good morning everyone. i'm alex witt at msnbc world headquarters in new york. at precisely the half hour, here is what we're watching for you. >> thousands of counterprotesters are expected to show up today at a right wing free speech rally in boston where several white nationalists have been invited to speak. more on that in just a moment. a total of six police officers have been shot overnight in florida and pennsylvania. one officer in kissimmee was killed, another wounded when they were shot while investigating possible drug activity. three suspects are now in custody while police are still searching for a fourth suspect. president trump already tweeted that his thoughts and prayers are with the kissimmee

police force and their loved ones. we are with you. in jacksonville, florida, two police officers were shot and wounded before they shot and killed a suspect. in pittsburgh a shootout left two state troopers wounded and a robbery suspect dead. happening right now, increased police presence in boston as right wing groups and counterprotesters are holding rallies today. hundreds of police officers are on the ground for what is expected to be the largest event of this kind since those violent rallies in charlottesville last weekend. nbc's morgan radford is in boston with more. what are we expecting today and what are you seeing so far? >> reporter: so far people are seth up, police have set up barricades behind me here in boston commons. this is expected to be the largest rally since charlottesville. this is a so-called free speech rally. they've invited white nationalists to come and take the stage. that's why the boston police department is expecting more

than 20 counterprotesters to come here and say boston doesn't stand for bigotry. just wun week after a white supremacist rally in charlottesville turned violent, leaving one woman dead, more are popping up across the country. in durham, north carolina, hundreds took to the streets, to boston where police are setting up barricades ahead of today's so-called free speech rally leaving some residents on edge. >> i just hope nobody gets hurt and i don't know, there's a piece of me that wants to sabotage it. i'm just going to stay away. >> reporter: boston's rally is expected to be the biggest since charlottesville. its organizers claim this one isn't about white nationalism, it's about having the right to express your views even if it is offensive. >> the speakers that we have booked are very much in keeping with our message of trying to

bring people together around our core values of free speech. >> reporter: but just blocks away, several groups are organizing a counterprotest. they say that hate even under the guise of free speech has no place in boston. >> why protest? what about those who say you can't convince the other side? >> why sit and do nothing would be my response? we're not going to like what each other has to say. >> reporter: neither side willing to back down. four other cities across the country are holding counter rallies today which is why boston officials are pleading for peace. >> we don't respond hate with hate. >> reporter: and residents are taking a stand. >> you want the world to know that there's 20,000 people who think hate is a bad idea. >> reporter: alex, to be clear, there were four other free speech rallies scheduled across the country, but those were scrapped after things in charlottesville turned violent. boston police say they're going through people's bags, making sure they don't bring sticks that they can weaponize and also

monitoring social media feeds making sure anyone trying to insight violence doesn't come here. >> thanks for monitoring things for us morgan. a new reaction from president trump breaking his silence on steve bannon after he was ousted as his white house chief strategist. the president took to twitter thanking bannon for his service and added z he came to the campaign during my run against crooked hillary clinton, it was great. a warning from breitbart, former white house chief strategist, joel pollack said this to chuck todd on msnbc daily. >> the conservative base trusts mike pence more than almost anybody else in washington. it's going to depend what donald trump does. if he can move forward on his agenda, if he builds the wall on the border which is a fundamental promise, for example, then i think you'll see people stick with trump regardless of the personnel.

>> bannon returned to breitbart right after the news broke and even chaired the company's editorial meeting. let's bring in raheem cass san, editor and chief of bright barredon done and author of "no go zones." raheem, thanks for joining us. steve bannon returned to breitbart last night virtually at least for the evening editorial call. what have you heard about that and what has been the reaction to his return? >> well, it's bittersweet, but the sweet part of it was great jubilation. we love steve. he is's kind of like a father figure to a lot of us. he's such a great manager, such a great inspiration. it was great to hear he was coming back. the bitter part of it for a lot of the trump base out there, and i suppose you would include a lot of people at breitbart amongst those people is we wanted to see that agenda move forward. steve made a comment to the

weekly standard magazine yesterday saying the trump administration that you elected in november is over as we know it so far and for now. i think that's broadly accurate. i think it's fair to say the people now that surround the president are probably a little bit more to the center or indeed some of them to the center left. so for the people that elected donald trump to the white house, it's kind of a worrying moment. >> raheem, are you saying you think steve bannon and donald trump were the only two like-minded sorts in the white house? his saying it's the beginning of the end for the trump administration specifically? >> i think they were two people of a unique mindset. it's a different mindset. it's a mindset that got them elected. it's the mindset that took president trump through the pru mayors and the mindset steve furthered and doubled down upon that led to him defeating hillary clinton. it's an economist nationalist

