show me the carfax. start your used car search at the all-new carfax.com. hello, everyone, i'm stephanie gosk at msnbc world headquarters in new york. it's another mar-a-lago week for president trump, the president spending today and tomorrow at his resort in south florida, his fourth weekend there since moving into the white house. while several of his supporters

gather outside trump tower here in new york to show their support for president trump. the president, meanwhile, launching a new line of attacks today against former president obama. accusing the former commander in chief in a series of tweets of wiretapping his phones last year -- during last year's election. the allegations coming as the president's administration and campaign come under continued scrutiny over their meetings with russian officials. meetings that are just coming to light now. we'll start with breaking developments. new reaction from an obama spokespers spokesperson, after president trump accused the former president of wiretapping trump tower in the weeks before the election. a stunning claim believed to have originated on right-wing media outlets. trump calling the alleged wiretapping, "mccarthyism" in a tweet and comparing it to nixon and watergate in a separate tweet. former president obama spokesperson kevin lewis resp d responded with, "a cardinal rule

of the obama administration was that no white house official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the department of justice. as part of that practice, neither president obama nor any white house official ever ordered surveillance on any u.s. citizen. any suggestion otherwise is simply false." nbc news intelligence and national security reporter ken delanian joins me from washington. explosive allegations tweeted out before most of us had our first cup of coffee this morning. what do we know about them? >> stephanie, what we can say right now, we have no evidence for them and no news organization has unearthed any evidence for them and nbc's pete williams spoke to a senior u.s. official today who said that he and others in a position to know have no idea what trump was talking about. and further, that the president did not consult the fbi and law enforcement officials who may have known before he tweeted this stuff.

so it appears that he got this from a right-wing media story in breitbart and other places that have alleged the existence of a warrant for surveillance on trump tower, but nobody -- no u.s. media has reported that that is the case. and so we're just sort of scratching our heads over the idea that he lent the weight of the presidency to this extraordinary allegation. leaving aside that he accused president obama of participating in this when anyone who knows how this stuff works knows that the president would not be in the decision loop on something like this, if there was a warrant at trump tower. >> and a spokesperson emphatically denying that today. let me ask you this, what would it take for the fbio get approval for a wiretap like that? >> that's a great question. so if it was a criminal case, it would require the fbi to show probable cause of the target had committed a crime. to go to a judge and get a warrant. in a national security investigation, the foreign intelligence surveillance court matter, you would are have to show that the target was an agent of a foreign power.

acting as an agent of a foreign power. like a spy case. and that they were breaking u.s. law. people i've talked to today have said it's unimaginable that that was made for trump tower in this karks stephanie. >> all right. nbc's ken delanian, thanks a bunch, ken. >> good to be with you, thanks. across the country today, americans are hitting the sidewalk holding rallies to voice their support for president trump. while most of the marches have been peaceful, a rally today in denver turned controversial between pro- and anti--trump demonstrators. in new york, pro-trump supporters are gathering in front of turn tower, we found nbc's morgan radford. what morgan, what are you hearing from people today? >> reporter: well, stephanie, you can hear the cheers right now. lots of american flags. people having hats that say "make america great again." we're hearing from lots of people who say they're here to end the fight and they want america to unit.

so joe, you were one of the organizers here. >> yes. >> reporter: why did you organize this rally. >> we're the modern patriots, this is 1776 again, waving the american flag. on the other side they don't have the american flag. >> reporter: what's your message here? >> he's from new york, we love him, we're from new york, we don't hate him. we're trying to tell him that america is for trump as well. they're trying to show us we don't like this man but they don't realize there are people that love this man that are afraid to come out. they're closet conservatives. we're telling you right now, new york has a voice. this is the voice we have. what they're doing is anti-american. >> reporter: when you say they, are you talking about other new yorkers -- >> hate groups, groups like antiva, amnesty, illegal aliens. all these groups trying to bring that in here, we're trying to tell them we don't care if you're an immigrant as long as you're legal. we do not want fascism in this country. >> reporter: a lot of things, you can feel the passion out here, people are saying they want to unite in supporting the

