killed second as soon as that first execution was done. we will have more ahead for you on that story in coming days. i want to tell you, though, that does it for us tonight. we will see you again tomorrow. lawrence o'donnell has a special while i've been gone? >> barack obama back in the spotlight. the former president delivers his first public remarks since leaving office and steering clear of trump talk. plus, with the government shutdown looming, president trump signals a willingness to back away from the border wall fight. arkansas's first double execution in more than two decades. . good morning, everyone. it is tuesday, april 25th. i'm alex witt along with richard

lui. louis burgdorf is in studio with us. the border wall was the centerpiece of the president's campaign. it's now become a sticking point to keep the government open. at issue, a spending bill that includes $1.4 billion just to get that wall started. but now the white house appears to be backing down from demands it be funded immediately. a senior white house official telling nbc news that president trump is open to getting funding for the border wall this fall. nbc white house correspondent kristen welker has more on the president's week. >> reporter: with the president's 100 days in office fast approaching this saturday, government is set to run out of monday friday, could shut down and cloud his first major milestone. his press secretary sounded confident but offered no guarantees. >> can you guarantee there will not be a government shutdown. >> i can't guarantee. but i feel very confident that that won't happen. >> let me tell you, it will be

the democrats that shut this government down to block the funding of the wall. >> reporter: while the president is trying to downplay the 100-day benchmark, calling it a ridiculous standard, there's a frenzied push to notch last-minute win, including a second try at health care reform. his biggest legislative push to repeal obamacare failed the first time. on wednesday trump is set to unveil his tax plan. according to one of the president's top advisers, that plan is designed to make good on a campaign promise. >> we are going to lower taxes. >> reporter: slashing the corporate tax rate from 35 to 15%. but when it comes to actual achievements, so far the president's legislative record is thin. trump's signed 28 bills. 13 roll back obama-era rules, nine are ceremonial and six have legislative substance. this comes as the new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows trump's job approval stands at 40%, the lowest for any president in the history of the poll. >> it's like ratings week.

so, let's throw everything at them, give them the razzle dazzle, a great show and see if that moves the poll numbers. >> reporter: white house officials say expect the president to roll out several more executive orders this week. officials adding they're determined to keep the government open even if it requires a short-term extension to the funding bill. >> kristen welker, thank you for that. we are learning more details about the president's turn away from the wall and health care and towards tax reform, ordering his staff to come up with a plan to slash the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%, which an independent estimate says will come at an cost of $2.4 trillion to the federal government over ten years. according to "wall street journal," president trump told aides it was less important to him that such a plan could add to the federal budget deficit, making it a tougher sell for some conservative members. the prospect of deficit finance tax cuts has congressional republicans planning to expedite them by using the reconciliation

process. now, that would allow the legislation to pass with a 51-vote majority in the senate instead of the usual 60 votes. the lower threshold, though, allows cuts to be lajer but would not make them permanent, expiring after ten years. on capitol hill this evening, congressional leaders will meet with white house advisers including treasury secretary mu ch mnuchin, orrin hatch, and yesterday treasury secretary mnuchin reaffirmed the president's principles on tax reform. >> we've been clear on what the president's objectives are for tax reform. middle income tax cut, a priority of the president's, simplification. the average american should be able to do their taxes on a large postcard. business tax reform. we need to make business taxes competitive and we expect with doing that we will bring back

trillions of dollars from offshore. >> former president barack obama made his return to public life yesterday. making his first public appearance since leaving the white house at the university of chicago where he once taught constitutional law. the 44th president didn't mention efforts to repeal obamacare. deregulation never came up, nor did he defend himself against the president's unfounded wiretapping claims. instead, his message was all about getting future leaders ready to answer the call. >> although there are all kinds of issues i care about and all kinds of issues i intend to work on, the single most important thing i can do is to help in any way i can prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world. >> some of the problems the former president identified, the

