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homecoming. with the russia investigation intensifying and his own son-in-law and senior adviser jared kushner facing questions with russian officials. the white house refusing to answer questions about the controversy. and forget paris? the president with an update on whether he will withdraw the united states from the historic paris climate accord. we start in italy where president trump marked the end of his first foreign trip with a speech to american troops. >> we have been gone to close to nine days. this will be nine days. and i think we hit a home run no matter where we are. >> the president holding on to some of the successes he saw abroad as he faces more trouble here at home. new developments now shining a strong, strong spotlight on jared kushner. "the washington post" is reporting, during a meeting with russia's ambassador, kushner discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure

communications challenge between trump's transition team and the kremlin. reuters also coming out with a report with russia's ambassador during and after the 2016 campaign. kushner's lawyer releasing that statement on that report. "mr. kushner participated in thousands of calls in this time period. he has no recollection of those calls as described. but "the washington post" was not done. it says the senate intel committee now wants all russia-related documents, e-mails and phone records from trump's campaign, not just some of them. nbc's kristen welker has been traveling with the president. she joins me live from italy. two members of the president's team are facing questions about kushner on the record but off camera, at their insistence, we should note. what did they say? >> gary cohn and h.r. mcmaster

holding that briefing. it was striking that we didn't hear from the president today during the press conference. typically, presidents hold press conferences when on a major foreign trip like this one. what did we hear from his top advisers? not a lot. they were peppered with questions but over and over again they dodged them. take a look at one exchange. >> this issue that you're talking to the general about is not one that he's spending time with on this trip. >> are you saying no foreign leaders are asking him about this at all? >> no, they have not. >> should we assume he's going to retain that position for planned future trips? >> we're not going to comment on jared. we're just not going to comment. >> so the takeaway, jake, is that the questions are not going away. in fact, they are mounting. the white house is going to have to deal with them once the president gets back to the white house in washington, d.c., so we

are told that the administration is bracing for what's being described as a new reality, even setting up a war room that will be led by jared kushner and reince priebus to deal with these thorny headlines of very difficult questions. it all comes, of course, as president trump was being able to cast this as a win. he got a lot of positive headlines but waiting for him at home, this mounting controversy over russia. >> kristen, i was going to ask you about some news that the president made today by actually not doing something in regards to the paris climate agreement. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: this was a big headline here. president trump, the united states not joining the six other g-7 countries in effectively endorsing the paris climate agreement and agreeing to move forward with it. president trump saying he wants more time to think about it, to

think about whether or not he wants to pull out of it. that would be an incredibly controversial move. we know that the g-7 leaders here were pushing him to stay in the summit. but look, this is someone who as a candidate, jacob, you'll recall referred to climate change as a hoax. he's softened that language since he's gotten to the white house but there's a lot of concern amongst some of the united states allies that he's going to pull out. yesterday, during another off-camera briefing, gary cohn said easy volume vehe's evolvin. you have people like jared kushner, ivanka trump, trying to push him to stay in the agreement and then there are others who want him to get out. that america first foreign policy approach. what will he decide? we'll have to wait until this coming week to see. that's when he'll make his final decision. jacob? >> that's absolutely right, kristen. "i'll make my final decision on the paris accord next week."

kristen welker, thank you for your work on the entirety of the president's trip. joining me now is laura bassett and ken delanian. laura, start with you. new revelations include -- and there are a lot of them, the russian ambassador told moscow that kushner wanted secret communications channel with kremlin. the list goes on and on and on. what does this tell you about the kind of week that donald has to look forward to. >> it's never hit this close to home to donald trump before. up until this point, he's been able to distance himself from these russia investigations saying that person worked on my campaign for a little while, that was just an adviser that i don't speak to anymore. now we're talking about his top

adviser, his inner circle. and there's red flags all over the place here. we have jared trying to -- before he's even in the white house, going around normal u.s. communications channels, going around the state department and saying let's go through the russian government and set up a secret communication channel and we don't know what he was trying to talk about and, of course, he also lied on his security clearance form. you know, there's not enough to convict him of a crime at this point but it's looking really, really bad for trump and his inner circle. >> let me turn to you. i want to get this statement in from kushner's attorney. "mr. kushner participated in thousands of calls in this time period. he has no recollection of the calls as described." he has no recollection of the calls. is that an admission that the calls actually did happen? >> well, it's not a denial that they happened and that's what is important here. in this whole thing, jared

