[ eerie musthe mummy...t ] has returned. you wish to see... what i have seen? you will... when... i... kill you. [ explosions ] [ intense music ] the mummy. rated pg-13. hello, everyone, i'm sheinelle jones at msnbc world headquarters in new york. as we speak, marchers in more than 100 cities nationwide are taking to the streets to demand an independent investigation into alleged trump campaign ties to russia.

those demands come as the white house weighs its options on whether they may invoke executive privilege to prevent former fbi director james comey from testifying publicly before congress next week. plus republican congressman darrell issa, one of purchaser's harshest critics, facing some of his own critics today at a town hall in his home district. and comedian bill maher, one of president trump's toughest critics, finds himself under fire from the left. demonstrators are out in full force today. more t100 cities across the country are holding a march for truth. organizers are demanding an independent investigation into alleged russian interference into november's election and ties to president trump and his administration. we have team coverage of today's rallies. ali vitali is in the nation's capital. first, let's go to scott cohen in los angeles. what are you hearing from the crowds there? >> reporter: the original thinking going into this is they would be able to gather

thousands of people for this edition of the march for truth. take a look at the turnout. it's more likely to be in the hundreds of people. this is the appointed time for the march to begin and this is who all has shown up. to be fair, it's probably a moving target because they're going to walk from here about a mile away to los angeles city hall. it's a warm day in los angeles. some people might skip the march. we know some people are already gathered at city hall. the plan for this and the idea for this, similar to the other 130 editions of this march for truth has been, number one, to call for an independent, transparent investigation, an independent special counsel. they got that but they want an independent commission. but then they go beyond that and they talk about things like election reform, getting rid of superdelegates, getting rid of the electoral college. and the hope was this would be the start of a summer of protests. but again, based on the turnout coming out here, we'll see.

it's off to a bit of a slow start. sheinelle. >> scott cohn in los angeles. ali vitali in washington, thank you both. ali, are you ready for us? what can you tell is, ali? >> reporter: well, so around us things have really quieted down. everyone has really dissipated. we're still at the washington monument but a little bit about today. we had about a thousand people out here, multiple speakers, and i think there's a really good picture of why folks are out here for this march and other marches in the past. >> oftentimes people think we come out because we're talking to the president. we're sending a message to members of congress that when you go back to your sdringt, you better be standing up for the right things, saying the right things, voting for the right things or you will be voted out in 2018. so the message here goes way beyond this administration, they are not our main focus. this is about creating a resistance that's going to be hyperlocal in the communities

and it will be manifested in 2018. >> reporter: and that grassroots activism that she was talking about with me in that conversation is really something that we've seen consistently at a lot of these marches. i've been out here several saturdays in a row the past few weeks. a lot of the people out here say they feel like they want to be active in the face of this administration. as well as other things about trump's tax returns and now that he's president. a lot of questions swirling about transparency in this white house that people are out here to protest and march and rally for and to stand in numbers to say they want to see more transparency from the trump white house. of course the white house itself is embroiled in its own sort of controversy, continuing to push back against the special counsel and allegations of ties to russia, so we're seeing that kind of pushback from a white house perspective where i spend my weeks. then on weekends, i come out and see all these rally goers who are pushing to find truth and

telling their congressmen they want to hear more about the tangible things going on in the white house. seeing trump's tax returns are chief among them as well as more transparency as it comes to the russia investigation. >> ali vitali, thank you, and scott cohn as well in los angeles. with former fbi director james comey's senate testimony set for thursday, the big question in washington this weekend, will president trump try to muzzle comey through executive privilege. "the new york times" quotes senior administration officials who say the president won't try to stop comey. and whatever he might have to say about the russia probe and his own firing less than a month ago. "the washington journal" says the best hope would be to have the senate intelligence committee chairman withdraw comey's invitation to appear because of executive privilege concerns. kelly o'donnell is at the white house. good afternoon, kelly. is there any sense that the white house would consider either of those options to silence comey? >> reporter: well, in talking with white house sources, they have nothing new on the president's options and what he may execute.

