hi, everyone, here at the brokaw news center in los angeles and we begin with breaking news this hour from moscow. russian president vladimir putin is making good on his promise to remove more than 750 u.s. diplomats from his country as president trump prepares to sign a bill imposing tough new sanctions, in part because of election meddling. nbc's matt bradley is in london with more of the interview putin gave. it is now airing on russian state tv. we got a rough translation of it. talk to us about how angry vladimir putin is in this interview at donald trump and the trump administration. >> well, you know what's really fascinating about this decision, jacob, the american sanctions bill hasn't even become law yet, so he's made this decision, of course, before president trump has had the chance to either sign or veto the sanctions bill

that just passed the house and senate with near unanimous support. the white house has indicated they are probably going to be signing this bill, and, of course, even if they didn't, the senate and the house have the votes to override a veto, but let's be clear. this is a huge setback for russian-american diplomacy and as putin said, this would restore, quote, diplomatic parity. by that he means that expelling some 755 american personnel from embassies in russia would leave 455 diplomats and technical staff. that's the same number of personnel russia has in the united states, so that's what he means by parity, but that 755 number is really dramatic. just goes to show how angry putin is. "the washington post" is calling it the largest expulsion from russia since the russian revolution. that was 100 years ago, so even as he announced this nearly unprecedented expulsion, putin blamed american politicians for

this deteriorating relationship with the u.s. he said that his administration tried to improve relations in the face of american obstruction, so here's what he said, jacob, one of the quotes from today. we waited for quite some time that maybe something would change for the better, fuelled such a hope the situation would somehow change, but judging by everything if it changes, it would not be soon. then he again denied any meddling in the 2016 u.s. elections. that's one of the main reasons congress listed for ramping up these sanctions, so this order was first announced on friday, but didn't come with the specific numbers president putin referenced today on russian state tv. this is going to include american missions in moscow, as well as in st. petersburg, vladivostok, and russia will also be seizing two american diplomatic buildings, a long delayed retaliation move after the u.s. seized two russian compounds outside new york last december. you remember that move last

december, the obama administration expelled only about 35 russian diplomats. that's a lot less than the 755 employees that putin announced today. and even putin himself in this television address said he expected the russian-american relationship to deteriorate even further. jacob? >> all right, nbc's matt bradley in london with the latest on vladimir putin expelling american diplomats from russia. matt, thanks very much. turning now to major changes for the trump administration. retired four star marine general john kelly starts his new job as the white house chief of staff tomorrow. the military veteran, who's currently the secretary of homeland security, takes over for the ousted reince priebus. general kelly is being asked to restore more discipline to the west wing, if that is possible. a top counselor to the president, kellyanne conway, spoke about it earlier today. >> if we can have protocol, pecking order, order, discipline, and a chief of staff that empowers his staff to succeed, i know that general

kelly has done that on the battlefield, i know he's done that as a chief military aide to former cabinet secretaries and as a cabinet secretary. and so we have great faith that will be done. >> joining me now are amy parn, senior white house correspondent for "the hill" and "new york times" reporter jeremy peters. let me start with you about these expulsions we're hearing about from vladimir putin, these american diplomats. something we learned about on friday, but vladimir putin confirmed it today and got more specific. given the ongoing investigation into collusion with russia, how does this play into everything here? >> well, i think that this was a larger number than anybody really expected, as you said, jacob, we had an inkling this was coming, but no one really thought it was going to be on this scale. i think it raises a question of whether or not donald trump is credibly able to continue this rather soft and accommodating line that he's taken on russia. i think that is very much up in

the air at this point. >> yeah, and amy, let me get your reaction to what we're hearing out of moscow this afternoon here in the united states, and what we expect as a potential response from the trump administration. president trump has not yet signed the sanctions legislation. >> right. i mean, as jeremy said, i think this will be the ultimate test for president trump and i think he's going to need to kind of respond in a way and it's going to be a little awkward for him, particularly i think with russia continuing to be in the headlines. it's going to be interesting to see what his next move is and how he responds to this. >> right. jeremy, this is, obviously, going to crowd the desk on day one of secretary-general, now chief of staff john kelly. does having mainly a military background work for this new role for general kelly, or is it something that's not going to be a fit? >> right, jacob. well, his job primarily is going to be to try to restore order

