widespread human rights abuses including crackdowns on protest are, government opposition, political opponents and journalists. we will watch with interest how that discussion goes as general former general sisi, now presidencicy enters the white house. thank you for watching this hour of msnbc live. you can find me on twitter, facebook and instagram gram @ali velshi. right now, andrea mitchell reports. >> right now, going nuclear. more democrats announce they will filibuster supreme court nominee neil gorsuch despite the republican threat to change senate rules, the so-called nuclear option. >> unfortunately, based on judge gorsuch's record at the department of justice, his tenure on bench, his appearance before the senate, and his written questions for the record, i cannot support this nomination. >> it certainly is the end of the end of bipartisanship on

judges. we'll have a partisan vote on every federal judge at least at the circuit, supreme court level reaching across the aisle will be a thing of the past. you'll get more ideological judges and it makes a referendum on the future of the supreme court. >> field trip, jared kushner makes a surprise trip to iraq. what's he up to now? as president trump warns china solve the north korea problem or else. coming up, nbc's lester holtz with exclusive reporting from sk's capital in missile range of kim jong-un. >> seoul is a bustling modern metropolis of over 10 million people and hardly looks like a city under constant military threat. shelters are plentiful, a reminder we sit just 35 miles from the dmz, well in range of north korean artillery. and terror attack in russia today. an apparent terror attack after an explosion in the st. petersburg subway kills 11

people, injuries dozens more. >> it most certainlyooks like it was terrorist attack on the eeb, by the way, of a summit meeting that is supposed to take place in st. petersburg between the president of russia and the president of belarus today. and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell with a lot of breaking news. president trump meeting this hour with egypt's president el-sisi was banned from the obama white house because of egypt's human rights abuses. mr. trump's priority though is to strengthen a partner in the fight against terrorism. while on capitol hill, the list of democrats opposing supreme court nominee neil gorsuch now includes top democrat dianne feinstein, virginia's mark warner and former judiciary chairman pat leahy, all announcing support for a filibuster. joining me kristin weller and chris jansing on capitol hill

covering the judiciary committee's vote. kristin, first to you. the arrival of el-sisi at the white house and what to expect from these meetings today. >> it happened just moments ago. andrea, he arrived here, walked into the west wing, greeted by president trump. this is a high stakes meeting it underscores the very different priorities that this administration has as compared to the former obama administration. as you point out, he was banned from the white house under then president obama who also withheld some aid from egypt because of those human rights abuses that you cite. that is not the case. very different tone here today. welcoming the president of egypt and also prepared to work with him on a whole host of issues but at the top of that list, fighting isis. of course, that was a key campaign promise that then candidate trump made on the campaign trail. so this is going to be at the forefront today of this meeting,

this first meeting that he will have with the leader of egypt. of course, it comes as he is poised to really make foreign policy a key focus this entire week, andrea, he's going to be meeting with the leader of jordan, also the president of china on friday. high stakes for that meeting, as well, particularly as he tries to turn up the heat on china to pressure north korea to stop its recent incursions. but it all starts today with had meeting what's getting under way right now, andrea. >> ayman mohyeldin, the arab spring which you covered of course and now we have mubarak out of jail only in the last couple of days and el-sisi in the white house this is also a high priority for israel and benjamin netanyahu because isis has begun to take increasing positions in the sinai peninsula, and it's a direct threat to israel. >> that's something that's going to be high on the agenda. that is one of the driving forces behind the welcome embrace, if you will, of presidencicy here at the white

house. clearly, the trump administration is putting security above the interests of human rights and perhaps some of the domestic democratic issues that human rights organizations and others have been critical of egypt. when it comes to the issue of security, there is no doubt, there are several pillars in which egypt provides an important role for the united states. chief among th, the peace accords beeen egypt and israel along the sinai peninsula, maintaining a secure border there, but keep in mind you have the situation in libya which has imploded over the last couple years, a full-on civil war there. egypt also keeping an eye on that for the united states and other neighboring countries and as you mentioned, the fight with isis. egypt in the last couple of years particularly under sisi has shifted its policy of supporting the revolutionaries or the opposition or militants in syria and in recent months, even the president of egypt suggested they should, the countries, the international community, support the syrian military there. obviously alluding to president bashar al assad.