kushner looks naive at best and potentially malicious at worse. if you say, i don't really remember if i had a conversation with the russian ambassador, that's hard to believe because that's a conversation that you definitely want to remember. >> ken, let me turn to you. "the washington post" says -- and we were talking about this in the last hour -- to use russian diplomatic facilities that gives him a direct hine into the kremlin. what is the reason that he would need that direct line? >> i don't think it's an exaggeration to say mr. kushner's future at the white house depends on the answer to that question and, of course, we just don't know. but i can't find anyone who is an intelligence expert who has a plausible answer to this. and in fact, former cia officer who helped catch osama bin laden, if she had done that at the cia, she would have been charged with espionage.

and we're waiting to hear whether they are denying that this took place. >> without disclosing those meetings on the appropriate disclosure forms and settings, laura, let's take a listen now to how the white house press secretary described jared kushner's job. listen to this. >> throughout the campaign and the transition, jared served as the official primary point of contact until we had state department officials up. you're acting as if there was something nefarious for doing something he was tasked to do. >> is that a persuasive explanation to you, laura? >> no. jared kushner was not even in the white house when he had this contact with the russian government and so far we haven't even talked about the fact that he met with the head of a russian bank that's been under sanctions for spying activities. there's a lot of suspicious stuff going on here and who told

jared before he was even in the white house that he could set up a secret channel with the kremlin? i just think that even in the white house this would be a very suspicious thing to do. the fact that it happened during the time that there was public suspicion of collusion between the trump campaign and russia. >> let me turn to you about another report. "the new yorker" magazine reports, "nobody who reports in washington is stunned when an administration-any administration-tells you something that's not quite the same and it's misstatements of verifiable facts. is that something that you agree with and what difference does it make to how we see the story in the future? >> the problem with the trump administration is one of credibility. they have said so many things that have just been impossible

to believe and ridiculous that when they try to tell the truth, you're not entirely sure of it anymore. this is something that is very, very damaging to them and it's so early in this administration's tenure. i just don't know how they are going to wipe the slate clean and come out of this without any serious damage. >> laura, this isn't just about russia. "in addition to possible coordination between the kremlin and the trump campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election, investigators are also looki looking broadly into possible financial crimes." we have not heard as much about that but do you think that that's a more relevant area of inquiry when it comes to jared kushner? >> i think it's extremely important. i wouldn't necessarily call it more relevant because kushner supposedly was a strong voice behind the decision to fire comey and so i think that what's really relevant to national security right now is this

trying to impede an investigation into himself and into trump. but i think it's also certainly -- we should, over the course of this investigation, as financial crimes come up, look into that and it's definitely really fishy that kushner met with the head of a bank that's been formally accused of spying against the united states and it's sort of unprecedented. >> just a new report i want to -- again, these reports come in by the minute, from "the new york times" and this one says there are signs that the president's tiring of nonstop combat has told friends that he and his wife have made no long-term commitment to remain by mr. trump's side saying they would review every six months whether to return to private life in new york. who wants to weigh in on that one? >> that's -- that's just really amazing. it just brings up the question of how committed are they to

this administration, to this government, to this country even some might say. it's really -- considering all of these damaging allegations that have come up, more than anything, people want clarity about where this administration is headed and what jared kushner and his family are going to do next. this is part of -- you know when they say that you shouldn't ever do business with friends or family, maybe this is another thing. you shouldn't do politics with friends or family. and it's kinds of amazing. i can't think of any other word for it. >> amazing indeed. i'm grateful to talk to all of you about this morning's avalanche of news. the huffington post, laura bassett, ken delanian, thank you for joining us here on msnbc live this afternoon. much more coming up on the scrutiny jared kushner is still facing ahead. but next, we're going to turn to manchester, england, where police conducted more raids and made a new arrest in this last week's past attack.

