sunday at 5:00 p.m. eastern. have i an exclusive with a woman who was editor-in-chief of jared kushner's newspaper. she says he has never had a, quote, realistic view of his own capabilities. msnbc live is up next. good morning. i'm dara brown at msnbc headquarters in new york. it's 7:00 a.m. in the east, 4:00 a.m. out west. day 135 of the trump administration and a new fallout from a pulling out of the paris climate deal. there's one big question that remains with respect to the president's position on the climate and no one in the white house will answer it. anticipation builds for the coming week. former fbi director james comey is set to testify. will the president try to stop him? and new details on that megyn kelly one-on-one exclusive interview with vladimir putin. what exactly is he saying now about allegations russia hacked the u.s. election? and new reports on ivanka

trump's efforts to persuade her father in the white house. what's her role? all next right now on m msnbc live. we begin with those new comments by are russian president vladimir putin now suggesting russia has been framed by the perpetrators who meddled in the u.s. election. >> hackers can be anywhere. they can be in russia, in asia, even in america. latin america. they can even be hackers, by the way, in the united states. very skillfully and professionally shifted the blame, as we say, on to russia. >> later today, demonstrations in more than 130 cities here in the u.s. and around the world to ramp up cause for an independent commission to investigate russia's meddling in the u.s. election and its ties to the

trump campaign. also new today, this headline in the "new york times," trump appears unlikely to hinder comey's testimony about russia inquiry. two senior administration officials telling reporter mr. trump wanted mr. comey to testify because the president had nothing to hide and wanted mr. comey's statements to be publicly aired. and more backlash over president trump's decision to withdraw the u.s. from the paris climate treaty. this as the trump administration officials have all repeatedly refused to say whether the president still believes it's a hoax. nbc's kristen welker has the latest. >> mounting fallout after president trump pulled out of the paris climate agreement. at the center of it, the white house unable to answer a key question. >> does the president believe today that climate change is a hoax? >> does the president believe that climate change is real? >> you're the epa administrator. shouldn't you be able to tell the american people whether or not the president still believes that climate change is a hoax? >> where does he stand? >> there's enough to deal with

with respect to the paris agreement -- >> the president himself decline to go answer questions, but equipping in a bill designed to aim helping law enforcement. but the lash lash is only heating up. and cities all across the world showing their opposition by going green. many state and local leaders now vowing to cut down on harmful emissions on their own. >> this is an existential threat to the long-term future of humanity. it is not a game. >> the president, who ran as a jobs creator, now getting bitter criticism foremore than 100 measure ceos. >> he is surrounded by the vast majority of bright, intelligent people who feel that he's let the world down. >> and with the international community saying the deal can't be renegotiated until 2020, the epa administrator arguing european leaders want the u.s. to stay in the pact and carry the burden. >> i think they want us to stay in is because they know it will

continue to shackle our economy. >> the u.s. is the second largest polluter after china, but the trump administration says it's also done the mos to combat climate cnge for offenders including coal ceos, it's all with about saving jobs. >> he was prudent in withdrawing entirely from the fraudulent global climate agreement. >> that was nbc's kristen welker reporting. let's bring in ozzie for politico, new york, and jonathan allen, columnist for role call shattered inside hillary clinton's doomed campaign. thank you both for joining me this morning. >> good morning. >> ozzie, let's pick up where the president left off. president trump made his view owes climate change pretty clear for the trail calling it a hoax. what is the calculation for holding back now? >> it's clear that the president doesn't want to answer this question and the administration sees no benefit in getting into that discussion. again, what they want to do is pivot and discuss policy. this is sort of unique for the

administration. they often don't like to sort of do that. but answering the question of what the president believes has always been difficult for his surrogates and for his aids and they would rather talk about the paris agreement, the details of it and why they think it's not beneficial to them rather than reexplain why the president had called it a hoax and had questioned climate science. remember, ivanka trump, his daughter, and very trusted aide is one of the people that was trying to urge him to stay in this and is closer to what advocates say is a believer in sort of the manmade effects of climate science. so to have to answer that question and create a wedge between the president and his daughter is not something they want to do. >> jonathan, how much might democrats be able to profit off this cmateecision duringhe midterm elections? >> i'm not sure how much climate change is a persuasive motivator. i think most people have made their decision about whether they believe the science on climate change or they prefer, as i think the administration has framed it, to spend energy