and function to a white house that has been known for chaos and dysfunction. i think that it's a mistake going into this to assume that you can change donald trump, but you may be able to change the chain of command and the lines of responsibility around donald trump. now, that i'm certain is going to be met with fierce resistance, because you do have these competing power centers within the west wing that have almost created this feudal-like structure. how much general kelly is going to be able to improve that, i think no one can say with any degree of confidence at this point, but what you can say is that general kelly is someone the president has a tremendous amount of confidence in, and he had lost that confidence in reince priebus. our reporting tells us, jacob, that one of the final nails in priebus' coffin is the president had begun to see him as weak and while much is made about loyalty to the president, the cardinal

sin that you can commit in his eyes is looking feckless and weak, and that is something that john kelly is not. >> i guess particularly for not pushing back after anthony scaramucci went after him in that incredible expletive laden tirade to ryan lizza in the new yorker. in terms of the president himself, it was really crazy to hear kellyanne conway say that she'd be open to a pecking order, knowing there are competing factions within the white house. we know that the president respects secretary kelly, but is he going to listen to him when it comes to matters other than military topics? >> that's the thing, he doesn't really have a political background, and that's where it remains to be seen how the people in the west wing are going to stick to his orders and whether he's going to know enough to actually, you know, implement what needs to be done. chief of staff is a lot different role than he's used to. but as jeremy said, i think the one thing he does command is a

lot of respect, so especially with all the leaking happening, i'll be curious to see how he implements that and how he deals with that specifically. >> yeah, and, of course, one of the reasons reince priebus is out is that the health care bill went down in an epic fail. a lot of flames. jeremy, let me ask you, is there a chance now with general kelly in here that donald trump who's been on again, off again, especially on twitter this weekend about whether or not the republicans should go forward with another version of the health care bill? is it going to come back under general kelly? >> i don't know that this will be general kelly's role, jacob. i think first and foremost he's going to be a manager who is kind of sorting out the lines of responsibility and reporting among the hundreds of staffers in the west wing. i think the legislating and the wheeling and dealing with congress will be left to other staffers. i think now the question is

whether or not trump decides to withhold payments to the insurers, as kellyanne conway threatened today. i think if they do that, though, they risk owning obamacare's failure in a way that president trump has insisted he does not. he wants to continue to have kind of maximum political distance from the failures of this law and the exchanges in many states. so i know that the white house is trying to pivot and move on to tax reform. how successful that is, of course, we don't really know, because health care is one thing, it's incredibly complicated. tax reform is another one that is just going to split not just democrats and republicans, but republicans from republicans. >> and the longer they stretch this health care thing out, the closer the midterm elections

come. jeremy peters in washington, thanks so much. and amie parnes, see you in a bit. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> you got it. new concerns after north korea launches a second long range missile in less than a month. coming up next, the growing frustrations with china. >> i think the only solution is a diplomatic one. i'm very disappointed in china's response that it has not been firmer or more helpful.

in the wake of the latest north korean missile launch, the state-run news agency claims its latest test of an icbm proves the, quote, entire u.s. mainland

is in the firing range of the missile. ambassador nikki haley pushed back against reports the united states is calling for an emergency meeting of the security council tomorrow. basically asked, what is the point. haley said it's up to china to decide if it will step up pressure on north korea. ambassador haley warned, quote, the time for talk is over. with us now, "daily beast" columnist, author of nuclear showdown, north korea takes on the world. gordon, good to see you. just quickly, are we at the breaking point here? >> i actually don't think so, you know, we have maybe nine months, a year, before the north koreans are able to put a nuke on top of an intercontinental ballistic missile. also, you know, we can always deter the north koreans or at least i hope we can, but clearly the administration is expressing frustration, and we hear this across the board from senator feinstein's comments on "meet the press" where she says china