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ariana grande announces that she'll run to manchester on june 4th to aid the victims in the terror attack that killed 22. she's reaching out to other marquise artists not to raise money only but also the spirits of the manchester community. this announcement comes as two more suspects were arrested in connection with the suicide bombing there, bringing the total number in custody to 11. all men, all between the ages of 18 to 44. progress, yes, in the investigation leading britain's prime minister to reduce the country's terror threat level from critical to severe. joining us now is chris sampson,

a terrorism, media and cyberwar expert. thanks for joining us today. is reducing the threat level that we've just heard a major vote of confidence in this ongoing investigation? >> it certainly seems that the uk british government is much more comfortable with their head around the case at this point. they have been in contact with the militias and leadership in le libya so they also have arrests there that they can tie to this case and it would certainly seem that the government is much more satisfied with the state of the security there. >> reports indicate that they have taken down a large part of this terrorist network. in your estimation, is that fair to say? >> it's hard to say because, again, without information completely flowing to the public, especially in light of the controversy we've heard in

the last few days, we have no way of knowing whether or not this individual was trained enough to have built these weapons themselves. the consensus seems to be that it's more complicated than one person would be able to do so they are looking for a bomb factory. the network itself will be hard for the officials to completely detect with a nice basis of information coming out of libya to see how much activity has been going back and forth between, you know, this man and his family or his associates. and the theater in libya. >> chris, there's been talk of this telegram app being used as an instrument by isis. frankly, it was the first that i had heard of it. what is it and how does it factor into this particular attack? >> well, telegram is a messaging app but one unique feature created back in september 2015 is creating channels which

allows for isis official and various fan boys to share not only propaganda in the form of media and videos but also have chat and conversational ability and still the encrypting messages available between the two. the telegraph communications have replaced the platforms that they've been using but, again, we're going to see the number one operation security found in this particular operations more likely the fact that they used a brother combination, just like they have done before, when you had the abdeslam brothers in 2013 and in the "charlie hebdo" attack, you had the kouachi brothers. that beats any messaging app you have. if you have two brothers, then they are going to have a confidence between them that is superior to even your friendships. >> chris sampson, grateful for

you joining us this morning and your insights. appreciate it very much. >> you're welcome. turning now to a deadly attack here in the united states, three people stabbed on a train and two of them fatally. what those two victims tried to prevent just moments before they were killed. plus, education secretary of education is schooled about her department's budget. >> i'm shocked that you can't come up with one example that you would stand up for students. ♪

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other charges. he's being held without bail. now a federal judge ordered new sentences for d.c. sniper shooter malvo who is accused for a string of shooting that killed ten people and wounded three others in the washington, d.c., area in 2002. malvo was only 17 at the time and he's currently serving life without parole. in 2012, the u.s. supreme court struck down life sentences without parole for juveniles and the supreme court said that holding applied retroactively to cases on appeal. malvo must be resentenced. back on the hot seat this week for education secretary betsy devos. she faced tough questions about the budget proposal calling for over 10 billion, with a b, cuts from education programs including 1.7 billion from the department's civil rights office. the proposal did not sit well

with many members in congress, including democratic congresswoman man barbara lee of california. >> it's been the federal government that allowed me to go to school, okay? and so when you say that it's up to the parents and local communities, even if young people are being skrdiscriminat against, it's the parents and schools and it's appalling and sad. >> the department is going to continue and will continue to investigate any complaints or any issues surrounding allegations of discrimination. we have no proposal to change any of that. >> a quick programming note. congresswoman lee will join us later in this hour. >> president trump is about to head back to the united states from italy.