you're seeing a shift in washington with president trump being matched with the president of egypt. that's why there is now this cooperation and a lot more mutual interests than what we saw under president obama who is very critical of presidencicy and the democratic and human rights violations that the u.s. was saying he was carrying out. >> indeed. you've set it up perfectly. the president has just tweeted that he's on behalf of the united states, he looks forward to a long and wonderful relationship with presidencicy. this all happening of course, while the supreme court showdown is in the judiciary committee. chris jansing is there, and as you've been covering this today, one democrat after another has come out not only against him but in many ces also ivor of proceeding with a filluster to try to block this nomination. >> i think, andrea, the one people were watching closely was pat leahy because he had given an interview to a local reporter in vermont indicating that he was very concerned and probably

would not support a filibuster, but now he has. so you mentioned the other who have come out in opposition to gorsuch. including dianne feinstein. and mark warner. but now, with pat leahy saying that he will support a filibuster, that brings the number of democrats to 40. they only need 41. there are four more who we will look at. they include and by the way, none of the ones who are on this list of four are people who are going to be in tight races coming up. you have cardin, king, menendez and cons. cons is the one 0 watch because sometime in the hour that you're on the air here, andrea, he is expected in this hearing room behind me to announce what his decision is. he could put that number to 41 which means a filibuster. it was brought up a short time ago in this hearing it's been since 196 and abe for at that time since there's been a filibuster of a supreme court nominee.

of course, then it was very different because this was a bipartisan opposition to making him the chief justice of the supreme court. here you have something that i think is even an escation in this committee from what we saw over the 20 hos of questioning of neil gorsuch and that is a highly bitterly partisan divide here on one side, you have the democrats who believe that we are not just evaluating a resume. those were the words of dianne feinstein. chuck grassley who is the chairman here saying he is a judge's judge. and also a bitter divide about how this is all played out and the millions of dollars, $10 million, $12 million that have been spent on ads in democrats' home states where they face tough re-election in 2018. so if this is an indication, what we're seeing today, andrea, of what we might see when the full house debate comes up later this week, watch out. andrea? >> indeed.

and kristin, finally the president and twitter and his son-in-law and everything else that's been happening, financial disclosures late friday, the fact that jared kushner is in iraq now, is supposedly planning the china trip, he's also reinventing government. it seems as ho he's got a very big portfolio indeed and a very big bank account. he and his wife ivanka now officially both on staff. and both now subject to ethics rules but a lot of questions about their holdings in the trump hotel or her holdings in the hotel. his real estate empire. chinese investor who have recently backed off from that building on fifth avenue, 666 fifth avenue. it's very complicated. >> it's very complicated. we learned according to those financial disclosures that jared kushner and ivanka still have millions of dollars in investments in real estate deals. so what does that mean? we put that question to the white house. and a source close to ivanka

trump said look, the bottom line is, they have been forth coming with their financial disclosures. they are following all ethics guidelines. and they're coordinating with the council's office to do that and to make sure they are not in violation of any of those ethics laws, but cinly it has raised some eyebrows, andrea. it all happens as jared kushner was sent overseas to iraq with the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. clearly underscoring his importance to this president. lindsey graham perhaps said it best when he said he has the president's ear. and that is clear today. the fact that he's in iraq, assessing the situation on the ground, undoubtedly going to help this president assess how to better fight isis. that being the goal. and as you point out, he's helping to lay the groundwork for the all-important meeting with the chinese preds at the end of the week. >> kristin it, goes without saying he's in iraq having

visited iraq before the secretary of state. >> right. >> so things are sort of turned upside down. ron klain served as chief of staff to vice president joe biden and senior aide to president obama, a former chief council at the senate judiciary committee. you know all of these areas very well. it's good to see you. >> thanks for having me into to go there for a moment, the financial disclosures also revealed that mike flynn had not revealed all of his connections to russia, some of the speeches, the kaspersky company that he consulted for, as well, as well as a client who is a turkish national finally disclosed belatedly he was lobbying for taurk all during the final part of the campaign. these financial disclosures are extraordinary. >> they are. mike flynn just forgot about $150,000 payment from a russian interest he didn't disclose. also it came out that donald trump just before he became president restructured his trust

