thank you for being here with us and good night from new york. this morning by twitter, by news conference, the president tries to defend himself against witch hunt but the new special counsel tells senators behind closed doors the investigation into russia's role is wrapping up. inside the crash. what led a driver to plow through crowds of tourists at times square. we'll have a look at another election that could have repercussions with another american adversary on the world stage. good morning, it's friday, may 19th. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin and louis burgdorf.

president trump is trying to set the record straight about the expanding investigations into special counsel with not transitioning his investigation into a criminal approach. yesterday morning he tweeted, fighting back against, quote, the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in american history. later wrote, with all of the illegal acts that took place in the clinton campaign and obama administration, there was never a special counsel appointed. in a joint news conference with colombia's president, trump spoke about the appointment of robert mueller to lead that investigation. >> was this the right move or is this part of a witch hunt? >> well, i respect the move but the entire thing has been a witch hunt. there is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign, but i can always speak for myself and the russians. zero. i think it divides the country. i think we have a very divided country because of that and many other things. so, i can tell you that we want

to bring this great country of ours together. believe me, there is no collusion. russia is fine. but whether it's russia or anybody else, my total priority, believe me, is the united states of america. there was no collusion and everybody, even my enemies, have said, there is no collusion. >> also in the president's news conference yesterday, he flat out rejected the premise outlined in the reported memo from former fbi director jim comey. take a listen to that. >> did you urge former fbi director james comey in any way, shape or form to close or back down on the investigation into michael flynn? also, as you look back -- >> no, no. next question. >> the answer being no, if you didn't get that. the new report alleges shortly after taking office, president trump called comey two times to press hiout an announcement that he was not personally under investigation. the "new york times" reports comey was unsettled by trump's calls and tried to get the president to follow protocol instead of making direct

contact, comey believed them to be in violation of justice department guidelines which allows conversations with the white house about active investigations, quote, only when it is important for the performance of the president's duties and important for a law perspective. the president describes all the contacts in a detailed memo he gave to his aides. last week when president trump said he was thinking about russia when he fired russia, the president placed more recommendation on the may 3rd testimony. >> director comey was unpopular with most people. i actually thought when i made that decision, and i also got a very, very strong recommendation, as you know, from the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein, but when i made that decision, i actually thought that it would be a bipartisan decision. because you look at all of the people on the democratic side, not only the republican side, that were saying such terrible

things about director comey. then he had the very poor performance on wednesday. that was a poor, poor performance. so poor, in fact, that i believe, and you'd have to ask him because i don't like to speak for other people, but i believe that's why the deputy attorney general went out and wrote his very, very strong letter. >> deputy attorney general rod rosenstein will brief all house members this morning about the controversial firing of fbi director james comey. yesterday he spoke to the senators and his explanation of the timeline didn't set well with at least one democrat. >> he knew that comey was going to be removed prior to him writing his memos. >> do you believe that the deputy attorney general knew before he wrote that memo that james comey was going to be fired? >> yes. >> what was it he said he knew? >> he knew the day before. >> "the washington post" sourcing through senators reports behind closed doors, things, in fact, grew heat.

democrats pressed rosenstein on thscope of mueller's investigation, why session was involved in the firing and why sessions is playing a role in choosing comey's replacement. then there's the approach of the investigation going forward. some lawmakers interpreted rosenstein's brief as saying the investigation had crossed from a counterintelligence probe to criminal. there was mixed opinion on whether that's the case and whether that would be best for all the investigations going on simultaneously. >> the nature of the investigation changed from counterterror to criminal investigation? if so, what are the repercussions? >> well, i assume this has been a counterintelligence investigation primarily, but as deputy attorney general rosenstein said, this is going to be up to director mueller under the appointment as special counsel. >> as someone who is on the intel committee and, perhaps, open to more -- much more information than many other members, don't want to comment. >> i think the shot to the body