president and say everyone should give him a chance. stephanie? >> morgan, if volume is any indication for passion, there's certainly a lot on the ground there. thank you. morgan radford outside trump tower here in new york. leading democrats are calling for trump's top prosecutor to resign. attorney general jeff sessions is under fire for allegedly lying to congress about his kablgt contacts with russia last year. sessions insisted there was nothing inappropriate about his meetings withes russian ambassador but recused himself from investigations into russian interference during the election. >> i don't believe there's anything wrong with a united states senator meet with an ambassador to russia. >> right. >> i see you ask a lot about questions about him, that's fine. i think it was a perfectly reasonable meeting. i have professional nonpolitical staffers with me. >> sessions says he is prepared to amend his senate committee testimony, but democrats don't sound satisfied.

>> for him to say, i was just meeting with him, normal course of a senator meeting with an ambassador, the russian ambassador who everybody knew was hacking our system, is beyond naive. it's almost pathetic. >> for more on this, i'm joined by democratic congressman from rhode island. zwri jim,o you thk attorney general sessions should resign? >> i absolutely think attorney general sessions should resign. he has lost his credibility when he gave false testimony before the united states senate. the attorney general is a top cop in the country. he oversees both the department of justice and the fbi. and he has to bear integrity and beyond reproach and trust of the american people. he no longer has that. over 140 of my colleagues, myself included, have called for the attorney general to resign.

he cannot effectively lead the department of justice any longer. given the fact he has given false testimony before the united states senate. >> congressman, general sessions says he was responding to a question about whether meetings were had in his capacity as a trump campaign surrogate. not his capacity as a senator. why is that not a reasonable explanation for the answer that he gave senator franken? >> attorney general sessions knew what a volatile topic this is, very sensitive topic with respect to russians interfering with our elections and our political system as well as potential contacts with the trump campaign. and any contact with russian officials should have been disclosed at that time. he chose not to do that p. as i said, he misled the united states senate. it's pretty outrageous. i agree with the comments of nancy pelosi when he said that is beyond naive to think that

anyone would believe that -- it stretches credulity beyond belief. >> let's look at the focus of this which are these meetings that he had with the russian ambassador. was there anything inappropriate that happened in those meetings? >> well, we don't know. and this, by the way, is why i called for a joint white house senate select committee to investigate russian interference in our elections and our political system and any contact with the trump campaign or transition or during the administration that they have had with any russian officials and what conversations may or may not have taken place. clearly, there's a steady drumbeat, now a trickle, of new information coming out about the trump campaign and the trump administration's contact with russian individuals. this is beyond disturbing. and needs to be thoroughly looked at. i also support one of my colleagues, his effort, to an

independent investigation, but there should be both the independent investigation outside of members of congress but also a coordinated effort within congress right now. there are multiple investigations happening right now, both on the house and senate side. this cuts across multimillion ju multiple jurisdiction and a joint committee is most appropriate to look at all sorts of information and intelligence to look at getting to the bottom of what occurred in terms of those interactions. >> the attorney general says he's prepared to answer some of those questions in writing. why is there still ad for another hearing? ? we >> well, first of all, it's definitely appropriate the attorney general recused himself from any further contact or investigation with the russian investigation that's happening right now by all, any and all aspects of law enforcement, but i believe that further inquiry is necessary and certainly i

believe not only written testimony is what the attorney general should give, but he should appear before the united states senate and certainly to clarify exactly what happened, but i don't see how he can effectively lead the department of justice further at this point. he lost trust of the american people and that's not a position anyone can hold and not have the full faith and confidence and trust of the american people. >> finally, just to wrap up here, the democrats are calling for a special prosecutor as well. who, in your opinion, would be more qualified to handle the investigation? >> i'm sure that there's a number of individuals that could act as a special prosecutor and i would leave that in the hands of the people that would best be able to make that decision. i have not given thought to exactly who would be, but i'm sure there's a number of retired judges or federal prosecutors who would do an outstanding job and would have the authority to look at all aspects of, again,