and time on producing domestic energy. that said, it could be a motivator in terms of money, in terms -- there's a ton of money on the left wrapped up in the environmental movement. i think there's, you know, what you're seeing on the policy level is people pledging money. i think i saw something about michael bloomberg, perhaps, pledging millions of dollars to try and combat climate change. if you see some of that money start pouring into the political field, it could help democrats in the midterm elections. >> let's talk about putin's comments during that economic forum yesterday. here is one of them. >> translator: the trump team has termed to be more efficient during the electoral campaign. sometimes i thought that -- i thought sometimes during the campaign. but it turned out that he was right. has been able to find approach and to reach out to those electors whom he hoped for .they

voted for him. and the other team, they made a mistake and they don't want to recognize this mistake right now. they didn't want to say that they were not wise enough. >> ozzie, these comments can't do much to move the cloud of suspicion over president trump's head, right? >> no. anytime you have vladimir putin saying anything similar to president trump, you're going to have democrats point to it as evidence that there is some type of collusion or alliance between them, whether or not that's evident of it or not. it fuels the speculation. and to shift the blame to purely describe the election as one that was a choice between trump and hillary clinton without any kind of russian interference is exactly what vladimir putin wants to do. >> jonathan, i want to follow up on that. how are lawmakers taking into these comments about putin especially as we head into thursday's comey testimony? >> i think regardless of party, there's a lot of concern on

capitol hill about the attempt by russians to interfere in the 2016 election. whether or not it was dispositive is a different debate, but i do think that there's a lot of frustration with president trump from some of his own allies in terms of his -- in terms of his unwillingness to distance himself from putin. i think that -- and i think that there's a lot of interest in the investigation, trying to figure out what happened and prevent it from happening again. that said, with jim comey coming up on thursday, that's going to away circus on capitol hill. it's going to be a huge news event almost no matter what he says. it's going to be bad for president trump almost no matter what he says. and i would expect the white house to do some things to try to distract from jim comey's testimony. >> and certainly a lot can happen in the next few days. ozzie, i want your take on a new article. is ivanka a white house leaker? there's speculation abounds after curiously timed puff pieces. is that too farfetched, ozzie? >> i don't know if you can hear

me rolling my eyes when you're looking at that. anytime there's a question about who is the leaker in an administration like this one, i take some pause. but it's very clear that the president gets information through channels that prior presidents had not. he very clearly watches television, watches a lot of it, perhaps too much, and clearly the people around him communicate to him through the media. now, you did not see that to the same degree in obama's nistration, right? the no drama obama, they wanted to have private conversations kept private. i think jonathan .other people reported that the president became very outraged when parts of conversations and private meetings were leaked. here, it is very clear that trump's aides want to talk to him through the media. i don't know whether it's ivanka, but clearly there are people in different camps in this administration and they're trying to talk to him through the media. >> jonathan, before i let you go, i want to talk to you about hillary clinton's latest comments about the dnc not

putting all its weight behind her. >> we're looking ahead. the truth is, we do need to do some improving. a little bit of criticism doesn't hurt us. we need to take it seriously .move out on what we have learned. >> shouldn't she also take responsibility for what she did? she didn't seem to. >> let me tell you, hillary clinton is a wonderful american. i think she's a wonderful person to serve this country. we can't relitigate the past. >> is this his way of mending fences with her? how did you read into that? >> well, first of all, keith wasn't at the dnc the last time so he's not going to feel as defensive about the committee as some of the others that worked there will. but it was an interesting toss of the dnc under the bus by secretary clinton. she raised $1 billion.. she had a modern data organization on her campaign that was, you know, that basilly was as good as it could get within the democratic party. you know, it's an interesting

