sure. >> david nir, political director for "daily coast", publisher of daily coast elections. >> good to see you. get along with everybody. right now the world is a mess. but i think by the time we finish, i think it's going to be a lot better place to live. and i can tell you that speaking for myself, by the time i'm finished, its going to be a lot better place to live in because right now it's nasty. campaign rhetoric reversal. the president is flip-flopping on a number of foreign policy issues, saying nato is no longer obsolete. china isn't a currency manipulator. and pulling back his praise of vladimir putin. plus, secretary of state rex tillerson leaves moscow, but not before telling putin that relations between the u.s. and russia are at a low point.

after he was dragged off the plane, lawyers for a kentucky doctor are already filing paperwork signaling a possible court battle ahead. good morning, everyone. it is thursday, april 13th. i'm alex witt longside ayman mohyeldin. yesterday saw a series of breathtaking reversals from the president. we'll start with his pivot from a campaign pledge in an apparent tradeoff over north korea. he's backing off his promise to label china as a currency manipulator. in late october trump said it would be one of the priorities for his first 100 days. >> i will direct my secretary of the treasury to label china a currency manipulator. china is a currency manipulator. what they have done to us by playing currency is very sad. and i don't blame them. they've been very smart.

i blame or politicians for letting this take place. >> as recently as ten days ago, april 2nd, president trump told "the financial times," quote, when you talk about currency manipulator, when you talk about devaluations, they are world champions. and our country hasn't had a clue. yesterday the president told "the wall street journal," quote, they're not currency manipulators. he he seemed to explain his abrupt change by pointing to north korea, telling the journal, we have tremendous drad deficits with everybody, but the big one is with china. i told them, i said, you know, we're not going to let that go ahead. now, i did y, you want to make a great deal? solve the problem in north korea. that's worth having deficits. and that's worth having not as good a trade deal as i normally would be able to make. trump's comments came after chinese president xi jinping,

with chinese state media warning north korea any missile test ahead of saturday's celebration. president trump is also showing a change of heart when it comes to nato making a 180-degree turn on the alliance. nato was a frequent target of the president during last year's campaign. often calling it obsolete, questioning its ability to fight terrorism and claiming that fellow member states don't pay their fair share. take a listen. >> i think nato is obsolete. nato was done at a time you had the soviet union which is obviously much larger than russia is today. i'm not saying russia's not a threat but we have other threats. we have the threat of terrorism and nato doesn't discuss terrorism. nato is not meant for terrorism. nato doesn't have the right countries in it for terrorism. what i'm saying is nato is ab sew let's. nato is obsolete and extremely expensive to the united states. disproportionately so. we should readjust nato.

>> they asked me about -- tell me about nato. i'm saying, well, that's a question never asked to me before but i'll tell you about nato. it's obsolete and we're taking too much money. that's my instincts. >> the secretary-general and i had a productive discussion about what more nato can do in the fight against terrorism. i complained about that a long time ago and they made a change. and now they do fight terrorism. said it was ab sew let's. it's no longer obsolete. >> president trump seems to back away from another staple in his campaign, defending the legacy of vladimir putin. >> he's running this country and at least he's a leader, you know, unlike what we have in this country. >> again, he kills journalists that don't agree with him. >> well, i think our country does plenty of killing also, joe. >> putin's a killer. >> a lot of killers. we got a lot of killers.

what you think our country's so innocent? you think our country's so innocent? >> i don't know of any government leaders that are killers. >> well, take a look at what we've done, too. made a lot of mistakes. >> but president trump's steadfast resistance to criticize the russian president may have reached its end. he took a sharper tone toward russia in his news conference. >> frankly, putin is backing a person that's truly an evil person. and i think it's very bad for russia. i think it's very bad for mankind. it's very bad for this world. >> right now we're not getting along with russia at all. we may be at an all-time low in terms of relationship with russia. this is built for a long period of time. but we're going to see what happens. putin is the leader of russia.

