hi, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts in new york. 8:00 a.m. in the east, 5:00 a.m. out west. day 51 of the trump administration. new word from president trump this morning on efforts to overturn obama krar, this as he tries to bridge that divide between republicans on capitol hill. so will his own party defy the charge to repeal and replace the affordable care act? meanwhile, the russia connection in the 2016 election. a hearing is set that could reveal whether there was collusion between that country and the trump campaign. this as a leading republican says there's reason to believe president trump was wiretapped even though no proof has been shown yet. >> we believe that president trump was wire trapped in his conversation -- excuse me, wiretapped in his conversation with the president of mexico, wiretapped again in his conversation with the prime minister of australia. >> a big allegation there. interview interrupted. have you seen this yet?

all happening on live tv. we'll tell you how it ended when one guest's kids crashed the scene and the hero of that interview, you'll see her too. that's coming up on "msnbc live." first, new reaction to the justice department's sudden firing of the 46 remaining u.s. attorneys. here's what mike huckabee, a supporter of the president, said earlier this morning. >> all of these people, they knew darn well when they took the job that they were political appointees and serveded a the pleasure of the president. quite frankly, donald trump kept them a lot longer than obama did, bush did, clinton did. i think they need to get the biggest dyson vacuum cleaner that's ever been made and go through every federal agency and suck out all the people that they can who are not going to be loyal to this president. >> mean while, former trump campaign manager corey lewandowski this morning denying reports of collusion between the president and russia. >> there is no connection between donald trump and the russians in any way, shape, or

form. i spent 18 months standing next to this individual 18 hours a day. never, ever, ever, ever did i see, hear, or intimate donald trump having anything to do with russians, the russian government, or anything in between. in just a couple hours mike pence travels to kentucky in an effort to sell the republicans' health care proposal. his visit is part of the latest white house push to pass the measure through congress. here's president trump this morning in his weekly address. >> we're also working on reforms that lower the costs of care like allowing americans to purchase health insurance across state lines. i encourage democrats to work with us to improve the health care system for the american people. >> with more on this, kelly o'donnell is standing by with us from the white house. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, thomas. with so much riding for the

white house on whether they can successfully change the health care law known as obamacare, we will now begin seeing the traveling sales pitch. this weekend it's vice president mike pence who heads to kentucky this morning where he will meet with business heeders. we're also seeing the president getting more engaged. and it comes at a time when the white house is also dealing with some controversy and even a bit of good news. the president is flexing his boardroom skills to pitch an obamacare overhaul. >> this is the time we're going to get it done. we're working together. we have some great results. >> reporter: hampered by resistance from some conservatives, vice president pence has been making his own rounds. >> we move beyond the failed policies of obamacare. >> reporter: to different groups to push the republicans' health insurance plan. >> we're going to have an orderly transition to a better health care system. >> reporter: from health care to jobs. remember this campaign bravado? >> i am going to be the greatest

jobs president that god ever created. remember that. >> reporter: back then, he discredit ld government job figures. >> don't leave those phony numbers when you hear 4.9% and 5% unemployment. >> reporter: suddenly friday, those same labor department statistics had new found credibility when president trump's first month in office showed a drop in unemployment. press secretary sean spicer revelled in the contradiction. >> i talked to the president prior to this and he said to quote him very clearly. they may have been phony in the past, but it's very real now. >> reporter: a dose of good humor sorely needed in the trump white house after new disclosures about michael flynn. last fall flynn worked several months for a foreign-owned turkish company. his consulting firm paid more than $500,000. the press secretary acknowledged flynn had provided some

information to the trump transition team. >> a personal lawyer of general flynn's contacted a transition lawyer and asked for guidance on what he should or should not do. >> reporter: but the white house insisted it had not known flynn's consulting client was helping the turkish government. spicer said the retired general submitted documentation for his outside work but did not register as a foreign agent until this past week. >> just remember, you wouldn't know that until he filed. he didn't file until two days ago so, therefore nobody would have known that because he hadn't filed as a foreign agent until two days ago. >> reporter: and now as everyone is looking back on michael flynn and what was known about him, during the campaign season, you may remember he was for a time one of those on the list to be considered as a potential running mate for trump. i contacted the lawyer who headed the vp vetting search who said that general flynn did not make it to the final round and therefore was not personally interviewed and his business

