last year. what this signals from our white house. and the climate cliffhanger. it is decision day for president trump. hallie jackson was references that. in a few hours, the president back in the rose garden, set to announce whether or not the u.s. will stay in the paris climate accord. staffers and family on both sides making last-ditch efforts to sway president trump. good morning, everyone. i'm stephanie rhule. back with you. we begin with these dramatic developments in the russia investigation. you could say that any day. a source close to james comey telling nbc news that james comey is, quote, cleared for takeoff by robert mueller, the special counsel, overseeing the justice department russia investigation. also new this morning, new subpoenas issued by a house intelligence committee in its russia investigation. two sets of subpoenas, actually. nbc news white house

correspondent kristen welker joins us live. "new york times" is saying this comey testimony would be the most sensational development to the russia saga. >> there's no doubt that all eyes are going to be on capitol hill next week when former fbi director james comey takes the hot seat, testifies before the senate intel committee, about what he knows and about the circumstances surrounding his ouster. of course, there are reports that in a memo that he wrote, he described the fact that president trump pushed him to drop the investigation. some critics wondering if it could, in fact, amount to obstruction. those are among the questions he's going to have to answer next week when he testifies. steph, president trump trying to turn the page today. tweeting this, let me read it, the big story is the unmasking and surveillance of people that took place during the obama administration. now, of course, that's going to be at issue, as well, next week, during that senate intel

committee hearing. all of it will be on the table. it's notable that you have president trump tweeting about it today because just yesterday, his press secretary, sean spicer, referred all russia-related questions to his outside counsel. saying we're not going to discuss this from the podium. we want to focus on jobs, on the economy, on health care. today, the president stepping on his own communications team by talking about russia. no surprise, obviously, we know president trump likes to hit social media, use twitter, to get out his own views. a lot of questions about how that's going to play out as this russia probe deepens, steph. >> i want to say thank you to president trump. i'm tired today. i know he has a lot on his plate. still, he finds the time to help news organizations tell us what the big story of the day should be. thank you, president trump. thank you, kristen welker. i have to bring my panel in on this. national political reporter for real clear politics.

ev evan, political strategist. what do you think of preventing comey from testifying publicly and what could it set off? >> james comey has been at the center since the firing, of course. he is someone lmakersave been wanting to hear from for week nous now. there was a question whether or not he'd testify given his relationship with robert rhu mueller. they go back at the fbi. spotlight is on him for sure. this at a time that people inside the white house want to wall off the investigation from the kind of daily things coming out of the white house. this almost certainly puts it back in the spotlight. who knows what will come from comey's testimony. remember, the memos that have been talked about and reported about, those will be really at the center here. lawmakers trying to figure out what exactly was said during his conversations with donald trump, the nature of those conversatioconversation s and the possible questions of

whether he thinks it was obstruction. >> evan, the white house could make the argument, if we want to get to the bottom of this, james comey can testify but it shouldn't be in public. given the media outrage, the political environment we're in now, it doesn't help get to the bottom of everything if the whole world sees all of this play out. can the white house, can the president make this argument when he himself raises the roof, sets off fireworks about this every day? i mean, for the president to lead, well, the story of the day should be the unmasking, how can he potentially make the argument and invoke executive privilege when he makes it so noisy? >> the president saying it should be testimony behind closed doors makes it look like he has something to hide. two, in terms of the executive privilege, i don't think the courts wl ultimately upmost any executive privilege claim because the president commented publicly, repeatedly, on everything that is going on. he's talked about the memo. he's talked about his reasons for firing director comey. now, he's brought this on himself. director comey, or somebody

close to him, leaked the contents of the memo to the "new york times" so that they could get to this position of being able to testify publicly and confirm it. it is the biggest and most tense slowdown on capitol hill since, i think, watergate. >> how sensitive is this for james comey? while he has been, you know, in this business for years and years, in the last year, to say he's been thrust into the spotlight is an understatement. people blaming him for -- many people blaming him for the outcome of the election. even just take the last two weeks. we know the president called james comey a nutjob. he fired him in a very embarrassing, sort of spectacular sort of way. now, james comey has a chance to sit down. what do you think is inside his head? how is he going to sit there and present himself, given how sense tiff things are? >> exactly. he has been criticized for really engaging in the spotlight more than others have. but the way you laid it out is exactly right.