fractured media landscape in which he says, quote, everybody is listening to people who already agree. also, gerrymandering, an issue he's vowed to tackle. the united states is imposing new sanctions on syria in response to the deadly chemical weapons attack on civilians earlier this month. according to the treasury department, the sanctions target 271 employees of a syrian government agency that is tasked with producing nonconventional weapons. >> the united states is sending a strong message with this action that we will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons by any actor. we intend to hold the assad regime accountable for its unacceptable behavior. >> during a meeting at the white house, president trump also urged representatives of the united nations security council to adopt new sanctions on north korea. >> the status quo in north korea is also unacceptable and the council must be prepared to impose additional and stronger

sanctions on north korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs. this is a real threat to the world, whether we want to talk about it or not. north korea is a big world problem. it's a problem we have to finally solve. people put blindfolds on for decades and now it's time to solve the problem. >> amid rising tensions in north korea, the trump administration says it will hold a rare meeting at the white house for all 100 members of the senate. sean spicer told reporters it was organized by mitch mcconnell and that the white house is just serving as the location. now, also this morning top u.s. military officials are urging the united states to confront russia over its support for the taliban. military officials say they've seen an increasing number of weapons in the hands of taliban fighters in afghanistan. when asked by reporters whether russia was providing those weapons, the top u.s. general in afghanistan said yesterday, quote, i'm not refuting that.

the state of arkansas executed two death row inmates last night. it's the first time they carried out two executions in one day since 2000. as part of an accelerate the schedule, it originally included executing eight men in two days because the lethal injection drugs used plan to expire at the end of the month. four have been blocked by courts said the executions were, quoted, flawless. last thursday arkansas exkited another convicted murderer and another man set so die thursday. prosecutors in wisconsin revealed staff at the milwaukee

county jail allegedly cut off an inmate's access to water for seven days straight before he died while in custody. the information surrounding the death of thomas in april last year was revealed last year as a six-person jury began to hear testimony while they weigh whether criminal charges should be filed. the statements from prosecutors are the first official account validating what inmates had previously told the milwaukee journal sentinel about this incident. the inmates claimed they begged jailhouse to help thomas as he grew weak without water as they say he was too unstable to ask himself. david clark is known for his tough talk during high-profile shootings. still ahead, another airline confrontation caught on camera. what american tries to learn from united's mistakes. the northeast getting ready for rainfall from d.c. to boston. folks could see an ininch of rain over the next two days.

we'll have a check on the forecast when we come back.

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new information about a pair of incidents on airplanes where passengers appeared to be mistreated all caught on video. the latest on an american airlines flight when a misunderstanding over a stroller turned physical. here's nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: this morning the mother of twins involved in a confrontation with an american airlines employee went viral. has hired an attorney. >> she is a typical mother traveling with two children, with all sorts of stuff. and the fact is, she was treated very, very shabbily. >> reporter: the same attorney representing dr. david dao, the united passenger who suffered

serious injuries while being dragged off a plane in chicago. for the first time we're hearing the radio traffic telling security officers to head to dr. dao's plane. >> disturbance charlie 3 on aircraft. flight was overbooked. now two passengers are refusing to get off the aircraft. >> reporter: but the airlines handled the two cases very differently. while united at first blamed dr. dao, american immediately suspended the flight attendant who ripped the stroller away from the mother. >> you do that to me and i'll knock you flat. >> reporter: then facing off with a passenger. >> sit down. come on. >> reporter: american also upgraded the mother to first class and then issued an apology saying what we see on this video does not reflect our values or how we care or for our customers. unitedly ultimately did apologize to dr. dao who suffered broken nose, sinus injuries and a concussion. again united apologized for the

shameful way in which he was treated. are you satisfied with what united has done now to make amends? >> well, they haven't made amount amends. they disparaged dr. dao saying he was belligerent. >> reporter: unions say it's stock of an industry under strain. the attorney says he's not sure yet whether he will be taking legal action against american airlines because he says he thinks they did all the right things in how they handled the situation. as it relates to united airlines, i asked him how much do you think is appropriate compensation for dr. dao given the extent of his injuries. he simply said, it's way too early to tell. >> tom, thank you for that. concerning the united incident, we have incident reports from the security officers who have since been suspended. one saying he gave his account during duress due to fear of being afired. another accused dr. dao of

