password was "hey guys." good afternoon, everyone. we begin this hour with breaking news. hurricane nate now just hours away from making landfall in the u.s. gulf coast. a new advisory from the national hurricane center just moments ago, saying the tropical storm conditions are spreading onshore

in southeastern louisiana. the center of the hurricane is heading to the mouth of the mississippi. bonnie schneider has the big picture. bonnie? >> it is moving very quickly. even though it slowed down 1-mile-per-hour since our last advisory. hurricane nate, category 1, maximum sustained winds at 90 miles per hour. you can see the bands of rain already coming in and with the fast clip at 23 miles per hour. we're looking at the storm making landfall as a strong category 1 or a weak category 2, not much of a difference between the two, so prepare for a substantial storm. it weakens as it works its way inlapp inland. also important to note because it's moving quickly, this is all going to -- the conditions will

will deteriorate rapidly. if it was sitting in the gulf longer, it would likely strengthen. but here's the immediate impacts along the gulf coast. heavy rain, flooding with hurricane-force winds. even though it's a compact storm, we're still looking at a decent wind field for tropical storm force winds with a diameter of 250 miles. storm surge, this number has gone up, expect the storm surge to be higher than it was, particularly along the mississippi coast when it's 7 to 11 feet. as well as mobile bay, all that water funnels into this region and it piles up. with the storm the way it's structured to make landfall, it's possible we could see very strong storm surge for mississippi and alabama. i also wanted to detail i-65, west of it, we'll see some of the worst wind along the coast, as well as the heaviest rain. here's a look at the impact in terms of flooding. flash flooding is possible.

even with these storms moving inland, we are going to see the threat for flooding extend well into alabama as well as north georgia. remember, it's a fast-moving storm. so while it may look okay outside one hour, within the next, the conditions will deteriorate very quickly. wind gusts right now, not that strong at this hour, but things are going to change. we're expecting the winds to really pick up. this is not what it's going to look like at midnight tonight. the winds will get stronger and the winds, even tropical storm force, could cause power outages. so this is the forecast. 9:00 tonight, well into the 35-mile-per-hour range. and the gusts are going to get even stronger. look at that. gulfport cli gulfport climbing all the way to 50 and the winds will get stronger through the evening. the big threat for the storm, storm surge and the landfall expected at a strong category 1 or category 2. hurricane nate is a powerful storm and it will impact the gulf coast tonight.

>> something reiterated by new orleans city officials, who upgraded the storm surge forecast. it's going to cover from 7:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. bonnie schneider, thank you for the update. to get now perspective of what the conditions are going to be like, not just in new orleans, we're going to cross over and speak to kristen dahlgren who joins us now from mobile, alabama, as the hurricane there, not just going to impact one city or one state, but in fact, the entire gulf coast. talk to us about the preparations there that are under way. >> reporter: hi there, well, a lot of sandbagging earlier today and that's a good thing, because i want to show you this. we are already seeing that storm surge. this is mobile bay. it's already coming over its banks here. take a look at this. this is just after the initial outer bands. right now, you can see it's clear, and this water still here, four, five, six inches deep in places. it's expected to get much, much higher. the national weather service is

warning people, this is going to be a life-threatening storm surge. they're talking 6 to 9 feet, maybe even higher in some of these low-lying areas. so that could be very dangerous. and then it is possibly hitting at high tide. high tide here in mobile bay at 1:46 a.m. so that's sort of a worst case scenario. this storm coming in as the high hi tide is coming in as well. we could see some very, very high water marks, and that means we could see a lot of damage. this is potentially the fourth billion-dollar hurricane of this season. it's already been deadly in central america. we're hoping that we're not talking about lives lost here. that's why officials are really warning people that these are your last hours to get those preparations, to get where you need to be, and warning people not to be out on the roads tonight. because you can see this water already. we're sort of in a parking lot here along the coast. but if this is on a road, you may not see it at night.