this is someone who has been criticized publicly by the president in a fashion that we haven't seen before. so there is a thought about comey using this opportunity to kind of clear the air in some ways to evan's point, get his side of the story out there and make sure there's no daylight betwn what he thinks -- what he says actually happened and what the president is going to be talking about. i mean, this is really kind of an unprecedented thing here to have the president -- >> you have to pay me $2 on the show every time you say unprecedented. you said it twice. she's up to $4. >> okay. >> there's more movement on the russia investigation. kasie hunt joins me now. i haven't seen you since you're back from your honeymoon. welcome back. congratulations. >> thank you. >> let's talk russia. house intel committee expanding investigation. when you say they're issuing subpoenas, can you separate the two groupings? >> sure. there's two things going on here on parallel tracks, steph. the first is what you've been

talking about, this russia investigation that we're going to see jim comey testifying on. that's one part of this. that's those first four subpoenas. that's one for michael flynn himself, one for his businesses, also one for michael cohen, trump's long-time personal attorney, and his business entity. these are subpoenas that have been agreed to by democrats and republicans. congressman conway, the new republican leading that half of the -- or leading this russia investigation. after, of course, nunez stepped back from it in the we of questions about his impartiality anthe way he had conducted himself. now, the other set of subpoenas, and this is what the president has been tweeting about and what we have been discussing around this question of unmasking, and that is another set of three subpoenas that are actually for national security agencies. the reason we're showing you these faces, susan rice, john brennan and samantha power is

because what the subpoenas are essentially asking the national security agencies for are any requests involving these three obama administration officials to unmask the names of potential trump associates or the president himself in communications that was gathered as part of intelligence. this is something nunez is freelancing. democrats are frustratied he di this but he still has the power of the subpoena pen. >> i want to get my panel to weigh in. nunez freelancing and the president, we mentioned earlier, tweeting to say, focus on these subpoenas. this unmasking. is this dangerous territory, whether for nunez or the president? at the end of the day, samantha powers, clapper, susan rice, they could come up with nothing. the group of people being subpoenaed have far more checkered histories, one could argue. michael flynn, michael cohen. they're not peers of samantha power.

>> well, they're totally different parties, first of all. >> yes. >> i don't want to pay you $2, so it is unprecedented we have this going on right now. i think nunez is actually trying to get to the bottom of what is going on. however, the timing of this is very concerning and it should not have been done in a freelance position. if any official, be it any administration, unmasks somebody for some sort of political motive, that is absolutely unacceptable. i think that nunez really needs to explain why he did it now, of all times, and why the president put out a tweet just the same morning that he did it. is he still colluding with the white house? >> ithe a chance it could blow up in his face though if they subpoena samantha power, susan rice, et cetera? if they were unmasking tied to bad behavior that members of the trump campaign engaged in with russians -- >> right. we don't know. susan rice in interviews has said that the -- you know, this

was part of -- part and parcel of her job and of her role, that there was nothing nefarious going on. she had followed the protocol. the process of requesting unmasking goes through a long process in various different ways. so there certainly is that risk, you do have the president tweeting about it. he is going to probably continue to talk about this. >> it's not process oriented. >> right. when you look at the committees though, it has been a tale of two hearings in some of these ways. with republicans focusing on leaks and unmasking and democrats focusing on the russia investigation and elements of collusion possible. >> we have to move on. evan, isn't this so frustrating for the american people, who so many voted because they were tired of partisanship? because they were saying, we need to break this and move together and work together if we're going to help the country. then here we are in the most partisan place you could be. >> you mean to tell me the

members of the house of representatives would engage in partisansh partisanship? i think kaitlyn is right but i nto alter what she w saying slightly. the house is engagingn partisanship. look how the senate intelligence committee is working in a bipartisan manner in the way the american people actually want people to -- >> good point. we have to move on to this story that's blowing my mind today. adam joins us. national security reporter at the "washington post." you broke the story overnight. the trump administration is considering giving back two russian compounds that the obama administration had seized in december, specifically in retaliation for their election meddling. adam, like many of these compounds, it's not unique to russians. you know, there is some sort of information gathering or espionage activity. what is the argument to give them back? >> well, i think, you know, you really need to look back to when this -- when these facilities were closed down by the obama administration. there was a phone call between