russia's a strong country. we're a very, very strong country. we're going to see how that all works out. >> was it possible that syrian forces could have launched this attack in idlib last week without the russians knowing? and have you been disappointed, surprised by vladimir putin's reaction since then? thank you very much. >> i think it's certainly possible. i think it's probably unlikely and i know they're doing investigations into that right now. i would like to think they didn't know, but certainly they could have. they were there. so, we'll find ou >> in spite of hedging from the kremlin, secretary of state rex tillerson sat down with vladimir putin for nearly two hours later, telling the press he cob fronted the president on several issues and there was little they could agree on. >> we frankly discussed the state of u.s./russia relations.

i expressed the view that the current state of u.s./russia relations is at a low point. there is a low level of trust between our two countries. the world's two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this kind of relationship. >> putin spoke separately to reporters about russia's relationship with the u.s. yesterday, saying it is possible to say that the level of trust on a working level, especially on a military level, has not improved but, rather, has deteriorated. yesterday russia used its veto for an eighth time against a resolution, this one tied to last week's gruesome attack where people were exposed to chemical weapons. nikki haley urged russia to side with a siflized world. >> it's long past time for russia to stop covering for assad. it's long past time for russia to push seriously for peace and not continue to be part of the problem. >> and in moscow yesterday,

secretary tillerson addressed an issue president trump has called a hoax. >> did you present to president putin or the foreign minister specific evidence the government interfered in the u.s. election? >> as to the question of the interference with the election, that is fairly well established. in the united states. and i think that has been spoken to on the hill as well with congress. it is a serious issue. it's one that we know as serious enough to attract additional sanctions. and so we are -- we're mindful of the seriousness of that particular interference in our elections. and i'm sure that russia is mindful of it as well. >> and psident trump is once again moving markets. the dollar fell to session lows yesterday after he made these comments to the "wall street journal." >> i do like low interest rate policy, if i must be honest with you. i think our dollar's getting too

strong. and partially that's my fault because people have confidence in me, but, you know, that's hurting -- that will hurt ultimately. look, there's some very good things about a strong dollar but usually speaking, the best thing about it is it sounds good. >> shortly after those remarks, the dollar edged down a five-month low against the japanese yen. in that same interview with the journal, the president also made a campaign reversal by stating his support for the export/import bank on the campaign trail he called the agency unnecessary but yesterday he said the ex-im bank is a very good thing and it actually makes money. it could make a lot of money. meanwhile, white house press secretary sean spicer tries to mitigate his damage between the comparison of bashar al assad and adolf hitler. speaking with greta van susteren at the museum spicer asked for

forgiveness. >> i made a mistake. no other way to say it. i got into a topic i shouldn't have and i screwed up. i mean, you -- you know, i hope people understand that we all make mistakes. i hope i show that i understand that i did that and that -- that i saw people's forgiveness because i screwed up. you know, i hope each person can understand that part of existing is understanding that when you do something wrong, if you own up to it, you do it, you let people know. and i did. >> well, this new information on the united airlines incident involving the bloodied passenger being dragged off a plane. the airline now says passengers aboard tt flight will receive full refunds. meanwhile, the passenger at the center of the case is signaling his intention to fight back in court. nbc's tom costello reports. >> oh, my god! >> my god! >> reporter: dr. david dao, the

man beaten and dragged from that united airlines flight filed an emergency court petition to preserve all video, voice recordings, crew and passenger manifest at the ceo went on tv to formally apologized. >> he was on a paying passenger on our aircraft in a seat and no one should be treated that way. >> reporter: oscar munoz says employees hadn't been given the tools to use common sense. jasen powell who took his high schoolers off the plane after the incident. >> it was violent and disturbing. i was really particularly saddened by what happened. it was -- it was also somewhat imembarrassing. >> reporter: like most airlines, united's passenger contract explains why passengers can be bumped. in addition to being oversold or overbooked, they can be removed for failing to comply with crew instructions, failing to dress properly even women who are nine months pregnant.

united passenger jeff fern says he was told to get out of a first class seat he paid for. >> it's either comply or we'll summon security and physically evict you. >> reporter: united says it's because of moving to a smaller aircraft. industry experts say united should have offered sunday's customers more valuable travel vouchers, even gift cards rather than call security. meanwhile, with so few airlines, passengers have few alternatives if they are bumped. >> our thanks to tom costello for that report. as for dr. dao, he and his attorneys are expected to hold a news conference later this morning. still ahead, almost hit by gunfire, bullets fly by a young girl all caught on security camera footage. we have that for you. the nba regular season comes to a close with the celtics cking up the number one seed in the east. we'll take a look at all the first-round match-ups. those stories and a check on

weather when we come back. (vo) my name is bryan.