the trump campaign's contact with russians and the administration or the transition may have had with the russians, as well as what -- the degree to which russia was influencing or involved in the hacking of our elections and interfering with our political system. these are just explosive facts, really disturbing. and really undermines and was a direct attack on the foundation of the -- the cornerstone of our democracy, our political and electoral system. it's very, very disturbing. >> okay. congressman, i'm going to have to wrap it up there. congressman jim lagevin, democrat from rhodland, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, stephanie. attorney general sessions' meetings with the russian ambassador brought increased scrutiny of the president's team and their contacts with russian officials. here's what we know. sessions, michael flynn, jared kushner and trump campaign advisers carter page and j.d. gordon all met with the russian ambassador prior to the

inauguration. the white house says the meeting with kushner was brief, introductory in nature, and requested by the russians. we also know that michael flynn once delivered a paid speech in moscow at a dinner celebrating a state-owned russian news outlet. former campaign manager paul manafort was a paid adviser to a pro-russian ukrainian president and secretary of state rex tillerson previously led energy giant exxonmobil which has a longstanding business relationship with russia. but when it comes to business, we actually know little about the president's own financial interests because he has not released his tax returns. president trump has repeatedly denied having any business ties in russia. joining me now to discuss is anne garen, national politics correspondent for the "washington post," thank you so much for joining me. >> happy to be here, thank you. >> first on sessions, your colleague, robert costa, is reporting today that the president was, quote, fuming about sessions' recusal and

thought white house and justice department could have done more to counter the story. what are you hearing about the president's reaction? >> so we do have reporting in the "washington post" today about trump's reaction to sessions deciding to recuse himself, and to talk about it on friday. the president insisting that sessions had done nothing wrong, shouldn't have had to recuse himself, and that the entire episode was drawing attention to what the president told aides on friday, you know, was a lot of nothing. what sessions has said about that is very interesting which is that it's his view that he was ethically bound by the rules of the justice department to recuse and that that's why he did it and that people at the white house, presumably including trump, although he didn't name the president, didn't appear to understand what the rules were that governed his

role as the head of the justice department. that he has to live by the same rules as prosecutorsnd other officials at the justice department. and so sessions felt that he had to do this. so, that was the state of mind when trump left town yesterday and, you know, he had an afternoon of business, an evening not in the public eye. and then we next hear from him at 6:30 this morning with this serious of tweets >> so what happens in the interim? why the tweets? why the change? >> well, again, we don't know blow by blow, but we do have reporting from my colleague, robert costa, and others today, showing that there was a breitbart news story describing this alleged wiretapping last fall that had circulated among trump aides in the last couple of days. whether trump saw that

overnight, woke up to an e-mail containing it, we just don't know. >> turning to what happens going forward, when sessions submits his amended testimony on monday, do you think the democrats are going to back down or still hear these calls for a resignation? >> no, they're clearly not going to back down. i mean, congressman langevin's statement there i think is prettying a rat inga pretty accurate summation as how democrats tend to go forward as a political and national security matter. sessions really obviously was trying to take the air out of this issue by offering to recuse on friday, that may be the right legal step, but it doesn't change the politics of it at all for democrats. >> turning back to the russian connections, this information has been trickling out so slowly. the white house said there is no there, there. do you expect the white house to

recalibrate its response here? >> well, it's hard to see how they would recalibrate, really, unless they were to completely rip the band-aid off, change the entire approach to this and say, okay, here are the 14, 18, whatever it is, times that any trump official had any conversation of any sort with the russians. here's the entire con tetent of those conversations with, you know, whatever, if they have recordings of t if they have transcripts of it, if they interviewed the people involved, whatever. to put as much information affirmatively out as they posse possess, then i think that would leave, politically, that would leave less room for democrats to say that the white house is hiding something. that clearly has not been the approach taken. this has been a drip, drip, drip. and frankly, a number of white house officials and former adds

visors have changed their story over time. so, i mean, anybody can forget something, sometimes people's stories change for less than nefarious reasons, but the combined effect of all of this is to make it look as though the white house either doesn't have its story straight, or that, you know, it's trying to change the subject, trying to, you know, if not hide something, at least try to put it in the best light possible. >> and anne, this story just keeps going and going. in part today driven by president trump's tweets. >> right. although, i mean, one possible explanation for the tweet storm talks about wiretaps is that it would in some ways deflect attention from the sessions even on friday, you know, unless you're to draw the connection that, you know, that those two things are related in time. it certainly, you know, it would