is not doing enough. whether it's president trump's tweets or congress, it's clear the u.s. is running out of patience across the board. >> in particular when it comes to china, when we talk about china needing to step up as nikki haley, the u.s. ambassador to the united nations suggests, what do you make of her tactics and the president's tactics of calling out china in this way on social media, or are they handling this the right way? >> i think we have to tell china that we're fed up with this. the real issue here is going to be america's relations with beijing, because trump's tweets yesterday challenge four decades of u.s. policy towards north korea and towards china. so, clearly, we're at a pivot point. we're seeing the united states impose costs on china that we haven't seen the u.s. do in decades, so right now, you know, a lot of things are up for grabs. i think the people in beijing are starting to question the way they've handled the united states, and this is going to be interesting to see if they

change their attitude towards north korea. i don't think that they will, because you have the 19th party congress coming up in october or november, a very sensitive time in china right now, which means xi jinping can't really give into the united states. i'm really fearful for what's going to happen in the next few months. >> when president trump gets on twitter like he did last night tweeting about china, is this something beijing is potentially listening to? are these tweets analyzed, parsed, dissected by beijing? >> i think so. you know, there's a certain amount of eye rolling that goes on in beijing, just as it does in the united states when the president tweets, and everybody knows his tweets aren't cleared by interagency review, but nonetheless i think the chinese are taking his messages as a sense of attitude and when they are backed up, for instance, by general dunford, who a week ago talked about diplomacy, running for only a few more months, senator feinstein, nikki haley,

a lot of other people talking about this, i think they are starting to get the message that the president is expressing the mood not only of what he's feeling at that particular moment on twitter, but also just the way americans are approaching china right now, because there is this lack of patience. >> we saw american b-1 bombers flying with south korean jets today near seoul. what do we read into that? >> i think this is more reassurance towards south korea and japan than it is a warning to north korea. north korea is not worried about our b-1 bombers, but what we were worried about is president moon jae-in in south korea becoming sort of unsure about america's commitment to defend the south. also, there's an important military component to these exercises, because this is not just the u.s. those u.s. b-1bs were escorted by japanese and korean planes, that's a logistics issue, so we're trying to ensure tokyo and seoul the united states will be

there to defend them from north korean missiles. >> gordon chang, i'm sure we'll have lots more to talk about in the days and weeks ahead. thank you. >> thank you, jacob. president trump waging a war on violence and illegal immigration. coming up next, we talk to the former mayor of los angeles about what has to be done to keep our borders safe. stick around. surprise!

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for many years they exploited america's weak borders and lax immigration enforcement to bring drugs and violence to cities and towns all across america. they are there right now because of weak political leadership. i've met police, great police that aren't allowed to do their job because they have a pathetic mayor or a mayor doesn't know what's going on. >> president trump tackling border immigration security to police on friday in a county grappling with ms-13 gang

violence. the president encouraging officers to not, quote, be too nice when dealing with suspects. those comments garnering a lot of attention and criticism from law enforcement and civilians alike. joining me now, former mayor of the great city of los angeles, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> i have to ask you about these comments by president trump. you were the man in charge of the los angeles police department, but today by many accounts does when it comes to community-based policing. what's your reaction? >> he talks like the thugs that he wants to deport, and we should deport people who commit violent crimes, but in eight years that i was mayor, nearly 50% drop in violent crime, gang crime. crime went down because we grew our police department, focused on constitutional community policing, did some of the most innovative prevention, intervention, job re-entry

programs in the nation, and it was why we went for the most dangerous cities in the united states of america to -- except for new york, the safest big city over a million. >> the president focused on the gang ms-13, which was born here in the city of los angeles. the los angeles police department has a lot of experience in dealing with this gang. the deportation created the refugee migrant crisis because of all the violence exported there. what didded the president have learn about los angeles? >> he called the mayor of new york pathetic, but the policies he's promoting, more brutality, tactics that frankly undermine police and community support is the wrong way to go.

by the way, wasn't just ms-13. bloods and the crips started here. that's why we made gang crime such an important issue while i was mayor and why we need to make it an issue across the country, but you can't just do it with law enforcement. you need to do it building community trust. one of the things chief charlie beck said in response, the successful raid they did on ms-13 in los angeles in may couldn't have happened without the cooperation of victims. not everybody is documented or immigrants. many of them, in fact, are, you know, second or third generation americans. and i think we all agree that people who commit violent crimes ought to be deported, but going after the undocumented is not a crime strategy.