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welcome back. we are learning new information about that deportation donald trump first talked about on "morning joe" during the campaign. the government has already identified 27 potential locations to house 33,000 detained, undocumented immigrants. dhs is also considering doing away with polygraph and physical fitness tests to make it easier to hire hundreds more customs and border agents. while the rio grande valley has been mentioned as a possible place to begin constructioof the proposed border walls, plans are preliminary and congress has already signaled a fight over funding. we have a major arrest to tell you about. in custody is the suspect gunman

in the killing of a u.s. border patrol agent that also exposed the bungled atf operation known as fast and furious. agent brian terry was killed in december of 2010 by a u.s. government-issued firearm. during a gun fight between border patrol agents and a five-man group, the rip crew, that robs drug dealers. the fifth member of the group remained at large until his arrest on a mexican ranch yesterday by u.s./mexico task force. the other four men involved have already been convicted or they pleaded guilty in federal court to murder charges. now, terry's death exposed an obama-era government program called "operation fast and furious" which allowed criminals to purchase u.s. weapons in phoenix gun shops with the plans of tracking the illegal flow of firearms. many of those weapons were lost, ending up in the hands of drug traffickers. two were found at the scene where terry died. this one is a scary one for a young girl.

in arizona two men are under arrest after a 4-year-old was nearly hit by gunfire. check this out. security camera footage from inside a barber shop shows the girl playing in front. room. you can see it right there in red, near the windows. according to police, a couple of men in tattoo parlor next door got into a verbal dispult. one of the men left and reportedly fired shots toward the tattoo parlor but hit the barber shop instead. the 4-year-old was injured by glass chards but wasn't hit by the bull e the bullets. >> that's shocking. that's hard to get over. wheel get a check of the weather with bonnie schneider. >> we have rain coming into milwaukee right now, heavy at times. if you're out and about, watch out for that. we want to let you know about texas, the rain moving across that region.

we'll continue to watch the downpours move across texas. let's zoom in on lubbock. plenty of rain coming through at this hour and we're looking for storms in the central and southern plains developing in the afternoon and into the evening hours. even into oklahoma city you're likely to see rain work through. keep that in mind as we go through the afternoon. the showers will develop throughout much of the morning and afternoon. friday and saturday we're expecting more storms with a severe threat from texas to iowa. that will increase as we go through a good portion of the day. eventually, we'll start to see some storms dissipate. keep in mind, your temperatures are going to go up for easter sunday. >> thanks for that. still ahead, the nhl playoffs get under way. the cubs got the first world series rings. one sports fan does not let a little water stop him from getting a piece of memorabilia. do you play? ♪ ♪

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charo, marchand the ever dangerous. shot by bergeron. they score! boston takes the lead. >> this >> on to hornqvist. 3-0. >> the penguins get game one. >> tell me you feel that excitement. come on. >> you're lieuing th inin inini the rangers, bruins and penguins each taking one-game leads in first round of their eastern conference playoff match-ups. let's go to edmonton for a late night face-off between sharks and oilers. san jose chipped away at the score. shocking the oilers with a 3-2 overtime win to wrap up game one of their conference series. to st. paul, minnesota, blues and wild needing overtime to decide the other western conference match-up. st. louis scoring late in the first, extra period for a 2-1 win and one-game series lead.