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welcome back. i'm live in los angeles. here's some of the stories we're covering at this hour. the white house is not commenting about a report that during a meeting at trump tower last year, jared kushner discussed setting up a secret and secure channel between trump transition's team and russia. more on that is coming up into president trump heads home today from the g-7. he spoke to u.s. troops before boarding air force one with the first lady. brit taish airways says a

massive global computer glitch is to blame for today's flight cancellations. they say there's no evidence of a cyberattack. they will provide a full refund for passengers not able to fly home today. president trump is heading back to the united states today, closing out his first overseas trip as president. before he left, he spoke to the troops stationed in italy and promised reinforcements. >> to our friends and allies, you are the ultimate reassurance. to our enemies, you are the ultimate deterrent. you're the middle spine forged out of the fire's strength. do you know how much stronger we're getting? are you feeling it? >> today, the army is on a recruiting blitz following a year's long drawdown in troops prompting the need to replenish ranks, according to president trump. i found out that one of the army's toughest challenges is

finding fit recruits. [ gunfire ] >> this is the culmination of all of this training. this is as close as it gets to real combat in basic training? >> for these guys, yes, it is. >> reporter: all year long, the u.s. army puts would-be army with one goal, transform civilians into soldiers. >> all of us here have enlisted. >> reporter: so it's likely that they will deploy? >> if you come here thinking you're not going to deploy and you do, you've destroyed that soldier if they didn't have that mind set. >> are you feeling a little nervous? >> of course, sir. >> what does that feel like? >> freedom, sir. >> what is this the beginning of for you? >> serve for six years, get g.i. bill and become a commercial

pilot. what do you think? >> it's nice. >> the army is in the midst of a troop build up and president trump has called for a greater increase, one that would bring total active duty troop numbers to around 540,000. but the army's already working hard to hit the current goal of 476,000 this year, spending 300 million to recruit just 600 more trainees by october. that's because 70% don't meet the physical or mental requirements to serve. >> reporter: why do you think it's a small fraction of eligible americans that are able to enlist? >> there's a fraction of our society that physical activity kind of dissuades them away from it. >> reporter: physical on the ground, mental 30 feet above ground and respiratory in the

tear gas chamber. should i take my glasses off? >> absolutely. >> reporter: all right. this is the real deal. >> let's go! >> take a deep breath. take a deep breath. >> the tear gas is coming out through here. all of them are going to have to take their masks off. >> reporter: how was that? >> it was worse than i expected but we survived. >> why did you sign up for this? >> to better my family and fiancee when i get back home. >> reporter: and this is worth it? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: soldier trainees get a rare moment to let their guard down. >> i've heard people say you joined at the wrong time. the election just happened. >> reporter: why do they say that? >> because we might have to be overseas. >> reporter: are you afraid? >> i mean, it is what it is. >> reporter: what's going on with north korea and syria?

>> a lot of tension still and president is talking about sending people back to afghanistan. you guys don't hear anything about that? >> nope. we have no phones or computers. >> our drill sergeant said what happens outside of here doesn't matter to us. we're in the no zone. >> reporter: and facing the future is in the hands of president trump. >> amazing to see what those men and women go through at ft. benning. for more on president trump's military plans, i'm joined by a combat veteran who was in iraq and afghanistan and who is the president and ceo of the truman national security project. has trump succeeded on this trip to spur more cooperation in dealing with global threats? i mean, that was one of his big goals. >> thanks for having me on. i've got to say, i don't miss that gas chamber at all. >> tell me about it. i had to take the mask off.

>> that's because you're a smart guy. anyway, it's not fun. there are concerning developments on the trip for sure. particularly with nato. i think -- i served with that unit, 73 airborne, one of the elite units. they are there as a rapid response group for europe to respond to things that happen there. i think the nato alliance really needed to hear this president say that he was going to reaffirm our commitment to article 5. i think that was a major mistake and they also made a decision not to take a real decision on russia, which is the threat that nato and our allies feels that we are facing and for very good reason. militarily aggressive and across the front that the black sea is in front of that includes ukraine and syria and they've been very involved in the united states to influence our election

which the intelligence community feels that they did but also in europe, the russian cyberattacks and other active measures being used to try to influence other allies. to not take a position on russia at this nato summit was i think a pretty glaring omission. it's uncertain where we are now. i think our allies are really needing the administration to reconfirm their commitment and i don't think they can do that fast enough and i don't think it's healthy. >> some of the global threats you mentioned were part of the reason that the president during the campaign had promised to increase the military to 540,000 troops, one of the things that i highlighted in that spot. it ends up in the budget that his administration released at the beginning of this past week while the president was overseas. he's sticking with president obama troop numbers of 476,000. how do you read into that? is that a situation where yet again campaigning and governing