choice of place to lay the blame. >> jonathan allen, azi, thank you so much for joining me this morning. >> thank you. take care. capitol hill showdown as james comey is set to testify about the russian investigation. how the president could stop it from happening. and what the white house says about using that option. ee my friends know me so well. they can tell what i'm thinking, just by looking in my eyes. but what they didn't know was that i had dry, itchy eyes. i used artificial tears from the moment i woke up... ...to the moment i went to bed. so i finally decided to show my eyes some love,... ...some eyelove. eyelove means having a chat with your eye doctor about your dry eyes because if you're using artificial tears often and still have symptoms, it could be chronic dry eye. it's all about eyelove, my friends. whattwo servings of veggies? v8 or a powdered drink? ready, go. ahhhhhhhh! shake! shake! shake! shake! shake! done! you gotta shake it! i shake it!

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what are you talking about? they can be invented, you know? there are very many specialists that can vent or fix it up. you know, a kid of yours can send it, for your girl that is 3-year-old can perpetrate such an attack.

and they present it like this. they can pass it off like this and these specialists can invent anything. and then they will blame someone else. >> russian president vladimir putin speaking at an economic forum in st. petersburg friday after nbc's megyn kelly asked him a question about the hacking of the u.s. election. we'll hear more of this and get a preview of megan's exclusive interview with putin coming up in just a few minutes. now to washington where capitol hill is gearing up for potentially blockbuster testimony from fired fbi director james comey on thursday. nbc's kelly o'donnell is live at the white house for us. kelly, good morning. how worried is the white house the abouthis upcoming testimony? >> well, it is certainly high stakes and the expectations are through the roof. but the white house isn't saying they're worried. instead, they said they want james comey to be able to tell his story and the truth to come out. but there's also an option available to the white house that some presidents use under circumstances like this.

it's possible that the president could try to use what's known as executive authority, that is intended to keep some of the deliberations inside the white house protected. it's unclear right now you if the president will do that. it's a long shot. it's a challenge. but he does have a certain amount of power that could cope comey quiet. >> president trump and james comey, the fbi director he fired, could be headed for a new power struggle this week. comey is set to go public thursday, about the russia investigation. but the white house is not ruling out a move that could block comey from testifying on capitol hill. by claiming an executive branch privilege that protects the privacy of a president's conversations with senior officials. in a new letter, democratic lawmakers warn the white house any assertion of privilege by the president would be seen as an effort to obstruct the truth. >> that preemptive strike came after white house officials,

including press secretary sean spicer, said legal options are on the table. >> i think, obviously, it's got to be reviewed. >> so that is not a no. >> i have not spoken to counsel yet. i don't know how they're going to respond. >> getting answers proved difficult on another issue. >> thank you very much, everybody. thiss slightly less controversial than yesterday. >> aer psident trump broke with nations around the world over climate change. temperatures rose in the briefing room. epa administrator scott pruitt and the press secretary deflected all questions on the president's own view on climate change. after candidate trump mocked the science. >> does the president believe today that climate change is a hoax? >> yes or no, does the president believe that climate change is real? >> what does the president actually believe, climate change, does he still believe it's a hoax? >> neither pruitt nor spicer had any answer. >> i have not had an opportunity to have that discussion.

>> and that question is important because the president said he is open to renegotiating with countries around the world, although there are no takers yet. and so it comes to the heart of the issue. if the president believes in the science that might affect how he would decide on policy. those questions have you asked again and again, trying to get an answer and the white house for political reasons it would appear -- they want to avoid the controversy of looking like the president has flip-flopped. it's not an easy answer for the white house.. it's politically somewhat treacherous. .for now, they're keeping mum. dara. >> kelly o'donnell live for u in washington. thanks, kelly. now to the headlines and take a look at this incredible video taken near calvary, canada, where a tornado touched

down yesterday evening. no one was injured, but there was some property damage. joining me now, kelly cass. kelly, what is happening this weekend across the country? >> hey there, dara. we're going to have to watch out for some travel downpours in parts of the south, especially along the gulf coast. but it's nice to see the rain in florida, where we so desperately needed. sometimes too much of a good thing can lead to flooding on the streets out there. speaking of flooding, dallas put under a flash flood watch. up towards the midwest, we're talking severe storms a possibility. parts of wisconsin, the upper peninsula. tornado threat not running all that high. tomorrow, that severe threat will shift more to the east and even parts of new york and pennsylvania been otherwise, new york city talking rainfall for you guys, especially during the afternoon. more rain and thunderstorms across the south. but looking pretty, really nice weather out there along the west coast and we'll continue that on your monday, as well. 70 out there in seattle.