so that now, even while he's president, he can get disbursements from various trump properties without actually disclosing those. we know the kushners both have jerryd and his wife ivanka, both senior advisers to the president have interests in real estate properties in new york, still have them. no blind trust that have substantial chinese participation in them in terms of as potential tenant abc invests. and now jared kushner's planning the upcoming visit by the chinese. so these are just a whole raft of ethical questions, conflict questions. and you know, those questns are going to hang over this white house for the foreseeable future. >> let me ask you though about the democrats' strategy that chuck schumer laid out and now they seem to be falling pretty much in lock step. we had one senator colorado senator mike bbennet who said hd oppose gorsuch but not go ahead

with the filibuster. are they risking a political misstep here because they're looking like obstructionists the way this can be portrayed to the public is not that you're trying to stop someone from taking a lifetime seat under a cloud. this is someone who on paper is qualified to be on the supreme court. he's the nominee i should say of a conservative republican administration. >> yeah. >> and he's a conservative republican nominee filling a scalia seat. >> so look, i think there's no question judge gorsuch is amiable, intelligent, qualified. he's also by most academic readings would be the most conservative member of the u.s. supreme court and one of the most consecutive nominees in history, probably the most conservative person nominated in a quarter century. president trump was elected but so were the democrats in the senate. i don't think there's anything wrong about them saying where the president made no effort to find a middle ground where the judge didn't answer questions,

his historic refusal to answer questions, he wouldn't meet with some democratic senators on those kinds of factsnd circumstances, that they are going to hold their ground and refuse to support judge gorsuch and exercise their filibuster rights. what happens after that is up to mitch mcconnell. he could let the filibuster go or go nuclear. he said he'll go nuclear. the democrats are doing what they believe in. we're going to find out in the next few minutes if chris coons is the 41st vote to sustain that filibuster. that is will be a historic thing when it happens. >> the damage to senate rules to senate procedure could be profound. and they will say, well, it's the republicans doing this. the republicans will say well, it's the democrats who triggered it. >> so there's definitely a lot of hatfield and mccoys who shot first, what it goes back to, who did what to whom. the bottom line is we are where we are. we have a president who didn't bring the democrats in on in this process, didn't consult them. a nominee who stonewalled the

committee. democrats will exercise their rights. only argument against exercising their rights is the hope that in the future they could exercise hair rights but they could be taken away then. so i think what they're doing makes a lot of sense. it is definitely a new moment in the our history, a new change in this process, increasing partisanization of the process. that's where we are and we have to go from there. >> ron klain, we're about to show the photo opportunity played back with the egyptian president. but it's quite striking that the emphasis is no longer on human rights. not inviting egypt here. >> i think of all the sad things in the past 70 days of the trump administration from my perspective, this alignmentf president trump with autocrats around the world is really. >> as weee here, he's sitting with one of the autocrat who have been jailing journalists including from al jazeera. let's watch.

>> it's great to be with the president of egypt, and i will tell you president el-sisi has been somebody that's been very close to me from the first time i met him. i met during the campaign. >> yes. >> and at that point, there were two of us and we both met. and hopefully, you liked me a lot more. >> yes. >> but it was a very long, it was supposed to be just a quick brief meeting and we were with each other for a long period of time. we agree on so many things. i just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind president el-sisi. he's done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. we are very much behind egypt and the people of egypt the united states has believe me, backing and we have strong backing. we are very much and as you and i will be soon talking we are building up our military to a

level that will be the highest probably the highest that we've ever had plane orders, ship orders, aircraft carrier orders, we are rejuvenating our military to the highest level. i think in these times, probably more than ever before or certainly almost more than ever before. that's what we need. and i just want to say to you, mr. president, that you have a great friend and ally in the united states and in me. >> thank you very much, sir. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: your excellency,

allow me to extend my thanks and appreciation for your kind invitation for me to visit the united states. actually, this is my first state visit to the united states since my integration in office. as a matter of fact, this is the first visit in eight years from an egyptian president to the united states. >> translator: your excellency,