mindset, the nation can't be bullied around and you don't have to deal with the globalist, united nations, european union style way of doing things. i think everybody else is more of a go along to get along on the world stage. jared kushner and h.r. mcmaster, these are people that wouldn't have been out of place in a george w. bush white house. i think the american people that did vote for trump at this election, they voted for something different. they didn't want the same old centrist republican cap net and now they've got one. i think there will be a little concern about that. that's not to say that we're going to needlessly be attacking the president. i think president trump probably still has the best at heart as far as his base is concerned. but there has to be a watch dog. there has to be somebody looking at and making sure he stays on track for the people that voted for him. >> raheem, when you look at the success of this administration since moving into the white house or lack thereof, you talk

about the mindset of these two men which was evident on the campaign. did there need to be a change in mindset to actually govern. did you see a change at all? should there have been? is that in part why steve bannon is gone? >> well, there should have been and there was. i saw a distinct change. the campaign, as many people will know, campaigns are scrappy. they're messy. that wasn't what the white house was originally, and i know it became that over some time. we saw that with the anthony scaramucci show, that short-lived sitcom. questions need to be asked why. i have several ideas of what the answers will be, and they include the people that the president has put around him that probably shouldn't be there. >> in the interest of time i want to get right to your book. it explores the growing prevalence of home grown terrorists in the west. how would you apply what you learned in researching this book

to the attacks in spain this week? >> i'll keep it very brief because i know we're short on time. the spanish attack as well as the 32 other terrorist attacks that have happened in europe over the course of just this last year, they can be limited. you can put a limit on these things by stopping the willful ghettoization and segregation of migrants into the western world. when i went to these area, incredibly deprived areas, they're being ghettoized, sometimes by their own and sometimes because they're put in government housing. that allows people to come in and poison the minds of these people. that's why this generation, my generation of muslims in the west is far more inclined to be radical, to be fundamentalists or literalists in their interpretation of the koran than their parents or grandparents were. we have to have an open conversation. i'm pleased a lot of people are receptive to it. >> good luck with the book.

raheem cass sam, thank you for your time. coming up, we'll talk about the fine line that existing between free speech and hate speech. don't miss joy reid's special tonight, the politics of hate airing right here at 7:00 on msnbc. at ally, we offer low rates on home loans. but if that's not enough, we offer our price match guarantee too. and if that's not enough... we should move. our home team will help you every step of the way. still not enough? it's smaller than i'd like. we'll help you finance your dream home. it's perfect.

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that drove down las ramblas here on thursday. although officials will not tell us that on the record. so we're continuing to pursue that. an incredible show of support happens here at loss ramblas. tourists back out here. at least four suspects are in custody. another five were killed after the shoot out in cambrils. alex, spanish government officials tell us they now do believe this terror cell has been disbanded. at least one man on the run. >> i love the look of barcelona strong there, all those folks returning to the site of that horrible attack on thursday. meantime, backlash over the president's reaction to the violence in charlottesville, virginia. that's casting a loud over preparations for free speech rallies and counterprotests, set to quick off later this morning. former presidential candidate mitt romney posted a statement on facebook saying, quote, what

president trump tweeted caused racists to rejoice, minorities to weep and the vast heart of america to mourn. he also called for the president to apologize. let's get right to oliver mcgee, former trump campaign adviser, former deputy secretary of transportation. the rallies will be held in boston, dallas, salt lake city and elsewhere today. do you think the president has learned anything from the widespread criticisms of his remarks and might he take a different tone if these rallies turn violent? >> thank you for having me today, alex. left turn, right turn, people are at a point of no return. what we see is a struggle between the media and the president in messaging this week. i think with the change and the shift that we've had in the white house, the signal that i

want to leave for your audience is that the country has always been center right. basically that's where the administration is shifting right now as the president as a walking national security instrument is essentially being kelly-ized. you begin to develop more control in the white house and communications but also in policy development. we need to get the president back on to the agenda of jobs, jobs, jobs, infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure, tax taxes, taxes, taxes. what we're seeing is that shift in the white house to be able to really address a more dangerous world right now. we're dealing with korea, dealing with charlottesville, dealing with barcelona. we have had a hundred people die on transportation-related crashes as people are mowing down people in gatherings with trains, planes and automobiles. they're all going out of control.

>> oliver, do you think the president should apologize, as mitt romney and so many others are calling on him to do? if he does not apologize, does he have any hope of uniting this country? >> i don't know necessarily if the president is going to even do that. i think we have to let trump be trump. what he's trying to do is acknowledge that we have a problem in keeping the peace. essentially, as he wants to get back onto his agenda. i think what is really necessary, that we have a divided nation right now. right now what i san jose is we all have mothers and fathers. and we're all brothers and sisters and sons and daughters and we have to unite this country. >> oliver, with regard to getting back on his agenda, we've got people leaving the white house in droves. look at this, the comments led to mass rets nations of several of his advisory council, also an arts committee, all being

abruptly cut off, they're done. how do you think the president is interpreting those resignations? does it bother him? should he say he's sorry and bring some of these people back? >> your previous guest, raheem, put it probably correct. steve bannon is probably coming to the conclusion that i might be best for president trump outside the white house than inside. sometimes you're a little more controlled. it's sort of like a fish bowl inside the white house. what you sometimes need is to have advocates outside. >> i've asked the question three times. i'll ask it one more time. should the president apologize? >> let trump be trump. i think when he finds through his advice and counsel to get to that place, i want to have people to counsel him on how to do that type of communication, apology or whatever he needs to do to heal thyself.