dealings and personal finances were not examined. thomas? >> kelly o'donnell at the white house. thanks so much. as you were talking, we were watching vice president mike pence arrive at andrews air force base, arriving to take off. we lost the shot, but as we said, he is on his way to kentucky. this is part of the white house's rollout and push to get people to support the health care proposal that they are recommending. will they get it through congress or not? that's the big question. we know that the vice president is on his way to louisville. we'll have more coverage of that as he arrives in kentucky. joining me now is molly hooper, congressional reporter for "the hill." good to have you with me. back to kelly's story and the registration of general flynn as a foreign agent, does the public really care about the flynn controversy? >> i'm not sure if the public does, but several people do. number one, vice president mike pence who was asked about this story. remember, mike pence was

basically the reason why michael flynn had to step down, because michael flinl did not tell pence the full truth about a conversation he had with then russian ambassador. and mike pence basically said when he heard about this story involving michael flynn that, you know, it's just further affirmation for president trump's decision to basically fire michael flynn. and the other people that care about it, well, the press. if you saw sean spicer's briefing yesterday, keep in mind, we're in the midst of a hot issue up here on capitol hill and in washington, d.c., having to do with the health care plan. but it felt like every other question had to do with michael flynn and the foreign agents registration act. it's a little confusing but it kind of again, as mike pence would say, goes to that -- you know, gives further affirmation that maybe president trump made the right decision. >> they talk about the affirmation for what decision was made over flynn. it seems as if the affirmation that the public may need or

certainly our elected leaders on the hill need to continue following a trail of bred crumbs remaining around russia and in the collusion, alleged collusion, with the administration. fill us in on what came out of the briefing yesterday between fbi director james comey and senior lawmakers into that probe? did we get anything other than innuendo? >> we always get innuendo from those meetings. that's what we can expect to get. but, you know, several top-ranking democrats, the issue that they really wanted to trill down with comey was president trump's accusations that president obama, then president obama wiretapped trump tower, and the top-ranking democrats house and senate basically said they didn't see any evidence that president obama in fact wiretapped trump tower or at least via the fbi. and that's actually going to be a very interesting topic when fbi director comey comes before the committee, the house intelligence committee, who has

an investigation into the collusion or possible chugs between russia and the trump administration -- or then trump campaign staffers and russia's influence on the u.s. election and hacking into the u.s. election, because james comey will be on capitol hill march 20th at a public hearing we understand. so he will get to -- ostensibly the topic will be the public report that the fbi came out with regarding russia's ip influence on the u.s. election. however, be sure to expect democrats and republicans asking about those wiretapping allegations. >> we have steve king and heard him at the top of the show talking about these allegations, the fact that donald trump's conversations with the president of mexico and australia were bugged. let's just remind everybody it was early february when those calls were made and they were revealed to be embarrassingly harsh calls, certainly to our counterpart, the president's counterpart in australia, and also to the mexican president

about paying for the border wall. and they were embarrassed -- the white house was embarrassed by the leaks of how sideways these conversations went. >> exactly. i mean, and the fact that those conversations were recorded isn't necessarily a big deal. if you look back at the lyndon baines johnson tapes and the nixon tapes, the white house can't expect those conversations to be confidential. however -- i mean, confidential, yes, but they would be recorded for posterity's sake. however, the leaking was a big issue, and that is a big issue that republicans have on capitol hill like steve king and others like rep louis gohmert, also part of this tea party caucus, freedom caucus group. when president trump makes an accusation there was, in fact, wiretapping going on during the election of 2016, that gives republicans pause because people like steve king and louis gohmert say, you know, maybe this did happen, there's some rogue agents and maybe we do need an independent

investigation regarding these wiretapping allegations as they relate to the russian connection with the possible trump campaign. you know, and so that gives further impetus to democrats who are calling for an independent investigation. >> right. and we will have that hearing coming up on march 20th. adam schiff. we shall see exactly what is revealed if anything out of that. as we said, yes, we will continue to follow the trail. innuendo for trying to get to the facts as best we can. molly hooper, great to have you on. thank you. >> thank you. happening right now, weather whiplash for millions across the u.s. experiencing temperatures, well, they sprang from record highs to winter storms overnight. joining me now, msnbc meteorologist bonnie schneider. it's been completely wild and there's more kind of wicked weather in store for folks coming over the weekend into the new work week. >> yeah. still winter and even though daylight-saving time does begin on sunday, we have a big winter storm coming. it's feeling like it's the