be of a piece with the way trump has used twitter explosive allegations on twitter in the past that, you know, he sort of -- he's off on a different tangent, he's changing the subject. >> yes, but it's still about russia, even so. . anne gearan of the "washington post." thanks for joining me. i appreciate it. >> thank you. later, an exclusive interview with one outspoken critic of vladimir putin who says his criticism nearly cost him his life. twice. and next, an arrest made in connection with some of the threats called into jewish community centers nationwide. but hate groups continue to gain strength. what's fueling their rise? and what can be done to combat them? holding you back or is it your allergy pills? break through your allergies. introducing flonase sensimist. more complete allergy relief in a gentle mist you may not even notice. using unique mistpro technology, new flonase sensimist

delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one. break through your allergies. new flonase sensimist. ♪ befi was a doer.gia, i was active. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. she also prescribed lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. for some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function, so i feel better. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these,

new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you knthoswho have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. with less pain, i can be more active. ask your doctor about lyrica. everything your family touches sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox.

there's a small sigh of relief today following the arrest of a man accused of making a number of threats against jewish community centers in four states. juan thompson's arrest, a dozen of anti-semitic threats on the rise this year. nbc's pete williams has more on this story. >> reporter: for months telephone bomb threats to jewish centers and schools alarmed the jewish community. now the fbi says this man, 31-year-old juan thompson of tlust. louis made eight threats, copycat calls intended to get back at a woman who broke off a romantic relationship with him eight months ago. >> law enforcement at all levels is a close friend of the jewish people in america and we're so appreciative. >> reporter: the fbi says last month, he made a phone call and sent e-mails that named his ex-girlfriend and said she planted bombs in adl's new york office and jewish centers in dallas and san diego. investigators say he sent e-mail

bomb threats to a museum, a school and jewish center in new york and suburban detroit. investigators say he posted a message on twitter saying a racist white girl he dated sent those bomb threats trying to set him up. thompson's family was in federal court in st. louis where he was charged with cyber stalking. police there say day want to talk to him about headstones knocked over last month in a jewish cemetery. >> we're looking at all aspects. we've reached out to the federal bureau of investigations to interview juan thompson. >> reporter: thompson has a troubled past, an internet news site, the intercept, says it fired him for falsifying stories and his tweitter feed is full o racist rants about white people. the arrest doesn't solve who's beened rest of the more than 100 bomb threats to jewish centers, schools and other facilities in 36 states. in new jersey, jewish leaders praised nose who keepcenters in

the threat. >> they're saying we will not allow hate and intolerance to rule our behavior or shape our community. >> reporter: the fbi says it's scrambling to identify the so source of the threats but computer software used to disguise their origin is making them hard to trace. pete williams, nbc news, washington. >> the anti-semitic threats are part of a larger problem for the second straight year, hate groups in the u.s. are on the rise. according to data from the southern poverty law center, overall number of eight groups grew to 917 between 2015 and 2016. meanwhile, the number of anti-muslim groups almost tripled from 34 to 101 within the same time span. joining us to discuss this alarming growth in hate groups and crimes is the director at the center for the study of hate and extremism. brian, thanks for joining me. >> thank you so much for having me on again. >> what do you think is the leading cause for the rise in hate groups?

>> well, interesting enough, the rise in hate groups was pretty much white noise. it was a 3% increase. what i think was interesting is the same time that we saw a 67% increase in anti-muslim hate crimes, and we went from a range that we had over -- well over a previous decade, to well out of that range, anti-muslim hate crimes went from about 2.6% to 2.8% of all hate crimes up to about 4.5%. so they really went out of a range at the same time that anti-muslim groups tripled and of all the groups that are designated as hate groups by the southern poverty law center, the anti-muslim groups are about the most well-funded, perhaps along with some anti-immigrant groups. so we're seeing a concomitant rise in the number of certain kinds of groups as well as a rise with respect to the percentage of americans who