is now considered a criminal investigation. and congress' ability to conduct investigations of all things, ruc russia has been severely limited, probely in an appropriate fashion. >> when there's a criminal investigation ongoing, it inhibits your ability to do oversight. you call witnesses and they say, i can't give you any information because i'm under investigation or there's an investigation ongoing. government witnesses do the same thing. >> now, robert mueller began his job as special counsel amid flurry of headlines about the ousted michael flynn and they are pushing back on when knew what about flynn's work for foreign governments. peter alexander reports. >> reporter: despite his shorteneder as natural security adviser, michael flynn casting a long shadow over the trump white house. "the new york times" reporting flynn informed the trump transition's team chief lawyer weeks before inauguration tt

he was under federal investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for turkey during the campaign. the white house says the story is flat wrong, despite the warning mr. trump named flynn to lead his national security team, granting him access to the nation's deepest secrets before firing him three weeks later. chairing the transition team vice president-elect mike pence to this day maintains he was unaware of flynn's ties to turkey. >> let me say hearing that story today was the first i heard of it. >> reporter: an administration aide telling nbc news if mcgahan knew and didn't tell pence it's malpractice or intentional and neither is okay. the trump family had a blind spot when it came to flynn, who was rewarded for his loyalty to the president. four law enforcement officials tell nbc news flynn and manafort are key figures in the russia investigation with multiple grand jury subpoenas and records requests issued in connection with the two men during the last six months. in the cross-hairs of multiple

investigations, flynn's lawyers yet to honor a senate intelligence committee subpoena for documents related to russia's interference in the 2016 campaign. >> we'll figure out on general flynn what the next step, if any is. >> reporter: still president trump remains an unflinching defender of flynn, with lester last week -- >> he's in my opinion a very good person. >> reporter: according to yahoo! news, late last month flynn told loyists, i just got a message from the president to stay strong. this morning two u.s. officials tell nbc news michael flynn took action during the trump transition that would directly benefit turkey, pushing to delay a decision to arm a group turkey opposed in the fight against isis. mr. trump would ultimately support that policy, signing off on it only after flynn left. ayman? >> peter alex an sder. a source close to the administration is expressing concern about a potential pattern in the white house of keeping vice president mike pence in the dark about former national security adviser michael flynn's wrongdoings,

calling it unacptable and either malpractice or intentional. now, the aide called the report of another undisclosed discretion by flynn stunning and says pence and his team were not made aware of any investigation receipting to flynn's work as paid lobbyists for turkey. nancy pelosi calling on democrats to show restraint when it comes to talk of impeachment. she urged her caucus to, quote, curb their enthusiasm until the facts are known. but that didn't stop the democratic leader from taking the president to task herself. >> what can i say? the place is unruly, undisciplined, unreliable, and unsafe. they need some adult supervision. didn't he say something yesterday, the president, like nobody has been subjected to more criticism. really? you're telling me that? he doesn't have thick skin. get some thick skin, okay? >> pelosi said democrats need to wait for the investigation to

determine if the president's actions were, quote, grounds for impeachment or grounds for disappointment. she did, however, disagree with the notion that democrats are overplaying their hand by calling for impeachment. turning to the tragic events that unfolded in times square yesterday. one person is dead, 22 more injured. initially many feared a potential terror attack similar to one in nice, france, but authorities were quick to rule out thursday's deadly crash as terror. though they are looking into whether it was, in fact, deliberate. the driver, 26-year-old richard rojas told police he smoked drugs and heard voices to hurt people, after speeding along three blocks before crashing. sources tell nbc he had a dishonorable discharge from the navy and a history of dwis. one person alyssa elsman who was visiting new york with her 13-year-old sister, who was hit but survived.

another check of weather after another day of tornadoes. first to iran as elections are getting under way as the president prepares for his first foreign trip. we'll break down what results could mean for the bitter stalemate between the united states and iran. later from humble roots as a street art is to the most expensive painting ever sold at auction by an american. the jaw-dropping price tag paid for a basquiat painting. see if you can see who is playing andy warhol. >> no, i think it's okay. >> gee, ignorant art. >> yeah, stupid, ridiculous, crummy art. >> that sounds good. that's new. >> ten bucks.