let's turn to finale of nba regular season where in boston celtics secure the top spot in the eastern conference with the 112-94 win over milwaukee last night. boston finishes two games ahead of cleveland which lost to toron toronto, 98-83. celtics will face the bulls and along with the pacers with wins last night. heading out west, the oklahoma city thunder honored russell westbrook's historic season ahead of last night's game against the nuggets. westbrook surpassed robertson's single season triple-double record since 1962 to average a triple-double for an entire season. okc is locked into the sixth seed in the west facing houston in the first round. here's a look at the rest of the nba western conference playoff picture. turning to major league baseball where commissioner rob manfred has gone public on his stance on the chiefs logo.

he made clear to indians owner, quote, his desire to transition away from the logo and that the league has, specific steps in an identified sxrosz are making progress. the logo has existed in one form or another since 1947. in chicago the cubs received their world series championship ring as head of last night's 2-0 loss to the dodgers. not only do the rings include 108 diamonds to signify the 108-year drought between titles. >> wow. >> the inner band features an image of the billygoat believed to have cursed them in the world series. 108 diamonds, well designed. >> that's nice. to new york city. a low throw to first base makes for an ugly collision between brett gardner and first baseman rickie weeks. gardner is safe scoring chase hedley. he and weeks left the contest

with injuries. gardner will miss tonight's game with a bruised jaw and a strained neck. finally, miami, one fan gets wet going after a souvenir jumping into the pool at marlins park for carlos' second home run ball of the night. >> sometimes you have to do it for the memorabilia. >> i thought you were still thinking of hockey. >> i'm bummed the red wings aren't in the playoffs. ahead, after coming under scrutiny, donald trump's former campaign chairman paul manafort is expected to register as a foreign agent. with congress on a two-week break it means lawmakers are facing angry constituents at town hall events. we'll take a look at this them coming up next.

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welcome back. i'm alex witt alongside ayman mohyeldin. let's start you off with the morning's top stories. the passenger dragged off that united airlines flight monday is signaling plans to take legal action. lawyers for dr. david dao have filed corporaurt papers key mang the airline keep all papers, including video surveillance, cockpit and crew recordings. a draft report from department of homeland security has outlined rio grande valley as spot to start the mexico

border wall. they will do away with polygraph and fitness test as way to speed up hiring of hundreds of boardeagents. it still needs to approved. president came back from mar-a-lago and set to return for his seventh trip to the palm beach resort. the cost to taxpayers at $1 million and other estimates have been as high as $3 million a visit. we're seeing major reversals of president's campaign promises, ones he mentioned on the trail openly and it begs the question, where does it leave so many who supported him now? kristen welker reports. >> reporter: president trump making a number of stunning reversals as he faces multiple foreign policy crises after repeatedly calling nato obsolete on the campaign trail -- >> nato n my opinion, is obsolete. maybe nato will dissofl.

>> reporter: now mr. trump changing his tone while standing next to nato's secretary-general in the east room. >> i said it's obsolete. it's no longer obsolete. >> reporter: the move aimed at getting nato allies and also pressing those countries to pay their fair share to support nato's mission. another striking reversal after vowing to label china a currency manipulator as a candidate -- >> they are grand masters of currency manipulation. >> reporter: telling "the wall street journal," they're not currency manipulators, explaining taking that step could jeopardize his talks with beijing on confronting the threat of north korea. the president wants china's help to press north korea to back off its recent nuclear provocations. analysts saying the shifting policies reflect a one-time candidate who is adjusting to serving in the nation's highest office. >> while i think it's part of a learning process the president is going through, there are things that one says on the campaign trail and then you face the realities of the office. >> reporter: still mr. trump is also ramping up his war of words

with north korea. making it clear the united states is prepared to go it alone if china doesn't get on board. a sentiment he conveyed during an unexed call with china's president last night. >> i said, the way you're going to make a good trade deal is help us with north korea, otherwise we're just going to go it alone. that will be all right, too. but going it alone means going it with lots of other nations. >> reporter: this as the president faces foreign policy tests on multiple fronts. >> right now the world is a mess. by the time i'm finished, it's going to be a lot better place to live in because right now it's nasty. >> that was nbc's kristen welker reporting there. secretary of state rex tillerson is en route back to washington this morning following his trip to russia with a bleak outlook on the current state of relations between the two military powers. tillerson's trip included an unscheduled two-hour sitdown with president vladimir putin, following meetings with his russian counterpart and other leaders on a host of issues. joining us from moscow, bill