"the new york times" points out that there's no plan for the president to try to invoke executive privilege, but they also note that advisers say it is possible. so we're at a point where the white house counsel and the legal team at the white house can look at the options of executive privilege, which is intended to shield a president from having to have internal conversations, advice given to him, deliberations from becoming public. it's been used by past presidents. the real difference here is that even though the fbi would fall under the executive branch, comey has been fired. he's already been testifying in public on issues related to the russia investigation. and most notably, president trump himself has talked about his conversations with comey in an interview with our own lester holt. he's tweeted about it. so he has not been trying to protect that from public view. that could make the case for executive privilege very tough. but you'll see how white house officials are not willing to take any options off the table. here's a moment where kellyanne conway and george stephanopolous

put this question to her and you'll see how she responded. >> will the president invoke executive privilege or does he want former director comey to testify before congress? >> we'll be watching with the rest of the world when director comey testifies. the last time he testified under oath the fbi had a scurry to correct that testimony that was off by hundreds of thousands -- the president will make that decision. >> reporter: so again in her answer you hear the expectation he will testify but at the same time giving the president that wiggle room if he wants to consider that. that's been frustrating to try to get to the bottom of it with white house officials, but it's sort of been their m.o. of late, to want to give the president the ultimate deciding power until the last minute but at the same time not really leaning us in the direction of executive privilege. so for all of the reasons, political and legal and just wanting to move off of this, they may not choose that route. inevitably the russia investigation moves on and so

the white house is trying to focus its attention on its own agenda, trying to get away from russia as hard as that is to do. >> i'm hearing there's a rally in support of the president going on across the street from the white house. can you tell us about that? >> reporter: as you saw the other rallies, there was a plan to stage the pittsburgh not paris rally from supporters of president trump organized by his campaign. they're touting that they had a pretty good turnout of supporters of president trump. lafayette park is just across the street from the white house. the president was here this morning. he since left to go to his virginia golf club, and he's been away from the white house for a few hours. but this is that counter voice, those who support president trump who want to come out, show support. pittsburgh, not paris, i'm sure you recognize that. that was a line from the president's speech when he view the united states from the paris agreement saying he represents pittsburgh, not the citizens of paris. >> i do. another busy saturday for you. kelly o'donnell at the white house, thank you. let's take a closer look at

comey testimony. i want to bring in a foreign affairs correspondent and alan smith, a pittsburgh native, speaking of pittsburgh, politics writer. do you expect the white house will let comey tell his story? >> i think at the end of the day, they're not going to have much choice, this stuff is going to come out whether they like it or not. what i do think they will do is perhaps try to have a distraction of some sort. maybe have the president stage a rally or do some other sort of action to try to distract from the testimony. but i do think ultimately james comey's information is going to be aired publicly. >> it's interesting that now we're already expecting distractions. anyway, house democrats sent a letter to the white house counsel last night saying there's no basis for executive privilege. alan, do democrats have any options if the president uses it? >> democrats on their own don't necessarily have any options other than continuing to turn up the heat on the president for making such a move.

but the courts have never ruled in favor of a president looking to use executive privilege in a situation where they may have been a possible cover-up or any wrongdoing, so there's no real precedent for a president using it in such a situation. and was mentioned earlier, the confidentiality aspect of this has already been breached by the president speaking about it. >> and he's tweeted about it. >> he tweeted about it, so that is going hurt his case if he wants to use executive privilege. and the white house, i know "the new york times" is reporting that they know that if executive privilege is invoked, it will not necessarily be the best look for them. so they're not going to want to preempt this testimony by trying to invoke executive privilege and then make it look as if there's something that they don't want comey to say. ideally the white house wants comey to testify and make sure that they -- they're very clear. >> so with that said, let me bring you in here.

if the white house lets comey talk, how do you think it's bracing for what he'll say? how do you think they'll handle it? >> as i mentioned earlier, perhaps they'll use some distractions. we also know they have set up a war room of sorts to have some sort of a campaign to counter all of these rubba allegatio ru. the president has reached out to some folks from the outside, including corey lewandowski, to come and try to help him plot out how to deal with these allegations against him. so it's going to be really fascinating actually to find out how they try to react to everything that could be coming at them from so many different sides and not just james comey. >> i want to play a clip here, something comey could be asked about thursday. nbc news and others have reported that jared kushner is now under scrutiny in the russia probe. joe scarborough suggested that leaks about kushner may have come from steve bannon. let's watch. >> steve bannon was running around from, according to my sources, bragging to journalists a month and a half ago that he

didn't have to worry about kushner and he was going to sideline kushner because of russia. that he had information on the russian investigation and that he was going to sideline jared kushner. two days after i heard this, two days, front page "new york times" story about the links between kushner and russia. a coincidence? absolutely not. steve bannon has been leaking, i believe, based on everything that i've heard, has been leaking these stories. >> allan, give me your response to that. >> well, it might not help with the executive privilege argument, again, if someone in the white house as high up as steve bannon, if that is true, was leaking information about jared kushner. again, that's certainly going to be a focus of the hearings going forward. comey is going to be asked questions about it. so it again is something else that might not help the president's case if they do decide they would like to invoke executive privilege, which i don't think they will.