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welcome back. voters in iran are headed to the polls in the 12th presidential election. the election has come down to a two-man race with incumbent hassan rouhani facing off against cleric ebrahim raisi. polls show rouhani ahead but only slightly. >> let's bring ali from tehran. big issues. what are the two big issues dividing these two candidates? >> reporter: well, ayman, there are two burning issues. one is the economy and one is ideology. they're both very important forrite ran yan people. now, for the first people since 1997, two clerics have been pitted against each other in the presidential election. and they represent two very different ideals. now, president rouhani, who was voted in four years ago, has appealed to the iran's more reformist, more modern type

voters, saying that he wants to open up iran and outreach to the west. his signature nuclear deal is something he still goes on about, saying this has made iran a country that has moved iran away from war and the threat of war from the west and pleading with the people to give him more time to fix the economy. he said he's sown the seeds of a better economy, a better future in iran and he needs another four years to deliver on that. now, there's been a lot of discontent in iran over the last few years. a lot of working class iranians and even middle class iranians don't feel they've had any tangible results from the nuclear deal. the economy here still remains very stagnant. jobs haven't appeared. and that's made a lot of discontent amongst people here. now, more affluent, middle class people say that's not rouhani's fault. it's president trump's fault for way on the nuclear deal and making things more difficult. that's not a narrative that resonates with working class

iranians. they want immediate effects and they don't think mr. rouhani has delivered on those things. the other big divide here is an idealogical divide. you go to polling stations or rallies of mr. rouhani and mr. raisi, they look like two different irans. mr. raisi's rallies, they are quefshtive, religious people who believe in following the line of the revolution. he has said iran's economy needs to look inwards and not rely on foreign investment. while mr. rouhani's supporters want a much more liberal iran. we have to see who will prevail in the ballot box. >> ali live from tehran, iran. you know you covered iran extensively. ali laid out what's at stake rnally but this is a vote people around the world will be watching. >> they say rouhani is moderate but that's a relative term. relevant in moderate is somewhat

conservative, everybody running for president is somewhat quefshtive quefs conservative in iran. when you saw -- when you secretary tillerson come into office he said we're going to draw a hard line on iran. now we have to sort of look at how it is they're going to respond with the nuclear deal going forward. so far they've struck -- they stuck by the nuclear deal. and that's why rouhani's election could be so important moving forward. looking at syria, no matter who is the president of iran, their stance on syria will remain the same. considering that word moderate, like i said, in that it's so relative. its important to see exactly what will happen moving forward. also looking at president trump going overseas and immediating with saudi arabia. >> it's a big issue as well, yemen in play. let's get a check of the weather with bill karins. >> yesterday we went into the day with the high risk of tornadoes. usually on high-risk days, you're usually guaranteed

destruction and sometimes, unfortunately, injuries and fatalities. yesterday we had a lot of tornadoes but none were in populated areas. we haven't didn't have any injuries or fatalities and we didn't even have a lot of destruction. we did have minor wind damage. trees down on homes but no towns or communities dealing with widespread destruction. some flooding, a lot of hail and also some pretty cool lightning shots from all the storms in the midwest yesterday. so, let's -- there's some lightning pictures there. let's get into how we'll deal with today. that's pretty cool. look at that. time lapse. as far as tornado outbreak went, we had about 19 tornado reports. no longer are we under any tornado threat. that's good. new thunderstorms popping up in western texas, abilene. severe threat today, less than yesterday. today we're up to enhanced risk. indianapolis, st. louis, kansas city, springfield, much of missouri back through ft. smith, tulsa, oklahoma city, including the dallas/ft. worth area. a lot more population centers today that are at risk. the tornado threat is a little lower. there will be a few.

