meeting and this big press -- pretty big press conference on monday involves joe manchin and this dramatic musical chairs. we'll find out on monday. meanwhile, that does it for us tonight. i'll see you on monday. msnbc live is next. good morning, everyone. i'm dara brown. 7:00 a.m. in the east. president trump with a new warning to north korea and a deflection on the question of back channel talks and what prompted the president to talk about military action in venezuela. plus, the president with a new response today on whether he was being sarcastic when thanking vladimir putin for kicking out u.s. diplomats. defending against a north korean missile attack. what does the u.s. military have in place right now and what are the risks? new reaction this morning. a new report today that president trump could be getting rid of energy secretary rick perry and replace him with a

high-profile democrat. we'll tell you what's behind that move. violent clash. white supremacists meet with protesters. the virginia governor has the national guard on alert. we'll tell you why next on mississipmsnbc live. we begin with north korea crisis and president trump trying to alleviate concerns in the region. the white house telling nbc that president trump spoke with chinese president xi jinping as well as the governor of guam by phone last night. here's part of his conversation with guam's governor. >> governor, i just want to let you know, we're with you 1,000%. notice, he hasn't spoken recently. doesn't talk so much anymore. and we'll see how it all works out, but you're not going to have a problem. >> the phone calls came hours after president trump met with u.n. ambassador, his secretary of state and national security adviser at his new jersey golf resort.

he then spoke with reporters about where he thinks the escalating tensions are heading. >> nobody loves a peaceful solution better than president trump. that i can tell you. hopefully, it'll all work out. lots of good things could has been, and we could also have a bad solution. but we think lots of good things can happen. >> what would be a bad solution, sir? >> i think you know the answer to that. >> tell us more, president. when you say bad solution, are you talking about war? is the u.s. going to go to war? >> i think you know the answer to that. anything happens to guam, there's going to be big, big trouble in north korea. >> we're also learning this morning that president trump rejected a phone call from the president of venezuela last night at the suggestion the u.s. would take military action amid the crisis there. >> venezuela is not very far away, and the people are suffering. and they're dying. we have many options for venezuela, including a possible military option if necessary. >> meanwhile, president trump also standing by previous

comments in response to russia expelling hundreds of diplomats in retaliation over new sanctions. >> mr. president, were you being sarcastic when you thanked vladimir putin for expelling u.s. diplomats from russia? >> in order to reduce our payroll, absolutely. we'll see. in fact, i was just speaking to the secretary, and we're talking about coming up with an answer when, rex? >> by september 1st. >> by september 1st, we'll have a response. we have reduced payroll substantially. >> china's president this morning is again making a plea for restraint in rhetoric used by both president trump and north korea. nbc's kelly cobiella is in seoul, south korea. good morning. there's been tough talk coming from president trump in the last few days. what is the reaction from the korean peninsula? >> reporter: well, i think here in south korea, people are nervous to hear this war of words going back and forth. on the part of the north

koreans, they're used to hearing this kind of language. sort of fades into the backgrou background. but when it comes from the u.s. president, as well, that does rattle people a bit. makes them a bit uneasy, wondering how the north koreans would react to something like that. also worried, really, about any kind of miscommunication, misinterpretation of the president's words on the north korean's part. but no reaction this morning from the north koreans to these latest words from president trump last night, saying if anything happened to guam, there would be big, big trouble. the north koreans simply haven't reacted to that yet. interestingly, both the white house and chinese state media have put out slightly different interpretations, readouts, of this call between president trump and president xi last night. the white house saying that both sides, both presidents, agreed that north korea must stop its

provocative and else esculatory rhetoric. relevant parties should maintain restraint and avoid words and deeds that exacerbate tension. that's the quote from the chinese media side. obviously, a divergence of views there, on how the phone call went. clearly, the chinese state media is talking to a different audience and want to show that president xi is showing some signs that he is trying to calm tensions here on the korean peninsula. as far as we know, north korea, as it has promised, is going ahead and drawing up this plan to send four missiles to the waters around guam. that plan is supposed to be completed by mid-month. that's just in a few days now. japan is moving ahead with plans to defend itself essentially.

they've moved the anti-ballistic missile system to the western part of the country. that system arrived in place this morning. they've also sent a destroyer with advanced radar to detect ballistic missiles to the sea of japan. all parties in this region moving forward as tensions escalate. dara? >> kelly cobiella, live in seoul, thank you so much. let's bring in cuolonel jac jacobs. what is your sense of whether we're closer to any military conflict or possibly diplomatic resolution? >> it is interesting the chinese through a semi-official medium, the global news, passed some information to both the united states and to north korea by saying if the united states conducts a first strike on north korea, they'll have china to deal with, as well. but if the north koreans conduct a first strike, they are on