>> looking forward in your role as a foreign affairs correspondent, how much global interest do you expect there will be in comey's testimony? >> well, there's always global interest in the president of the united states. i think when it comes to this particular testimony, you'll have a lot of the political elites in other countries watching very, very carefully because they want to know how long donald trump is going to last as president because they want to know how long they're going to have to deal with him, especially after he pulled out of the paris climate agreement. there's a tremendous amount of frustration with the white house and this particular president. you're going to see a lot of diplomats and officials and other types paying very close attention to this testimony to see how weak the president really is now. >> politico's nahal toosi and alan smith, thank you for joining us this afternoon. a live look at boone, iowa, where senator joni ernst is hosting her annual roast and ride. we expect vice president mike pence to speak there next hour. we'll take you there live for a preview after this break. we'll also take you to

southern california where republican congressman darrell issa held a town hall today. on tuesday he was spotted on the roof of his district office where protesters had gathered in front of the building. he claims he was just taking a picture of the crowd, but the democrat who almost up seated him last year claims he was too afraid to speak with his constituents. we'll show you how that unfolded today, coming up next. what do you have there? p3 it's meat, cheese and nuts. i keep my protein interesting. oh yea, me too. i have cheese and uh these herbs.

p3 snacks. the more interesting way to get your protein. and it's also a story mail aabout people 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 there's nothing more than my vacation.me so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. booking.com gets it. they offer free cancellation if my plans change. visit booking.com. booking.yeah. you totanobody's hurt, new car. but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do?

drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement™, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. i need the phone that's where i happen to be... to be the one that rings. i need not to be missed phone calls... to not be missed. i need seamless handoff... canyon software. from reception, to landline, to mobile.

i need one number... not two. i'm always moving forward... because i can't afford to get stuck in the past. comcast business. built for business. the midterm elections are about a year and a half away, but a prominent california republican is feeling the heat this weekend. congressman darrell issa has a town hall today on the heels of a controversy involving a photo that went viral. take a look at this, his 2018 opponent, mike lev in, says issa was hiding from protesters. his office says he went up to take a photo after meeting with skpconstituents on street on tuesday.

issa won his district only by two points in 2016. beth foy joins me now from san juan capistrano, california. is he sensing he needs to reach out early on to keep his seat? >> reporter: yeah, he definitely wasn't hiding from protesters today, sheinelle. he just finished up a town hall meeting. in fact he's in there talking to a few more constituents and will hopefully do an interview with us a little later. but there are still protesters out here. a lot of people showed up this morning very fired up, very angry about congressman issa's support for donald trump, for his vote to support that republican health care plan, which as we know has been quite unpopular akwaus tcross the cou particularly here in california. there were questions about president trump's decision to pull out of that paris climate deal. the environment of course is a big issue here in california. so congressman issa heard a lot of complaints. he also heard from one

republican who made a very interesting point that drew a lot of attention from the other folks in that room. let's listen. >> i have been a republican for many years. i voted for reagan, i voted for both bushes, and i never voted for obama. however, i am afraid of president donald trump. >> i was out of the district campaigning all over for rubio. he was my first choice. >> reporter: yeah, that was interesting that congressman issa made the point that actually donald trump wasn't his first choice, that he liked marco rubio better. he's definitely distancing himself a little bit from donald trump in this district where he won so narrowly in 2016, sheinelle. a couple of democrats have already lined up to run against congressman issa. so he's not embracing trump. he can't exactly walk away so it's a tough position right now. he's trying to see if he can dance on the head of a pin.

back to you. >> dance on the head of a pin, that's a good one. you've been to a lot of these town halls, we've talked on many a saturdays. tell me this, when they stand in front of all those people essentially screaming in their face, is it effect i've? obviously he feels like it's something he needs to do if he wants to run again. >> that's probably what he's thinking and why he's subjecting himself to the criticism and at times taunts and interrogation that he and others -- other republicans are getting at these town halls. keep in mind, i do go to a lot of them but most republican congressmen are not holding very many up to meetings. they don't want to get into the line of fire on health care, on any of the controversies that are dogging the trump administration. so a lot of them are just staying home, taking constituents' calls at their office or in the district or in washington. so props to congressman issa for coming out and talking to his constituents, but he definitely got an earful today. >> beth fouhy, thank you, beth. in the meantime, republicans

