hand-picked someone to take over that job, apparently we get the kushner forms 7:00 on a friday night. that does it for us tonight. msnbc live is next. good morning, everyone. i'm dara brown in msnbc headquarters. with sean spicer out and a new trump ally in had, the media getting a smooch from the much. how the country could be paying a price for all this turm employ. new questions about presidential pardons and whether president trump can pardon himself. and the new report about jeff sessiones and what alleged intercepts claim the russian ambassador says the two discussed. we'll ask if the attorney general just got into more hot water. we begin with politics and

new reaction from outgoing white house press sean spicer on what led him to resign yesterday morning when trump offered him one of the most vocal supporters the communications director position. here is what spices said in an interview last night. >> i recommended to the president that i give anthony and sarah a clean slate to start from so that they can talk about the president's agenda and how move it forward. and he, after some back and forth, understood that the offer that i was making was something that was in the best interest of this administration. i thanked him for the opportunity and i'm looking forward to watching anthony and sarah do a tremendous job. >> meanwhile, reince priebus, white house chief of staff is pushing back on reports that he opposinged sayscaramucci's hiri. >> sean did a great job. he's a dear friend, as everybody knows. it is good to start fresh. sean gets to start fresh, anthony gets to start fresh and

most importantly, the president gets to start fresh and i think that's a good thing. >> president trump tweetd last night sean spice ser a wonderful person who took tremendous abuse from the fake news media, but his future is bright. also, new allegeses from a washington post that jeff suggestions discussed trump campaign related matters with russian ambassador during the campaign. jeff sessions said he never met with or had any conversations with foreign foishlsz concern any type of interference with the any campaign election. here is congresswoman maxine waters on msnbc last night. >> the real problem here is whether or not he's lying. it doesn't matter what they said in the conversation. if he lied, you know, it was bill clinton b was impeached for lying. and so that's where jeff session

sess going to have a real problem. i think sessions is either going to step down or he will be fired. he'll find an attorney general that he can depend on and he may try to have that person fire mueller. >> meanwhile, we're learning more details about jared kushner's finances from reports on a revised filing. new documents show more than 0 assets that his attorney said he had inadvertently left out of earlier filings. those reports coming at the same time the house intelligence committee announced its members will interview jared kushner on tuesday. nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the white house with more on this staff shake-up. with good morning, kelly. what can you tell us about this new white house communications director and what changes that he'll bring to the office? good to be with you this morning, dara. anthony scaramucci is in many ways a lot like donald trump. he comes from the business world, he is somewhat comfortable on television, someone who has a story of making deals.

that's an area where anthony scaramucci and the president seem to have an understanding, an ability to relate. he has been someone who has worked on wall street in the financial sector and entrepreneur who has come from long island, kind of modest roots, but then built a real financial empire for himself. he has to detangle himself from all of that to serve in the government and that process has been going on for a while. it was expected he might be a part of the administration, even earlier on in these first six months, but that was held up as he was selling off assets and getting himself sort of straight with all of the complications for those who have very big financial portfolios when it comes to the office of governmental ethics. how will he be different? well, one of the biggest ways is that he doesn't have political communications experience. there is a whole organization to bringing communication ideas to the white house. from administration to administration over on capitol hill, in state governments around the country, communications professionals in

politics have an idea of how to work with the media, how to roll out ideas for the agenda of their boss. that kind of thing. so being good on television, which anthony scaramucci is widely viewed as being very capable in front of the camera, that's very different than organizing a communications strategy. at the same time, as a businessman and an entrepreneur, he has run organizations. he's had a staff. he's had to deal with those kinds of issues. so very typical of the trump way of thinking, trying to have someone who can transfer skills from the business world into the white house. we'll see how that goes. as you know, he appointed sarah puckby sanders to be the press secretary replacing sean spicer who had been really holding two roles. the press secretary job and the communications director job. one of the things that will be interesting to watch is how much of the rest of the communications staff not seen by the public so much but people we work with all the time, many of them came from the rnc where reince priebus and sean spicer

previously worked. one of the things sayre 3450u67y may do is look at his team and see if there will be additional changes. but in the style, the things that the public will see, he talked about the president being himself. here is how he described it when he met reporters in the briefing room yesterday. >> i think we're doing an amazing job. the president himself is always going to be the president. i was in the oval office with him earlier today. we were talking about letting him be himself, letting him express his full identity. i think he's got some of the best political instincts in the world and perhaps in history. you think about it web started his political ascent two years and two months ago and he's done a phenomenal job for the american people. >> and when reporters asked scaramucci did not commit to doing on-camera briefings as a regular course. he said he talked to the president about that. also said that as best he can, he intends to be truthful from behind the electric tulecturn.