violently swinging his arms but witnesses dispute that account. president trump will reportedly sign an executive order tomorrow to review the designations of national monuments made over the past two decades. according to "the washington post," the order will ask the interior department to examine whether those decision nations were within the scope of a centrally old law that provides safeguards for federal lands and waters. a senior white house official tells the salt lake tribune the review was prompted by president obama's last minute naming of bear ears national monument. they say it was an overreach of executive power. let's get a check of your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. i wish you had better news. it's a rainy day in north carolina, washington and then we'll get it. >> yesterday the heaviest rain in south carolina, heaviest flooding around charleston. a lot of rivers couldn't take it. they swelled up and now a lot of

river flooding. thankfully haven't heard of too many reports of flooding. we've had gusty winds up to 50 miles an hour on the coast overnight. north carolina, here's the raleigh area. that's where this axis of heavy rain has been, where the flooding is taking place. that's shifting north wards today. because the storm is on the move it's not sitting in the same spot. the flooding won't be as bad to the north. here's the flood map. all the red squares you see here, boxes, those are river flood warnings. where you see the big box over the washington/north carolina region, that's where we have a flash flood, getting heavy rain right now. this is at 7:00 a.m. just very light rain and showers over areas like new york city and over long island. the heavy stuff is the yellow and red bands. that's over the top of richmond at 7:00 a.m. washington, d.c., it looks like your timing is around 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. is your steadest rain and then taper off. here's your ride home at 5:00 p.m.

heavy rain over new york city. shifting up towards boston. the good news with this is by the time we wake up tomorrow morning, it's just light rain from boston over new england, all the heavy stuff is gone. wednesday just a cloudy day as we slowly clear things out. rainfall totals will end up about 1 to 2 inches, all of eastern new england and areas of new york city down towards philadelphia. a good soaking rain. remember the drought we had last summer after all the rain events, this will knock out a lot of the drought that's left in the northeast. >> bill, i know you're a bit of a history buff so you'll like this one. an extremely rare copy of the declaration of independence has been found across the pond. discovered by two harvard researchers is only the second known 18th century handwritten parchment copy of the declaration known to exist. the other being the 1776 copy on display at the national archives in the nation's capital. the document was found in the west sussex region record office and is thought to have been made either in philadelphia or new

york for a british politician who supported america during the revelation. pretty cool. >> yeah. talking about old stuff. despite being older than columbus's voyage across the atlantic, one of the nation's oldest trees has been cut down in new jersey. the 600-year-old white oak was declared dead last year after showing signs of rot and weakness. an arborist said it most likely would not have been able to withstand any major storms. legend has it the tree once served as picnic shade for george washington. it stood about 100 feet tall, truck circumference of 18 feet and had branches sped over 150 feet. happy news, though. another white oak cultivated from the deceased tree's acorns has been plant at the church. >> another 600 years. >> we have to wait a while. still ahead, golden state sweeps the trail blazers. madison balm garnm garner t about the freak accident that injured his shoulder. hey julie, i know today's critical, but i really...

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steph curry leading the way with 28 points. the 108-103 wins marks the sweep of best of seven series for warriors. they'll face either the jazz or clippers in next round. in atlanta the hawks pull even in eastern conference series against the wizards after a 111-101 win in game four. atlanta's paul millsap returned to form scoring 19 points with dwight howard putting on his best performance of the postseason, adding 16 points and 15 boards there. the series shifts back to the capital for game five tomorrow night. and in toronto, keeping powell in the starting lineup could be the key for the raptors in their first round series against the bucks who are now on the brink of elimination after a 118-93 loss in game five last night. powell scored a career playoff high 25 points for toronto. with kyle lowry adding 16 as raptors gear up to finish off milwaukee in game six at home on thursday. turning now to major league baseball where san francisco ace