and a little bit more water than this, it could float your car. and so that's where things get very, very dangerous here in a storm like this. >> kristen dahlgren live for us in mobile alabama, thank you. and we're moments away from president trump's departure from joint base andrews, he's heading to north carolina where he will address supporters at a fund-raiser in greensboro, but just before leaving, the president returned his focus to north korea, tweeting once again, presidents and their administrations have been talking to north korea for 25 years. agreements made, and massive amounts of money paid, hasn't worked. agreements violated before the ink was dry, making fools of u.s. negotiators. sorry, but only one thing will work. let's bring in "washington post" political reporter philip bump, and huffpost senior reporter jordan basset, great to have you with us. philip, if i may begin with you,

he says one thing will work, an ominous sign, perhaps. could this be a continuation of what he was talking about earlier in the week, when we talked about the calm before the storm? >> it's really anyone's guess. i think the safest bet is, that drump likes to give this perception that he's sort of a wild card and could at any point in time decide to launch a military attack against north korea. he likes to have that perception out there. most people who are familiar with the situation with north korea, think that's an ill-advised strategy and could ramp up tensions in a way that's not helpful. is this the calm before the storm? it's hard to know what he means with that. but this new tweet does suggest that he does not see this pattern of containment that's happened over the past few decades as being something that has any future at all whatsoever, which is a pretty dramatic shift. >> and he's also beliedialing w the iran certification coming up next week.

but speculation growing about the future of secretary of state rex tillerson. nbc news confirming that tillerson called the president a "moron" in july. sarah huckabee sanders spent part of her comments on friday trying to stop the chatter. take a listen to this. >> today's friday, do we expect a resignation today from anyone? >> i don't think so. >> so a little humor, but there's a lot of serious undertones to this. how long do you think secretary of state rex tillerson is going to last in this white house? >> well, i don't think his departure is imminent, but i wouldn't say he's long for this world of the white house. the president and him seem to have irreparable differences, not only on policy, but on personal style. but at the same time, this administration has suffered from some dramatic turnover. tom price being dismissed just last friday. they really can't afford to

replace someone like rex tillerson that carefully. and also remember that he has a very strong ally in the white house in chief of staff john kelly and also defense secretary james mattis who believe he's an integral part of the team. so i wouldn't count him out just yet, but i think he might not last the year. >> and speaking of chief of staff john kelly, he obviously scrapped plans this past week to travel with the president so he could de-escalate mr. trump's anger over the feud that has been going on somewhat in public based on these leaks. do you think there's been a truce achieved at the end of this week? >> i highly doubt it. i don't think anyone believes the white house when they say there's no feud going on between trump and tillerson. tillerson couldn't even deny that he called trump an expletive moron. and trump has been undermining

tillerson since he appointed him. tillerson tries to reach north korea through diplomacy and trump tweets something humiliating him hours later, and he's done this with the iran situation, with russia. i think tillerson doesn't know what to do at this point. and honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if he became the first in the administration to resign out of protest. >> jordan, i want to get your take on this explosive new article in "the new yorker" suggesting there's bad blood between tillerson and u.n. ambassador nikki haley. the story citing a senior administration official who says when it comes to the issue of north korea, nikki haley is seen as the most effective doip in that crisis. quote, rex hates her. he bleeping hates her. i want to get your thoughts. are you hearing anything like that from your reporting and your sources? >> yeah. there's been a sense that rex tillerson has been looking over his shoulder at nikki haley for quite some time now.

i point to an interesting line in an nbc report this week, that the secretary's own spokesperson had volunteered that, i guess mike pence had asked nikki haley, or rex tillerson how he thinks nikki haley is doing, sort of volunteered that on the record to a news outlet, a very unusual shot at a top official in the administration, so there's a real clear sign that there's tension there. haley's been talked about as a natural replacement for tillerson. >> unfortunately, we're out of time to discuss it. thank you guys for joining us this saturday afternoon. and as we talk about vice president mike pence, he's in las vegas today, mourning the victims of the mass shooting and calling for unity in its wake. plus the latest on the investigation as authorities try to find a motive behind the deadly shooting. . but as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall.