neely. welcome to you. you have rex tillerson sounding somewhat less optimistic following his talks with the russian officials. >> reporter: good morning, alex. that's an understatement. as rex tillerson flies out of moscow, syrian foreign minister flies in for more talks. it's been a dizzyi ining 24 hou. you could get whiplash between what's said between sergey lavrov and tillerson where they agreed to disagree. at the beginning of his news conference, rex tillerson sounded bleak about the current state of u.s./russia relations. let's take a listen to that. >> i expressed the view that the current state of u.s./russia relations is at a low point. there's a low level of trust between our two countries. the world's two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this kind of relationship.

>> reporter: no trust and no visible warmth there between tillerson and lavrov, unlike mr. lavrov's relationship with john kerry, which even the most testing of times was warm. mr. tillerson went on to meet with vladimir putin for two hours or so, which i suppose is a good sign. there was no photograph released of that meeting, which may indicate that neither side actually wants to be seen to be shaking the hand of the other. we don't know what was discussed or agreed but maybe that's laying the groundwork between a meeting between presidents trump and putin. the earliest that could happen is the g-20th summit in hamburg in july. certainly the outlook after the last 24 hours of diplomacy pretty much is bleak as the weather here in moscow. alex? >> that point you make, bill, u.s. leaving on one day with the secretary of state and then the foreign minister of syria coming

in next. interesting timing. bill, thank you so much. domestically president trump is once again weighing in on steve bannon and once again he's delivering a less than ringing endorsement of his senior aide. while bannon may be trump's chief strategist, the president told "the wall street journal" yesterday, quote, i do my own policy. i am my own strategist. i don't have -- i have people that i respect. i have people that i listen to. i have many people. and then i make the decision. i'm just saying that mr. bannon is a guy who works for me. he's a good guy. but i make my own decision. i don't have people making decisions. and as we were talking about earlier, yesterday also saw president trump move away from bannon-favored positions on things like china currency manipulation to export/import bank. "the washington post's" robert costa reports one friend of bannon compared to a terminally

ill family member who was moved into hospice care. newt gingrich liken the the white house to a u.s. navy a place in the end is very hard to pirates. an interesting moment to share with you from an event at the newseum yesterday. kellyanne conway and michael wolf where he references the new slogan of "the washington post." >> do you find yourself ever thinking and trying to really get to the nut of what the media thinks about this president and about you and other members of this administration? how personal do you take this? >> how personally do i take what? >> what the -- this coverage of you, democracy dies in darkness, because i'm going to tell you, when they say democracy dies in

darkness, you are the darkness. >> i'm not the darkness. >> you're -- and i don't -- >> walking on sunshine. you're saying that's what it's meant to be. it's what i tell small children, just because they say something doesn't mean it's true. >> he says getting to know the and the how he operates. he questions whether the media has taken responsibility for in some cases failing to recognize the president's path to victory in the election. we're learning more about paul manafort, details only surfacing months after he stepped down as donald trump's campaign manager. "the new york times" is digging into paperwork reporting to show he received $13 million in loans from two businesses linked to donald trump. one of the companies is said to have dies to a ukrainian-born billionaire. the frundz were reportedly paid to a shell company made the same day he left the campaign. in a separate move, manafort may

register as a foreign agent for work he did in ukraine. he received, quote, formal guidance recently from authorities. sources to "the times" say he needed to formally declare his lobbying work with the justice department. and former trump campaign adviser carter page is defiant amid- reports there is a court order to see if he was working for russian agents. >> it's such a joke it's beyond words. >> have you talked to the fbi about the russia investigation? have you been interviewed or questioned by them in any way? >> i've always respected confidentiality. i have nothing to say about any ongoing investigations that may or may not be going on. >> in that interview, page was also pressed to share the name of the person who brought him on to work for the trump campaign? he declined to say who that person was but said it was not former campaign manager paul manafort. lawmakers are back home finding themselves confronting angry town halls once more, at least the ones who actually hold

