvement in the elections? >> well, as you just played, attorney general jeff sessions is saying they had the interview

with national security flynn. we know there's stuff going on, one way to put it. dana bentay will take over. one of the two men will be overseeing them and ultimately making any prosecutorial decisions if there are any to make. >> at this point, the attorney general, by recusal, won't know anything about the investigation. or will he be briefed on it and not involved in the decision-making process? >> the recusal means he's not involved, no updating and no charging decision, which is very important if the people remember, in the hillary clinton e-mail example so high-profile, it was and usual that the fbi director spoke so much. but at tend of the day, he was giving an update on the facts. it is ultimately the prosecutors

at doj that then decide whether or not there's enough to charge. >> is there anything on the democratic side, because some are calling for the resignation of the attorney general, is there anything from the democratic side that can be done or leveraged against him to force that? >> well, i think -- look, i think there's always the oversight activities that you have. so congress is overseeing different agencies. the justice department is one of the agencies overseeing. the difference which has been emphasized given the independence and demand here is that this is not like any other agency or political project. you want, of course, the justice department to be above politics and above reproach. and what we already know had raised a lot of those questions. the last question still remains, which is, is he reused from everything that relates to this or with the expiration date of november? on fox news he suggested, if there's any issue to come after november, he may still be involved. that's a big loophole. >> a big one. ari melber, you'll be joining us on "morning joe," don't go too far away.

who is the man at the center of the growing controversy? sergey kislyak. he has made his rounds in officials in government as well as party operatives. >> listen, we talk about this in nefarious terms when we talk about people inside the trump administration. one thing is clear, though, the russian ambassador really did his job. his job is to figure out what is going to happen in washington as certainly things change, especially in the white house. we'll take a look very quickly at his resumé. he joined the foreign ministry in 1977. career diplomat, 66 years old. some of these postings are very high-profile postings. ambassador to nato, deputy minister of foreign affairs and became ambassador to the united states in 2008. he was here during the cold war. his focus was arms control. he was close to the obama administration when it came to

ar arms. some of these meetings happened at the height of the scandal. so why didn't jeff sessions say we met in september because this was the height of the hacking scandal. the person that you meet withf you're concerned that russia is hacking things and meddling with the election is the russian ambassador. this man is known for throwing lots of extravagant parties with vodka and caviar. >> it may be easier to say, who hasn't met with the russian ambassador. >> i have not met with the russian ambassador. claire mccaskill is having to declare what she met with a tweet she posted. senator mccaskill tweeted, i've been on the armed services committee for ten years. and no call or meeting with

russian ambassador ever. ambassadors call members of the foreign relations committee. but as you can imagine, several of her tweets from years ago surfaced. in one from 2013, she says, she's off to a meeting with the russian ambassador. and another from 2015 where she says she had a call with the russian ambassador about the iran nuclear deal. and, of course, there was this, a photo making the rounds of the senator and several colleagues meeting with the russian ambassador, kislyak on capitol hill. then she posted, quote, four years ago, went to a meeting with many senators about international adoptions. russian ambassador also attended. in renewed scrutiny over the ties to russia, the ranking housing committee is accusing the fbi for not properly briefing committee members like the gang of eight. representative schiff accused james comey for yielding little

information so far. >> at this point i would say we know a fraction of what the fbi knows. the director spent three to three-and-a-half hours on this. on the areas he was willing to discuss, we had a very in-depth set of questions and answers. but there were very large areas that were walled off. and those walls need to come down if we are going to do our job. >> coming up on "morning joe," we'll talk to congressman schiff along with angus king and richard blumenthal, all who are calling for jeff sessions to resign. we'll switch gears and talk about business. big day on wall street pulling back sharply after wednesday's record highs. but there was one major bright spot as snapchat shined in its first day of trading. cnbc's nancy hungerford is joining us live from london. nancy, great to have you with us. big story of the day, snap did very well started at 17 and hit 24 by the end of the day.

some think they may have undersold the stock at the debut. >> well, that's right. this one certainly did not disappoint investors who watched this stock pop to as much as $26 before closing below that level with the market cap of $34 billion. and just to give you an idea how big that is, we are talking on par with the evaluation of retail giant target and nearly three times that of social network rival twitter. so big news on wall street yesterday. elsewhere, the world of tech, keep an eye on the space of uber and lyft because it appears as though lyft could be gearing up for a fresh round of fund-raising that could value the company between $6 and $7 billion. this comes as larger rival uber has been suffering a spate of bad news including allegations of sexual harassment and issues really surrounding leadership in addition to a lawsuit from alphabet. and finally, keep an eye on shares of caterpillar because

the federal raids happened at three buildings over taxes. the ceo apologized for the raid and said they were surprised given they continue to work with law enforcement officials and will continue doing so. back to you for now. >> we'll have to bring you back at some point to explain how snap is possibly trying to make money off of this product. all right, nancy, good to have you with us live from london. president george w. bush is live on his book tour with some things to discuss and some things he's not. >> i don't worry about history. i know i gave it my all and am very comfortable. >> how do you think obama did as president? >> eventually he'll be judged just like i'll be judged. in other words, i'm not going to tell you. >> all right. >> one thing he's opening up about his friendship with a former first lady who is not his wife. we'll have that next.