middle of winter. record cold temperatures are possible in syracuse, burlington, and boston on sunday. right now it feels like it's 19 degrees. it feels like it's 8 degrees rather in new york city with 19 as your current temperature. single digits and even below zero wind chmielewskis are possible this weekend with a really strong push of arctic air plunging southward. we're also looking at that threat for very cold temperatures to bring about the potential for snow into parts of iowa, minneapolis, maybe a little bit, but more towards the south we could see some heavy amounts. looking back off into western north carolina, this is where we're likely to see heavy snow through the weekend in the mountains and places like boone, and then when you head up further toward parts of the plains an the midwest we could see substantial amounts. people wondering what's ahead for the nor'easter happening on tuesday? actually, begins monday night straight through wednesday. we could see heavy snow beginning as rain in parts of the carolinas, low pressure coming in from the west and also from the south. those two phase together and eventually may bomb out off the

coast. what that means is low pressure really cranks up and you can see intense winds, the location of the low may be a little bit still questionable, but all models are indicating heavy snowfall for some big cities across the northeast as well as the potential for coastal flooding and strong gusty wind. the worst of it likely on tuesday into the afternoon and evening. this will be a lot of snow and we have not seen a lot of snow so far this winter season. so this is the way it's looking right now. heavy snow is possible, even a foot possibly for some major cities, but in meantime, bundle up for the weekend. we'll be feeling quite cold. >> at least the days are going to be longer when the storm comes, because tonight when we go to bed, we spring ahead an hour. >> that's right. >> for folks watching, go to bed, kick it forward an hour unless you're staying up past midnight. >> need some sleep. >> which none of us are. great to see you. thanks. a tough road ahead for the new health care law. is there any chance that democrats are going to work with republicans on this? we just saw a short time ago vice president mike pence taking off for his sales pitch in

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this is the closest we will ever get to repealing and replacing obamacare. the time is here, t time is now. this is the moment. and this is the closest this will ever happen. house speaker paul ryan trying to sell the repeal and replace to contributes on both sides of the aisle. congresswoman debbie dingle sits on the house energy and commerce committee. great to have you with me. why do you think the speaker is

saying this is the closest they'll get to replacing obamacare? >> well, good morning, thomas. i think he's trying to create a political child enticement that is going to say take this or nothing's going to happen. but people can't take this because we have to worry about what its impact will be on seniors and chirp and pregnant women. i've never said the affordable care act was perfect, that there were some tweaking that we needed to do, but to replace wit the bill that is now sitting there is unacceptable. i think if you live in this country you have a right to affordable quality health care, and this bill is going to hurt those who need the help the most. >> do you think this is the only bill they'll put forward? if so, do you think that the long-term plan is really just to present something that is eventually not worthy, something that's just going to die amend they're going to say, we tried? >> i'm not going to put myself

in their head. i know what i'm going to do, which is i'm going to make sure i fight to make sure those that need help get it. that's what i think people need to take the time to understand. the reality is that people are going to pay more and they're going to get less. seniors get a double whammy with the senior tax. they'll have to pay five times what a young person pays, but they're also looking as you enter into long-term care, where medicaid is -- 42% of medicaid is used to help that. seniors actually find themselves rationed. that scares me and i think it's unacceptable. >> do you think there is anything that you've seen that is worthy of replacement, or is everything just happening too fast to seem as if it has credibility, especially given the fact that this isn't going through proper channels and kind of the cbo not giving it a proper score yet and having time to vet it? is there anything that you've seen in it that you liked?