are two different things entirely? >> yeah, i think that's right. having no experience in uniform or in national security at all or in government, to get on the ka. pain trail and make all kinds of sweeping allegations with the rules of engagement, geneva convention, all of these things, and then you get the keys to the car and maybe you need the carberator after all. i think it's a lot tougher to do this stuff in real life and i'm still very disturbed at the lack of senior professional support around this administration. i mean, things on this trip that stand out, leaving your national security adviser h.r. mcmaster in the hallway and taking jared kushner into meeting. we all laughed at the glowing orb but that's what happens when you're not staffed in advance on trips like this.

and we're seeing this happen at the same time that a president who campaigned in military engagement in a lot of ways is committing more and more u.s. troops around the world. we have a lot of guys on the ground in iraq and syria and elsewhere, many more than we did at the beginning of this administration, and they are pushing the risk envelope further and further. small forces moving around in very fluid situations in eastern syria, in iraq, and that place as tremendous amount of pressure on the defense department because the white house is effectively pushed decision making down to the level of secretary mattis. meanwhile, secretary mattis has been unable to get the staff he needs in place. the kind of things like make sure we know where our aircraft carriers are. it leads to pretty serious blunders and mistakes when you don't have those professionals at the wheel. >> just quickly, because we've got to run, the pentagon appears to be considering a plan to send more troops to afghanistan,

something that the soldiers wanted to know about. what should factor into president trump ds's decision? >> there are guys fighting in some of the same places that i was in when i was in daycare and now we have kids pretty soon who haven't even been born when i was fighting in these places. we can surge in, surge out but it's time for a serious conversation about our long-term strategy in afghanistan and so far the administration doesn't appear to have taken that very seriously. >> michael, we have to leave it there. great to talk to you and thank you for joining us. all right. if you're home tonight, be sure to watch "the greatest generation" reported by nbc's tom brokaw at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc.

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one of the nation's largest insurers, bluecross blue shield

announcing that rates will be going up in north carolina by almost 23% under obamacare. the insurer warned of higher rates saying that the rates would be much lower if congress funded cost-sharing reductions. despite the warnings, president trump released massive spending cuts, $600 billion, over the next decade. joining me now is democratic congresswoman man barbara lee. good saturday to you, congresswoman. bluecross blueshield is raising rates in north carolina. do you think it could spread to other states? >> you know, the big issue here is this administration undermining the affordable care act. when you look at what they are proposing, it creates uncertainty and also it really creates anxiety among the 23 to 24 million people who will lose their health insurance. what we need to do is make sure that the senate does not move

forward in repealing the affordable care act and look for a way to address the issues in terms of enhancing and making the affordable care act work a bit better for those who need that kind of help. but believe you me, it's not going to do any good to people who have health insurance now or insurance companies that raise the rates due to uncertainty and due to the real mean-spirit approach of the trump administration to take away health care from millions of people. >> let's get technical for a second. the insurer blamed the cost-sharing reductions and if congress funded them, they said the rates would be much lower. did congress come up with any attempts to help with the cost funding options? >> there is a lawsuit, first of all, that the trump administration should pull out of because you've got to enhance

the cost for people who need that help. that was the point of the affordable care act. we have got to insist that congress and the administration continue with cost sharing so premium also not go up and the trump administration is playing these games, the republicans are playing these games to really undermine the affordable care act which would, of course, make the cost sharing provisions go down and the rates go up. and that's just how it is. >> i want to ask you about "the washington post" report claiming that jared kushner wanted to set up these secret back channel communications with russia. do you have reason to believe that this is true and, if so, do you think that kushner should resign or be fired? >> every day something new comes out with this administration and let me tell you, this really speaks volumes as to why the

president needs to release his income tax returns. we need to look at the financial transactions and complications possibly with the trump empire and we also need to make sure that we have an independent investigation, a bipartisan independent commission established to do that. so this is getting very serious and dangerous and the public is listening to our intelligence officials and to lawyers talking about this and the fbi investigation is moving forward. we need to uncover the facts and very quickly and i'm very concerned about what is taking place and i think we need to move quickly if in fact these allegations are true. >> let's pivot now, congresswoman, to the war in afghanistan. the president wants to send as many as 5,000 more troops there. you were against going to war in iraq.