madison bumgarner was back in the dugout ahead of yesterday's game against the dodgers only wearing a sling. out to meet the meet yeah for the first time after a dirt bike accident last week left him with bruised ribs and sprained throwing shoulder with his season in jeopardy, the 2014 world series mvp admitted the motor sport excursion was not the wisest. >> i mean, it's terrible. obviously, that was not my intentions when we set out to enjoy the off day, but, you know, i realize that's definitely not the most responsible decision i made. and, you know, it sucks not being able to be out here with my guys and try to help us win some games and, you know, it's very unfortunate. >> wish him a speedy recovery there. on the field in san francisco, the giants have yet to learn that you shouldn't test puig's arm. the outfielder gunned down brandon belt trying to score

from second base in the first inning. puig keeps it scoreless after the frame, san fran beats the doj dodgers 2-1. in milwaukee the brewers' first baseman eric tham with 11-7. he matches hi club record for homers in april, seven which have come off reds pitchers alone. five games left to play, thames is in reach of the mlb record of 14. finally on the minor league diamond, south bend cub center fielder d.j. wilson's biggest adversary in this game just so happened to be an inflatable beach ball that made its way onto the field from the stands. wilson makes several ill-fated attempts there to reunite that beach ball with a fan in the crowd before finally finding success. he just can't get it over the wall. >> don't know if i want him on my beach ball team, right? >> that was ridiculous.

but thank you for sharing. that's frustrating. still ahead, president trump shows flexibility over his border wall as republicans work to define his campaign promise. plus, new polling shows americans' confidence in the president's ability to improve health care is slipping. we'll diehl dg into those numbe next. hey, need fast heartburn relief? try cool mint zantac. it releases a cooling sensation in your mouth and throat. zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours. try cool mint zantac.

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getscreenednow.org it only takes a minute to take care of yourself, and nothing rhymes with "org"... ♪ welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt, richard lui is in for ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf is in studio as well. the state of arkansas has carried out the nation's first

double execution in 17 years. a lawyer for 52-year-old convicted murderer and rapist jack jones says his client suffered a, quote, torturous and inhumane execution, even gumming for air after being administered the lethal. the execution proceeded with marcel williams. the state says they need to be carried out before a critical lethal injection drug expires at the end of the month. the original plan called for eight executions in ten days but four have been blocked by the courts. one aviation security officers suspended for dragging a passenger off that united airlines flight claims he used minimal but necessary force to remove dr. dao from the oversold flight. according to incident reports released by the city of chicago, officer rodriguez jr. says dr. dao ignored repeated requests to remove himself from the plane and that when another

officer tried to remove him, he started swinging his arms violently, eventually causing his own fall. witnesses, however, dispute that claim. president trump's agriculture secretary set to be officially sworn into office later this morning. senate officially confirmed sonny perdue by vote of 87-11. meanwhile, the president is expected to sign an executive order promoting agriculture and rural prosperity snoou. the border what was was an integral part of the president's spending bill but now the white house seems to be backing down from plans it be funded immediately. president trump is open to getting funding for the border wall this fall. the initial $1.4 billion had become a sticking point in avoiding a government shutdown, which could still happen saturday. the president's 100th day in office. >> how confident are you that that will not be a shutdown? can you guarantee there will not

be a government shutdown? >> i can't guarantee. we feel very confident the government's not going to shut down. number, two i think the president has been very clear in the past about the fact that -- and this is not a new thing. he talked about this. in order to get the ball rolling on border security and the wall, he was going to have to use the current appropriations process but he would make sure that that promise would be kept as far as the payment of it. >> the four corner negotiations have been going very well until a monkey wrench was thrown into them. our caution, if the administration insists on poison pill riders or extraneous funding requests, then our talks could get sidetracked. particularly if the administration demands funding for a border wall. >> so, the president first expressed new openness to delaying funding the wall during a private reception with conservative media last night at the white house. senate republicans say they're optimistic about getting a deal done to keep the lights on beyond this weekend.