michael flynn, then the designated national security adviser, and the russian ambassador, sergei kislyak, in which flynn indicates if russia doesn't retaliate to the obama sanctions, that the trump white house, once it takes power on january 20th, will revisit sanctions on russia. the question is, obviously, the russians had been pushing to get these facilities back. they want to get back to kind of where they were before the obama sanctions took place, in order maybe to proceed with negotiations on other issues with the trump administration. >> i get why -- >> they're trying to get back to that. >> i get why the russians would want it. whyould the white house okay it? >> i think they'd like to proceewi whatever, you know, they have in mind with russia. this is an impediment to that. if they can get back to basically make the russians satisfied, that they're made whole if you will, then they might be able to engage in those negotiations that the trump administration seems eager to

get along with. >> well, evan, since i don't know what it means, can you answer why would the republicans want to do this? >> the russian embassy in the united states tweeted may 23rd that russia wants these properties back. if they don't get them back, there will be serious countermeasures. >> which could be what? >> who knows what it could be. maybe they'll interfere in the 2018 mid-terms. >> they will. >> or say this is absolutely terrible and we protest. but nine days later, the president is saying he is giving them back. that's a sign of weakness. if he is taking these threats from russia like that. if a tweet is all it takes for a country to get something back that was seized for, what, 17 intelligence agencies confirmed was interference in the united states election process, that worries me. as a republican, i chastised president obama for being weak. this is a new level of weakness. >> kaitlyn? >> what's interesting, too, is you know, when we're talking about -- as we have been this week, talking about jared kushner and the potential back channel with russia, i mean,

this came after we had known that russia had meddled in the election. it's sometng the pdent has been reluctant, bly, to talk about and to acknowledge. and so this, you know, was part of -- >> these were the only tangible actions taken since the attempted hacking. >> exactly. this was part of the sanctions package, as well. so the fact that it's returned in this manner, as the president has not acknowledged the extent to which russia meddled, and will continue as people have testified on these committees. >> extraordinary development. adam, great reporting. thank you. we're going to take a break. next, i'll speak with republican congress man of illinois. does he think the russian compounds should be returned to the kremlin? plus, whether he wants president trump to pull out of the paris climate agreement. and lebron james, king james, speaking out after vandals wrote a racial slur on

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it will be he said/he said. fbi director james comey will testify before congress as early as next week, speaking out for the first time publicly about his meetings with president trump. a man i know who has said before he'd like answers, republican congressman of the state of

illinois, member of the committee on energy and commerce and served this country in the air force in iraq and afghanistan. congressman, james comey next week. do you expect him to confirm reports that president trump influenced him to lay off the mike flynn investigation? >> well, i don't know what to expect. that's why i want to see his testimony. you know, i've said my concern with what's going on is everybody takes any piece of information and they put it through a pre-conceived partisan notion now. some of the right immediately -- >> you're right. >> -- think everything is fake news. some on the left immediately yell impeachment. i think we want an answer. we need to know. again, my concern is not about 2018. it's not about 2020. my concern is about the stability of the institution of democracy. we need to get to where people trust that leaders will be held accountable and, you know, if there are false accusations, those will be held accountable. i want to know from director comey what exactly what happened. we can move forward legally or whatever to figure out what the options ar after that. >> if everyone needs to get out

of their partisan corners, open their minds, their hearts, was it the right move for your colleague, nunez, to subpoena intelligence agencies to look into this unmasking issue right at this time? >> you know, look, i know nunez to be an honorable person. i haven't talked to him about this, and i don't know any more information than what's being reported. i know the unmasking issue is an issue that needs to be directly looked at, but it shouldn't be at the expense of the overall russia investigation, too. we need -- again, no matter where you're at on this, and people can have different political opinions. i mean, i'm a partisan republican. but when it comes to the broader institution of democracy, protesting our election system, we need answers all together. finding out what's going on. then we can make decisions after that. >> democracy first. what concerns you more, possible collusion or violations in unmasking? >> i think -- well, they're both important, but i think what would concern me more in terms