how do you feel that more troops might now be on their way to afghanistan? >> i was the only one who voted against the authorization to use force right after the horrific attacks of 9/11. that was afghanistan. next year -- the following year, the iraq resolution came up. and let me tell you, this has been the longest war in american history. there is no lock-term strategy. congress has not been involved in any debate nor a vote. we have not been exercising our constitutional responsibility. minimally, this administration wants to come back to congress and we should vote up or down on whether we think this war needs to be expanded, not only in syria or yemen or throughout the world it was a blank check and that's why i voted against it in 2001. it set the stage for endless

perpetual war and we're building bipartisan support, jacob, to repeal the 2001 resolution agency force them to come back to congress to develop another strategy and another approach so congress cannot be missing in action. >> thank you for that clarification, congresswoman. the date was november 14th, 2001, the authorization for military force after the 9/11 attacks. congresswoman man barbara lee, thank you, as always, for joining us. >> thank you. this teenager just graduated high school and it was her second graduation, believe it or not, this month. the first time she dawned a cap and gone, she graduated from college. bizarre, yes. amazing as well. her story is coming up next. first, on memorial day weekend, we have threats to have a washout, 61% of americans are under the threat of severe weather, flash floods, possibility of tornadoes.

meteorologist bonnie schneider is here with the latest forecast. >> jacob, right now we have the severe thunderstorm watch just issued including st. louis, memphis and nashville and this tornado watch including much of missouri going straight into the evening hours. watch out because tornado warnings are popping up in the vicinity, meaning we're seeing doppler-indicated rain that could produce, as you mentioned, heavy downpours. looking forward to the rain going into the evening hours, the rain coming through northern alabama, georgia and tennessee. 61 million at risk for golf ball-sized hail. tornado are likely. by monday, the energy pushes to the east. we deal with rain and fog. that's a look at your memorial day weekend weather forecast. we'll have more on msnbc live after this. on... but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one.

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pomp and circumstance are in the air at one charter school in indiana. we can see the start of a new trend doubling down on dip employee mas. here's a story of one young woman who is the symbol of determination and discipline. >> rayborn osmond had access to a unique problem that helped them take their education to the next level. >> raven osborne just graduated high school but there's something she's completed not many high schoolers have. >> i graduated college on may 5th and high school on the 25th. >> i enrolled at per due university northwest. >> reporter: she was able to do this because she attended 21st charter school in gary, indiana, run by the geo foundation.

>> we seek to provide quality school in challenging organizations. >> they take an accuplacer exam in middle school. once the student passes one of the sections of the exam, geo foundation spent the money on college courses. >> you can take courses at the college level and you get the language and college experience and it doesn't cost me the teacher. >> reporter: this means it doesn't cost the student anything to attend college motivating the students to take the courses, something particularly important in a city like gary, indiana, where graduation rates have historically been low. in 2005, the city of gary had a 50% high school graduation rate. the city is now at 85%, while 21st century charter school

maintains a 100% graduation rate. the school goes above and bond ensuring transportation is taken care of. >> my principal would take me and then miss gray, miss murray. >> reporter: raven isn't the only one. six other students are graduating with their associates and heading off to schools like indiana state university and columbia college. as for raven, she'll return as a reading intervention teacher working with students from first to third grade earning a salary of $38,000 a year. close to what others will be paying to attend a private university after high school graduation. what's interesting is that this is not an extreme case of someone skipping high school. they go into community college and once they get their associate's degree, they can apply as a transfer and get

their bachelor degree like raven has. >> that's an amazing opportunity. she got her college degree ten years quicker than i was able to. >> exactly. >> good to see you. thanks a lot. >> thanks, jacob. to all of you at home, that is all for me. thank you for joining me. follow me any time and all the time if you really want to do it on social media. richard lui picks up our coverage from here. much more on the end of president trump's first overseas trip and the bombshell reports jared kushner discussed setting up secret communications with the russians.

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