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welcome back, everyone. moments ago, white doves were released at las vegas's city hall to honor those affected by last week's shooting that killed 58 people and wounded hundreds more. just before the doves were released, vice president mike pence addressed the crowd at city hall. he emphasized the need for unity in the wake of the mass shooting, which was the deadliest in american history. just moments ago, the vice president visited a memorial of crosses set up, each one with the name of a victim from that shooting. meanwhile, law enforcement officials still struggling to find a motive behind why the shooter carried out this highly planned attack. nbc news's ron allen is live in las vegas for us. let's talk more about what we heard from vice president mike pence today. what did he have to say? >> reporter: very heart-felt remarks. he came here because it was a gathering organized by the mayor's office, faith leaders in the community of las vegas. it was the culmination of a march by hundreds of people through las vegas here to the

center of town, a show of unity, a show of support for the victims and their families. the vice president zeroed in on the first responders, the heroes, the police officers, the firefighters, who ran into danger to save lives. he was also -- touched on the faith community and expressed his own faith, quoting the bible, saying that god is closest to the broken-hearted. he said that the heroes give us hope. and he talked about this community facing evil and he highlighted the innocent, ordinary people in the crowd, a special education teacher, a construction worker, a full-time mom. here's a bit more of what the vice president had to say. >> in america, we mourn with those who mourn, we grieve with those who grieve. and i stand before you today on behalf of my family and every family in america, to say, we're with you. today we are all vegas strong.

>> reporter: also, i have to point out that i thought the vice president went out of his way to quote president trump on a number of occasions, echoing back to things the president said, perhaps trying to stay that, in fact, this is the federal government's response, perhaps in the face of criticism to the federal response that's happened in puerto rico, perhaps in the face of criticism of the president himself. again, perhaps not intentional, but i happen to notice that the vice president seemed to be going out of his way to bring president trump here and to quote his boss as well. >> ron allen live for us in las vegas. thank you, ron. for more on the investigation i want to bring in denver regional area director bob pence. great to have you with us. based on your experience with the fbi, what stands out the most to you about this attack and the investigation that has followed since? >> i want to think what stands out is, it seems to be another in a continuing string of

perhaps mentally ill individuals -- that's to be determined -- but maybe i can do a bigger body count. we've seen it, the pulse went up to 48, now this one's over 50. so i think what stands out, this is horrific event and i think we need to be concerned that we figure out some way to put a stop to them. >> let me ask you about the role of surveillance cameras and what they might offer in terms of the insights. we know the fbi is using bill boards to ask for the public's help in trying to figure out the motive. but it seems very odd that although despite his age, there's been no digital footprint of the shooter to give us any insights into his mind-set at the time of the shooting. what do you think are going to be the key clues that they can use to try to piece that together? >> well, i think, of course, if he set up cameras, or many, many

other cameras at play in the area around las vegas. so that would help. what's so important, though, we need to really know what the motive is for a number of reasons. number one, the victims need to have some final -- some satisfaction about why this horrible thing happened to them and to their loved ones. the other thing is, and why the fbi might be involved, and why we would always be involved in an act of this caliber, first of all, because even though it might not be federal jurisdiction, the idea that the fbi is always going to be there to cover leads, to assist local jurisdictions, and we do this under domestic cooperation statutes as we would if it were international. the other thing is, it's important to know why this happened because we need to know

whether this is the end, whether this is the death of the beast, or whether the beast has other projections that need to be identified. >> yeah, i think those are a lot of valid questions and certainly ones that fbi officials are struggling to answer at the moment. bob pence, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, sir. and momentum is building on capitol hill for a potential ban on what are known as bump stocks, the device that increases the rate of fire in a semi- automatic weapon, allowing, for example, the vegas gunman shooter to shoot nearly 600 people in -- excuse me -- in merely nine minutes. meanwhile, support for stricter gun control measures is coming from prominent veterans, including former astronaut mark kelly. his wife, gabrielle giffords was shot and wounded in 2011. kelly said, thoughts and prayers are not going to stop the next action. only action and leadership will do that. joining us now, a veteran for

gun control, retired navy commander, stan stumbo. you were an nra member, if i'm correct, for nearly 50 years, but as i understand it, you've left the nra. why did you leave? >> i left because my nra was all about safety, marksmanship and responsibility. and i'm absolutely convinced that the nra has abandoned the responsibility. >> what do you think the nra is about today, then? >> i think they're about supporting the gun manufacturing industry. you just mentioned the bump stocks. the nra should have been out in front of that, when those devices first came out, they should have gone and supported and sponsored legislation to ban them. just like the nra did in 1936 when they sponsored the making

fully automatic machine guns illegal. >> i understand that your daughter was wounded in the 2006 seattle jewish federation shooting. did that have an influence on your decision in terms of the way you view gun-control issues in this country? >> yes, it certainly did. >> how so? >> i saw -- i saw the inaction that was taking place in the nra and -- after my daughter was shot and my granddaughter was abducted. i expected some action on their part and support for what are called common sense gun regulations, but i never saw that. >> sir, the nra tries to position itself, or certainly positions itself as a defender of the second amendment of the constitution. do you believe that it is no longer beholden to that interest of protecting the second amendment? and do you believe the nra