if tornadoes happen in the area between wichita falls, abilene and ft. worth, that's the area of greatest concern. then into saturday, we watched the storm moving east, indianapolis, paducah, memphis, 10 million people at risk of thunderstorms. keep an eye to the sky through ohio valley back through mississippi river valley. today's forecast, we're still hot. one more day, the end of our mini may heat wave. boston, are you cooler. boston was one of the hottest spots in the country yesterday at 95 degrees. it doesn't happen that often. we will cool it off as we go into the weekend. there's today. look what happens on saturday. only 69 in new york down to 73 in d.c. holding onto the heat in the southeast. thunderstorms as we said saturday into sunday into the ohio valley. kind of a back to normal type weather map. we didn't get a chance to mention the snow in colorado. boulder picked up 18 inches of snow in the last two days. >> a lot to track there. thanks. >> we'll get pictures. the late artist jean-michel

basquiat set a record with 1898 "untitled," a picture selling for $110.5 million. the winning bidder is a chinese-born billionaire entrepreneur living in japan who bid by phone. thought it was you, yasmin. the sale topped the previous american record set by his close friend, andy warhol. his painting "silver car crash" sold for $105 million back in 2013. >> wow. >> incredible. >> 19,000 to 100 odd million. back with sports. ot a quick fix. it's my decision to make beauty last. roc® retinol, started visibly reducing my fine lines and wrinkles in one week. and the longer i use it, the better it works. retinol correxion® from roc. methods, not miracles.™

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are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool? try zyrtec® it's starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. and the stanley cup playoffs in nashville where ducks even up the western conference final at two games apiece with the win in overtime. anaheim let the lead slip away. predators forsberg scoring the final goal in regulation. nationals' ten game home winning playoff would come to an end in the extra period. corey perry with a shot off a defenseman's stick. series moves to anaheim for game five tonight. nba playoff teams had the night off as kcavaliers and celtics tonight in boston.

the league did release a snapshot of the best players in the court with the all-nba first team. houston's james harden was the only unanimous first team choice with lebron and russell westbrook falling a vote shy of that honor. kawhi leonard and anthony davis round out the list. kevin pillar was not on the field playing blue jays, who is suspended two games using a homophobic slur in the seventh inning of wednesday night's match-up. pillar tweeted an apology using the inappropriate language adding he is, quote, completely and utterly embarrassed. more of what seems like retributions for actions in that wednesday games is jose bautista blu plunked by a pitch in the first inning. bautista would go on 2 for 4 in the jays' 9-0 win.

adding fuel to josh donaldson fired off this tweet following the blowout win. i guess he's amused. finally arlington, texas, a lesson staying alert during a major league game, even sitting in the upper deck. a fan learns the hard way after taking a foul ball hit by rangers' slugger joey gallo off the head. ouch. that's going to leave a mark. >> looks like it hurts. >> but was that -- was he trying to catch it? it looks like he had his hands up and totally missed it. >> looks like he had -- >> way to point that out. >> went right through the hand there. >> looks like he had his hands up but he missed it. a look at the live report ahead of the president's big trip overseas. what joe biden said about his party's nominee last night anwhat happens in las vegas, you know the rest of that. back after this. boost. it's about moving forward, not back. it's looking up, not down. it's being in motion.

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welcome back. i'm yasmin vossoughian along with ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. late last night charges were filed against the man accused of ramming his car in times uare, richard rojas. he tested negative for alcohol but positive for drugs. he also has hi dishonorable discharge from the navy in 2016. former vice president joe biden was talking politics in las vegas last night. needless to say, it did not stay

in vegas. according to fusion, biden said he he, quote, neither thought hillary clinton was a great candidate adding, quote, i thought i was a great candidate. however he did say he thought she would have been a great president. if asked if he would run in 2020, the former vice president said, could i? yes. would i? probably not. back to our top story. deepening investigation into the russia's role in 2016 election. for more we go to nbc's justice correspondent pete williams. >> it's day two on the job for the outside special counsel, robert mueller. he's already hiring staff, ready to dive into an investigation that's been going on for months. senator said the deputy attorney general told them that robert mueller will take over an investigation entering a new phase. >> i think the biggest legal change seems to be that mr. mueller is going to proceed forward with the idea of a criminal investigation versus a counterintelligence investigation.