by the -- >> by the time we went into mark-up on wednesday, tuesday night i read every word, and we had 27 hours of mark-up on wednesday night. we did it without the cbo scoring it. you've seen they're trying to set expectations not to like the cbo number. brookings is predicting the cbo will say 15 million people would lose their insurance on this. i have to pay attention to the big stuff in here, and the big stuff scares me. one of the things they're saying, well, everybody will have access. fit's more expensive and people can't afford it, they're not going to have it. dthd jonathan allen tale there are some people -- we have stories on both sides of things that aren't working, but more than 90% of the people in this country are happy and do talk about being better off. in my own state, we reduced

those uninsured by 50%. we're going to suddenly cut that program off in 2020 and now we're talking about cutting it off two years earlier? that's not okay. who it will hurt will be seniors and children. in my state, half the children, half the children get their health care from the medicaid program. those kinds of things will never be okay with me. >> what about the outreach taking place right now? within the last 15 minutes we saw the vice president leaving for kentucky. the white house wanting to get out there and have the big sell on this. we know that kentucky's rand paul is not a fan of what's taking place. how much does this make a difference? >> here's what i think we have to do in the next ten days. we need to make sure people really understand what's in this bill and what the implications are and how it's going to impact

them directly. the broad spectrum of people that have come out against this from the hospitals, to doctors, the aarp, the episcopal church, the catholic church, the conference of mayors shows there are real problems. the republicans are going to -- not all republicans but you're going to see some of the leadership try to say take it or leave it. people have to say am i really going to be better off? what's this going to do to me? they have to make sure their elected representatives are hearing it. we're willing to work where there are problems. is there a small business mandate in my own state, the cadillac tax penalizes people because in this state we've always realized how important it is to give people health care coverage and the autos and other businesses here have always had much better health care coverage and they shouldn't be unfairly penalized. but to hurt seniors, to hurt pregnant women, to hurt individuals that are disabled, to that i can those who have

finally gotten insurance, 20 million people have gotten insurance since this bill passed. and people are forgetting why this bill passed initially. they're saying some people paid higher premiums. health care costs were out of control. i'm a car girl. the cost of a karaseven years ago, health care cost more than steel did. we have kept down health care costs under the affordable care act. let's really work together and figure out what do we need to fix. but don't do it at the cost of not giving those that need help the most, the health insurance they need. >> congresswoman, it's interesting in talk about how to reach that perfect compromise, while you are skeptical of what's taking place, there are certain gop members that have opposition to what's taking place. take a listen. >> the bill that's written is not going to pass the senate. >> sthst smoke and mirrors when we suggest we're going to dupe the american people. this is obamacare with a different label. >> is this proposal dead?

>> yes. it's dead on arrival. this is not what conservatives want. >> there appears to be the largest welfare program ever proposed by republicans in the history of our country. >> hearing that and from rand paul, dead on arrival, is this just a way to say we worked on it, we tried, and then they're going to move on wiquickly to something else? >> again -- >> i know you don't want to get this their heads but -- >> i'm not going to speak for them. >> you've been around the hill and you know the my snu noou ine maneuvers. is this lining up that type of play? >> i think speaker ryan really wants to do something about this bill. i also know that -- i hope he's got a good heart and doesn't want to hurt children or seniors. in the end, i hope the bill we see right now doesn't go through because it just hurts people so badly, it would force more people to pay more, they would get less and too many americans

would suddenly not have access or the ability to get health care again, and to me that's unacceptable, and that's the goal i'm working for so, make sure that every american has access to affordable quality health care. >> congresswoman debbie dingle, we hope you do get some sleep. i know you've been busy this week. don't forget to set your clock forward. we lose an hour of sleep tonight. i hate to be the bearer of bad news on that front. >> i know. it's okay. worth the fight. >> good to see you. was the sudden dissis mall of all the nation's u.s. attorneys by president trump -- pete williams breaks it down.

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average range from montana all the way to the atlantic. and overseas. take a look at this, take a look at this, a shopping center in northwest germany remains closed today because police have information about a possible attack. we'll keep you posted on developments from there. and japan remembering the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that left more than 18,000 dead or missing six years ago. prime minister abe led a flower-laying ceremony earlier today in tokyo. back at home, the justice department is cleaning house. yesterday asking the 46 remaining u.s. attorneys appointed under the obama administration to step down. joining me is nbc justice correspondent pete williams. explain if this really is something that people should approach with skepticism or if this would be common for any new administration. >> not common, but not unprecedented. these are the u.s. attorneys, the top federal prosecutors in all the states. they're all political appointees, nearly all put there by president obama.