harbor prejudice against muslims at the same time that anti-muslim hate crimes have gone up. and now since then, we're seeing a rise in anti-semitic hate crime. >> so, going back to this anti-muslim thing, you say there's a spike in anti-muslim groups, but why? do you have any idea at this point? >> yeah. well, we think it's connected to certain things. first of all, the overall level of prejudice against muslims is the highest against any recognized large socially identifiable group, number one. number two, the recurrence of terrorist attacks and the terrible bigoted statements that come out of these sliver groups like daish or al qaeda, exploited reciprocally. lastly, the coal lens movement s

muslim s as people for derision. that's been important. there's a wellspring of anti-muslim prejudice which then is coupled with some terrible attacks that take place, as well as statements by political leaders. so for instance, we saw anti-muslim hate crimes triple in the non-calendar month after the paris attack but an additional spike up in the five days after now-president trump made his muslim ban proposal. >> critics say trump's campaign has fueled the anti-muslim groups and the hatred that's out there, the attacks that's out there. he pushes back against all of that. what is your take on whether or not the campaign played a part in some of this? >> well, our data is not as diagnostic and predictive as we like, but let's look at san bernardino terrorist attack. terrorist attack hit our community. there were eight anti-muslim hate crimes in the five days following the attack on our community.

then mr. trump made his muslim ban proposal on the 7th. we saw 15 anti-muslim hate crimes nationally and 87.5% increase. we also then during that year saw us busting out of a range to the second highest number of anti-muslim hate crimes we've had since we've been keeping data, since right after 9/11. so that's something. another thing that we've seen is that in the two weekafter the election, from law enforcement data, we saw significant increase in anti-muslim attacks. groups like the southern poverty law center which includes nonhate crimes found there were 27 -- there were references to president trump 37% at the time but that includes hate incidents and the number of hate incidents were far greater than the actual number of hate crimes. that being said, let me just rattle things off for 2016. because these are new data. new york city, up 23%, hate crime overall. muslim, up 48%. chicago, 20% increase in hate crime in 2016.

seattle, 25% up. montgomery county, maryland, up 42%. so in the limited number of jurisdictions that we have data for for 2016, hate crimes are up and in new york city right now, for 2017, we've seen a 55% increase. so we know the timing, although finding an exact single cause is a little more hard to -- hard to find, but we did find in the days after mr. trump's muslim ban statement, an 87.5% increase. >> right. of course, we have to take into consideration in the last couple years some very high-profile, very deadly attacks, particularly overseas. brian levin from the center for the study of hate and extremism. thank you for joining us. >> thank you, as always. senator lindsey graham responding today to president trump's tweets. accusing president obama of wiretapping his phones. we'll go live to south carolina where graham held a lively town

hall today on the other seide o this break. the future of business in new york state is already in motion. companies across the state are growing the economy, with the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and world-class innovations. like in plattsburgh, where the most advanced transportation is already en route. and in corning, where the future is materializing. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today at esd.ny.gov

whether it's connecting one of or bringing wifi to 65,000 fans. campuses. businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. ♪ (music pla♪ throughout) ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get on your feet for the nastiest, most terrifying bull in the state of texas. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ (crowd cheers) ♪ whfight back fastts, with tums smoothies. it starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum -tum -tum -tum smoothies! only from tums to f...nerve pain shoots and burns its way into your day... ...i hear you. when that pain makes simple errands simply unbearable... ...i hear you. i hear you because my dad struggled with this pain. make sure your doctor hears you too. so folks, don't wait. step on up. and talk to your doctor. because you have places to go... ...and people who can't wait for you to get there. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands... step on up and talk to your doctor today.

i'm stephanie gosk. top stories we're following this hour, president trump with new allegations against his pred s predecessor accusing former president obama in tapping his phones before the election. the president made the claim in a series of tweets this morning and offered no evidence to back them up. a spokesperson for former president obama issued this. a response a short time ago. "a cardinal rule of the obama administration was that no white house official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the department of justice. as part of that practice, neither president obama nor any white house official ever ordered surveillance on any u.s. citizen. any suggestion otherwise is simply false." in south carolina, senator lindsey graham responded to president trump's wiretap claim at a town hall this morning.