of protecting democracy is if, in fact, a foreign power had any success in co opting anybody in a future administration. we don't know. there's been a lot of accusations, a lot of news reports. that's why i called for a special, what we have now, a special prosecutor, a special counsel, to get to the bottom of this in a non-partisan way. these are all things we need to know. what we do know is not only was there an attempt at least to influence the election here, we know that they've tried the same thing in france. they're trying the same thing in germany. that's the russians. this is something out of the old kgb playbook from 60 years back, with the exception of they didn't have the internet then. >> since we know that and sort of the response to that was during the last days of president obama's term, he took away the rights for the russians to use those compounds in maryland and in long island. what's your take on the fact that the white house is now considering giving back those two diplomatic compounds, the

actions that were taken in response to that interference? >> well, i think if they are, in fact, considering it, they ought not consider it very long. you look at these compounds. they were taken because of presumed russian interference. you can go broader, because they occupy crimea, not theirs, they have a war in eastern ukraine and they occupy a third of georgia that's not theirs, as well. what in those things has changed? >> nothing. >> nothing has changed. >> so why -- >> so -- >> why would the white house want to give these compounds back to them? >> i sure hope they don't. i don't know why they would. maybe there is a belief that somehow, if we give the russians something, we can enter into grand negotiations. i have no problem negotiating with the russians, talking about troubled spots in the world but you don't reverse policy when there has been no change in the policy. they're meddling in other people's elections and still are having a war in eastern ukraine illegally and annexing crcrimea.

i'll condemn it if they go through with this. >> across the board, your message is clear. you want transparency and answers. if the president is considering invoking executive privilege that would prevent james comey from testifying, what will your reaction and response be to the white house? >> well, i won't be happy about it. i think james comey is now out of office. he was fired. whether that shield can protect him or not, i don't know legally. i think the american people need to hear from him. i absolutely believe that director mueller needs to hear from him, and as part of his ongoing investigation. i hope executive privilege isn't invoked. this isn't throwing stones at the president or people on the other side of the party. this is just saying, whatever happened, happened. there's truth here. there is a reality. we don't know what that is. we need to find out what that is for the sake of not the next election -- let's get out of the next election cycle that we're in -- but for the sake of our knock. because we have record low

approval ratings and faith in the democracy today. that's concerning to me not just for the next election but long-term stability of our country. >> i want to talk about the paris accord for a moment. it is a common misconception, this idea that, i you want to stay in paris, that means you believe in climate change and youant to protect things. if you want to get out of it, you are a climate change denier. that is not the case. but president trump is expected to announce today that he could be pulling out of the paris climate accord, an agreement that 195 nations are a part of, with the exception of nicaragua, that wants it to be more serious, and syria that has other issues. but he wants to pull out potentially with caveats. you've said before there should be a middle ground when it comes to climate change. you've got four nuclear power plants in your district alone, along with miwindmills, hydropor plants. should the u.s. pull out of the deal with caveats? >> no, i don't think the u.s. should withdraw from it. it would put us in a couple of

countries that are not part of the paris treaty. that would take away our seat at the table when figuring out how to deal with this. one of the areas i do think the president should make clear though is our commitment to doing something about this, but not through the heavy hand of government bureaucracy but the free market. look at the low cost of natural gas right now. it is a cleaner burning fuel. the market helped to make that now kind of take over. look at nuclear power. extremely important to my district. that has zero carbon output but produces huge base load power. there are ways we can move forward on this, i think, without pulling away from the treaty. not just putting ourselves in a small group of people that aren't part of it, b also, frankly, sding a very bad message to the rest of our allies. we can do this in a way that as a republican, i think, the free market can help solve this problem through incentives and otherwise. >> thank you for your time this morning. i appreciate it. >> you bet. take care. we're going to take a break. we have that new dashcam video, upsetting video for golf fans of

tiger woods, whose arrest the other night. what comes next for the golf legend? ♪