in iowa are hoping to get a boost today from a white house vip for senator joni ernst's annual roast and ride. vice president mike pence will speak at the event within the next hour. vaughn hilliard is at the central iowa expo. vaughn, what do they want to hear from the vice president? >> reporter: yeah, sheinelle, joni ernst has done a 50-mile bike ride with 50 other bikers. they're coming in from des moines. the vice president will show up as well. this is quite the cast of characters, sheinelle. you've got to look at iowa. they have a new lieutenant governor who is now the new governor, kim reynolds. she'll be up for election in 2018. they have congressman david young, the moderate. he's going to have a stuff race. you've got steve king, the p provocative conservative, but you've also got joni ernst and chuck grassly, the two senators who have been critical of donald trump. joni ernst hosting this event for her super pac says donald trump should release his tax returns.

she said she wants to hear what james comey has to say when he testifies in front of the senate. a lot of these are republicans that have traveled over here to hear from mike pence, which is specifically what you're asking about. and i'll tell you that when it comes to mike pence, he hasn't actually done a major interview in a month outside of fox news and conservative radio. the last time was actually with nbc back in april and he hasn't answered a lot of questions when it comes to russia. when you talk to these voters here, so far the ones that i've talked to, they have said they don't think the issue of russia is that big of a concern. they're concerned that it's holding up potentially other legislation, health care, tax reform that they said they voted for donald trump in order to see enacted. >> with that said then, vaughn, when you talk about the overall impact of donald trump at this point, do you think they're satisfied with him or is the jury still out? >> reporter: i think one of the issues that you need to look in here specifically in iowa that i hear is on the issue of nafta. remember, corn exports out of iowa really make the economy go here. so you talk to a lot of these

people here that they still ultimately back donald trump, but there's also a little concern about where the administration and to what extent they're actually going to be able to fulfill some of these promises that he said on the campaign trail. remember, this was a place here in iowa that voted for barack obama in 2008 and 2012 and ultimately plus 10 for donald trump here just a couple months ago. in talking to these individuals, they said we're here, still wearing our donald trump apparel. we're only six months in. >> anybody else you've heard of taking part today in addition to mike pence? >> reporter: tim scott, the republican senator out of south carolina, is up here as well. actually he and chuck grassley, there was a little bit of a delay in all of them getting to the venue. mike pence was attending a funeral this morning. but i said a cast of characters. this is one of those events, you know, we're still about three years away from the next iowa caucus. that doesn't mean iowa isn't ready for its own political circus ahead of then. >> the eyes are on them this afternoon that's for sure. thank you, vaughn.

after the break, the latest on the fallout from kathy griffin's controversial photo. the comedian held an emotional news conference on friday and now claims the trumps are targeting her. >> i'm going to be honest. he broke me. he broke me. ♪ sorry about the holdup, folks. we have some congestion on the runway and i'm being told it'll be another 15, maybe 20 minutes, and we will have you on your way. ♪

runway models on the runway? surprising. what's not surprising? how much money evan saved by switching to geico. i would not wear that lace. hmm, i don't know? fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. ykeep you sidelined.ng that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring.

don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. side effects may include diarrhea, nausea, upper respiratory tract infection, and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your dermatologist about otezla today. otezla. show more of you. i've always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free. it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. just a few dabs is clinically proven to seal out more food particles. try super poligrip free. ♪ ♪"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. a german music festival was temporarily shut down due to a terrorist threat. it happened friday night. thousands of people were evacuated, which led to the suspension of the three-day music event. german police are investigating the possibility of terrorism. organizers plan to resume the music festival today. ariana grande is visiting her fans in the hospital who were injured in the manchester terror attack almost two weeks ago. the pop star stopped by the royal manchester children's hospital today where she surprised her young fans with hugs and kisses. the manchester attack left 22 dead and dozens more injured. grande will perform a benefit

concert tomorrow and will donate all proceeds to the victims and their families. kathy griffin made headlines this week for posting a controversial photo of a beheaded donald trump. well, now she's sorry. the comedian held an emotional press conference, apologizing for her mistake. griffin has been contacted by the secret service, she's since received death threats and now her career is in jeopardy. gadi schwartz is in los angeles with the latest report. >> reporter: a crying kathy griffin claiming she is the victim, bullied by the president. >> i'm going to be honest, he broke me. he broke me. he broke me. >> reporter: then a defiant kathy griffin. >> i'm not afraid of donald trump. he's a bully. i've dealt with older white guys trying to keep me down my whole life, my whole career. >> reporter: just days after apologizing for these images. >> this is fake blood, just so you know. >> reporter: the comedian holding the bloodied likeness of president donald trump's head. the viral tweet now deleted.