democrats are said to be open to new money for border security so long as it does not fund a wall. but political reports, republicans are also blaming democrats for complicating negotiations by making new demands on providing permanent obamacare subsidies for low income americans. some republican senators say they're ready to support the funding as is, like james inhofe of oklahoma. others were circumspect about the future of a 2,000-mile physical wall. rob portman said there could be a wall in some places and technology in others and a downpayment on border security generally. lindsey graham was more direct telling "the washington post" saying, there will never be a 2200-mile wall built, period. i think it's become symbolic of better border security. >> hopefully we can find a way to increase border security. a 2200-wall doesn't make sense. >> earlier in the day in a series of tweets, which were

separated by hours, the president wrote, quote, the wall is very important tool in stopping drugs from pouring into our country and poisoning our youth and many others. if the wall is not built, which it will be, the drug situation will never be fixed the way it should be. then over the weekend he told the associated press in rt part, my base understands the wall is going to get built whether i have it funded here or shortly thereafter, that wall's getting built, okay? 100%. cost estimates have ranged wildly from internal homeland security report that estimated $21 billion. the president disputed those telling the ap, i think $10 billion or less. they're using those numbers, they're using the high numbers to make it sound impalatable. poll numbers overnight from nbc news and "the wall street journal" shows president trump might have to do a little

more to persuade americans on his agenda. confidence is slipping in the president and republicans' ability to improve health care, for instance. half of americans have little to no confidence in their plan, spiking 16 points from february. while those who have a great deal of confidence is down to just 8%. asked if congress should continue efforts to repeal and replace obamacare, 40% say to keep going. 37% say, do not continue. on the subject of immigration, 6 in 10 say it helps more than hurts the united states. nine-point swing in favor of immigration since september. while free trade with foreign countries also remains popular, 57% to 37%. satisfaction with the economy has hit a high not seen since 2001. 56% of americans say they are satisfied with it, 43% dissatisfied. a splash of cold water on democrats' enthusiasm to tell you about. despite their recent special election surges in republican districts, democrats' advantage

in who americans to want see in control of congress is just four points. 47% to 43% for republican control. barely any change from october. and the twitter account of the jimmy carter presidential library took a not so subtle dig at president trump yesterday tweeting this, jimmy carter's first 100 days, laws passed, 22. executive orders, 16. approval rating, 63%. like president trump, carter's party had control of both chambers of congress. the u.s. state department after facing heavy ethics criticism yesterday. the post which first appeared april 4th on the state department-run website shareamerica.gov described mar-a-lago as trump's flores state where he hosted foreign leaders and, quote, by visiting this winter white house, trump is belatedly filling mar-a-lago's original designer. the post was retweeted by

several embassies abroad. they sa ron wyden tweeting, why are taxpayer dollars promoting the president's private country club. the state department removed the post and said, its intention was to inform the public about where the president has been hosting world leaders and regrets any misrepresentations. the president has spent seven of 14 weekends at the estate since his january inauguration. mar-a-lago's membership fee has doubled to $200,000 after mr. trump was elected president. still ahead, former president obama lays out the problems he says the next generation of leaders will have to tackle. we take to you his first post-presidential event. ivanka trump steps onto the world stage for the first time as assistant to the president. she landed in berlin earlier this morning. we'll tell you what she hopes to accomplish.

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water is such a precious resource up here that we also are cleaning up our urine and making it drinkable. and it's really not as bad as it sounds. >> well, that's good. i'm glad to hear that. better you than me. >> okay. well, this is a breakfast show, right? the president going a little off script during his congrat laer to congratulations with nasa astronaut peggy whitson as they discuss life. describing her 430th day in space. her record is only set to get bigger as she's not scheduled to return to earth until september. the president who was joined in the oval office by daughter ivanka and kate reubens used that call to set an ambitious call for man's exploration of the heavens. trump urging nasa to speed up the timeline to get humans on mars, quote, at worst, during my second term. former president barack obama made his return to public

life yesterday, making his first public appearance at university of chicago where he once taught constitutional law. the 44th president did not mention donald trump nor did he criticize his policies. instead he called on future leaders to enter public service while identifying some of the problems they will be tasked with fixing in the future. >> because of things like political gerrymandering our parties have moved further and further apart and it's harder and harder to find common ground. because of money in politics. special interests dominate the debates in washington in ways that don't match up with what the broad majority of americans feel. because of changes in the media, we now have a situation in which everybody's listening to people who already agree with them. and are further and further