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welcome back. you're watching msnbc. it is time now for your top stories this morning. a full look at the full bench. the supreme court justices just sat for their formal family photo with the newest associate, of course, justice neil gorsuch. gorsuch was sworn in on april 10th, filling the position left after the death of justice antonin scalia. police released upsetting new dashcam video showing tiger woods's dui arrest early monday morning. in the video, woods appears unsteady and very confused as he stumbled through a sobriety test before being handcuffed. the golf star says he suffered an unexpected reaction to prescription medications and that alcohol was not involved. this is important. he scored a 0.000%, absolutely none on the breathalyzer test he took monday morning. woods will be arraigned on july 5th. and nba star lebron james is not just getting ready for

important basketball games, he's speaking out after vandals wrote a racial slur on his california home on wednesday. james spoke to reporters about this incident. >> -- how much money you have. no matter how famous you are. no matter how many people admire you. you know, being black in america is -- it's tough. we'vgot lon way to go, you know, r us as a society and for us as african-americans. until we feel equal in america. >> lebron james, a leader in the state of ohio, a great philanthropist there, hopes to take his cleveland cavaliers to the championship in the finals.

he doesn't have stephanie ruhle as a fan because i love the warriors. there is a delay from moving the u.s. embassy in israel from tel-aviv to israel. nbc's chief white house correspondent, hallie jackson, back in the hot seat. welcome back. >> thank you, steph. >> i want to begin with the embassy issue. does signing this issue mean the president is breaking his campaign promise? this is a confusing one. >> for now. that's not how the white house wants to frame it. the president did on the campaign trail again and again say, first, he'd move the embassy on day one. that obviously didn't happen. second, he'd move the embassy, period. this waiver means it won't happen, if at all, for another six months. it is not surprising. this is something that presidents grappled with in the past, promising to move the embassy and then understanding the reies on the ground and the symbolism o what it would mean. the prident has a priority of middle east peace, and moving the embassy could be a hurdle

for that. how the white house is trying to frame this, steph, because the statement is interesting, quote, no one should consider this step to be in any way a retreat from the president's strong support for israel and for the united states/israel alliance. president trump made the decision to maximize the chances of successfully negotiating a deal between israel and the palestinians. this is clearly then stating that the president sees a priority as mideast peace and understands moving the embassy would be a hurdle to that. >> we have to talk about cuba for a minute. >> yeah. >> cuba, that was a marquee moment for president obama. clearly something that stands a moment when you think about his legacy. now, you've learned that president trump is considering rollbacks on the cuba policy. >> yeah, multiple sources are telling nbc exactly that. that the president would essentially consider major rollbacks in these initiatives put forward under former president obama. here's a couple crucial things. number one, unlikely to break diplomatic relations. number two, unlikely to close

the embassy. now, there is a lot of republican support for continuing these obama era policies, although, for example, senator marco rubio is on the opposite side of that and has been, it's our understanding, pushing the president or involved in the decision making for the president on cuba. i think when you look atr picture, stephanie, this is a continuation of a theme we're seeing even today. president trump coming in and working to undo former president obama's signature legacy issues here. on climate, we're seeing that today with paris. on cuba, we're seeing signs that this could happen. there is an expectation that the president will deliver a speech, probably in miami, according to our reporting on this, citing human rights abuses and announcing some of these changes when it comes to the u.s. relationship with cuba. again, this is, as our nbc first read frames it, our political team, steph, it is the undoing of the obama-era policies that president trump is working toward. probably because those are things he can undo himself, unilaterally, without the help

of congress. >> hallie jackson, thank you so much. i know i'll be watching you at 3:00 p.m. today for that big paris announcement from the president. before then, we're going to talk about james comey again, who is back in the spotlight. james comey cleared to testify before congress. the big question, will president trump try to block him from speaking out? can he? we'll have more on the other side of the break. ♪ nah. what else? what if we hire more sales reps? ♪ nah. what else? what if we digitize the whole supply chain? so people can customize their bike before they buy it. thatorked tter th expected. i'll dial it back. yeah, dial it back. just a little. live busins, powered by sap. when you run live, you run simple.