leadership really represents the views of most gun owners in this country? >> well, first of all, i believe in the second amendment. i'm a gun owner myself. but i believe the nra no longer accurately represents its membership. in 2013, a study found that approximately 75% of the nra rank and file members were in favor of strengthening gun regulations to prevent people who should not have guns from getting them. >> sir, i'm curious to get your thoughts on how some of your -- i'm sure you've had these conversations with fellow veterans and fellow gun owners. how many of them would you say agree with you on some of the positions that you've taken? >> almost everybody i talk to. some don't agree. but the majority of members and veterans that i talk to say that there are a number of things that we could do to strengthen

existing regulations, for example. >> what are some of those, sir? >> there's a national database of people who cannot buy weapons, convicted felons, and people who have been judged mentally ill and a danger to themselves and others. but that database is very poorly maintained, not -- this is not the nra's fault, and it's not the federal government's fault. it's the fact that city, county, and state courts and mental hospitals are always under-funded and they drop keeping the database up to date. in the state of washington here, the tribal courts, for the tribal courts, it's optional to participate in the database. and we had a case here just a

couple of years ago, where a man who was convicted of a felony, who -- in tribal court. his name never went in the database. he bought guns. his son took one of those guns to school and killed classmates and himself. >> this is certainly an issue that has been raging on for some time, and a lot of different perspectives on it. former veteran and member of the nra, thank you for joining us this evening. >> thank you very much. coming up next, the u.s. senator has a dire warning for the u.s. if more is not done to help puerto rico. and i'll talk to a hurricane hunter as they prepare to fly into nate for the final time before landfall tonight. we'll be right back.

welcome back, everyone. almost 90% of puerto ricans still live without any electricity and only about half have clean drinking water. president trump visited the u.s. territory on tuesday, receiving criticism for his comments about the island's debt and for casually, as you see there in your video, tossing paper towels into the crowd. the vice president followed up with his own visit to puerto

rico on friday. joining me now, board member of the national puerto rican agenda. great to have you with us this afternoon. in your october 2nd op-ed for nbc, you warned against what you called a man-made disaster in puerto rico. explain for us what that term means. >> yes, good afternoon. and good afternoon to all the viewers who are watching today. the reason i called my op-ed, we need to avoid a man-made disaster for puerto rico, it's because as you correctly mentioned, puerto rico is undergoing a difficult situation right now. most of the island was leveled by this hurricane maria, which has brought catastrophic results. puerto rico's government, as has been covered over the past year, is suffering economically. it its government and control is being overseen by an oversight board that was created by congress in 2016. and on top of all this, puerto rico is on the verge of running out of health care funding. and in the time of great

disaster and great need, there's an increased risk of diseases and illnesses and outbreaks that could come to puerto rico as a result of this situation. and it is vital for congress to act and give funding to puerto rico, because on top of the natural disaster, the lack of adequate funding to puerto rico's health care system could create another crisis for the island. >> i feel like you've identified two parallel tracks, the immediate aftermath of hurricane maria, but there's also the long-term needs of the island. and we know members of congress who are visiting there today, what do you see as the long-term needs of puerto rico? >> the long-term needs of puerto rico are several. the first one, the sort of medium-term one, as you mentioned the first one is the short-term one, getting food and water and electricity out to puerto ricans. the second level will be health care. as it currents stands puerto rico will run out of medicaid

funding in march of next year. and what was assumed before hurricane puermaria hit puerto . which could lead to an outbreak, and then third, it's the need for economic development and restoration for puerto rico. thousands of homes will most likely need to be built. there's a risk now that thousands of puerto ricans will leave to the united states because -- to live with family or with friends and with other relatives. and then never return to the island which could decrease the island's tax base for the recovery. and on top of that, the need for the economic development within the context of the oversight board for puerto rico, which was already predicting for puerto rico an economic con traction for this year on top of a decade-long recession and now the need for economic development for puerto rico is even more urgent, because we need to get the island back on