>> reporter: meaning what started purely as an investigation of russia's influence on the campaign is now using all the legal resources available, subpoenas, interviews, grand juries to see if anyone here was helping. mueller takes it on with strong bipartisan support. >> he is someone who's widely respected for his professionalism. he'll conduct a fair and thorough investigation, that i have no doubt. >> reporter: he's already hired two people. james quarles. former u.s. senator john danforth brought on 18 years ago to investigate the federal government's role in the deadly and long standoff in waco, texas. his aadvice, say up front what mueller will look at to manage expectations. >> job one is the immediate clarification of exactly what his mission is, what is he going to investigate, what is he not going to investigate. >> reporter: it will be an adjustment for robert mueller, no longer in charge of an agency

he ran like the tough marine he once was. a former fbi counterterror official says he's not surprised mueller would quit a private law firm to do this. >> he once told me, he said, never leave government service. he said, you're not going to enjoy anything as much as you enjoy serving your country. >> reporter: like any other federal employee, robert mueller could be fired if the president were to order it. there's no way to tell how long this will take before comey was fired, those involved were saying it would last several more months. now it's up to mueller to say when it's done and to report to the deputy attorney general on his findings, even to file charges if mueller concludes that crimes were committed. yasmin? >> our thanks to pete williams reporting from washington. to the fallout involving ousted national security adviser michael flynn. the white house is trying to douse "the new york times" story that he told don flynn about the investigation. the paper reported he first told mcgahan on january 4th but a

white house spokesman dismissed the story as flat out wrong. the story stands by mike pence who ran the transition team back in january saying he found out about flynn and the payments from turkey in march when the news first broke. they are concerned of a pattern in the white house about keeping the vice president in dark about michael flynn's wrongdoings calling it unacceptable and either malpractice or intentional. jared kushner and ivanka trump made it clear that president-elect trump would approve of a request from flynn to become national security adviser after his loyalty during the campaign. the trump administration saying it never happened. jason chaffetz is stepping down. he says he's resigning effective june 30th. chaffetz has been at the center of several high-profile issues on capitol hill, including hillary clinton's e-mail investigation.

just recently he subpoenaed james comey's memos about his interactions with president trump. in a letter to constituents, chaffetz said it's time to turn his page for his family and give others a chance to serve. there is some speculation his republican colleague trey gowdy could take over his chairman while chaffetz could pop up on tv to talk politics. president trump says he's very close to choose the next fbi secretary and jamd joe lieberman as a finalist. he set a self-imposed deadline as today for picking the replacement, "new york times" report members of his staff have urged him to take time. three senior administration officials tell the paper trump is unlikely to make a selecon before he leavesoday for a nine-day foreign trip. the president may be miscalculating how much support lieberman may have against democrats. claire mccaskill says the job should not go to a former politician but others are on board. >> i think it's a mistake to nominate anyone who has run for office. i spent a lot of time in law

enforcement. this is a time where we need a law enforcement professional that's never campaigned for a presidential candidate, never campaigned for office, never worn a party label to head the fbi. >> joe lieberman is an absolutely wonderful human being. he is my dear friend, okay? and maybe it should have someone that has no political connections whatsoever. someone comes out of the professional ranks, maybe that's where they should go. let me be clear, if they don't, if joe lieberman is the man, i'll vote for him. >> renting are lining up behind the former vice presidential nominee with susan collins lieberman a person of, quote, unquestionable integrity. lindsey graham saying the pick would do both the country and the fbi a good service. special counsel takes over the justice department's russia investigation, president trump's campaign says it saw a spike in donations from supporters on the day robert mueller was named. reporting in an e-mail that despite, quote, weeks of unrelenting and unprecedented political attacks against a sitting president, the combined