since we met last september, i've had a deep appreciation and admiration of your unique personality. especially as your standing very strong in the counter-terrorism field. to counter this evil ideologue that is claiming innocent lives that is bringing devastation to communities and nations and that is terrorizing the innocent people, your excellency, very strongly and very openly, you will find egypt and myself always beside you in this in bringing about an effective strategy in the countering terrorism. >> translator: the second point,

your se excellency is that you'll find me supporting you very strongly and very earnestly in finding a solution to the problem of the century. i'm quite confident that you'll be able to bring a solution to this issue. we will. that i tell you, we will. >> yes, thank you very much. >> we do that together. we'll fight terrorism and other things and we're going to be friends for a long, long period of time. we have a great bond with the people of egypt. and i look forward to working with the president and we have some interesting conversations going to start effective immediately and then we're going into the cabinet room and we're going to plooet meet with yo yourtives. thank you very much for coming and i look forward to a very long and strong relationship. >> thank you. >> on the russian explosion --

>> mr. president, on the russian explosion -- >> thank you. thank you. >> thank you guys. >> the president and el-sisi, two hand shakes. ron klain is with me. it's in marked contrast to the angela merkel oval office visit when there was narey a single handshake even though she suggested that they shake hands for the photographers. there's still blow back. i just came back from brussels and the u.s. foreign minster not happy with the u.s. side on a lot of things. >> sometimes dealing with unpleasant people, i understand that, but the kind of warmth and courtesy the president just showed an autocra in the only office, twhaened shakes, what a great job he's doings part of a piece of the president with putin with, autocrats around the world taking their side. that's not in america's long-term foreign policy interests and not what we should

stand for as a country and not what's going to make our people safe in the long run. >> when we look at the fbi investigation and the botched house investigation, the senate's attempt, the plea suggestion from michael flynn's attorney, it's clear that the senate is having none of it nor is the fbi of any kind of a plea deal with michael flynn any time soon. >> well they shouldn't. there are plenty of ways for them to go about the investigation. it's great to see senator brrr trying to do this in a partisan way and not immunizing michael flynn for all kinds of violation ez may have made in an effort to pursue this investigation. there is plenty to investigated here. there's a lot. i should say there's a lot that's sitting there in public staring us in the face. president trump asked for help from the russians. he got help from the russians. he brags during the campaign about wikileaks 164 times after labor day. so the facts are what they are.

and i hope that senator warner and senator burr further develop those. i also hope we have an independent investigation that would get to the bottom line on what happened here. >> ron klain, thank you so very much. the president did not answer shouted question about the breaking news out of russia today. law enforcement agencies there have increased security across the city of st. petersburgburg following an explosion inside a subway train moving between two metro stations. nine people are dead. actually i think as many as 11 may be dead. we'll check that number. 20 more are injured. kelli kobe aia joins me with the very latest. update us on the tragic losses there. >> reporter: yeah, sadly, andrea, the number is 11. we understand from officials in russia that two more people have died at the hospital. more than 20, 39 i believe being treated at the hospital now. some of those injuries pretty severe. you can imagine burn wounds,

blast wounds. and investigators say that that bomb that exploded was packed with some sort of shrapnel. so shrapnel wounds, as well. here's what we know so far. there are pictures being floated on russian media. russian media claiming that they have a picture from a security camera of the attacker on the metro. that has not been confirmed by russian investigators. staying away from that right now. however, we have heard from eyewitness who's said that the attacker left a bag with explosives on the metro car. the metro car then pulled away from the station and that explosion ripped through the carriage about 2:40 in the afternoon local time. again, the train in between stations when it happened. but you see the aftermath of that. the blast blowing out two doors and all the windows. fellow passengers trying to help each other reaching through the windows, to get to the injured. e head of ruia's anti-terrorist committee now

says 11 dead, 20 wounded they say they've opened a terrorism case on this. however, they also say they are exploring all options right now. so not ready to call it terrorism per se. we should also mention, andrea, we have confirmed that there was a second device found at another station according to investigator. it too was rigged with shrapnel. it was defused. president vladimir putin is in st. petersburg today. coincidence or not we don't know. we don't know if this attack happened because he was there, but he did appear before cameras. he offered his condolences to the victims and their families and he said they're investigating all possible causes. andrea? >> thank you, and of course, it was st. petersburg that was his home base where he started his career with the kgb. and, of course, rose to lead russia for the last 17 years.