the right path. >> i'm curious to get your thoughts in terms of, why so far, or have they not so far been able to take definitive steps to address puerto rico's debt crisis. >> yeah, and the last several months, they approved their first budget for puerto rico in june of this year. in that budget, they called to shrink the island's economy on top of austerity measures that have already been on puerto rico, because of the decade-long recession. and now they've authorized the government of puerto rico to spend $1 billion in reconstruction efforts for maria. some estimates put that recovery for puerto rico will cost up to $90 billion. so $1 billion is clearly not enough. the oversight board and i think the framework that was created on the promesa legislation last year will definitely need to be completely looked at by congress because puerto rico and the puerto rican government does not have the ability to pay its

debtors -- its creditors at this time and really needs to act to support the people and not necessarily pay the creditors at this time. >> and certainly as well when you compare it to some of the private donations that have been made to the relief efforts in texas, hurricane harvey, as well as hark irma, hurricane maria in puerto rico not getting nearly enough money to help with those relief efforts. thank you for joining us this afternoon. >> thank you. and learn how you can help the victims of hurricane maria at nbc news.com backslash puerto rico. as hurricane nate approaches the gulf coast, it's growing in strength. now forecast to make landfall in louisiana, alabama, and mississippi tonight as a category 2 storm. that's after already killing 22 people in central america where nicaragua was hit particularly hard over the past few days. hurricane hunter richard henning joins me on the phone as he gets ready to fly into the heart of

the storm. right now he's about 45,000 feet up and about 95 moiiles away fr new orleans as the hurricane approaches the coast. let me begin with what you're seeing at this hour. what are you tracking? >> okay, sir. again, i appreciate you giving me the opportunity to speak to your audience. we are again at 45,000 feet. we have been flying a pattern across the top of hurricane nate all afternoon. we've dropped 23 dropsondes which are instrument packages that fall by parachute and measure all the vital meteorologist cal piecmeet logical data. hurricane nate continues to be very favorable for intensification. the only thing that i think is where the residents of the gulf coast are lucky if you want to

call it that, is that nate continues to move at a very rapid pace. it's still moving at about 23 miles an hour towards the coast. so it doesn't have that much of an opportunity left to intensify. it has a lot of energy. ps moving over very warm water. again, the conditions around it are very, very favorable for development. and it is trying to form up an eyewall, which will cause it to intensify. but the good news for the coast is that it is beginning to run out of time. >> so let me ask you, sir, if i can, does the national oceanic and atmospheric administration send hurricane hunters like yourself into every hurricane that is expected to make u.s. landfall? and how does this help us prepare? >> well, this is vital data, because satellites are an essential part of modern meteorology. super computers are an essential

part of the science these days. but flying into these storms, this may sound old-fashioned, but it's still the best way to get the highest quality data to feed into those computer models. that's what it's all about. to get this data. we transmit it off this airplane by sat coma and it goes directl into the computers. we've been flying missions into the storm now for over three days. it's this high altitude aircraft dropping 36 of those dropsondes yesterday and last night. and all that data got fed into the computer models. so far the hurricane center has done a really good job of forecasting the track. again, the data that we gather

is critical to forecasting the path of the storm. >> i could talk to you for hours about this. just fascinating in terms of scientific perspective. appreciate your time. stay safe up there. >> well, yeah, i just do want to emphasize to your audience. don't pay too much attention to whether it's a category 1 or category 2 storm. this storm is generating a very large wind field. the wave height at buoys south of new orleans are very, very high. and all that energy is going to hit the coast and so you're looking at storm surges of up to nine feet in mobile bay. and along the mississippi and alabama coast. and up to six feet all the way east to okaloosa island in the florida panhandle. that's a very significant surge event. people who live in the barrier islands really need to pay

attention to what's going on. and at this point, if they're not ready for this storm, they need to leave. >> and that's a warning you're hearing from 35,000 feet above hurricane nate, as well as from officials on the ground in new orleans. rich henning, hurricane hunter for noah joining us on the phone. we'll be right back. and this woman is laughing because she's pretending her boss's terrible story is funny. still actually laughing. no longer making a human noise. experience the comedy, not your commute. dial star-star-audible on your smartphone to start listening today.