so it was clear most would be moving on and in fact half already have, but the rest have been told to clear out. there are 93 in all because some states have more than one. on friday attorney general jeff sessions notified the remaining 46 that they should immediately submit their letters of resignation. it happened so quickly that many of them first learned about this when they got calls from reporters. in a prefecture statement, the justice department said it was done, quote, as was the case in prior transitions. the statement said career prosecutor will carry on the work of the u.s. attorney's offices until new prosecutors can be nominated and confirmed by the senate. among those asked to step down was pret bharara, the u.s. attorney in manhattan, a well-regarded prosecutor. he led a major crackdown on financial fraud. he met with donald trump in late november and said then that he was asked to stay on and agreed to do so. but now a white house official tells us that the administration

intends to accept his letter of resignation too. these firings come the day after a commentary from sean hannity of fox news who urged the president to get rid of all the holdover political appointees and some justice department officials say they think the firings were in part a response to that. the obama and george w. bush administrations did replace u.s. attorneys but did so gradually. but in 1993, the justice department demanded the resignation of all of them shortly after bill clinton took office, thomas. >> yeah. a wild wake-up call for a lot of folks that thought they were staying on board. pete, thank you. many of the nation's health organizations are opposing the republican plan to replace pam care. what they don't like about it and what it means for their patients.

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earlier this hour we saw is vice president mike pence at andrews air force base departing for kentucky. he'll touch down in louisville just over two hours from now. this is the sales pitch, the one that the white house wants to see from pence and other republicans who believe in the new health care bill. this is the long-anticipated replacement for the affordable care act. meanwhile, on "morning joe" yesterday, health and human services secretary tom price explained why the new bill is so necessary. >> i talked to my former medical colleagues and they tell me there are patients that come into office and they make a recommendation for what they need to have and the patient cries in their office because say they i can't afford that because the deductibles under obamacare have develop through the roof and i can't afford the deductibles. so people may have an insurance card but they aren't getting care. >> dr. natalee azar and dr. john torres. great to see you. a double dose of doctors. i like this.

is that happening, folks can't afford the deductibles? >> it is happening. i see it in my clinic. patients say i can't afford the dedoubleable or the co-pay or the prescriptions and these things have been happening in the last couple years. but that doesn't mean this is necessarily a bad -- the affordable care act is something bad. it needs to be replaced and repealed. it means it needs to be fixed. >> on average are those people that didn't have insurance before or had a different type of insurance before that they're struggling with? >> it's a combination of both. people who didn't have insurance before but now are on insurance and now fining out there are deductibles and co-pays. and those that had insurance but those dedoubleables and co-pays shot up. >> natalie? >> it raises a good point to say why is it so imperative that people in the this country have health insurance? because our cost of getting care is so high here. the drug prices are so high.

insurance company premiums are so high. insurance company executives get a fixed percentage of revenue with every claim they file. so we're talking about the imperativeness of having health insurance. we also have to ask ourselves as congresswoman dingle was saying, why is it so expensive and necessary to have health coverage in this country? we as a nation spend more i think per capita on health care and don't have the best outcomes. thomas, i think something that i don't want to lose and, again, echoing some of congresswoman dingle's comments, is that there is such a vulnerable population here. we're talking about women. we're talking about children. remember that medicaid covers the children's health insurance program, chip, partly. if you think about the fact that this new proposal would limit the ability to use the tax credits to buy insurance that covers abortions, what are women going do? they're going to say, well, you know what, i can't afford it so i won't get insurance at all. and think about the

ramifications of that in addition to the defunding or ban on funding to planned parenthood. i worry particularly about the women and children in this country who are going to suffer from this. >> as doctors so, many americans can find themselves in one medical emergency situation away from bankruptcy where there is going to take you and the family down for something that's really unforeseen and in times out of your control because of inflated pricing and certainly folks that haven't saved for this or not properly insured. gentlemen, we have major professionals, medical associations coming out against the new bill. what have they seen that's a red flag for them? >> i think the main objection, we're talking a the american medical association, the american diabetes association, the list goes on and on, they're saying we don't know if this is necessary lay good thing that's happening. their big concern is the coverage, the amount of people that will lose coverage and what will happen to them. natalie and i lived through this, back in the '90s and 2000s