>> i went too far. i made a mistake and i was wrong. >> reporter: the rnc blasting back after her press conference, saying kathy griffin's career was over long before she attempted to make a disgusting joke about decapitating the president. playing the victim and blaming others for her hateful actions is a bridge too far. >> you don't even know what you're talking about. >> reporter: cnn terminated griffin's contract to host their new year's eve show alongside anderson cooper, a job she held for a decade. cooper distancing himself from the photo shoot, describing it as disgusting. she says five of her gigs have also been cancelled. griffin is losing ground in a flood of public outrage and now she says she's fearing for her life. >> the death threats that i'm getting are constant and they are detailed. >> reporter: some fellow comedians defended griffin, like jim carrey and ricky gervais who posted a picture of president trump's son saying i hope these sensitive souls are feeling better about that awful kathy

griffin photo. >> he picked the wrong redhead and he's sort of a redhead although sort of like a parfait cup. >> reporter: still cracking cups, but many aren't laughing. griffin says she is being investigated by the secret service. her lawyers say they will cooperate but they see this as an issue of the freedom of speech. next, vladimir putin's new explanation for interference in our election last year. who the russian leader now says is to blame. plus, james comey's highly anticipated testimony five days from now. what will the former fbi director say? will he implicate any white house officials are wrongdoing? will he even be allowed to testify in the first place? ♪ everything your family touches sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around.

use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. depend real fit briefs feature breathable, cotton-like fabric. in situations like this, there's no time for distractions. it's not enough to think i'm ready. i need to know i'm ready. no matter what lies ahead. get a free sample at depend.com. so we know how to cover almost alanything.ything, even a coupe soup. [woman] so beautiful. [man] beautiful just like you. [woman] oh, why thank you. [burke] and we covered it, november sixth, two-thousand-nine. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

(i wanted him to eat healthy., so i feed jake purina cat chow naturals indoor, a nutritious formula with no artificial flavors. made specifically for indoor cats. purina cat chow. nutrition to build better lives. pg&e learned a tragic lesson we can never forget. this gas pipeline ruptured in san bruno. the explosion and fire killed eight people. pg&e was convicted of six felony charges including five violations of the u.s. pipeline safety act and obstructing an ntsb investigation. pg&e was fined, placed under an outside monitor,

given five years of probation, and required to perform 10,000 hours of community service. we are deeply sorry. we failed our customers in san bruno. while an apology alone will never be enough, actions can make pg&e safer. and that's why we've replaced hundreds of miles of gas pipeline, adopted new leak detection technology that is one-thousand times more sensitive, and built a state-of-the-art gas operations center. we can never forget what happened in san bruno. that's why we're working every day to make pg&e the safest energy company in the nation. i'm sheinelle jones in new york. right now demonstrators in more than 100 cities nationwide are marching to demand an independent investigation into possible ties between donald trump's presidential campaign and russia. these marches come just five days before former fbi director james comey is set to testify

before congress about the bureau's russia investigation. defense secretary james mattis is calling north korea a clear and present danger. he innssued this warning about pyongyang in sing more. >> coupled with reckless proclamations, it signals a clear intent to acquire nuclear armed ballistic missiles including those of intercontinental range that pose direct and immediate threats to our regional allies, our partners and all the world. >> new remarks today from vladimir putin. the russian strongman suggesting that russian hackers were framed for interviewing -- for intervening in the u.s. presidential election. here's putin in the nbc exclusive sitdown interview with megyn kelly airing on her new show tomorrow night. >> translator: 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, onto russia. >> joining us now is matthew miller, former chief spokesman for the justice department and an nbc news and msnbc justice and security analyst. good afternoon to you. >> good afternoon. >> first let me get your reaction to these new comments from vladimir putin. what is the likelihood that russia isn't behind this? >> i think zero percent. i did it's pretty clear that they were. what i think is remarkable about what vladimir putin had to say is just how often vladimir putin and donald trump seem to be, you know, talking from the same set of talking points. you've had donald trump for over a year question the utility of nato, try to undermine nato. you had him come out and question whether russia really was behind the hack. and then of course he famously said it could have been a 400 pound man somewhere. and now vladimir putin is saying it could have been someone in the u.s. he insinuated that it could have