reinforcing their own realities to the neglect of a common reality. >> gerrigerrymandering is one o issues he's vowed to tackle post-presidency. we continue to monitor the wildfire burning in arizona. roads are closed and homes have been evacuated in parts of santa cruz. it's grown to 11 square miles and only 10% contained. it's fueled by gusty winds, low relative humidity and dry vegetation. let's get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. on the east coast we're certainly not dealing with any dry conditions. >> yesterday we had a windy through the southwest. that's why they had some of those fires flare up. just seeing some pictures out of the raleigh area. it's not pretty. crabtree creek which goes through downtown raleigh goes into major flooding. we're still looking at this

yellow, heavy rain expanding towards the raleigh area. that's not going to be good there. we've already seen water in businesses. here's the map. we had one new warning come in. this is an error so ignore that line, but this red color are all the river flood warnings in north carolina. the torrential rains will continue for another two hours. then it will shift to the north. then we'll start to watch those rivers recede. the worst right now from raleigh into areas of eastern north carolina. so, d.c., richmond, it's a morning heavy rain for you. new york, philadelphia, more mid-afternoon into early in the evening. then as we head towards albany, springfield, boston, it's going to be more as we go throughout the tail end of the evening rush hour. by tomorrow morning, everything begins to improve. we also have a story developing tomorrow in the middle of the country. you get this huge warm-up today. 88, oklahoma city. that's like summer. it's 32 today in rapid city with snow. so, the cold air is colliding with that warm air. tomorrow, severe weather outbreak, classic scenario.

we'll be in the 70s. watch out, chicago, st. louis, especially in little rock, memphis, down to areas of northern louisiana. dallas looks like early in the day storms for you and not too bad. here's the severe threat map. this is again tomorrow. 15 million people at risk from st. louis south wards down to central louisiana, including all the cities we mentioned. if we get tornadoes the greatest threat will be southern missouri and much of the state of arkansas. we'll keep an eye on that tomorrow. when we get some pictures in, looks like the flooding in raleigh will be costly into some homes and businesses this morning. >> if you're in the northeast, pack your umbrella this morning. let's turn to business where first daughter ivanka trump makes her international debut as assistant to the president. she's in germany this morning for a conference aimed at building up women's economic empowerment programs. cnbc joins us live from london. i understand ivanka was actually invited by the german chancellor. >> she was. she was. can you believe it? after that super awkward meeting

where chancellor merkel goes to the white house and seated next to ivanka during the official meeting, even though ivanka wasn't holden an official government role. so imagine being invited to germany and seated next to chancellor merkel's son. political they say that ivanka's role now that merkel is tapping into trump via ivanka and ivanka's role could be heightened. she wrote this op-ed in the ft talking about entrepreneurship and how it helps to build for women, in particular how it helps to build businesses and nations. again, the purpose of this could be very, very important. merkel seemingly having taken the high road on this, inviting ivanka to speak at this summit in berlin. other speakers the queen of netherlands, christine lagarde, and a panel on entrepreneurship.

merkel is saying, if this is how you want to communicate with us, we'll find a back entrance into the trump administration via his daughter and we're taking her to germany and inviting her to speak. this op-ed was interesting, talking about how investing in women essentially increases access to finance and networks and accelerates progress and financial inclusion and the list goes on. take a look at the ft at this op-ed. marissa mayer will be making a cool $186 million on yahoo!'s sale to verizon. on june 8th we have shareholders that have to vote on whether or not they want to go through to sell to verizon for $4.5 billion. if it's a yes, which it's anticipated it very well would be, which means it ends mayer's attempt to turn yahoo! around. she's being compensated, $186 million in total. not a small amount. >> $186 million doesn't sound too bad.

live from london, thanks so much. >> still clearing my chest from that one. wow. >> good chunk of change. >> yeah. still ahead, we're following developing news from the korean peninsula. >> the north is conducting large-scale military drills right now. have they crossed a line to provoke a response from the united states? we'll get a live report.