>> i'm not only going to push for a russian investigation, i'm going to punish russia for trying to interfere in our election. as to trump/russia campaign ties, i have no evidence personally that there are any, but i will insist that the fbi be given full opportunity to look into this without political interference. >> the senator remains one of the few critical gop lawmakers lambasting president trump over his approach to russia. nbc's vaughn hillyard was at the town hall earlier, and joins me now. vaughn, the senator faced jeers from the crowd when asked about his position on several issues, including obamacare and the president's tax returns. what happened there today? >> reporter: stephanie, i think you said it right, off the top, lindsey graham told the crowd, he goes, listen, i've been one of the fiercest critics.

republican senator, one of the fiercist critics of donald trump through the campaign, since he was sworn into office on january 20th. he told the crowd, i voted to have independent macmullan in the race. there's where everything in the island that has become congress and the executive branch, lindsey graham found himself on one of those and in terms of tax returns, five different times over the course of the hour at this town hall here in clemson, south carolina, he was asked about trump's tax returns. he was asked about the potential of a replacement to the affordable care act. this is from the sound in some of those exchanges. >> i'm going to try to help our president, donald trump, be successful as possible because number one, i agree with him mostly, and i'd like to get this country moving again. so -- [ audience booing ] replace obamacare because i think it's broken. trump tax returns, we can subpoena his tax returns. i will do that when i believe

there's a reason to do that in terms of -- >> reporter: this was, stephanie, a rambunctious crowd, 1,000 people in the theater at clemson university, most were democrats or anti-trump, came two hours away in order to be here. on the health care front, lindsey graham, we didn't play in the sound bite there, but he said, told the crowd, he goes, listen, i have not actually seen a replacement plan, i'm a republican senator. some members in the hounse of representatives a drafting what is a secret or not public bill. he said, listen, i have not seen that, until i see that, i'm not willing to back that. the democratic crowd showed empathy, we appreciate him being there. the other part we want to get to, the tweets, right off the top, lindsey graham has been calling for tougher sanctions on russia, he's the one who has been calling for further investigations into russia's interference in the u.s. elections last november. and he right off the top before anybody could ask the question, he addressed those tweets here from this morning.

here's that sound. >> if the former president of the united states was able to obtain a warrant lawfully to monitor trump's campaign for violating the law, that would be the biggest scandal since watergot. i'm very worried that our president is suggesting that the former president has done something illegally. i would be very worried if, in fact, the obama administration was able to obtain a warrant lawfully about trump campaign activity with foreign governments. >> reporter: in this crowd, they had greeb gren signs meaning we agree, red disagree. at the time he spoke out about against trump, it was red signs. when he spoke on the other side, it was green signs. >> he said in the first, he wanted to be hpful. i wonder how helpful president trump thinks lindsey graham is being on a regular basis. nbc's vaughn hillyard in clemson, south carolina, thank

you. when we come back, an nbc news exclusive interview with the russian activist and critic of vladimir putin who says he was poisoned. (vo) maybe it was here, when you hit 300,000 miles. or here, when you walked away without a scratch. maybe it was the day your baby came home. or maybe the day you realized your baby was not a baby anymore. every subaru is built to earn your trust. because we know what you're trusting us with. subaru. kelley blue book's most trusted brand. and best overall brand. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. that's how i feel about blue-emu pain relief spray. odorless and fast-acting. it soothes all my muscle aches and pains. and it's convenient for those hard to reach places. and if you're like me, you'll love blue-emu super strength cream. it's made with real emu oil, it's non greasy, it's a deep penetrating formula that works itself down into your joints.

take it from me. it works fast and you won't stink. blue-emu, it works for me it'll work for you. imagine if the things you bought every day earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. with the united mileageplus explorer card, you'll get a free checked bag, 2 united club passes... priority boarding... and 50,000 bonus miles. everything you need for an unforgettable vacation. the united mileageplus explorer card. imagine where it will take you. for your pet, to do the best you should know more about the food you choose. with beyond, you have a natural pet food that goes beyond telling ingredients to showing where they come from. beyond assuming the source is safe... to knowing it is. beyond asking for trust...

to earning it. because, honestly, our pets deserve it. beyond. natural pet food.