when you look at the fact that according to the national academy of sciences in i think it was november 2015, the undocumented immigrants commit less crimes than native born. that's just a fact. >> it is a fact. joe kelly is going from the department of homeland security, the agency that deals with immigration, deportation, building the wall, to become the chief of staff in the white house. the talk this weekend is potentially attorney general jeff sessions could be slid over into that position at the department of homeland security. what would be the consequences of that happening? >> i think that there will be a number of people in both parties who will take umbrage with that. he's said that he's conflicted in terms of the investigation about russia. and the trump campaign. and trump administration. and the fact that they would move him out to another job, put someone else who isn't conflicted, i don't think is going to pass muster with a lot

of people. >> you want to be the next governor of this state, california. you have a tough primary and general after that. what are the areas you think you can work with the trump administration? >> i'd like to work together across the board. it's just very difficult to do that when you see the kind of policies that come out of this administration, particularly around the environment, health care, immigration. these are issues that california's charted a different path on, and the people of this state are very supportive of that path, and i don't think people here in los angeles or throughout california want to work with an administration that continues to demonize immigrants, doesn't believe in climate change, thinks it's okay to take 22 million people off of health care. >> do you see in some measure the state of california as its own mini nation? governor jerry brown is out there on climate change, the

role of a governor, i guess is my question now, whether it's on health care or environmental policy, somewhat taking the role of what the president of the united states used to do? >> if there's a vacuum, someone is going to fill it. the fact is, we're the sixth largest economy in the world, the largest state in the country, the most diverse. we are successful because we think health care's a right, not a privilege, because we believe we have to address climate change, and the scourge that it portends for the future. and because we believe in this state, that immigrants have contributed mightily to the nation, and so, yes, i think we are going to lead the way. but l.a., new york, chicago have done the same. the big cities are all getting behind the paris accord, and remember that 80% of the nation lives in big cities. most of the gdp is in those cities. i think you're going to see leadership take grace with this big sucking vacuum in

washington, d.c. >> all right, we got to leave it there, unfortunately, but going to be a great race in california. former mayor of los angeles, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> thank you. president trump made building a wall on the mexican border the cornerstone of his administration policy and his immigration policy. recently he talked about creating one with solar panels. take a look. >> this way mexico will have to pay much less money, and that's good. right? is that good? you're the first group i've told that to, a solar wall. makes sense. let's see. we're working it out, let's see. solar wall, panels, beautiful. >> beautiful, he says. the president's 2018 budget calls for $1.6 billion to fund the project and would cover 76 miles of the 2,000-mile bachelor's degreborder with mexico. now one republican congressman thinks that he might have the

answer. get this, a smart wall, one that relies on high-tech sensors instead of brick and mortar to monitor the illegal border crossings. for more, joined by republican congressman will hurd from texas. good to see you here. spent some time doing reporting on the border and during the obama administration, three-prong strategy, they have the manpower, the technology, and the infrastructure. pointing to things like sensors under the ground, stadium-style lights that they have above, how would this be different? >> well, we don't have enough is the reality, so the district i represent, i have 820 miles of border. more border than any other member of congress, and in some sectors, like the el paso sector, which has 300 miles, there's only 60 miles of persistent sensor technology. a lot of that technology is old, as well. whereas the changes in sensor technology is happening now in

2017, a sensor can be thrown away. it's basically disposable. and we should be using that all along our border. we should -- we have the technology to detect a bunny rabbit from a human. we can deploy a drone to understand what the threat is, track that threat, and then deploy our most important resource, the men and women in border patrol to do interdiction and that process i just described, the majority can be done with computer vision, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, which allows us to have men and women in border patrol focus on what they can do, and that's interdiction. so it's a different kind of technology. we shouldn't just rely on one. radar is valuable in some areas. li-dar is more valuable and useful in another area. you know, we shouldn't be whetted to one type of tool, and all of the things i'm describing is a fraction of the cost of building a concrete structure

along the border. in the administration's budget, there's $24.5 million a mile, and the smart wall that i've described, we can pay for this with under half a million a mile. that's a difference of $24 million. that's a lot of money. >> so you would tell the president of the united states we do not need a big beautiful concrete great wall of the united states and mexico. >> we don't. building a wall from sea to shining sea is the most expense i have and least expensive way to do border security. our border is still not secure. we don't have operational control of the 2,000 miles of border, so people are rightly frustrated, but we have to think about the border. all 2,000 miles, at the same time. we can't just focus on one place and one part of the country because then you get to see the bad guys are going to adapt and change their tactics, techniques, and procedures. >> right.