total for may 17th for the campaign and its joint fund-raising committee with the republican national committee exceeded $314,000. the most since election day. this as democrats say their effort to retake the house is seeking new energy. the democratic congressional campaign committee said it raised $20 million in online contributions so far in 2017 alone, surpassing the total from all of 2015. since january, 2.2 million people joined the e-mail list with 156,000 new donors and an $18 average donation. meanwhile in montana, rob quist, democratic candidate in next week's special congressional election says he's raised more than $5 million. that's off jon ossoff raised $8.3 million in that state's special election last month. let's turn to business. markets got a bit of a bump yesterday after a video that's been circulating among

conservative media made its way to the trading floor. portraying james comey as saying he was never pressured to end his fbi probe. thinking that was good news for the president and his pro-growth strategy, traders were encouraged leading to a quick spike in the dow and the dollar. let's bring in cnbc villa marks live from london. all isn't what it seems there. what are we going to see today? >> well, we had that bump yesterday. we've now seen the dollar weakening slightly against the euro and pound. doing well against the yen right now. futures pointing to a slightly stronger open for s&p and dow later today. in terms of economic uncertainty, big questions around president trump's election and the months following, that economic policy shows this is the most tumultuous period in quite a while. eclipsed only from economists from stanford and northwestern by both 9/11 and the near fiscal cliff we saw back in 2011. it's been more tumultuous in economic uncertainty since the

1987 crash. one other thing involving trump administration and business is nafta. the trade agreement involving northern american countries. we heard during the campaign president trump threatening to withdrawal from the deal, saying it was the worst deal in history. he's rode that back slightly under pressure from justin trudeau and mexican authorities. however, they have just notified his administration has just notified congress in a 90-day letter from lighthize they are looking to renegotiate nafta in the comin days. >> life from london, thanks so much. during his testimony to senate banking committee yesterday, treasury secretary steve mnuchin said the trump administration did not support breaking up big banks, a point elizabeth warren said conflicted with previous statements that the administration was considering a 21st century version of the glass/steagall act. the legislation that once prohibited commercial banks from participating in investment banking. take a look at her sound here.

>> we during the campaign, and i had the opportunity to work with the president on this specifically came out and said, we do support a 21st century glass/steagall, but we never said before that we supported a full separation of banks and -- >> i'm sorry. aspects -- >> we would have -- >> let me stop you right there, mr. secretary. >> you're not letting me finish. >> no, i'm not. there are aspects of glass/steagall that you support, but not breaking up the banks and separating commercial banking from investment banking? what do you think glass/steagall was, if that's not right at the heart of it? this is like something straight out of george orweil. >> i've never said we're in favor of breaking up the banks and separating. if we had -- >> okay. let me try it one more time. we're going to run out of time. tell me what 21st century glass/steagall means if it doesn't mean part those two

functions? it's an sis question or an impossible question. >> it's actually a complicated question. >> i'll bet. >> still ahead, what looks like a bipartisan push to pass something other than legislation. we're following more severe weather today. with 24 million people at risk and the possibility of even more tornadoes. bill karins has the update next. wake up skin. neutrogena® hydro boost hydrating tint. the first water gel foundation with hyaluronic acid it plumps, quenches... delivers a natural, flawless look. this is what makeup's been missing.