that is something that has been an issue in this white house where there have been answers that did not seem to live up to the facts and we'll have to see how his style evolves. sth a significant shake-up in the first six months of the administration and it's one that in some ways has been predicted almost from day one. scaramucci has been in the orbit of donald trump from the last year or so. now he has a job on the inside. dara. >> kelly o 'donnell, thanks so much for being there with us. let's bring in azi. thanks for joining us this morning. azi, will scaramucci bring -- what do you think he's going to bring and with what is trump hoping scaramucci will bring that he wasn't getting before. >> trump is looking for someone that can be a more effective communicator. he's not changing his ideas, he's not changing his policies. he's not change i any tactics. he's not changing his tweeting habits. what he wants is somebody who can explain to the quote/unquote fake media why exactly what the

president said is either accurate, effective or what have you. he was looking for someone to be better on television and so sort of communicate for effectively what he's trying to say. the problem is the president contradicts himself sometimes within the same sentence and the white house doesn't know what they're about to say or so and sometimes they're left in the dark. scaramucci has a difficult job. what the president was trying to do was shift focus and get someone who can perform better on television, but not actually change the direction of this ship and where it's heading. >> jonathan, let me play for you more of what sean spicer said last night. take a listen. >> the president obviously wanted to add to the team more than anything. i just think it was in the best interest of our communications department, of our press organization, to not have too many cooks in the kitchen. >> jonathan, what does this shake up mean for those remaining? who is in peril? >> i don't think it's clear

who's safe, other than sarah huckabee sanders right now. you obviously have this situation where sean was getting squeezed out. sanders had been doing more and more of these briefings. it's unclear what the role for sean would have been had he not left. ite nom sure that the president has antipathy for the other people that were in that office, but certainly anybody associated with reince priebus looks like they might be in trouble. >> azi, let's talk about "the washington post" article on attorney general sessions and what he allegedly discussed with the russian ambassador sergey kislyak. you saw president trump's tweets. is sessions in great peril now? what does this mean? >> donald trump doesn't need a reason to get rid of jeff sessions, but he's been handed another reason if he wanted it. and remember, donald trump has said that he was disappointed that jeff sessions recused himself from the russian investigation. trump said he would not have picked him to be the attorney general had he known that that's what he was going to do.

and with this latest revelation, you have the russia story coming back into the foreground and donald trump is clearly signaling his displeasure with bob mueller's investigation and if jeff sessions is not going to be a person who get rid of bob mueller, donald trump might have one more piece of ammunition to get rid of jeff sessions which could lead to taking back or removing bob mueller. so it's unclear how much longer jeff sessions is going to stay in place. but the longer jeff sessions holds on, without the full confidence of the president, it gives democrats an opportunity to say the president is not loyal to the people that were local to him. look at what happened to jeff sessions. don't go with the president, especially as they're negotiating the health care bill that's coming up. >> and, jonathan, what's your take on that? do you think president trump will let jeff sessions go? >> i think it's a tough situation for the president in terms of a couple things. number one, if he let's jeff

sessions go, there's no reason for jeff sessions to protect the president in any sort of congressional hearings or investigations. and number two, it's not clear that anybody would take that job to succeed jeff sessions who would be capable or would be, you know, sort of worth the president's time, which means that you'd have an acting attorney general probably in rod rosenstein, somebody who appointed bob mueller in the first place. there aren't a lot of good options here for the president. to some extent, he put sessions in this job. he expected sessions to be loyal to him. i think most people would argue that sessions has been loyal to him, but obviously the president doesn't feel that way. yet his hands are sort of tied because there's not a good alternative for him. >> and azi, i want to ask you about the disclosures we've learned about with jared kushner. is there anything we're learning about that? and why would we be getting these disclosures later after they've already filed once? >> who hasn't forgot been a few million in a bank account or

between the kushners and their couch? this was an update to a financial disclosure filing in which he he said he inadvertently overlooked assets that he owned. jared kushner is very rich. his wife, ivanka trump, is also very rich. instead of owning 100% of one company, they have assets and ownership of many different companies. and what jared kushner had updated was the ballpark figures for the amount of assets that he owns. there was even information about art that he personally owns that he neglected to acknowledge its worth between i think $5 million and $25 million. there was even information about loans that were made to some of the companies that he owns a part of. so we're seeing just how diverse the portfolio is and how complicated some of these financial transactions have been and how people that usually vet this sort of stuff haven't really given it a full look. >> azi, jonathan, great to have

you here this morning opinion thanks so much. >> thanks, dara. >> thank you. so how many times did president trump meet with vladimir putin in germany? new information from russia's foreign minister in a live report, up next. ve... it could . it's time to shake things up. with the capital one venture card, you get double miles on everything you buy, not just airline purchases. seriously, think of all the things you buy. great...is this why you asked me to coffee? well yeah... but also to catch-up. what's in your wallet? (vo) living with ammonia odor? not a pretty picture. (vo) luckily, tidy cats lightweight with new ammonia blocker tackles tough odor, even ammonia. so long stankface! (vo) ammonia like that? there's a tidy cats for that.