if i can interrupt you real quick, your republican congressmen in the border state, on the border, you have 800 miles of border that runs through your district. does the president just not get it? >> well, you'd have to ask the president that. i guess i was going to say former secretary kelly at the department of homeland security, he got it, he understands this notion of defense and debt that you have to utilize many different types of tools in order to secure our border. he understands that you already have physical barriers. the santa alanna canyon in big ben national park is already a border, 6,000-foot peak, a river, and another 6,000-foot mountain on the other side. there's a lake that's about 30 miles, building a wall in the middle of a lake is called a dam and we don't need that. so you can't have a

one-size-fits-all solution to border security, and that's been our problem over the last couple years in just traying to change what that solution is is not going to fix. you have to change your strategy and how we stop drugs from coming in through our community and folks from coming here illegally. >> all right. as always, the reality of the facts on the ground, difference from the campaign rhetoric, really interesting to hear you talk about this. congressman will hurd of texas. thanks a lot. >> thank you. a double blow to the lgbtq community. first a transgender ban to the military, and days later the justice department revealed they are not protected under the civil rights act. coming up, the tone coming from this white house. am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans.

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president trump alleged cost burdens and, quote, disruption as the reasons he decided to bar transgender individuals from serving in the u.s. military on wednesday. backlash from lawmakers and community members came immediately, including the aclu,

who disputed these arguments and criticized the president for, quote, trying to score cheap political points on the backs of military personnel who have put their lives on the line for their country. but the ban wasn't the only blow to the administration delivered to the lgbtq community that day. hours after president trump's tweet, the justice department argued the federal law against same-sex discrimination does not protect lgbtq people from being fired. joining me now to talk more about this is james essex, director of the aclu's lgbtq and hiv project. the justice department, as you know, says under title vii of the civil rights act sexual orientation discrimination doesn't have the same effect against discriminating of an employee against another sex. explain this argument and your reaction to it. >> well, thank you very much for addressing this issue. the question about whether sex,

the ban on sex discrimination in the civil rights act covers sexual orientation is easy. how is it you describe a person's sexual orientation without talking about the sex of the people involved? i'm a gay man and you know that in part because i'm married to my husband and i love him. you can't talk about sexual orientation without bringing sex into it, and that's why it's covered by the civil rights act. >> there are some analysts who do commentary over the weekend who say we've seen this ruling before, this interpretation is not a unique interpretation. is that true? >> yeah, there are a number of courts who have agreed with this argument and very importantly, the eeoc, the equal employment opportunity commission, a separate part of the federal government, separate from the justice department, has been on record agreeing that sexual orientation discrimination is a discrimination you can sue over for several years and what we have here is the department of justice deciding to go out on a limb, no one asked them to weigh in on this case, and disagreeing

with another part of the federal government, that is the part of the federal government that's been given the job by congress of interpreting and enforcing the civil rights act. >> staff lawyer, i believe, wrote in an op-ed, i want to read from this, the second circuit span protections for lesbian and gay workers under title vii of the act, how so, and how is this administration changing that progression? >> well, the federal appeals court in new york has taken this question of whether bans on sex discrimination covered sexual orientation and is going to hear argument on this case, on this issue, in september. and the justice department decided to insert itself into the discussion and to say that -- to ask the court not to rule that way. so just been very clear, what that means is the justice department is saying to the

court, look, even in a situation where it's quite clear an employer fired a woman because she's a lesbian, say they chase her out the door yelling anti-gay epithets, the justice department's decision is that's legal under federal law. i have to say that's kind of gross and different from the eeoc's position and the obama administration's position and the position many courts have taken so far. >> if we can talk about the military ban for a minute, what are the legal repercussions the president could face if the military ban is implemented? >> well, the first thing i want to say is the president's tweet is not self executing. therefore, i mean, he's made clear what he wants to have happen, but the department of defense has regulations in place that make it very clear that transgender people can serve and over 15,000 transgender people are serving right now. if the department of defense gets to the point where it actually takes the president's tweet and turns it into policy and starts kicking transgender