those town halls. republican robert lands took the stage with two police officers and endured jeers and standing ovations. greg waldon only republican in oregon found himself being shouted down as well. in the denver suburbs republican mike kaufman held his first town hall of the year and there were rules, as you can imagine, the ap reports, quote, it was one of the most exclusive tickets in town. only 800 were made available. those lucky enough to score one had to show photo i.d. at the gate where they were issued a wrist band and number. tough ticket to get into. he rolled up his sleeves and answered pointed questions for twice the time and wading into policy and controversy often over boos before making news at the very end. check this out. >> i'm concerned you don't understand how medicaid works.

i don't exactly know what you guys do in your office here -- >> constitntwork. >> constituent work but y don't allow constituents to come in. so, that's one -- >> that's not true. >> some have a grieve concern about transparency as it relates to donald trump's taxes. >> the one thing that is not in law is tax liability, tax returns. so, i would support that certainly going forward. but not just the president. the president, vice president, all political appointees. and every member of congress ought to put up their tax returns. you cannot change -- you can't change the law. you can't do expost facto. the most dangerous place to be in washington, d.c. right now is between devin nunes or adam schiff and a tv camera. and that's not the way the

system's supposed to work. the people on the intelligence committee, i mean, are, you know, on classified information really are not supposed to be in front of the camera. every five minutes. i'm not there yet for an independence council but i'm headed in that direction. >> i have on my phone a picture of my great grandparents who were killed in auschwitz. you cannot even acknowledge what happened in the holocaust by calling them holocaust centers. i need to hear from my congressman that these things are unacceptable. >> sure. i mean -- [ applause ] >> spicer made a terrible mistake yesterday and he admitted it. i mean, he needs to go, you know. [ cheers sxa mraus ] >>ecause i just don't think he's serving the president well. >> republican congressman calling for sean spicer to

leave. >> that was news there. still ahead -- >> remembering a triple threat from the entertainment world. plus, stunning storm clouds over parts of kansas. an ominous sign of things to come. is the mighty dollar getting too strong for president trump? we'll have latest remarkses that sent the dollar sliding next. hey, searching for a great used yeah! you got it. just say show me millions of used cars for sale at the all new carfax.com.

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>> and that was comedian actor and singer charlie murphy in one of his most memorable moments on the chappelle show. charlie also starred in the animated show "the boondocks." fellow comedian chris rock just tweeted, we lost the funniest, most real brothers of all time, charlie murphy, rip. officials in new york are trying to figure out how the body of a trail blazing judge ended in the hudson river. had sheila abdus-salaam's body was shown in the hudson river. the body showed no traumatic

injury. an arrest has been made in what chicago police describe as a targeted robbery which resulted in the shootingeath of a cook county jue. 37-year-old joshua smith has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of associate judge raymond myles, who was shot multiple times monday morning outside his home. police say surveillance video led to smith's arrest which police captured a license plate connected to a vehicle involved. authorities are investigating other links to the fatal shooting. spring storms rocked parts of the central u.s. last night, causing flooding and serious damage. take a look at this video. thunderstorms brought hail to parts of kansas with reports of tennis ball-sized hail in texas. >> ouch. >> no injuries were reported but the storms are still on the move. for more on all of this, we bring in nbc meteorologist bonnie schneider. bonnie, what's the latest on where this is moving? >> we're looking for storms to work through the south and

milwaukee into chicago and green bay. let's take a look at what's happening in texas. san angelo, rain coming through and even lightning strikes as well as into parts of amarillo and straight to the border of oklahoma. in terms of rainfall totals, going through saturday, these are the spots where we could see some heavier rain accumulate. watch out for flash flooding in and around the san angelo area and wichita falls. big story is the ridge of high pressure bringing us all this warm weather. so unusual but we'll take it in april. we're looking at temperatures today climbing well into the mid-80s in alabama. 81 in new orleans. all these numbers are well above normal. even in boston at 59, still 10 degrees above average. looking towards the weekends, it's a holiday weekend with easter sunday ahead. most locations look very comfortable. it's going to be quite warm in parts of the northeast where temperatures will climb well into the 80s. well above normal. for monday, if you have the day off as well, not too bad, temperatures will stay mainly in the 70s in washington, d.c.