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you're watching msnbc. it promises to be must-see tv. i'm not talking about my hour with you. i'm talking about special counsel robert mueller gave james comey the all clear to testify before congress as soon as next week. of course, about his conversations with president trump. but the big question today, will the white house try to block that testimony? joining me now, paul butler, professor at georgetown university law school, and former federal prosecutor at the department of justice. and michael allen, managing director of beacon global strategies. he's also a former special assistant to president george w bush, as well as former staffer of the house intelligence committee. paul, the white house has not commented yet on whether or not the president will try to invoke executive privilege. given all that the president himself has already been saying, hey, james comey, you better hope i don't have tapes, can they try to do it even? is it too late? >> so the idea of the executive

privilege is that the president should have a right to have private conversations about sensitive matters. courts don't always uphold that in cases of high public interest, like russiagate. so president nixon tries to assert it with regard to the watergate tapes. obama tried it in regard to the fast and furious investigation. it wasn't allowed. trump has two problems. one, the exception, if there is a compelling government interest. second, as you say, stephanie, he waived it. you can't tweet and give interviews to lester holt, talking about what comey said, and when comey wants to talk about it, say, no, it's privileged, you can't talk about. >> always a good idea to give interviews to lester holt. you're incorrect on that. why would robert mueller give james comey the go ahead? >> i think there is a public interest in hearing from director comey. i think comey wants to speak.

as mike flynn's lawyer might say, he has a story to tell. certainly, comey wants to, if we know anything about comey, it's that he wants to protect the bureau from political interference or the perception they've been politicized. i feel he wants to come out and say, hey, listen, i may have felt like i had some pressure from the white house, but it didn't affect our investigation and the investigation goes on. >> what would the upside be, if the president, if the white house, tries to invoke executive privilege? i'm going to guess the reigns are going to come down onthem. the criticism, given the lack of transparency, the meetings, numbers of the transition team, now the administration, dealings with russia that weren't reported, business ties that may or may not have existed, not seeing president trump's taxes. transparency has been a criticism, even among president trump's supporters. if he invokes this, couldn't the

backlash be worse? >> i definitely think so. if i were advising the president, i'd tell him to let comey go ahead and testify. take your lumps. the quickest way out of this for the president, if truly nothing went on that was incorrect in terms of collusion between the united states and russia, then he should let the chips fall where they may. come up with a strategy for the long-term, to deal with this, much like clinton did during the whitewater investigations. try to compartmentalize it and move on with your agenda. get it out of the way. take your lumps. don't look like you're hiding by invoking a weak case of executive privilege. >> paul, some members of congress -- listen, we know how partisan things are. let's try to take those hats off. but some members of congress have suggested that what president trump discussed with james comey, whether he realized it or not, could be an obstruction of justice. i know the white house wouldn't answer that question yesterday.

take a listen. >> did the president engage in obstruction of justice in repeated meetings with james comey? >> our job, we are focused on the president's agenda and all going forward, all questions on these matters will be deferred to outside counsel. >> of course, robert mueller has the authority to investigation obstruction of justice. does the fact that he gave comey clearance to speak tell us anything about that? >> i think it tells us that whatever comey says, it's probably not going to be that juicy or really interesting. you remember a couple weeks ago, rod rosenstein testified before the congress. afterwards, they were like, why did he even come? he didn't say much. >> you think it won't be spectacular? >> mueller is trying to preserve the integrity of his criminal investigation. he or his people have had a conversation with mueller, where they say, you can answer general questions that are already out there in the public. >> conversation with comey. >> yes, with comey. you can answer general questions that are already out there, but

we don't want you to get into specifics. again, specifics are what it is all about at this point. >> michael, i want to ask you about the subpoenas. two groups of subpoenas to members of the trump campaign or transition team around their potential ties to russia. also, some members of the obama administration tied to unmasking. is it curious? is the timing of this to you curious in any way? >> well, i think a reasonable period of time has occurred since nunes stepped down as the chairman of the russia investigation. it is in the oversight of the committees to look into the process by which u.s. persons, when they're accidentally or incidentally collected, are disseminated within the executive branch. i hear ya. i know the timing is a little koicoincidental or suspicious, it is a legitimate avenue of oversight. where i n't go is any

suggeson there was political spying. that is absolutely an outrageous claim. republicans and democrats and networks and others should stand up for the intelligence community and explain how these things come to pass and why we're after foreign intelligence collection targets, and not targeting u.s. citizens unless there's probable cause to do so. >> maybe that'll be a good outcome of these subpoenas. instead of all of this conjecture out there, they will have the chance to sit down and explain what they did and why they did it for everyone to understand how these processes work. all right. gentlemen, thank you so much. we're going to take a break. coming up, team of arrivals. i'm not talking about democrats and republicans. i'm talking about within the white house. the west wing fight over paris climate agreement. one corner, ivanka trump. in another, scott pruitt, head of the epa, with hours to go until the president's big announcement.