people out of the military, the aclu and i'm sure other people, as well, will sue, because that violates the constitution and also violates current federal law. >> president trump wanted everybody to believe during the campaign that he was voicing support for the lgbtq community even more so -- sorry, i chuckle, but even more so than his democratic opponent hillary clinton. let's take a listen to that. unfortunately, i don't think we have that sound bite, but we all remember the president saying, paraphrasing, he'd be the best ever for the lgbtq community. we have that sound now. let's take a listen. >> ask yourself, who is really the friend of women and the lb and lgbt community? donald trump with actions or hillary clinton with her words? >> so, in the first months of his administration the president rolled back obama era restrictions allowing

transgender students to use bathrooms, assign gender identity, now seen the tweets coming out and the actions from the white house. what do you make of this change of heart? >> well, i think the president's actions speak quite clearly. he's decided to prioritize beating up on transgender youth, as you mention. he's decided to contradict the generals who had decided that allowing transgender service members to serve and put their lives at risk for the country made sense, and he's decided he wants to change that. he's decided he wants to allow lgbt people to face employment discrimination at work. those are not the actions of an ally. those are the actions of someone who has put the lgbt community under siege. >> those are not the actions of an ally. well said. james, thank you very much. looking for a job, amazon needs a few good workers, 50,000 of them to be exact. coming up next, how the rise in e-commerce is changing the way

that we shop. in the next hour, my colleague thomas roberts is going to be here with more on russia's order to have 755 diplomatic workers out of the u.s. embassy in moscow.

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you're watching msnbc. if you think america's jobs crisis is only playing out in the central appalachia, think again. it might be happening much closer to where you live. have you been to the mall recently? if your answer is no, you are not alone, and that is part of an extraordinary shift taking place in the retail industry. one i saw happening in realtime. when i was growing up, my parents brought me to places just like this. the mall in san bernardino, california. today, my son would love to ride this thing. but it's not working anymore. you're taking a walk around a very empty mall. >> yeah. i'm a little sad. i used to come here when i was a

little girl. i used to ride the carousels. i don't know what happened, i just know it went down in flames. >> what happened is people stopped shopping in malls that felt outdated. i haven't been in a place like this forever, and you can probably relate. here and malls across america, anchor tenants like jcpenney and smaller stores packed up and left. after 44 years, customers of this shoe repair will have to go elsewhere. across the way, this chinese restaurant is also one of the last holdouts. >> you're trying to stay open as long as possible. >> until the mall locks the door. >> i ran into some of the die hards that kept coming until the end. >> we're the most regular customers she's got. >> drawn back by a delicious lunch and craving for something they can't get here anymore, community. >> i know the two of us come here since we were kids. >> carousel mall shut down for good this month. 300 more malls are at risk of closing this year. and so many have already closed, there's a website, deadmalls.com, that tracks them.

since october, 32,000 department store workers have lost jobs, and over the last 16 years, that number is 500,000. why? at least in part more of us than ever are shopping online. which brings me here. what is this place? >> this is logistics, a contract warehouse and fulfillment center. >> here it's not the same type of fulfillment you get on a carousel. it's the kind that shows up on your front door. places like this are where much of the stuff we buy online comes from. i've never been inside one. >> all kinds of distribution, fulfillment, both to big box retailers like target and walmart and amazon. you buy it, and i ship it directly to your house. >> b.j. paterson is the company's ceo and insists this mall-sized building should bring joy to workers and shoppers alike. you got 165,000 square feet here. is this the biggest one of these around? >> oh, not even close.