a fierce critic of the russian government says he was poisoned. not once, but twice. and he's blaming both near-death experiences on forces inside of the kremlin. in his first interview since emerging from a coma, vladimir kara-murza told nbc's richard engel while he wy he was target >> reporter: russian activist and outspoken putin critic vladimir kara-murza is lucky to be be alive still recovering after someone a month ago slipped him as what doctors describe as an unidentified tox ic substance, n other words, poison. >>ing a 5:00 no t

. >> 5:00 in the morning, i woke up, my heart was beating fast. i felt suddenly really weak. i don't think there are words to describe this. you know, describe how you feel when you're trying to breathe and you cannot. and when you just slowly feel your whole body just giving up. one organ after another. you feel like, you know, you feel like the life is going out of you. >> reporter: he knew immediately what was happening because he says it's the second time in two years he's been poisoned. >> as for the reason, this is what i do have no doubt about, this is -- this is because of my involvement in the russian opposition. >> who do you think is responsible? >> i can only presume this is -- this was done by people with at least with connections to the russian special services. >> reporter: kara-murza is not the first russian opposition figure to be targeted, just the luckiest. former kbg officer alexander lit

veli litvinenko drank a sea. anna politkovskaya shot in an elevator. boris nemtsov was shot in an elevator. none of them survived. >> reporter: his message for president trump? >> the only thing we ask of our colleagues and our political leaders in western democracies including the united states is that they don't help mr. putin. >> nbc news reached out to the kremlin. russian embassy and russian police for a response. so far, there hasn't been one. samples of kara-murza's hair, blood and fingernails were sent to labs in three countries including the u.s. to try to determine which poison was used. the list of people in trump's campaign that had contact with russian ambassador

sergey kislyak is growing and now looks like at least six had some kind of contact with him before and after the campaign. the question is, was this just normal and accepted contact for a presidential campaign? or was there more going on? dr. andrew kuggins, he conducts research and writes on russian foreign and domestic policy. thank you very much for joining me. >> my pleasure to be here. >> first, explain russia's motivation and getting trump elected in the first place. and is it surprising that they went to the lengths that they are accused of by the intelligence community? >> well, first, the russians didn't expect that donald trump was going to be elected. i don't think anybody in the world really expected donald trump was going to be elected. but certainly the campaign that they conducted through hacking and other activities, you know, were to weaken the candidacy of hillary clinton, to strengthen

donald trump, but still i think they expected hillary clinton would be elected president then their hope would be she would be in a weakened position because of these revelations and problems when she first came into office. >> but upon the surprise that trump was elected, what were their, at least, initial hopes for what this presidency would bring for them? >> well, i think, you know, initially they were pleased. day look at the rhetoric on the campaign trail for mr. trump and mr. trump talked about wanting to have more constructive relations with russia. he expressed admiration for vladimir putin. e expressed disdain for nato, for the european union. he talked about slackening our support for independent ukraine. probably lifting the sanctions on ukraine and not having the russians do anything in response to justify that. so i think the russians saw a number of things that trump was talking about that would be very much in their interests. >> do they think they're on track for those things? >> no, i don't think so. i don't think so. so that was the first scenario. now we're in a scenario "b" that

the russians can make work for themselves. the administration is really, really distracted. they're weakened. they've been making a lot of self-imposed mistakes. there's a lot of incompetent, inexperienced behavior, so a weakened, distracted united states also works to the kremlin's benefit. and if that continues along, then that, the russians can do what they want to do, exercise their interests and they're probably going to get less pushback from the united states because the administration doesn't have its act together. >> but also you have the situation where russia's dominating the headlines along with the allegations that they tampered with the election. what does that do to putin's global profile? >> well, you know, the russians -- one, they want to be respected. they don't want to be ignored. and if they are ignored and are not thought about, then that is very unpleasant generally for them. to some extent, to have russia in the news is a plus. i think particularly in the case

of ambassador kislyak, he does not want to be in the news in the way that he is. and i don't think that russia being in the news the way it is now is necessarily, you know, such a negative thing for the kremlin. the scenario that the kremlin would most be wor ariy ee rieri what they most don't want is the one in which because mr. trump finds himself with so few degrees of freedom in russia policy, because of the domestic political opposition in washington and the united states, that he would revert to being a very, very hardline anti-russian president more so than certainly than barack obama and more so likely than a hillary clinton presidency. that, the russians do not want to see, but then mr. putin could also make that scenario work because then he could revert to, okay, look, the united states is the big, bad enemy. they are trying to weaken our interests and that works for him and his domestic politics at home and his re-election coming up next year. >> that certainly would be strategy backfire for the