been megyn kelly's 3-year-old kid. you know, how often they seem to have the exact same message really is striking, given that they ought to have diametrically opposed interests. >> let me mention this. washington, obviously, we've been talking about the fact that it's on the edge of its seat waiting for thursday's testimony from former fbi director james comey. what do you think we can expect him to reveal about the investigation into those possible ties between russia and the trump campaign? >> well, i think he's unlikely to say much about the underlying investigation, about what happened in 2016, whether it's either the russian interference in the election, whether the trump campaign or trump associates helped with that interference or whether it's financial ties between trump associates and the russian government or russian interests. i think he won't talk about that. he's declined to comment on that before. i think what he is likely to take questions on and give very honest answers is what kind of interactions did he have with the president once trump took office. did president trump actually ask him to back off on the flynn investigation? did president trump actually ask

him to swear loyalty to him? one of the striking things will be, trump has gotten the question, he's been asked on the record did you tell director comey to back off on the flynn investigation? and he said no. so if jim comey comes and under sworn testimony contradicts the president, that puts the president in a pretty difficult position, i think. >> so then with that said, what about concerns that trump will try to use executive privilege to keep comey from testifying? >> you know, it would be unprecedented. no president in history has ever used executive privilege to block a former department employee from testifying when they want to. i think it would be unlikely to succeed. they'd have to go to court and try to get a retraining order, ann injunction to prevent him from testifying and that seems unlikely. it would be politically catastrophic. it would be a very unwise and unsuccessful move, but there have been times in the past where there have been things unwise and unsuccessful and they

have gone after them anyway so we'll have to wait and see. >> there are reports that say special counsel robert mueller's investigation now includes paul manafort, may expand to include attorney general jeff sessions and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. what does that tell you about what's going on here overall? >> i think he clearly, if you look at the regulations that underline -- or underlie a special prosecutor appointment, he has the authority to look at obstruction of justice if in fact he wants to. and if he's going to look at obstruction of justice, i don't know how he doesn't look at jeff sessions and rod rosenstein. when they signed off on the firing of jim comey, which the president has said he was thinking about the russia investigation when he did it. he said getting rid of comey relieved pressure on him with respect to russia. if they knew the president's concerns, if they knew he was firing jim comey because of the russia investigation and they signed off on it anyway, it is impossible for them to stay in their positions at the department of justice because they have completely sacrificed

the doj's long standing sg independence. >> who or what figures in this case would you most like to hear from? >> i would love to hear from jeff sessions and rod rosenstein. but i'll tell you if you look at the same story you mentioned that talked about the investigation expanding to manafort, rod rosenstein was interviewed in that article and it looked to me like a friday afternoon news dump trying to put out this idea that he could be investigated and would have to recuse himself as an excuse to not answer questions about this issue when he's on the hill and the same for jeff sessions. he has upcoming testimony in the next two weeks. i think we'll see them get questions on this and they'll decline to answer it citing an ongoing investigation. >> time will tell. matthew miller, thank you for joining us this afternoon. >> thank you. and don't miss megyn kelly's exclusive interview with russian president vladimir putin tomorrow evening during the premiere of her new show, "sunday night with megyn kelly" tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. eastern on nbc. calls for the ouster of hbo's bill maher after he uses a

racial slur on last night's episode of realtime. he made a joke in which he called himself the n word during an interview with republican senator ben sasse of nebraska. he quickly grew widespread condemnation for using the word. hbo issued the following statement. bill haher's comment last night was completely inexcusable and tasteless. we are removing his deeply offensive comment from any subsequent airings of the show. senator ben sasse added on twitter, the history of the n word is an attack on universal human dignity. it's therefore an attack on the american creed. don't use it. while much of the attention in recent weeks has been on the russia investigation, lawmakers are facing a number of legislative questions as they return to capitol hill next week. questions about health care, tax reform and climate change. we'll discuss those with one lawmaker, congressman ami beara on the other side of this break. and jacob soboroff will be with you next hour amid the latest jobs report.

will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. find out how american express cards and services are made with smarttrack®nvisals material to precisely move your teeth to your best smile. see how invisalign® treatment can shape your smile

up to 50% faster today at invisalign.com and it's also a story mail aabout people 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 ♪ ♪ award winning interface. award winning design. award winning engine. the volvo xc90. the most awarded luxury suv of the century. visit your volvo dealer to take advantage of our midsommar sales event offer. our tax bill is moving along