your forecast for today, we're looking at comfortable conditions but look how warm it climbs in st. louis, up to 80 degrees. watch out for rain into parts of oklahoma and texas as well. looking at tomorrow's forecast on looking at tomorrow's forecast on friday, also looking good. cooler in new york on friday. alex and ayman, but the time we get to easter, it's going to be very warm around here. >> it will be warm sunday for sure. thanks, bonnie. still ahead, apple is now setting its sights on the medical world. >> the girl versus the charging bull. the creator of one of those is feeling a little insecure about the other. can you guess which one it is? we'll tell you about that battle from wall street next. (vo) my name is bryan.

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let's turn to business. days after meeting with president china, president trump has reversed his campaign rhetoric on whether china is a, quote, currency manipulator. cnbc's dylan marks joining us. his comments seem to be having an impact on the markets. >> that's right. president trump saying he thought the dollar was too strong, reflected people's confidence in him but not helpful for the u.s. economy. not surprising on the back of the comments we've seen the dollar slide as much as 1%

against a global basket of currencies. president trump also talking about how much he liked the lower interest rate environment. the chair of the federal reserve janet yellen was on the chopping block. he said she would not liking get a second term as chair of the fed. now he says it's too early to decide on that. in other news, apple is pursuing a dream of founder steve jobs. cnbc reporting there's a super secret initiatives to develop a new form of blood sugar testing, it would not require the skin to be pierced. apparently in the works for five years and something focused on the apple watch. quite an interesting story there out of silicon valley. >> willem marx from london, thank you. the wall street bull seems to be intimidated by the fearless girl statue placed in front of him. the artist behind the famed bull believes the new statue turned

the bull's message of freedom, peace, power, strepg and love into something negative. the girl was replaced in front of the bull last month for international women's day in celebration of women in the workplace. new york city mayor bill deblasio responded to the artist's request for her removal adding men who don't like women taking up space are exactly why we need the fearless girl. the statue became so popular that city officials are allowing her to stay through february of 2018. the attorney for the artist behind the bull noted he hoped the dispute could be resolved amicably but added we never dismissed the possibility of litigation. that's unfortunate. just let it go. a beautiful statue. it adds to the downtown allure of the city. >> i agree. up next on "morning joe," nato secretary general stoltenberg will discuss her meeting with president trump.

former u.s. ambassador to nato nicholas burns joins the conversation. >> democratic senator chris murphy and republican congressman michael mccall on the president's strategy on syria. "morning joe" just momentswa if you're told you have cancer,

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"morning joe," we'll talk about the stories in the day ahead. president trump is heading the mar-a-lago, his seventh trip to the southern white house since assuming the presidency. >> in a new interview with president bashar al assad, his conversation will mark his first on camera interview since last week's chemical weapons attack and subsequent u.s. air strikes on his country. >> tuning in for that for sure. lawmakers in chicago are set to hold a hearing over this week's incident involving a united airlines passenger forcibly taken off a plane. representatives from united airlines and the aviation department have been summoned. that's a wrap for us on this thursday. i'm alex witt alongside ayman mohyeldin. "morning joe" starts right now. >> secretary general stall ten berg, it's a pleasure to welcome you to the white house,

especially at such an important moment? our great alliance. the nato alliance has been the bullwork of international peace and security. the secretary general and iad a productive discussion about what more nato can do in the fight against terrorism. i complained about that a long time ago and they made a change. i said it was obsolete. no longer is it obsolete. >> president trump with full throated support of nato. one of the shifts in policy we saw yesterday from the president have moved white house personnel issued in a new normalcy or is this just a hope for pivot that won't hold. good morning. it's thursday, april 13th. with us onsets, we have the president on council of foreign relations