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nbc news has confirmed north korea is currently undergoing a

massive wlooif fire military exercise in the wonsan region. joining us live from london with more nbc news correspondent tammy leitner. tammy, this as we have another nuclear submarine from the united states join the carl vinson aircraft carrier group. the concern, of course, is more tension. >> that's right, the u.s.s. michigan pulled into port in sok this morning. the u.s. navy is calling this just a routine stop. we also learned that the u.s. navy is conducting joint exercises with the korean navy as well as japan's self-defense force. these will take place today and tomorrow. these drills moucomes as tensio mount. so far only a celebration in pyongyang and a large rally

yesterday. the north though also deployed a number of long-range artillery units to conduct a live fire military drill. richard, there is still some concern that north korea could be gearing up for a show of force later today or tomorrow. >> one of the concerns here, kim jong-un and how he's responded to president trump and what he's saying. any sense of what is happening across the border? >> there is a lot of uncertainty right now. a lot of show of force on both sides. it's unclear what could come in the next 24 to 48 hours. >> nbc's tammy leitner, thank you so much. just one day after advancing to the next round of voting in france's presidential election, right wing national candidate marine he pen announced she's stepping down as leader of the party, saying she was taking the leave of absence to focus on campaigning. the move is scene as a way of le pen embracing a wider range of

vote e voters. polling has macron as the favorite to win the contest. in a statement yesterday she denounced the coalition calling the parties old and completely rotten. so far not a single rival party has called for its voters to support he pen. up next on "morning joe," ohio governor and former republican presidential canned dan john kasich. >> former and current new york city mayors michael bloomberg and bill de blasios, senators bob corker and chris coons to keep the government open past next friday. "morning joe" just moments away. ? i am! you got it. just say show me millions of used cars for sale at the all new carfax.com. but, i don' want one that's had a bunch of owners just say, show me cars with only one owner

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to mark his first 100 days, trump sat down for a wider ranging and even wider rambling interview with the associated press. he was asked, as a candidate you put out a 100-day plan. do you feel you should be held accountable to that plan and he

answered somebody, yeah, somebody put out the concept of a hundred day plan. yes, somebody put out a concept. who was that again? >> the first 100 days of my administration. this 100-day plan -- what follows is my 100-day action plan to make america great again. it's a contract between donald j. trump and the american voter. >> and the j stands for "just kidding." psych! >> today was the perfect day for a jovial well rested former president obama to show up in chicago for his first public appearance after leaving office and say this. >> so what's been going on while i've been gone? >> ha-ha, ha-ha, ha. >> everything! everything has been going on.

of course, after that comment obama threw on shades, kite surfed out of the building and yelled "somebody get me a mai tai. >> that was so good. before we tros it over to "morning joe," a check on the stories ahead. >> members of the trump administration will gather on capitol hill for a meeting to discuss tax reform. sources telling nbc news treasury secretary steve mnuchin and national security director gary kohn will sit down with house speaker paul ryan and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell to discuss the plan. >> tax reforms is one of the accomplishments trz is trying to lock down ahead of the 100-day mark in office. nbc's kristen welker has more from the white house. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. today the president will speak at the u.s. holocaust memorial museum national day of

remembrance ceremony. mr. trump will sign an executive order related to agriculture and protecting rural america, part of the final push to show progress before the 100 dash day benchmark, calls it a ridiculous standard, there is this big push to notch some wins. ivanka trump is in berlin where she'll participate in a panel at the w 20 summit about women and entrepreneurship. while there, she's expected to visit the memorial to murdered jews in europe in berlin. >> that's a wrap for us. i'm alex witt alongside richard lui and louis burgdorf. "morning joe" coming your way right now. >> because of things like political jerry man derg, our parties have moved further and further apart and it's harder and harder to find common ground because of money and politics,

special interests dominate the debates in washington in ways that don't match up with what the broad majority of americans feel. because of changes in the media, we now have a situation in which everybody is listening to people who already agree with them and are further and further reenforcing their own realities to the neglect of a common reality. >> three months after jet skiing into the sunset, president obama was back in chicago previewing the very public path he plans to take over the coming months and years. but for now at least, he's steering clear of specific issues, leaving it up to the current leaders in washington to deal with a looming government shutdown. north korea nuclear crisis and syria's civil war. we've got a huge line up to talk