in congress, and i believe it's doing very well. i think a lot of people will be very pleasantly surprised. the republicans are working very, very hard. we'd love to have support from the democrats, but we may have to go it alone. but it's going very well. >> president trump maybe getting ahead of himself. there is no tax bill moving along in congress. tax reform, of course, is high on the president's agenda, but that could be moved to the back burner as congressional investigations ramp up into russian meddling. congress is facing a new round of controversy as it heads back monday. democrats up in arms over house intelligence chair devin nunes reinserting himself into the probe after promising to step aside. i'm joined by democratic congressman ami bera from california. good afternoon to you. >> good afternoon. i'm glad to be on. >> there are new complaints from democrats that nunes is interfering, even trying to sabotage the probe to protect the president. what's your take? >> he recused himself, he ought

to stay out of this. we ought to put a special investigation together. let's take it out of the hands of the democrats and republicans. let's have a special committee take a look at what happened in this last election and make recommendations on how we prevent this in the future. >> i think this is a fair question. how can you maintain the integrity of the investigation with all of these reports of frankly political infighting? >> right. you can't. look at what we did post-9/11. you took it out of the hands of congress, took it out of the hands of the politicians and put together a special investigation that did a thorough job, came back with recommendations to protect the country. we know a foreign government interfered with our elections. that shouldn't be a democratic or republican issue. let's prevent this from happening again. >> well, the house has issued subpoenas to michael cohen and general flynn. what insight do you hope to gain from their testimony? >> we want to know what happened. they ought to testify. taking the fifth here, if they're innocent, if nothing

happened, why are they hiding? you know, that's the same thing, if president trump thinks nothing happened, turn over all your documentations, open things up. if you're innocent, you shouldn't have anything to hide, mr. president trump. >> let's tackle another big topic pivoting to climate change. the state of california one of the states that will commit to the paris accord. can you be effective without leadership from the white house? >> well, you're not going to see leadership out of the white house on this issue or even out of the republican majority, so kudos to governor brown here in california as well as the states and mayors all across this country. they get it. they get this is about economic growth, this is about protecting our planet, and they're stepping up to the plate. so if you don't have that leadership in the white house, well, we all have to step up as americans. again, i think you'll see that leadership in the states and the cities. >> congressman, looking forward, how in your opinion does the president's decision affect the cooperation that he needs on things like health care and tax reform going forward, or does it? >> well, you know, he still hasn't reached out to democrats

for our ideas. we haven't seen that. we haven't seen that out of the speaker of the house paul ryan either. what we've got to do is we've got to stop fighting adds democrats and republicans and come together and start solving the challenges that our nation faces. if you're going to do tax reform, let's come up with tax policy that helps working class families, middle class families and that next generation. what we've seen out of the white house is he wants to do something that's going to reward the 1%. that's exactly the wrong thing to do. >> i guarantee there are viewers watching that want something done. where are some of the areas that you can see cooperation, if you will? would it be infrastructure perhaps? >> absolutely. we've reached out multiple times. we've all got roads, bridges, highways, that are in need of repair. rural america needs broadband access. if we were to go there, and that's what we'd suggest. let's rebuild america and put people to work. you'll find democrats and rips willing to work together. >> what about health care? >> you know, health care, the first thing we ought to do is

make sure they don't take health care away from 23 million americans. so let's get rid of that. ths places wre we could fix and make the affordable care act better. we've got to create more competition. and again, we've reached out to republicans and said, hey, work with us on this. in california, the affordable care act is working pretty well. we've cut the number of uninsured in half. we've got a lot of competition. we've marketed to young people. they're signing up. so there's a lot that we could share from california. but work with us on this. let's get the next 20 million insured. >> you said there are places where we could see improvement or where it could be better. what are those places? >> again, one thing -- i don't disagree if in a state you only have one health plan in an exchange, what we ought to do is what we did in california. work with the insurance companies to create competition to give people choice. you also have to get those young people enrolled. we've done in california a lot of marketing to young people to get them into the exchanges, and it's been successful. we ought to work with the

administration in states to do that as well. if you get everyone in the health care system, you get coverage, you start preventing disease and start lowering costs. i say that as a doctor. >> we talked about health care, we just talked about infrastructure. if you pull back and look at the overall picture, obviously whether you're a democrat or republican, if you're a viewer, you want something to get done. it seems like for the last i don't know how many saturdays, i'm constantly talking about scandal. can the job of the country -- can work move forward if we're constantly mired in all of this scandal. >> we have to. if the white house isn't going to have that leadership, we need to do is as members of congress. our founders set up a division of government. the legislative branch, the house should step up, we ought to be negotiating, put things together that help all of america. i don't expect the white house to change. we have what we have here. if he's not going to do his job, we ought to do our job. >> congressman, thank you for joining us this afternoon. >> you're welcome, thank you.