meanwhile, a high stakes summit later this week when president trump meets with china as a president xi at mir gag low. lester holt is in seoul, south korea with a look at how the u.s. military is preparing. >> reporter: president trump's, an in an interview today suggesting is the u.s. could go it alone if china doesn't step in in the dispute with north korea will do nothing to lessen tensions here on the peninsula certainly at a time kim jong-un is trying to work on enhancing nuclear weapons delivery. it also puts a focus on the u.s. military presence here. 28,500 strong and what happens in the risk of hostilities breaking out. readto fight tonight is the slogan at the air base. its fighter jets just a three-minute flight from the north korea boarder. >> the jets are ready for combat mode. we are ready. even when we go out on regular training missions, temporary

training to those skill sets. >> we got a rare peek inside the air operation center where ot op rarities are the first to detect the north's ballistic missile launches putting millions in the region at risk including tens of thousands of american military personnel and civilians like teacher steve who lives in seoul. >> do they rattle you? >> i think we've heard the threat so many times. it's spring. we'll hear another threat south korea will be turned into a fire. we've heard it before and nothing's happened before. >> reporter: seoul is a modern met rop police of over 10 million people and hardly looks under constant threats of military attack. shelters are plentiful. a reminder we sit just 35 miles from the dmz well in range of north korean artillery. once casting a chill all the way to washington is north korea's claim to be working on an

intercontinental missile and a smaller nuclear warhead capable of reaching the u.s. >> this is a threat of both rhetoric and growing capability right now, it appears to be going in a very reckless manner. >> reporter: secretary mattis will get no argument from thae yong who, a high ranking north korean diplomat who defected last year. >> whenever i was asked these kind of questions, i also tell them that kim jong-un is a person who did not even hesitate to kill his uncle, even his half brother. so he's a man who can do anything. >> reporter: in addition to missile developments, activities spotted on this commercial satellite photo suggests north korea may test another nuclear warhead soon. >> think of this as two streams that are moving toward each other. you never want the streams to cross when they do, the u.s.

will be forced to make a decision whether or not to do a preemptive strike. >> reporter: i attended a briefing with u.s. military planners today. they estimate there are as many as 300 or nearly 300,000 americans living in korea, most of them here in seoul. and one of the big challenges as they plan for the possibility of hostilities breaking out is how to get those americans to safety. andrea, back to you. >> thank you, lester and lester hold will be anchoring "nightly news" from south korea tonight and tomorrow night with a lot more on the threat and that exclusive access to american military preparations there. and just ahead on andrea mitchell, a lot more on korea and also on russia. and the china summit. we'll be right back. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means

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presidencicy his visitor. you can see wilbur ross, the trade and economic relationship, jim mattis, defense secretary sitting next to the president and, of course, rex tillerson. >> representatives of egypt and we have many things in common. we have a few things we don't agree on. and i think that this is going to be a very productive day. it's a great honor. it's a great honor and a great honor to meet you folks. thank you very much for coming. we appreciate it very much.

[ speaking foreign language ] >> thank you. thank you, everybody. appreciate it. thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much. >> doesn't look like any questions are going to be answered. a few were asked. ned price is a former cia analyst, most of the likely the security spokesman in the white house and andrew weiss on the national security council staff during the clinton years is now the vice president for studies at the carnegie endowment for international peace. welcome both. thank you so much. ned price, most recently the obama white house had a very different posture towards egypt. i remember trafling with both hillary clinton and with john kerry to egypt and the opposition leaders were always met with journalists in jail