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it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. we know about president putin and president trump meeting three times at the g20, that they met obviously for the bilateral, they met at the dinner and they met -- >> well, maybe they went to toilet together. that was a fourth time. >> that's russian foreign minister sergey lavrov brushing aside questions with about how many times president putin and president trump met at the g20 summit. it was part of an exclusive interview with nbc news. kier simmons spoke to mr. lavrov in moscow and joins me live from

there. good morning. kier, can you tell us, what else did lavrov have to say? >> well, good morning. sergey lavrov responded, as well, to the comments this week by cia director moom mike pom pompeo where the director suggests the u.s. is in favor of regime change in north korea of removing its leader kim jong un. of course, the tension has been increasing over north korea. the u.s. now signaling that it intends to ban american citizens from travel to go that country amid the continuing missile tests there. but sergey lavrov had only what can be interpreted a as a warning for washington. take a listen. >> we don't believe in regime change anywhere. i hear very enthusiastic voices in the united states including in some parts of this administration that the patience has been over and they must do something because the threat is

growing and growing and the intercontinental ballistic missile was launched. but a month ago, i think, a month and a half, maybe, secretary mattis answering a question bluntly stated that the use of force against north korean regime would mean a disaster, a humanitarian disaster in the region. >> and he had tough words, too, over syria where a u.s. and russian brokered peace deal has been holding. and today, news of a further de-escalation zone around the capital of syria, da mast cuss. but what sergey lavrov said was he wanted to talk about what he says are u.s. bases in syria. his argument, as he put it, was that while the u.s. should be in syria to type r fight isis, once that battle is over, america should leave. take a listen to that.

>> after the country has been liberated, the presence of the foreign troops or foreign basis on the soil of syria would be only legitimate with the concern of the syrians themselves. >> to be clear, the principal that the only forces that should be allowed to intervene in syria are those that have been sanctions by president assad would suggest that only are russia, iran and perhaps hezbollah should be allowed to intervene in syria. >> well, strictly speaking, yes. >> now, clearly, america and its allies in the region, dara region are never going to accept a situation where only russia, iran and hezbollah are allowed to be involved in syria with the agreement of president assad. what i think all of this underscores, dara, is that while there is a lot of talk, of course, about the questions of russian alleged sxwer vengz in the u.s. elections, there are

also huge geopolitical issues playing out around the world where russia and the u.s. are agreeing at sometimes and other times deeply disagree b. dara. >> interesting developments. kier simmons live for us from moscow. thank you very much, kie are r. president trump is heading to today. a live on that and what to expect, next. oscar mayer is making big changes to hot dogs. we went back to the drawing board... and the cutting board. we removed the added nitrates and nitrites, by-products, and artificial preservatives in all of our meat.

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happening now in california, a massive wildfire burning out of control near yosemite national park is threatening homes. the fire has already burned 75,000 acres and destroyed more than 100 structures. it's more than 13 fires across the state. now for a look at the headlines, exactky jaris is here. . jackie, what's the big story today? >> hey, dara, the big concern today is flash flooding and the other story the heat in the nation's mid section. first off, let's talk about the severe weather threat.

we've had track ago complex of thunderstorms moving across the ohio valley that's heading towards the mid-atlantic states and will be along the i-95 corridor later on this afternoon and evening. this could produce damaging winds and heavy downpours, as well. flooding has been the big concern into eastern iowa, northern illinois and southern wisconsin. but a new round of showers and thunderstorms will be redeveloping across parts of the upper midwest. so that becomes a concern, especially after the lunch hour today. excessive heat warnings continue in the highlighted pink area here with advisories on the periphery of this. the heat has been just stuck in place as of tuesday and that will be the case through much of the weekend. but some relief is coming. in the meantime, the forecast for today, we'll see some triple dimts. you add in that high humidity, it may be feeling like the 110s at times.. very hot across the southeast. excessive heat warnings for raleigh into fayetteville, north carolina. some splash and dash stuff into the southeast, as well.

monsoonan moisture into the four corners region and temperatures finally waning a little bit as we head into the early part of next week. monday, back to work and back to reality for a lot of us. we'll see some showers and thunderstorms up and down the i-95 corridor. look at chicago, only 76. back to you. >> jacqi, thanks so much. preparations are under way at norfolk, virginia, for a visit by president trump. in just a few hours, he'll attend the commissioning of the aircraft carrier to the u.s. navy. ali is in norfolk for us. a lot of news skomg out of the west wing in the last 24 hours. what do we expect from the president later this morning? >> hi there, good morning. so we're here on the aircraft carrier and president trump, as he does most mornings is giving us insight into what he's thinking about today. that is, of course, this ceremony that we're here for right now, but it's also things going on back in washington, things like the new report overnight about tourn general jeff sessions and his reported

contacts with russian ambassador kislyak. it's notable that trump would be bringing that up at all considering his prior comments this week about sessions saying that he wouldn't have offered him the attorney general job if he knew that he was going to recuse himself in matters related to the russia probe. that's when president trump usually goes on the trail, we do tend to have controversy swirling in his wake back in d.c. and today really is no exception of course, when we left on friday, he did shake up his staff, bringing in anthony scaramucci as the new communications director. sean spicer ended up quitting. now you're seeing a lot of movement in the shop, as well. the president coming in today with all the fanfare that comes with the commissioning of this ship and all the controversy back behind him in washington, d.c. >> a busy morning ahead. ali live for us in norfolk, virginia, where the president will be in just a few hours. that will do it for me. i'm dara brown. thanks for watching.

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