their own. and i think the possibility for mezcis m miscalculation is now reduced. if they hit american soil, they'll be in big trouble. >> we've heard about this nuclear threat from north korea for years. the report this week suggested it had the capabilities to equip it with an icbm with weapons. we thought it'd be at least a year away. what has happened? >> first of all, trying to determine what's going on technologically in north korea is extremely difficult to do. we have a lot more information on their conventional capability on the ground, the number of troops and so on. but with respect to delivering a nuclear weapon with a missile, just having a miniaturized weapon and just having a missile that can reach american soil is not enough to ha. they have to meet the two. the triggering has to be

correct. the warhead has to be able to survive re-entry. we're not sure they have the capability to do that. they may be 12 to 18 months away. still, it is a very dangerous situation. >> former defense secretary says the president's rhetoric could lead to a disastrous mistake. let's listen. >> at some point, there is a miscalculation. there's a mistake by someone in north korea or someone in south korea or someone elsewhere. suddenly, it has us into a war on the korean peninsula. i really do think that what is required now is a lessening of this rhetoric. >> colonel, how high is this risk for miscalculation? people in the military, is the military concerned by president trump's rhetoric here? >> well, with respect to miscalculations, they're always possible. the trouble with a miscalculation in this situation is that even if it's remote, the consequences of a miscalculation

are really dire. and with respect to the rhetoric, it's clear that, to many professional people, including those in the military, that the bomb bass, the hyperbole is not particularly helpful to the situation. that's why a lot of things that are happening, positive things that may be happening, are happening behind closed doors. >> colonel, real quick, what defense system does the u.s. have, and how reliesable is it? >> we have a number of systems that can intercept missiles early, in mid-range and also late in the trajectories. the problem is they're not necessarily very reliable. and we don't have a lot of them. we need to have a lot more of them. we need to have better systems. and the trouble with trying to use one in a situation like this, if north korea decides to send a missile in the direction of guam or any other place, is if we try to shoot down one of the missiles with any of these

systems and the system fails, then we've demonstrated our inability to defend ourselves. that's not very good either. >> colonel jack jacobs, always great to have you. thank you for joining me this morning. coming up, could president trump's threats against north korea this week undo the back channel diplomacy that has been reportedly been going on for months? [radio alarm] ♪

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new, more reliable equipment for your home. and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. they probably feel as reassured as they can feel. certainly they feel more reassured with me than they do with other presidents from the past because nobody has really done the job that they're supposed to be doing. that's why we're at this horrible situation right now. >> that was president trump speaking with reporters at his new jersey golf resort last night on attempts to reassure south korea amid rising tensions with the north. joining me now, chief washington

correspondent for bloomberg news, and co-author of the play book newsletter. thank you for joining me this morning. >> thank you. >> what sense are you getting from president trump's phone call with chinese president xi, whether chinese position on north korea changed as both sides ramp up the rhetoric. >> president trump says he totally respects the china and the role they must play in helping to broker some kind of agreement with north korea. you have to remember that north korea's top exporter and importer at 80% are the chinese. president xi jinping of china has said consistently he hopes the situation will de-escalate. he urged for north korea and for the administration led, of course, by president trump, to dial back the rhetoric, so to speak. look, from the china perspect e perspective, they don't want to have a military situation in the korean peninsula simply because it would cause a host of issues for them on their border,

including even an immigration crisis. we have economic interests in keeping the status quo. albeit not having dictator kim jong-un having a nuclear weapon. all of that said, if china doesn't play ball and tried to get the north korea to knock this off, the administration has a couple of options. namely economic ones to pressure chinese financial institutions to stop doing business with north korea. >> daniel, some of your colleagues are writing about the impact president trump's rhetoric might have on the u.s. back channel with north korea. how big of a threat are his comments? >> yeah, it kind of threatens that back channel which had been pretty secret until the ap reported about it yesterday morning. i think the willingness of the north koreans in new york to continue this back channel is kind of a ray of hope. it's at this lower level among, you know, foreign ministry and state department officials to try to have a solution when the

north koreans are ready to, you know, stop threatening the u.s. and threatening guam. then you can start using this back channel to maybe begin the process of negotiations, to come to an agreement for both sides to kind of stand down. but i think it is interesting how we aren't seeing the real preparations of war. so you're not seeing tens of thousands of americans getting evacuated from south korea. the u.s. is not moving ships and troops into theater to indicate that a war is coming. and so right now, this seems to be just rhetoric. we're not actually seeing things on the ground to indicate that there's going to be a war next week. >> that's a good sign. kevin, did you get the impression that president trump was more measured in his remarks last night since he'd just met with tillerson, haley and mcmaster? >> i think it is interesting. to daniel's point, the president has consistently had a different tone on domestic issues than some of his cabinet officials

and senior administration officials. he likes to be a bit more brazen in his remarks. we're seeing that on foreign policy. at the end of the day though, this is about money. this 33-year-old dictator in north korea has consistently had these missile launches. i mean, if you look a the numbers and the tests he did at the end of the obama administration, he's on pace to surpass that this year with the trump administration already. he's trying to lure people, to see how much money and aid he can get to come to an agreement. that's where the chinese have an important role to play. it is why you saw treasury secretary steven mnuchin introducing sanctions on a chinese institution. are we going to reward north korea with more money or actually try to get to the root of the problem, which is to get this country to knock off its nuclear ambitions? >> daniel, i want to turn to president trump's comments about russia and play for you what he told reporters last night. take that listen.