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welcome back. i'm stephanie rhule. you're watching msnbc. the countdown is on. in just about three hours from now, president trump will make his rose garden announcement on the paris climate agreement.agr. an administration official tells nbc news the president is expected to pull out of the accord, but it is not clear cut. there will, of course, be caveats, a trump stamp on it. i want to bring in kate kelly who covers wall street. bill nealy, and robert costa, a reporter for "the washington post." we're lucky he is not inside the white house right now but speaking to us. i want to start with you, we're both speaking to people inside of the white house who said, honestly, it's anyone's game. the key is who will speak to the president at 2:58 because being the last guy in the room counts. but whether it is the ivanka

trump, or someone else that wants the president trump to stay in, or the pruit or bannon that wants him out. >> since he does not have an entrenched world view for climate policy and pick picture ideas, he has been listening to counsel for from wings of the white house, his daughter, iv ivanka son-in-law jared kushner, and they are more on the side of staying in. it turns out based on my reporting that populist bannon wing has won short-term. it reminds me a lot of nafta when the president said he may pull out, but it was more trying

to cut a different deal. >> only two countries have not joined. in nicaragua's case, they wanted it to be more serious, but the fact that this agreement is not even that enforceable, superintendent more about messaging and other world leaders if in fact we pull out. what is the international response going to be? >> it's not a great club to be a part of. it takes a lot to do. in europe, in brussels, and the european union they're saying we're going ahead with this whatever america decides. here are a couple phrases from the vatican this morning. trump met pope francis and they talked about climate change. this would be a slap in the face, a disaster for everyone,

this is absurd. it is like saying the earth is flat. so if we talk about political or moral leadership, all of those things, this is a great leap backwards for the united states. they are generally united dead against this. listen to what the european commission spokeswoman had to say this morning, especially the final phrase. >> the paris agreement is a successful, multilateral partnership between countries across the world to decrease a common challenge that threatens the entire planet. for europe, it is planet first, not america first. his boss said this morning, he said that president trump doesn't know what he is doing, even when the leaders tried to explain to him in clear, simple

sentences, he didn't get it. he also added it would take four years for the united states to properly exit the treaty. i think that is what europe is cambling on. in four years time, clalz not be part of this. europe and the rest can ride this out in four years time, progra perhaps president trump will be gone. >> we have seen ceo after ceo, one could say well, the do ceo's care about moral leadership, but many of them do. earlier today, i spoke to grover said they set their businesses up to assume they be in the agreement, they don't care about it. what is the business argument they want to be in. if we were to leave, it doesn't

mee is a climate denier, it means he doesn't necessarily want to be in this agreement. >> i do think it is certainly true that the corporations have a self interest. they set themselves up to handle and move forward and they don't want a last minute unexpected change. on climate they want physical assets, people's homes represerved. exxon is one that is supportive of the accord. i think tactically speaking, the nafta comparison does not entirely work. he is in or out, it is not an enforceable agreement. he can change the standards i

guess that the u.s. adheres to, but it's not as if he could get 195 countries together and try to come up with something new right now. >> thank you all so much. great conversation, we'll take a break, we're gearing up for a major nbc news premier this weekend. tune in, megyn kelly kicking off. she will begin in just a few days, and this sunday, june 4th, at 7:00 p.m. eastern time an interview with vladimir putin. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job,

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thank you for watching this hour of msnbc live. i'm stephanie raul, i'll see you tomorrow at u9:00. right now on "andrea mitchell reports." hot topic, the forecast has donald trump pulling back from the land mark climate change deal. former secretary of state james baker this morning. >> well, i hope he doesn't pull us out of it. on the other hand, i think it is important that we have something that we can point to that would fulfill our obligations under the accord rather than just walking away from it. >> we'll hear from both sides, a leading senator and noted climate skeptic and a well-known scientist weighing in. vladimir putin says