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oh, it's actually... sfx: (short balloon squeal) it's ver... sfx: (balloon squeals) ok can we... sfx: (balloon squeals) goodbye! oof, that milk in your coffee was messing with you, wasn't it? try lactaid, it's real milk, without that annoying lactose. good right? yeah. lactaid. the milk that doesn't mess with you. we've all been there before big events. saving seats at any large event can can often be a problem-starter but a graduation in west tennessee turned into an all-out brawl. graduates of arlington high school march into bellevue baptist church, family members were throwing punches and pulling hair a few row as way. in the video several people attempt to break up the fist fight as two women throw punches and pull hair. at one point a woman is knocked to the ground, unfortunately. a spokesperson says security removed the adults from the ceremony and the graduation

continued. not a good lesson for those graduating students to see their parents behave like that. >> not a good thing to happen on a day like that. welcome back. let's get a check of the weather with meteorologist bill karins. >> that's like parents fighting at little league games, what are you doing? fighting to save seats. let's get to the foreca. wead about 20 tornado reports yesterday. thankfully we didn't have any hit any towns, we didn't have any hit any buildings. we got lucky there. now we're dealing with the storms that have been dying off. the lone last threat is in the st. louis area. severe thunderstorm watches up for you. strong thunderstorms coming over the top of you in half an hour from now. if you're heading out in st. louis, keep that in mind. chicago also some rain will be spreading your way. severe threat into saturday, tomorrow it looks like areas from little rock to paducah to indianapolis will be the problem. not so much tornadoes. more damaging winds. we'll have some storms over the weekend. how about the heat over the last couple of days in the east. it's been very warm. yesterday was the warmest may temperature in boston in 38 years. so, pretty significant stuff.

all responsible for the bermuda high here and that subtropical air pumping up the coast. this will continue for one more day today from new york city south wards. d.c., 92. norfolk will be 92. new york will be 89. if we snuck up to 90, that would officially be a heat wave. boston, you're about 10 degrees cooler today. look what happens over the weekend. cold front kicks down through the cooler canadian air will come in from the north. high temperatures will be 62 in boston. 69, new york. d.c. down to 72. so, you know, we'll see a roller coaster ride up and down here. we did have one picture of a tornado we wanted to show you from oklahoma yesterday. this is why we didn't have a lot of damage. they were located like this. out in the open fields away from any population centers. that's why we didn't have any significant injuries or deaths, guys. that was fantastic. >> really good news. bill, i have one more from you from capitol hill. responding to an awkward photo of himself with senators chuck schumer and tom cotton outside the senate jim. senator ben sass said on

twitter, holy mowly, it looks like senator schumer and i are smoking reefer outside. it's the internet, someone made the brilliant photoshop of the original. senator sass added, quote, i thought we wer off the record. nothing like capitol hill humor to get your friday morning going. >> i love it. >> amidst what's all going on. still ahead, the u.s. strikes pro-assad forces. president erdogan looking on as security forces get mixed up with protesters right here in washington, d.c., the nation's capital. we'll be right back.

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welcome back. everyone. we have breaking news i want to tell you about. into a rape claim against wikileaks founder julian assange. assange has been holed up in embassy since 2012 in order to escape extradition from sweden. british police say he's still wanted in britain for jumping bail and will still be arrested if he leaves the embassy. new video showing turkey's president erdogan showing clash with protesters outside the turkish embassy on tuesday. you can see president erdogan sitting in his car and talking to a body guard who says something to another man who runs towards the protesters.

seconds later the fight begins and erdogan gets out of the car, looks on and enters into the embassy. the turkish eassy said they were responding, quote n self-defense. turkey's state-runews agency said police did not heed turkey's demands to intercede and security forces moved in to disperse them. two members of the turkish security detail were detained and subsequently released due to immunity laws. the white house has yet to comment on the incident. in a letter to erdogan, dianne feinstein and john mccain demanded his security team be held accountable. added the violent response from your security detail is reflective of your government's treatment of the press, ethnic minority groups and political opponents. senator mccain was more pointed yesterday on "morning joe." >> we should show their ambassador the hell out of the