were always a point discussion and there was always a push/pull, at least laying down the marker with these regimes. >> there was always laying down the marker with good reason. president trump is focused on american strength and putting america first. well, in not speaking to human rights, publicly today, i think what you saw president trump implicitly say is that america is not strong enough to stand up for its values. under the obama administration whether it was in public or private and usually both, the administration consistently stood up for human rights for the role of civil society and other core american values not featured at all in today's public discussion. >> it was not just under the obama administration. under republican administrations, as well and the clinton administration. andrew, this has been a foundation of american foreign policy and it is something that i know when rex tillerson went to beijing, it seemed to be ignored and certainly did not have any weight at all in turkey wither doe wan. >> it's all part of a pattern we've seen with donald trump which is he tends to sort of

warm to more authoritarian style leaders and tends to downgrade relations with key partners like angela merkel in germany. it's explicable how we'll get things done in the world without our partners who share our values. >> the question of the investigation on the house side, the senate trying to pick up the ball and go forward. the fbi is investigating. there is an accusation being relayed through eli lake, one of the journalists in touch with devin nunes that is susan rice for whom you worked was the official that they're now saying unmasked trump officials during the campaign. do you want to address that. >> look, i'm not in position to comment on purported intelligence matters about you a couple points here. first, this report actually originated last night via a medium post for an individual whose previous scoop was the pizza gate conspiracy. it was then popularized this morning by eli lake the same

reporter to whom devin nunes lied last week and the result of which was a report widely discredited. on the merits, it's important to remember that unmacking is not at all equivalent to leaking. there is nothing inherently wrong with requestinging that something be unmasked. in fact, there is a well established process established by the intelligence community that has been used across administrations for policy makers, for intelligence analysts and anyone else with access to intelligence reports to request that a name be unmasked and there is a process because sometimes it is necessary to understand an intelligence report and to request that the name be unmasked. look, the real issue here is not unmasking. it's really not even leaking. it is this administration's yet unexplained ties to key figures in the russian government. >> and andrew, when an official asks that the agency unmask someone, it can be to understand better who let's just say putin orrer doe wan or some other

official is talking about if they're talking about someone within the political sphere here whose name was picked up in the surveillance of a foreign entity, it's better to understand why that would be relevant. >> i would defer to ned on the procedures for there who has got more recent experience in the intelligence community. when i was in the white house, i didn't have that authority. i wouldn't have asked for people's names or identities to be revealed 37 there's lot of protections to protect people's privacy. >> in the last ten or a dozen years, the procedures that were built in since edward snowden have actually been revised by congress. andrew, let me ask you about vladimir putin. we know russia is under siege today with what seems to be a terror attack. how is vladimir putin looking at the disarray in our own government, the white house seems consumed with their defense against these investigations and with the

president's claims completely unsubstantiated by everyone including the fbi director comey. and these investigations are now taking precedence over a lot of the other initiatives that the administration had planned on focusing. >> i think there's two ways to look at it. the first one is for the russians to have the united states in disarray our international reputation tarnished and become an antibody in the international system we've been central to promoting, that's a win for putin. anything that keeps the united states focused internally and puts us at odds with our key allies is a win. it means less pressure on russia. the second piece of this though is that the russians like attention. and so there was a great moment in the fall when vladimir putin says back in 2012 when people were talking whether russia was a big foe, people laughed about that. they're not laughing now.

they're talking about us. we're topic number one. there's a craving to be in the frame. the russians are caught between those twos desires. >> in fact, on friday, general mattis in london, rex tillerson in brussels both reaffirmed what had been the previous administration's position about vladimir putin. so they did not echo what president trump has said which is in every opportunity to praise putin. they took a very hard line. that resonated at the nato meetings that i was covering because that's what europe wants to hear. >> right. we'll see how much of what secretary tillerson and secretary mattis translates into the administration's actual policies. it's very early. they're still reviewing what their policy will be and there may be attributes on toughness and a lot of scrutiny any steps this is administration takes that look like a reward for the russians that have to be matched by changes in russian behavior. so we far we see their behavior going in the wrong direction.