be sure to watch "meet the press" when former secretary of state john kerry, scott pruitt and former vice president al gore will discuss the fallout of president trump's decision to pull out of the paris agreement. we'll be right back. i was out here smoking instead of being there for my son's winning shot. that was it for me.

that's why i'm quitting with nicorette. only nicorette mini has a patented fast dissolving formula. it starts to relieve sudden cravings fast. every great why needs a great how. every great why that goes beyond assuming beingredients are safe...ood to knowing they are. going beyond expectations... because our pets deserve it. beyond. natural pet food.

june is national lgbt pride month and this is our first ever pride 30 series which includes game changers and rising stars who are making their communities proud. we'll follow their incredible stories over the next 30 days. today we start with jamie deere in washington state. >> dear co-workers, an important change is taking place in my life. i'm in the process of seeking gender reassignment from female to male. my name will change to jamie

deere. i consider you all a part of my family although i'm realistic to know that not everyone will recognize me, i ask you to know that this has been reached after years of unhappiness and if you can supply your friendship, i ask for that. jamie. the vehicle is unoccupied. >> i've been on some really crazy calls and this outweighed all of that. i wasn't keen on putting my life on blast but at the same time, you don't get any progress from being in the closet. another one said, hi, jamie, your story and video is very inspiring. i've been taking testosterone myself and your story gives me hope. thank you. the law enforcement community sometimes have to be a little

more conservative. people think that they will be treated horribly or discriminated against and lose their jobs and in some states i'm almost positive that that would happen. hopefully we're getting past that. i know here in king county we are. when i sent the e-mail to the sheriff, there were no policies in place as to what a department member needed to take if they were transitioning and they now have one. people's responses were actually really positive and supportive and people are showing more visibility in areas that you wouldn't think it would be so safe to do. and that helps because then we get more -- a wider range of representation for the community. >> this is one of the reasons that i work graveyard. you have all of the peacefulness when the sun comes up. >> oddly enough, i found it easier to come up as transgender in the law enforcement community than i've found in the lgbt community, coming out as a

police officer, admitting that i'm a police officer. it bothers me whether you're transgender anything. i don't like to hear that people are being mistreated by officers. i'm hoping with more stories coming out of officers serving, educating those that they work with, that this will start to minimize. we have a lot of healing to do in both communities, so i think as we move along, it will get better. >> for a complete list of the pride 30, go to nbcnews.com. that's all for me on this saturday. i'm sheinelle jones. jacob soboroff has more. plus, an inside look at one of the largest coal-fired plants in the country. have a good day. ♪ there's nothing traditional about my small business. so when it comes to technology, i need someone that understands my unique needs. my dell small business advisor has gotten to know our business so well, that it feels like he's a part of our team.

with one phone call, he sets me up with tailored products and services. and when my advisor is focused on my tech, i can focus on my small business. ♪ theto me than my vacation.tant so when i need to book a hotel, i want someone who makes it easy to find what i want. booking.com gets it.

and with their price match, i know i'm getting the best price every time. c'mon, gary! your vacation is very important. that's why booking.com makes finding the right hotel for the right price easy. visit booking.com now to find out why we're booking.yeah! chooarmy versus army.ion. nation versus nation. the battle has begun. evony: the king's return. download now. brtry new flonase sensimists. allergy relief instead of allergy pills. it delivers a gentle mist experience to help block six key inflammatory substances. most allergy pills only block one. new flonase sensimist changes everything. the uncertainties of hep c. wondering, what if? i let go of all those feelings. because i am cured with harvoni.

harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. it's been prescribed to more than a quarter million people. and is proven to cure up to 99% of patients who have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. before starting harvoni, your doctor will test to see if you've ever had hepatitis b, which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after harvoni treatment. tell your doctor if you've ever had hepatitis b, a liver transplant, other liver or kidney problems, hiv or any other medical conditions and about all the medicines you take including herbal supplements. taking amiodarone with harvoni can cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. common side effects of harvoni include tiredness, headache and weakness. ready to let go of hep c? ask your hep c specialist about harvoni. good saturday to you.

i'm jacob soboroff in los angeles. there are marches being held today. they come as the investigation into russia's involvement in the 2016 u.s. election widens despite vladimir putin's latest suggestion that his country is being framed for interfering. the white house, meanwhile, is still deciding whether to block james comey from congress about the fbi investigation into russia. another weekend, another anti-trump rally. today's march for true rally is calling for an independent investigation into alleged russian hacking into the u.s. election. more than 100 cities, there they are, all across the country are holding rallies. organizers say they want an investigation into russian ties into president trump and his associates. we have team coverage of these