united states of america. these are not average people that did this beating. this is erdogan's security detail. somebody told them to go out there and beat up on these peaceful demonstrators, and i think it should have repercussions including identifying these people and bringing charges against them. overseas the united states launched an air strike against pro assad forces in syria. the strike appears to be the first publicly known direct confrontation between the united states and fighters loyal to the assad regime. it happened in the city of al tun. the strike occurred after pro regime forces made advances well inside a well established deconfliction zone and posed a threat to u.s. forces. defense secretary jim mattis says the strike should not be viewed as an increased american

role in the war, only defending our troops. so far no casualties have been announced. meanwhile in a few hours, president trump will embark on his first official forei trip, a nine-day, five-city excursn. >> first travels to saudi arabia and israel and then to the vatican before heading to brussels for a nato meeting and ending a trip at the g7 summit. joining us from london, nbc news chief global correspondent bill neely. this trip coming am mist so much going on at the white house. what are you hearing. >> reporter: they're hoping it will reboot the presidency. there's always a danger in any president trying to solve domestic problems by some kind of foreign solution, either a foreign war or a foreign trip, not least one like this to the world's most volatile region to try to solve its most intractable problem, that between israelis and palestinians. i hate to use the analogy, but

richard nixon in 1974 tried to reboot his presidency just two months before he resigned with the first ever trip by an american president to israel. he also went to egypt and to syria and that didn't work out too well. let's leave nixon aside for a moment. this trip is full of risks in every respect. let's go to israel, the second stop on the trip and look at some of the criticism president trump is facing on scheduling. for example, he's due to visit the holocaust memorial at yad vash shem but only scheduled 15 minutes for that visit. that is an obligatoriry stop for any foreign leader. it's a place, deeply spiritual place. i think many in israel are questioning whether 15 minutes is really an appropriate time at that venue. there are glitches. there's already been cancellations. he was going to give a speech in the middle of the desert. that's been changed.

every step he makes will be scrutinized. you see him there with president benjamin netanyahu. people will be timing the amount of time with netanyahu and mahmoud abbas. everything will be scrutinized so carefully. this is full of elephant traps, and that's just israel, before that saudi arabia, after that meeting the pope, g7 and nato. >> all right, nbc's bill neely live in london. a trip the world is going to be watching closely. coming up next on "morning joe," wrapping up a trying week on u.s. politics. the latest on president trump slamming what he calls a witch hunt against it. >> "morning joe" just moments away. -what? -we gotta go. -where? -san francisco. -when? -friday. we gotta go. [ tires screech ] any airline. any hotel. any time. go whereouant, when you want

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side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. now's the time for a better moment of proof. ask your doctor about victoza®. welcome back. before we toss it over to "morning joe," let's get a check on the stories you'll be hearing about in the day ahead. >> we begin with nbc's kelly o'donnell at the white house. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, luis. after days of head snapping news developments, today something different, he and the first lady will get their passports out and

begin the first foreign trip of the trump presidency, heading to saudi arabia, israel, italy and belgium. before the president takes off, there could still be more developments. he said he's getting close to choosing a new fbi director. one name we've been hearing is joe lieberman, former senator of connecticut, who was a democrat and ultimately became an independent. some consider him a front-runner and is a popular choice among senior advisers because they think he would be appealing to democrats, having been the democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000. democratic sources i'm talking to say they shouldn't assume that because many democrats what someone with a law enforcement background for the fbi, not a politician. yet again, no easy choice for president trump trying to fill a high profile vacancy, one of his own creating by firing james comey. but for today, looking forward to a foreign trip and trying to change the subject. >> thanks to kelly o'donnell for

that report. statue of confederate general robert lee is set to be taken down in new orleans. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. >> have a great weekend. >> did you ever urge former fbi director james comey to close or back down the investigation into michael flynn? >> no, no. next question. >> that was quite a press conference, by the way. we're going to get like a four-minute chunk of him. i'm going to straighten my tie first and then we'll get a four-minute chunk of him contradicting himself. check mark on the tie. this white house, they can't keep up. is willie up in new york? >> yes. >> llie, how are you doing? >> it's like home alone 2, the one where he's left in new york alone. >> that's the one