we see real problems in syria, looming possible crackdown at home. it's going to be very hard i think for this administration to say that something has changed in the u.s.-russia relationship. at root, the relationship is broken. it's going to remain very competitive and oftentimes adversallal. >> an early test is when tillerson travels to russia soon for the first meeting between the secretary of state and putin and other top officials. the other thing that comes to mind is planning for this china summit. i remember when the sunniland summit was being prepared, your colleagues at the nse were working pore months and months on all of the issues. now we have a very aggressive stance towards president xi. a rollback of climate accords that were fought for where we pressured china as the biggest emitter of co2 in the world to agree to the paris accords and

now rollback on climate change, threats on trade and demands in the "financial times" interview with jillian ted today. you'll stand up to north korea or else. >> andrea, the way you tell it it's almost like there is no strategy. that may be for a good reason. this summit later this week the president's private club will be probably the first real significant foreign policy test for this administration. of course, north korea will be first and foremost on the agenda. on january 2nd, the president tweeted that under his watch, north korea would not acquire an intercontinental ballistic missile. yet, in that same financial times interview, you had the deputy national security adviser say that north korea could well have that by the start of the trump administration's second term. now, beyond the positive thinking there on her part, it really shows the difference between tweeting and governing and at this summit, they'll have to focus on the latter and find a constructive way forward not

only via north korea but every other common knowledge challenge we share with the chinese. >> thank you both so very much. come up, donald trump is not on the ballot but the georgia special election fortom tom price's congressional seat. the first big test of the president's popularity. the democratic candidate joins me next for his first national interview on andrea mitchell reports. stay with us. let's take a look at some numbers:

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in a hotly contested special eelection to replace former congressman tom prices in georgia, republicans are scrambling to head off defeat in one of the first congressional tests of the trump era. democrats are eyeing the race as a referendum on the trump administration. the front-runner is 30-year-old john osoff looking to try to grab the sixth district seat long head by republicans. he joins me today from atlanta. thank you for joining us. tell me why you think you're qualified and a better candidate to represent the people of the district. >> good afternoon, andrea. hank you for having me. it's an honor. i worked for five years as a congressional aide and saw what cabe achieved in congress, saw also gridlock, the parts sanship, the corruption, decided to leave. i've been in the private center

producing investigations of crime and corruption around the world. but i feel called mou to get back involved. i think what's happening in washington is dangerous and divisive and georgia is the first opportunity to make a statement about what we stand for. >> you do have the endorsement of course, of an icon in georgia, and throughout the country, john lewis. it is a crowded field. what do you sense is the feeling in the district? it's been a republican district, about the trump administration and about donald trump in particular. >> well, the atmosphere here is electric right now. we've got thousands of folks going out every weekend to knock on doors. there is huge intensity at the grassroots level. community is standing up because we recognize this is the first chance in the country to demonstrate that we believe america can only become more prosperous, more secure and stronger if we stay true to our core values and that those

values are threateneded by what's happening in washington. >> the republicans are organized against you and see you as the threat clearly. the republican national committee is also organizing on this race. you did have a little trouble with glenn kesler in the "washington post" todasaying one of your ads is misleading and that you talk about a top secret -- or top security clearance. congressional aide for five years. are you trying to exaggerate your national security credentials? >> no, i mean politics is a contact sport and i expect to take some hits. if there's any doubt about how winnable this race is, the fact that super pacs from washington are coming down and spending millions of dollars on partisan smears is an indication of how winnable it is. i'm staying focused on an economic message about bringing more hi-tech jobs to the community. standing up for american values unite people rather than dividing us and holding washington accountable and whether that means holding the white house accountable or

holding democrats or republicans in congress accountable. >> john ossoff thank you very much. good luck in the race. we'll be eager to talk to some of your opponents, as well. thank you. >> thank you for having me. and as the senate debates the nomination of a new justice for the supreme court, find it's appropriate to note the passing of william t. coleman junior who wrote the briefs for landmark supreme court cases including brown versus education in 1954 which ended school segregation. later a case outlying laws that prohibited mixed sexual relations and marriage. he was a colleague of thurgood marshall who's recruited him to write the briefs. william coleman lives his entire life breaking barriers. he attended a segregated elementary schools in alba ma. when he tried to join the all white sim team, the team