kremlin. andrew, thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. coming up at the top of the hour here on msnbc, richard louie will be joined by a flint, michigan, resident, to get her reaction to the state's decision to stop subsidizing her and other flint residents' water bills. even as officials urge them to continue filtering their water. "how to win at business." step one: point decisively with the arm of your glasses. abracadabra. the stage is yours. step two: choose la quinta. the only hotel where you can redeem

loyalty points for a free night-instantly and win at business.

youthat's why you drink ensure. sidelined. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. next, paying attention in school. how one high school's observations about its own students helped turn a $15,000 investment into 24 million bucks. es. introducing flonase sensimist. more complete allergy relief in a gentle mist you may not even notice. using unique mistpro technology, new flonase sensimist delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one.

break through your allergies. new flonase sensimist. ♪

how is one silicon valley high school now cashing in millions? well, it just so happens taking a chance on one small idea is taking them a long way. nbc's steve patterson has more. >> reporter: thursday's opening bell, the ringing sound of success for snap. parent company of the popular

disappearing messages app, snapchat. after it went public on the stock exchange, shares soared. making instant millionaires out of investors, and billionaires out of its founders. but arguably the most surprising score -- >> it's crazy. >> reporter: -- was raked in right here at this high school. >> it's an amazing and transformational opportunity for the school. >> reporter: way back in 20212 during the early days of snapchat, private catholic silicon valley school st. francis high used an old venture fund to invest in snap. today after immediately selling off two-third of its sharing their $15,000 drop in the bucket is now a pot of gold worth $24 million. >> it's crazy. it's such a silicon valley thing to do. >> i think, you know, right now st. francis may be the coolest high school in the united states, though. >> reporter: and this guy, a dad, barry eggers, is the reason why. eggers a venture capitalist, was on the board of his kids' high school growth fund and made the suggestion to invest after just

one night with his teenage daughter. >> i came home from work one day and they were all sitting around the kitchen table and my daughter and her friends and my son were all sitting there engulfed in their phones. i asked them what are you guys doing? >> reporter: after he saw snapping in action, he convinced his company to invest, then the school. the rest is now a lesson in knowing the value of a smart idea. >> right place, right time. turns out we were in a good position to make the early investment in snapchat. >> reporter: a small bet on a big idea now paying off in a little extra school spirit. >> as if we even needed to be told that happened in silicon valley. we should also note that nbc recently announced its own $500 million investment in the company. that's all for me this hour. i'll be back with you at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. so stay tuned. richard lui picks up our coverage from here. he'll have much more on president trump's new accusations that president obama wiretapped his phones. stay with us. i love how usaa gives me the peace of mind

and the security just like the marines did. at one point, i did change to a different company with car insurance, and i was not happy with the customer service. we have switched back over and we feel like we're back home now. the process through usaa is so effortless, that you feel like you're a part of the family. i love that i can pass the membership to my children, and that they can be protected. we're the williams family, and we're usaa members for life. call usaa today to talk about your insurance needs.

♪ everything your family touches sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. that's how i feel about blue-emu pain relief spray. odorless and fast-acting. it soothes all my muscle aches and pains. and it's convenient for those hard to reach places. and if you're like me, you'll love blue-emu super strength cream. it's made with real emu oil, it's non greasy, it's a deep penetrating formula that works itself down into your joints. take it from me. it works fast and you won't stink. blue-emu, it works for me it'll work for you.

with not food, become food? thankfully at panera, 100% of our food is 100% clean. no artificial preservatives, sweeteners, flavors, or colors. panera. food as it should be. hei don't want one that's haded a big wreck just say, show me cars with no accidents reported find the cars you want, avoid the ones you don't plus you get a free carfax® report with every listing i like it start your used car search at carfax.com their leadership is instinctive. they're experts in things you haven't heard of - researchers of technologies that one day, you will. some call them the best of the best. some call them veterans. we call them our team.