i mean, around here you've got a million and a half, million and six, think about this times ten in one building. >> turns out that's lots of room to create new jobs. >> i manage jobs every day. >> that's a good thing, but those 500,000 department store jobs lost, during the same time period e-commerce has added only 138,000. but if you're lucky enough to snag a job in e-commerce, one study says you'll be making 27% more than in traditional retail. >> so here eventually is a new retail worker? >> that's your new retail worker right there, exactly. >> i'll probably never bring my son here, but one day he might love a skateboard like the one inside this box. b.j. insists the retail economy isn't dead. we're watching a realtime rebirth. this week amazon plans to hire 50,000 new workers in its warehouses. signs of a bright future stacked sky high in buildings just like this. >> signs of a bright future, but

maybe not for everybody. i'm curious what's happening with the malls in your neck of the woods? do me a favor, tweet me, hit me up on snapchat, instagram, all those good social media places. maybe later on i'll of the woods. do me a favor, tweet me and hit me up on snap chat and instagram and those good social media places and maybe later on i'll see what you're seeing in your area on the air. stick around. we'll be right back. what's it mean for shipping? ship the goods. you're a go! you got the green light. that means go! oh, yeah. start saying yes to your company's best ideas. we're gonna hit our launch date! (scream) thank you! goodbye! let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open. on a hotel just go to priceline. they add thousands of new deals every day at up to 60% off. that's how kaley and i got to share this trip together at this amazing hotel. yeah ash and i share everything - dresses, makeup, water bottles... we do? mmhmm. we share secrets, shoes, toothbrushes...

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from the football field to the international space station,lyland melvin started his career as an nfl wide receiver before his injury sidelined him and he went on to become a scientist at nasa and was later recruited to join the space program and he later suffered an injury that left him completely deaf and he recovered partial hearing and he went on to complete two shuttle missions. after 24 years with nasa, melvin hopes to use his experience to inspire and motivate the next generation of explorers. i want to bring iniallyland

melvin author of chasing space, an astronaut's story of grit, grace and second chances. really great to have you with us,lyland, from sports to space. how did that transition happen and how did you overcome all of these roadblocks? >> you know, jacob, it's great to be here on msnbc. i had some great mentors and people who had my back and when i had a touchdown pass, my coach didn't bench me and put me back in the game and that one catch resulted in a college scholarship because the scout saw me overcome that drop, that failure and that obstacle and throughout my life i've had these different things happen, but there's always been someone there that kept me going on the right path and just, you know, grit, determination, perseverance and not giving up was something that my parents and middle school teachers they always taught me in lynchburg, virginia. >> how did you cope with your hearing loss? >> that's an extraordinary thing to com pro hend, completely losing your hearing and then getting partial hearing back.

what was it like to go through that? >> the thing is when i lost my hearing, the doctors, you know, wrote a note to me saying you will never fly in space and my hearing through exploratory surgery slowly came back and when it came back i had to rewire my brain to hear noise again, and very noise sensitive and some environments are kind of noisy, but again the perseverance and grit kept me going and told me i can still find space. >> what was the difficult part of being up there in space, and then adjusting to life once you get back down here on earth? >> well, the most difficult thing, you wouldn't think this, but it's using the bathroom because you can't train for that on the ground. you can't do this microgravity potty sessions. so that was kind of the hardest thing because everything else you do, you train in the eight hours, four-hour space walk and you do robotics training and all of those things we do, but that

one thing was pretty difficult. >> i just got -- i'm checking my tweets in between the segment and there was someone who said -- when i said you were coming up, joslyn said dude, how did you not introduce him as the astronaut who had his dogs in the pics. >> you took your nasa photos with your dogs. everybody just absolutely loved this. how did you get away with doing that? >> i had to sneak them in because nasa doesn't allow dogs into the center, so my buddy helped me get them up to the lab and the photo lab, and had milkbones to keep them quiet until they ate the milkbones and started barking and we got the picture and the security guard came after that, but hey, we got the pic. >> all right. unfortunately, we have to leave it there and former astronaut, leyland melvin, and most importantly, having your dogs in the nasa pics. >> thank you. >> chasing space.

get out there and get it. >> for more story like this, check out making of an astronaut. i want to go to quickly, if we can, with your response, daniel chick says my hometown mall is still doing well, somehow, same with the opry mills and i think we might have one more if we can get do it. peter alexander and not just peter alexander my colleague. the mall is a quarter empty and they've had lackluster traffic. difficult times. thank you so much. that does it for me this hour on msnbc. i'm jacob sob oroff. my colleague thomas roberts is coming up next. have a good night.

good afternoon. i'm thomas roberts live at msnbc world headquarterses in new york