portland, looking good. los angeles, 79. but, again, watch for the storms especially here along the east coast. dara, some of these storms could be severe as we take it back to work on monday. back to you. >> thank you, kelly. back to st. petersburg, kier simmons joins me next to talk about how he tracked down a russian banker last december. and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ it can be sculpted, in beautiful detail. or painted in luxurious strokes. ♪ and in rare cases...both.

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jared kushner had a meeting with a russian banker reportedly while his father-in-law was running for president. kier, good to have you here. you chased down that banker, sergei korkov. >> yeah. >> but he was not in a talkative mood. tell us about that. >> dara, that's right. we tried and we tried and we tried again to get an answer from him. but as you can see from the video, there was no chance of that.

he left pretty quickly. we wanted an answer to a simple question which was why did he meet with jared kushner back in december. the white house suggested it was because jared kushner was part of the trump transition team whereas the suggested it was simply a meeting about business. this is no simple bank. this is a bank that is connected to president putin. some people call it russia's laser guided missile. others call it president putin's slush fund. the truth is probably somewhere in between there. the only truth we were trying to get to the bottom of is what happened to that meeting with jared kushner, what did you talk about? perhaps you can tell us it was completely incident, but he wasn't, as you can see, in a talkative mood. >> in st. petersburg is our colleague, megyn kelly. she had the opportunity to talk with russian president vladimir putin. she pressed him on several issues including whether had there was an agreement with the u.s. to ease economic sanctions.

>> yeah, that's right. president putin denied, denied .denied again. he denied that the russian government was involved in hacking. he denied that the russians intervened in the u.s. elections and he denies there was any type of trump transition team in the idea of lifting sanctions. take a listen. >> that is just absurd what they're saying. i don't know where these people have come from that distribute this kind of information. my answer is no, no agreements whatever. we never even got down to that. >> and in the next hour, dara, we'll have more from st. petersburg looking in depth in that putin interview. meanwhile, president putin himself has left the conference here. you can see think of it, dara, as a kind of opening act if you like. we expect president putin to meet with president trump at the g-20 in july.

that is going to be something. >> kier, we know megan is an sat down with putin for a one-on-one interview. were there any surprises? did he say anything different in that interview? >> well, of which he does say, what meg megyn says he said is perhaps the cia could have been behind the hack. this morning, a cia spokesperson pushing very hard back on that saying it doesn't even deserve any kind of response. and pointing out that a number of russian state news organizations have put out that line, if you like, that argument over recent weeks. so it appears to be another of the russian arguments trying to suggest that there was no way that they could have been involved in the hacking. >> it's amazing. he said a 3-year-old and the cia. we'll see what happens with her interview. kier simmons, great to have you this morning. and you can watch more of megyn

kelly's exclusive interview with vladimir putin tomorrow during the premier with sunday night with megyn kelly. that will do it for me this hour. i'm dara brown. thanks for watching. at the top of the hour, the role of chief white house strategist steve bannon, why his star is on the rise again. if you've got a life, you gotta swiffer getting heartburn doesn't mean i means i take rolaids®. rolaids® goes to work instantly neutralizing 44% more acid than tums® for fast, powerful relief of your worst heartburn. trust my rolaids®. r-o-l-a-i-d-s spells relief. brtry new flonase sensimists. allergy relief

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good morning. these three small business heros turned around a town's economy be bringing back its cheese legacy. why the owner wants the federal government to regulate her industry even more. and wisdom from his lips to your ears. the ceo of carmax on why you need to respect and respond to customers. advice and stories to help you succeed, coming up next on your business.