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all right, nbc's peter alexander is at the white house where president trump just made comments before boarding marine 1. pete, what did he have to say? >> we were just on the south lawn, marine 1 now taking off for joint base andrews en route it a fund-raiser in north carolina. the president took questions from me and some of my colleagues. we started by asking him about chuck schumer and what he was asking from the top democrat when they spoke last night, specifically on health care. he spoke about his desire for a sherm de short-term deal, again saying obamacare is imploding, that he's looking for some deal to

carry it over for one, two, perhaps three years. i followed up asking him specifically about north korea in the wake of his comments about the calm before the storm, that cryptic comment. today he posted more specifically on twitter about north korea, effectively saying that diplomatic efforts there have failed for each of the last 25 years, saying that there's only one thing that will work with north korea. i asked him specifically what that was. and he said to us, well, you'll soon -- you'll find out pretty soon, i think, was his exact language. we went through a variety of different topics, as he seemed inclined to talk with reporters on this night. he said, do you guys ever take a break? we asked him specifically about the political storms that have been swirling around his own administration. frankly around his own white house, specifically on rex tillerson. he was asked about tillerson now in the wake of our report that tillerson back in july at the end of a meeting at the pentagon referred to the president as a

moron. the president has said since then that he still has confidence in him, but during our conversation just now, he said that at times he would like to see tillerson be a little bit tougher. as we look at pictures of the president arriving at joint base andrews, here's part of what he said just a short time ago -- oh, i'm being told we don't have it yet. we'll have it momentarily. i'll tell you what he said about his chief of staff john kelly. he spoke of john kelly with effusive prads, saying he's a great know ma, the best person i've ever worked with and insisted that he would be here throughout the remaining seven years of his term, suggesting that he'll be back for re-election, that he would run again as well. those were some of the primary comments we heard from him on this day. we also asked him about harvey weinstein, given all the new headlines now, the acknowledgement of his mistreatment of women is insufficient, just the terrible allegations of the way he treated women. the president saying he was not

surprised. here's the president. >> well, if we could make a deal at least on a temporary basis, because obamacare is exploding. it's gone. the premiums are through the roof. you see what's happening. so if we could make a temporary deal, because ultimately we'll have it back to the states. we're going to block grant back to the states. but if we made a temporary deal, i think it would be a great thing for people, but it's really up to them. obamacare is a disaster. the numbers are out. it's exploding like i said it would. so basically if we could do a one-year deal or a two-year deal, as a temporary measure, you'll have block granting ultimately to the states, which is what the republicans want. that really is a repeal and replace. >> could you clarify your calm before the storm comments? >> nothing to clarify. >> what's the one thing -- [ inaudible ] >> well, you'll figure that out pretty soon.

[ inaudible ] >> very good relationship. that was fake news. that was fake news by nbc. [ inaudible ] >> i've known harvey weinstein for a long time. i'm not at all surprised to see it. [ inaudible ] >> john kelly is one of the best people i've ever worked with. he's doing an incredible job. and he told me for the last two months he loves it more than anything he's ever done. he's a military man, but he loves doing this, which is chief of staff, more than anything he's ever done. he's doing a great job. he will be here in my opinion, for the entire seven remaining years. [ inaudible ] >> no, no, he likes secretary tillerson, so do i. we have a very good relationship. we disagree on a couple of things. sometimes i'd like him to be a little bit tougher, but other than that, we have a very good

relationship. [ inaudible ] >> well, he says they were inappropriate. [ inaudible ] >> that's locker room. that's locker room. go ahead. [ inaudible ] >> well, we're going to see what happens. we're going to see what happens. so now i am going to the really great state, a state that i love, of north carolina, and i'll see you later. go home and rest. [ inaudible ] >> what? [ inaudible ] >> you're going to see very soon. >> all right, that was president trump walking out of the white house as he boards marine 1 heading to north carolina through joint andrews base -- joint base andrews, i should say. i want to go back over to peter alexander outside the white house. so much to dissect in those brief comments that we heard,

but addressing really so many different topics from health korea to -- sorry -- from north korea to health care to harvey weinstein. and also tillerson. saying he would like to see him be tougher. what's the dynamic at play here? >> reporter: the dynamic as we understand it, nbc news reporting on the details of rex tillerson, as we noted last summer after a meeting along some other aides, referring to the president as a moron. as we've reported exclusively, the president was furious after he learned that news from nbc's reporting earlier this week, which has obviously put a great strain on the relationship. foreign policy experts tell us they believe this relationship between the president and america's top diplomat is irreparable at this point, that there's no way they can piece it back together. we've heard from the president saying it's all fake news. he pointed at me and said, soit