>> just speaking to the secretary and we're talking about coming up with an answer, when, rex, tell me. >> by september 1st. >> by september 1st, we'll have a response. but we have reduced payroll very substantially. >> daniel, your reaction to that. and is there a sense of what the reaction to the diplomatic expulsions will look like? >> we don't know what the response will look like. >> a lot of people we've talked to in the state department were stunned by trump's comments a couple days ago, praising putin for expelling the u.s. diplomats. it is unheard of, to hear a u.s. president in a praise -- >> he was being sarcastic. >> but i think -- >> come on. >> he doesn't understand that like the russians we employ in moscow they, you know, are valuable people to, you know, helping the u.s. carry out its mission in russia. all of those people without

jobs, if they get disaffected, then russian intelligence people will be looking to scoop them up and try to understand what they know about america. and so generally, it is a good idea to have -- to not have these diplomatic expulsions take place. >> and not be reduced to cuts in paychecks. before you two go, kevin, i want to talk about this big scoop on your efforts to -- you were writing about putting moderate democrat senator joe manchin in charge of the energy department. what is driving this? what would manchin risk, being replaced by a republican in the senate? >> it is a version of cabinet musical chairs. according to sources that my colleagues and i spoke to yesterday, this is a conversation that's actually being had, about whether or not he would be able to get out of the west virginia senate race. he's up for a tough re-election battle. he'd go to the energy department, and that would mean that rick perry, the former texas governor who now leads the

department, will potentially go to the department of homeland security, a post left over since general kelly has become the president's chief of staff. if all of that happens, that would bring republicans, arguably, one vote closer in the senate to accomplishing their legislative agenda. very interesting conversations being had at the white house, the rnc and west virginia. >> if you're a good chess player, you can keep up with it. kevin and daniel, thank you so much for joining me this morning. >> thank you, dara. >> great to have you. >> thanks. the national guard on alert in west virginia for what could be the largest public gathering of white supremacists. there's been clashes already. we'll take you there for the latest. shawn evans: it's 6 am.

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looks like we have showers in parts of the northeast, new york city, rain drops, 79 expected. the southern and northern planes. out west, beautiful. los angeles, 85, mostly sunny. great. not great in oklahoma where much of the state is dealing with the flood watch. in terms of the severe storms, it is interesting, one of them possibly a severe weather maker in terms of flooding. the other farther to the north, a possibility of damaging wind and hail. be advised of implications. tomorrow, though we have the rainy skies and conditions for new york, tomorrow looks fantastic. sunday, 83. chicago, partly cloudy. more storms possibly rolling off the front rage. showers and storms possibly early, dara. later on in the afternoon, things clear out. that's your forecast coast to coast. right back to you. >> thanks, reynolds. hundreds of white nationalists are expected to gather in very, veirginia.

we're in charlottesville this morning. what happened last night, and what can we expect today? >> reporter: dara, this is emancipation park. until recently, it was called robert e. lee park. in fact, his statue is still back here. it is part of this ongoing fight over whether or not to remove confederate monuments from public spaces. today, thousands of people are expected here. violence erupting overnight at the university of virginia, as far right protesters faced off with counterp protesters. the white nationalists flinging tiki torches. it could get more heated today with a rally that could be the largest public gathering of members of the alt-right, kkk, in a decade. jason kessler is an organizer.

>> it'll be free speech at this point because of the case but also preservation of the monument and the right for white people to advocate for their own interests, like any other group is able to do, free of stigma. >> reporter: thousands of people are expected here. many of them counter protesters. among them, religious leaders who began arriving on friday. >> i think all of our religious teachings tell us that we are all connected and that we are all one in love. >> reporter: this is the second major protest in the past six weeks in charlottesville. on july 8th, dozens of members of the kkk gathered to protest the city's attempt to remove the statue of robert e. lee from a park. this were greeted by large numbers of counter protesters. police deployed tear gas toward the end of that rally. the police chief vowing this time will be different. >> the circumstances are different. we learned a number of lessons we will apply.

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and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. good morning. coming up on msnbc's "your business," the owner of a major league baseball team is giving the audience a game like they've never seen before. and it's keeping the seats full. in massachusetts, a coach turned entrepreneur dedicates himself to helping children with special needs thrive through sports. plus, inspiring paralympic medal winner on why she thinks businesses thrive when they're more inclusive. all that coming up on "your business." >> announcer: "your business" is