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so you went to the inauguration, which was the right thing to do, but it must have been tough because your brother jeb was -- >> not really. jeb gave it his best shot. not really, i tell you, it's a beautiful experience to watch the transfer of power. and i'm glad i went. >> you had a little bit of a problem -- the poncho was a problem. it seemed -- had you put a poncho -- there's -- have you put one on? was that the first time? >> yeah. it looks like it, that's for sure. >> a good moment there. the former president george w. bush is relishing his new passion as a painter. he joined ellen and talked about his friendship with the first lady michelle obama, which for many, was unexpected. >> you're good friends with michelle. >> i am. >> yeah. >> yeah. she and i have a -- you know, i'm kind of a needler. and she handles it pretty well.

oh, yeah. that surprised everybody. that's what is so weird about society today. that people on opposite sides of the political spectrum can actually like each other. >> but are you that close -- you're closer to her than barack? >> well, let's put it this way, he's never given me a hug that way. >> so it's all about the hug. i see. >> generally. >> some classic moments there. well, president bush told people that he and mrs. obama just took to each other adding, quote, she kind of likes my sense of humor. anybody who likes my sense of humor, i immediately like. who can disagree with that? and another passion they share, helping military veterans. mrs. obama created the fund for former service members and their families. the president is planning to

distribute profits from his book to set rans groups. veterans groups. and the press corps could be more awake this morning thanks to tom hanks. he sent them a newest pre espre picture, this is the third one. the coffee maker came with a note from the actor reading in part, quote, keep up the good fight for truth, justice and the american way. especially for that truth part. so we could use one of those espresso machines here, right, bill karins? >> don't you want the press corps drinking their coffee black and digging deep? >> i was surprised because there's that little steamer for the cappuccino. i don't want the white house press corps making too many cappuccinos in there. give us an update on the weather? we are talking about the cold. it's like two days of this and then the warmth returns. snow showers are returning. even a few snow showers are not

far from washington, d.c. this morning. it's cold. the kids have to bundle up with the winter coats, the hat, the gloves this morning from the great lakes, the ohio valley and the northeast. windchills are in the teens. we'll talk about the good stuff, the fun stuff. the warmth is returning to the middle of the country to quickly kick the shot out. the warming highs, denver has a gorgeous weekend, oklahoma, through kansas, kansas city not bad at 54 degrees. and all that warmth is going to start to spread to the east. as we get to saturday, up to 64 in des moines. indianapolis jumps to 53. gorgeous in little rock, 66. this is perfect march-type weather. by the time we get to sunday and monday, perfect. d.c., you have to wait. saturday and sunday are cold. monday, 59. then we are at 66 degrees in d.c. by tuesday of next week. that's what we like about march. when we get the cold shots, that i only stick around a day or two. >> the problem is one day it's hot and the other it's cold. you don't know what to wear when leaving the office every morning. bill karins, thanks for that. good to have you with us. still ahead, another top member

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the trump campaign criticized hillary clinton for the private use of her e-mail server while she was secretary of state. >> she had a private foundation taking millions of money from foreign governments, okay?

and then she had a private server between those two things, i guess to keep what was going on out of reach and outdomain. the fbi found out she had classified information on that private server. literally, vulnerable to foreign powers on taping that compromising our very national security. the fbi concluded that it was just extremely careless and decided not to pursue an investigation or charges. >> but now the "the indianapolis star" reports that governor mike pence used personal e-mail for state business and was, in fact, hacked. the paper on taped e-mails showing he routinely used his aol account with top advisers on topics ranging from security gates at the governor's residence to the state's response to terror attacks across the globe. in one e-mail, pence's homeland security adviser related an update from the fbi regarding several men on terror-related charges. the current governor's office

released 29 pages from pence's aol account but didn't release the up specified amount of others because the state required them confidential and too sensitive to release to the public. the law does not prohibit public officials from using public e-mail accounts. he maintained a state e-mail account and a personal e-mail account. and governor mike pence complied with indiana law with retention. they called the comparisons to clinton absurd as he didn't deal with classified information as governor of state. and carrying out air strikes in yemen just weeks after involving deadly u.s. forces there. officials say more than 20 strikes were focused on the al qaeda and arabian peninsula. joining us for more on this from london, nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley. the issue of raids and strikes in yemen is very politicized.

is there any indication that the strikes are a result from the deadly raid gathered back in january? >> reporter: good morning, ayman. the short answer is no. pentagon officials told nbc news the raids in yemen were not the fruits of intelligence gathered from the ill-fated raid in late january. but they did confirm that the helicopters and drones who launched more than 20 air strikes were indeed american. now, this is the target for that is for a senior al qaeda leader, but we have not confirmed that. and the raids were an extension of the ill-fated late january attacks by navy s.e.a.l.s. that's the attack where the u.s. navy s.e.a.l. was killed. mo recently in president trump's speech to congress on tuesday night, as you know, nbc

previously reported that pentagon officials say it yielded very low intelligence. but it was just the beginning of what the white house describes a ramp-ed up effort in yemen even as the civil war continues leaving most recently the famine conditions. >> matt bradley, i'm sure we'll learn more about the operation in the day ahead. coming up on "morning joe," jeff sessions and his conversations with the russian ambassador. on the guest list this morning, the ranking democrat of the house intelligence committee adam schiff. plus, senator rand paul who is blasting his party for keeping the obamacare replacement plan literally a secret. "morning joe" just moments away. every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning

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and the federal reserve chair janet yellen gives us a look at the speech later today. this comes on the hinge of another interest rate in the works this month. that does it for us on this rig. i have now decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president of the united states. >> that major development to the story that was unfolding during our show yesterday morning. attorney general jeff sessions recusing himself from investigations into russia's meddling into the 2016 elections. of course, that doesn't end the story. there still a lot of questions to be answered. did attorney general sessions change his story? what did the white house know and when did it know