where people didn't have coverage and wouldn't dom see the doctors unless they came to see me in the emergency room and by then it was too late or too far along to do anything for them. tom price is saying doctors are telling them they're having patients coming in crying not having money to pay, i think that's true. however, i think a lot of d doctors have taken a different stance and say if something needs to be adjusted -- >> there were certain major medical organizations that liked obamacare. didn't they have concerns then about how this was going to be achieved? you know, living through this was the only way to fix a lot of the wrinkles, right? figuring out where the hiccups were going to cur. >> i think we knew there would be wrinkles in the road when it came through and those wrinkles have started to smooth out. i think doctors' big concern is we'll go back to those wrinkles in the road and a lot of problems. that's the issue. >> i think the bigger question, too, philosophically, is this about guaranteeing health care

universally for people in this country or is there a bigger political issue? is it about tax reform? it about politics being infused into medical decisionmaking? if you think about the things that some of the proposal that medicaid would no longer be required to cover some of the essential benefits that are supposed to be covered under the aca we're talking about cancer prevention and screening, vaccinations, taking away 12% of the cdc budget for public health care and prevention. does that resonate with people we're stripping away these preventive measures. it's much easier to prevent a disease than it is to take care of it. >> the republicans say it's collapsing under etc. own weight, doing harm upon itself. the president wants it more competitive so you open up outside of the state exchanges. >> that might be true. neither of us are economists or

health care -- if that's the ticket to driving prices down, i don't necessarily have a problem with that. but i don't know that i can speak on that. >> like i was talking about when tom price was talking, doctors agree something needs to be done, but what needs to be done are minor tweaks to get it under control, not necessarily huge changes. >> economics. >> the huge changes we'll go through years again of what we went before where people are not understanding insurance, not having insurance, not getting it and that will cause an issue. going back to medicine from the '90s. >> back to the future as we talk about this. we'll see how it goes. we'll cover the vice president's trip to kentucky. the doctors. great to have you both here. a video has become a viral sensation. a tv news guest and his invading little tykes. why their grandmother says she might be to blame for this moment. connecting the dots. house intelligence committee

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nightmare come to life. professor robert kelly being interviewed by the bbc. it was a serious matter. then his kids suddenly decided they wanted to get in there and show a little love. >> this is bbc world news. >> reporter: we all know how it goes. you're at work and things are getting serious. >> happen all the time. >> reporter: here's professor robert kelly being interviewed on live television by the bbc when his little one creeps in behind him, doing a little jig. >> what would it mean for the wider region? i think one of your children's just walked in. >> a not so subtle hint from dad. then surprise. here comes backup. suddenly, help dashes in, whisking away both pint-sized prowlers. >> my apologies. >> reporter: the professor had a sneaking suspicion of what was to come, tweeting moments later, is this the kind of thing that goes viral and gets weird? weird, wonderful, and definitely viral. the headlines wrote themselves. kids burst onto scene and

hilarity ensues. this bbc interview went horribly wrong in an amazing way. already shared millions of times on social media within hours, fans had a lot to say. some with similar experiences. i can't stop laughing. now that is real life folks when you work from home. that mother needs a cape for her superhero speed. i thought it was funny. kids will be kids. it was all in a day's work for this professor and his tiny tres passers. >> pardon me. pardon me. my apologies. >> i could watch it over and over again. the kids' grandmother said she and her husband are most likely responsible for that little mishap. ellen kelly lives outside of cleveland, ohio, and regularly skypes with them from that same computer. so she says maybe the kids heard voices and then, you know, figured it was their grandparents, thomas. >> mom that comes in to grab the kids? >> it looks like it's mom swiping in with kind of a superhero speed.

>> risky business style. oh, gosh. it was so great. when the one kid comes in, you know, with the lollipop and the goggles on, the glasses, adorable. but when the baby comes wheeling in next it's like this can't get any better. >> one-two punch. >> it was really good. you're right. it was a serious moment and, you know, best laid plans. have you ever had a terrible live tv moment like that? >> i've not had one. i'm not going to jinx myself. i wish we had some wood around here. don't put that on me. that juju on me. >> great to see you. on a more serious note, we'll be talking about north korea coming up and the missile power as it's been flexing ballistic missile muscles. when it will be able to fire a h missed that could hit the u.s.?