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in just a few moments, the senate judiciary committee will be voting on neil gorsuch's nomination. this will set up a filibuster showdown in the senate. great to see you. they're taking a risk, the democrats, and they're basically calling the mitch mcconnell bluff. >> yeah, democrats are really digging in their heels here. i was on a call where chuck

schumer was talking to all these activists saying we're going to follow you and we're going to push back on gorsuch. we're going to try our best to hold this, and try to filibuster him. but i'm not sure if they have the votes there. and sit a very risky thing for democrats, because this is the nominee that is surely going to go through and to -- they could have waited and bar gapgained f the next nominee, but they're giving in to the base. >> and we're waiting what the democratic senator chris kuhns from delaware is going to do. and you have donald trump still going back to the election, not only the election but to the primary election. he's now tweeting about the hillary clinton getting the answers in the debate. this was in a primary debate against bernie sanders and the allegation was that cnn, then cnn contributor donna brazil, who is also dnc chair, was

passing questions to hillary clinton. it has nothing to do with anything. and now tweets against john podes podesta's brother who is a lobbyist, he claims, involving russian sanctions. did hillary clinton ever apologize for receiving the debate answers? how do they ever get him to stop tweeting and changing the subject from more important issues? >> i don't think that they can stop him from tweeting. donald trump won the presidency this way. i think he really is someone who gets his energy from twitter. he wakes up every morning and those early morning tweets are the most important, because they tell us where his frame of mind is for the day. in some ways, i can't tell if he wants to do them if he's angry or sensing that russia and this story line is not going away and wants to distract and have reporters talk about hillary clinton and the debate instead of russia and all the issues that are going on with his administration. >> do you think that there's any political damage from the

financial disclosure forms which showed how wealthy the various members of this white house staff and the cabinet, steve bannon, simply the president's daughter and son-in-law or is that not a problem? we've had wealthy presidents before, no one like donald trump. but fdr, jfk, plenty of wealthy people in politics. >> i don't think the wealth in itself is going to be the issue. i think the issue is the conflicts of interest. whether we see somebody like jared kushner, if he's still making deals and having this idea that he's the person brokering peace deals th the middle east or foreign dignaries and he's profiting from the same people, proficisos this idea he could be making deals with people who are making him money. so the question is whether or not ivanka and her husband have really fully put away the conflicts of interest and are able to do their jobs in a way that's not thinking about the money they're making. >> a lot of the money they're

making according to the disclosures, reveal that political work is lucrative. that steve bannon and kellyanne conway and a lot of these people, reince priebus, they make a lot of money. at least the people -- we don't know about the democratic side, but the republican side and i assume the democratic side, as well. >> yeah. i think about when i was looking at the times we have this thing on our website where they have circles showing how big everybody's money is. i was looking at betsy devos, she's making all this money running the education department. and there are a lot of people -- i was in ohio reporting a story and the trump supporters are saying we're happy that these are the people he puts in place because they're successful and not the everyday politicians that are making $200,000 but these are millionaires who have learned how to make money. so at least the people supporting donald trump, they like that these people are wealthy. even though most of the people i

was interviewing were working class or poor people, some making as little as $13,000 a year. >> indeed, millionaires and billionaires, a lot of billionaires, as well. thank you so much. and meanwhile, land marks around the globe were it will up in blue sunday night in honor of world autism awarenessday. the light it up blue campaign was organized by the advocacy group autism speaks, and it was the braninchild of the late suzanne wright. suzanne died of pancreatic cancer last year. it addresses the causes and improving the treatment for autism, which affect an estimated 1 out of every 68 children in the u.s. the president tweeted sunday night that he and melania were honored to light up the white house in blue in honor of bob and suzanne in recognition of world autism awareness day. follow the show online on

facebook and twitter. katie is up next here on msnbc. >> good afternoon to you. i'm in for craig melvin. kicking off a two-hour block on msnbc. and it's a busy news day in washington. going nuclear. it's a senate showdown over neil gorsuch. will republicans make the ultimate rule change and altar the senate forever? special envoy, president trump's son-in-law jared kushner is in iraq on behalf of the president. but with no previous experience, what is he doing there? and trump's big week. right now the president is meeting behind closed doors with the egyptian president at the white house. he's also scheduled to meet with key leaders of jordan and china later this week. but we start with president trump's supreme court nomination, which is now in jeopardy. judge gorsuch is expected to advance out of the judiciary