he also needs to beg for congress to get back to his agenda for which he was elected for. i can't tell the president to apologize because i'm not the president. but i do want him -- us to be patient and let trump be trump, just like we let reagan be reagan. then he will get to that point because if he doesn't, he can't get to the agenda of the divided nation. by the way, it's 2.5% growth right now -- >> oliver, i'm out of time. i wish i could talk to you more. we'll have you back again. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> will steve bannon do more damage outside the white house now that he's returning to the helm at breitbart news? our panel weighs in on that our panel weighs in on that next. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations

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we're heading to our strategist panel now with three words, steve bannon out. let's bring in joe watkins, rick tyler and am saturday lina

maxwell bring welcome to all three of you. what is the significance of bannon's exit? what does it tell you about where the administration is heading? >> it means the administration is not heading toward at least the alt-right philosophy that bannon was associated with and still is associated with, by the way, as the head of breitbart. i would say the -- don't be the story. the president is supposed to be the story. the president is the one that makes the headlines. the hoemt you start making a headlines as a white house staffer, the moment they start parodying you on saturday night live your days are numbered. >> is that typical of any administration or just this administration, joe? >> that's for any administration, really. the story is always supposed to be the president and you're there to serve the president of the united states and it's best done in the background. you don't want to draw too much attention to yourself, let the president get all the attention because that's why the people elected that person. >> so bannon says he's going to

be going to war on behalf of the president, he's disappointed in the way the trump presidency is unfolding so far. do you think having bannon outside the white house is going to help or hurt the president? >> two things. i think it will hurt him, the reason is bannon said he would fight for trump's agenda and as long as that agenda matches bannon's agenda. he's an revolutioner self-viewed. he has underrelying beliefs and an idea about governing. donald trump is unencumbered by any of that. so where the president is influenced by others that would bring him what bannon would say the mushy middle, bannon i think will threw breitbart and maybe even other vehicles attack the president on that agenda. the reason i know that is we saw that in the primary. steve bannon and breitbart were very supported of the cruz campaign which i had worked for then when tpp came up with the

transpacific trade pack, cruz was sort of ambiguous about it and bannon left cruz and went to trump. and so trump -- he won't be loyal to trump in the sense of a personality, he'll be loyal to the ideas. if trump adheres to those ideas, he'll support him. if he doesn't, he'll run right up against him. >> this pro-bannon camp is arguing that the white house is still full of closet democrats and that's why he got pushed out. how do you respond to that? >> i don't think that's the case. it was bad pr this week when you have the president come out and say awful things in the wake of charlottesville. i think steve bannon had a target on his back. if you have staffers in the white house that are associated with the alt-right or white supremacy, that's not going to be good in a week where a white

supremacist merred someone. it's a tipping point for this white house, but when you have somebody who led a birther campaign for five years, when you have someone who busy said so many offensive things and i'm talking about donald trump, not steve bannon, he did those things without steve bannon being in the room. steve bannon wasn't there for the press conference. this white house doesn't fundamentally change even though bannon is no longer in it. >> to the point, bannon's departure being a victory for the democrats. >> i think it's a good think. you don't have a devout white nationalist in the white house getting taxpayer salary but i still think there's a number of positive siz that this administration is putting forward through the attorney general and other areas particularly immigration where you still have the same problem. you still have people families being split up and people being deported. there's a number of different policy issues that this administration is really putting forward that are problematic.

>> on another vein here, how soon you think robert mueller's team is going to be knocking on bannon's door and should that concern the president? >> bannon came in late to the campaign as trump likes to point out. i don't think there's a connection between him and russia interference in the election. i'm sure they'd want to talk to him. but i don't think there's a lot there. >> okay. that's a wrap. thank you. the manhunt intensifies for the suspected driver in that deadly terror attack in spain. we'll have the latest developments from barcelona. (vo) gentlemen,

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♪ ♪ isaac hou has mastered gravity defying moves to amaze his audience. great show. here you go. now he's added a new routine. making depositing a check seem so effortless. easy to use chase technology, for whatever you're trying to master. isaac, are you ready? yeah. chase. so you can. good morning. everyone. it is 9:00 in the east. 6:00 a.m. out west. here's what's happening right now. bannon bounced all the way back to breitbart. >> i like mr. bannon, he's a friend of mine, but mr. bannon came on very late, you know that. i