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there are growing tensions today on the korean peninsula where the u.s. and south korea are engaged in military

exercises just days after north korea's latest missile launches. keep an eye on china is condemning north korea for firing four midrange ballistic missiles this week. they allegedly were aimed at u.s. military bases in japan. beijing is also denouncing a new u.s. missile defense system in south korea, the first parts for it arriving this week. because of that, the chinese foreign minister warns the u.s. and north korea could be on track for a head-on collision. all this raising alarms about when north korea will reach its goal of developing a nuclear missile capable of hitting the u.s. joining us forbes columnist, gordon chang, author of "nuclear showdown: north korea takes on the world." great to have you with me, sir. the chinese foreign minister says the showdown can only be averted if the u.s. ends the military exercise. we know the u.s. has rejected that.

if north korea halts launching his ls, suspends its nuclear program, is that the end game for what we need to see here? >> the end game for the united states and south korea and indeed the international community is north korea disarming, getting rid of its nukes and long rank missiles. that's a very difficult task. this time, china is extremely worried. i'm sure they worry about the trump administration holding them accountable for north korea, but they're deeply concerned about the north koreans and what they might do because i think leader kim jong-un has a very low tloesh hold of risk right now because he probably sees his grip on power slipping. we saw a lot of instances of instability in north korea last month. >> china demanding this halt of construction of that u.s. anti-missile system called th e thaad. but here's what nikki kelly, ambassador to the u.n., had to say. >> tell me why we wouldn't do the thaad in light of 24

ballistic missiles, in light of two nuclear tests, knowing that we're going to protect our allies. we are not going to leave south korea standing there with the threat of north korea facing them and not help. >> as an ally that sounds like pragmatic common sense. why is beijing concerned about what would be protection against north korea's missiles? >> i think -- two things going on here. first of all, the thaad his l system has radar that can reach into china and it could degrade their ability to launch a nuclear missile attack on the united states. but i think there's something else and that is china is quite arrogant these days, and they are very upset that south korea would defy them. you know, for a course of centuries, the chinese have viewed the south koreans as vassals and now you have a vassal acting up so i think beijing is concerned about that as well. >> is that their suspicion and

why they would feel so threatened by an ally and the anti-missile system provided? >> yeah. north korea right now is considered to be a strategic asset for china, and so any degradation of their ability to attack south korea or japan or even the united states, you know, doesn't help chinese foreign policy. the chinese and the north koreans have a strained relationship. but beijing supports north korea not because the north koreans are friendly but because the north koreans actually achieved some short-term chinese objectives like keeping the u.s. off balance. and also it gives us one more reason to go to beijing every time north korea acts up and ask for chinese cooperation, which means that china extracts something from us in return. >> so, yeah, it's this interesting kind of trifecta of how the u.s. needs china into working with north korea and china gets placed in the middle of all of this, obviously needing us as well, and north

korea certainly needing china. as we talk about what the trump administration is saying about this, they're saying north korea might be capable of firing a nuclear intercontinental missile, and there are analysts that are talking to the trump administration about that projection. have you heard anything about tangible proof of them having that capacity? >> well, i think they have three missiles that can hit the lower 48 states. the taepodong 2, kon8 and 14. the taepodong 2 has not been tested at range and the last two have not been tested at all, but the last two are based on missiles that work elsewhere. with the one thing we know the north koreans can't do is to make a nuke to those missiles but that's a matter of four years or so. they're already able to make a nuke to an intermediate range missile so they have the technology. they just need time to perfect it. so, you know, within half decade at most, they will be able to hold the u.s. to ransom.

>> time before we know it will be up. gordon chang, thank you. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. so president trump isn't taking questions on wiretapping, but a prominent republican says there is evidence. >> we believe that president trump was wire trapped in his conversation -- or, excuse me, wiretapped in his conversation with the president of mexico, wiretapped again in his conversation with the prime minister of australia. >> if congressman steve king knows that, does the house intelligence committee know it too? eric schwallwell on the panel next. there's nothing more important to me than my vacation. so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. booking.com gets it. they offer free cancellation, in case i decide to go from kid-friendly to kid-free. now i can start relaxing even before the vacation begins. your vacation is very important. that's why booking.com makes finding the right hotel for the right price easy.

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good morning. i'm thomas roberts at msnbc world headquarters in new york. 9:00 a.m. out east, 6:00 a.m. in the west. in about an hour from now, vice president mike pence sits down with representatives in kentuckied a part of the latest