from you guys, and it's fake news. the president has been undercutting tillerson, when he was returning from china, from asia specifically. he had been acknowledging that there had been private diplomatic talks taking place between the u.s. and north korea. and the president went on twitter and basically said of his secretary of state, stop wasting your time. you heard from the president right now, a little bit of a dig at his secretary of state, saying, i wish at times he could be a little bit tougher. >> when you juxtapose that with the tweets earlier in the day, saying only one thing will work with north korea, some people interpreting that to possibly mean the only option being a military option since negotiations have failed. but let's talk about north korea. i know you pressed him on that, asking him what did he mean when he said "the calm before the storm." again, some people interpreting that to be, since he was flanked with his military generals, that that could be as well a sign?

>> it was at the very least a cryptic comment, perhaps an ominous comment as the president, you'll remember late this past week, after reporters had been sent home, the white house said, hustle back in, the president wants to show you something, a picture of him flanked by the military leaders in the country and their spouses and that's when the president said, this represents the calm before the storm on the south lawn tonight as he did in the oval office yesterday. he gave no new details about what that means. but more specifically he did speak about north korea and i'll read the tweet to you. he wrote, presidents and their administrations have been talking to north korea for 25 years. agreements made and massive amounts of money paid. hasn't worked. agreements violated before the ink was dry, making fools of u.s. negotiators. sorry, but only one thing will work. so i asked him exactly what that one thing is. that was the moment when he said with a smile on his face, well, you'll figure that out pretty soon. having spoken to white house

veterans, among them, george bush's andy card. i spoke to him yesterday. he said one of the risk of languages like this is that words matter when you're the president of the united states. even if he's toying with the president the potential is that allies and adversaries misread, miscalculate what he's referring to. andy card said he hopes that the president thinks through his comment and had thought through that comment as well. but others, including the former number two at the cia have talked about how comments like that are, in his words, reckless. >> peter alexander, thanks for that. we'll be right back. we're following a lot of breaking news for you, but we'll take a quick break. stay with us. ♪ it's your eyes. that's why there's ocuvite, from bausch + lomb. as you age your eyes can lose vital nutrients.

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store near you. welcome back, everyone. we've been following breaking news with hurricane nate, but we're also tracking comments that just came out of the white house as president trump was

leaving momentis ago on his way to north carolina. taking questions from our own peter alexander, as well as others. addressing a long list of issues, including north korea, his tweet that came out earlier today, in which he at the end of that tweet said, there's only one thing that will, suggesting there's only one thing that will work with north korea, as opposed to to the years of failed diplomatic negotiations. he talked about rex tillerson making perhaps a headline description, saying he would like to see the secretary of state at times be tougher. but says that he has a very good relationship with him. he also heaped praise on his chief of staff john kelly saying he expects him to remain there during the seven years of a trump administration. let's try to break all of this down with our next guest. joining us now, director of strategic communications for hillary clinton's campaign, adrian elrod and republican strategist evan sig freed. let's talk about what we just

heard there from president trump coming out, and particularly the issue of his relationship with rex tillerson. evan, let me ask you about that. what do you make the president's comments, saying he has a good relationship with him, but in the context of everything we've seen this week, including nbc's reporting about the tensions, saying that he would like to see the secretary of state be tougher? some might look at that and say, here's the president publicly criticizing his secretary of state. >> he has a good relationship for now. the president made rex tillerson go out and sing for his supper and and made it into a press conference where it was for an audience of one. i think the president has opinion on rex tillerson, depends on what side of the bed he wakes up on. and i think he's going to be out as secretary of state before the end of the year. >> let me ask you the same thing, if i can, really quickly, adrian. what do you make of those comments? do you see them as a public criticism of the secretary of state, saying he wants to see him be a little bit tougher?

because we've reported one of the key sticking points and as the president himself has publicly done on twitter, he's criticized the secretary of state for wasting his time on diplomatic north korea efforts? >> yeah, i frankly don't understand how secretary of state tillerson can stay in his position that much longer, he's constantly being undermined by his boss, the president of the united states. he's also dealing with precarious diplomatic situations right now, including north korea. so for donald trump to continue to undermine fist secretary of state, to publicly admonish him, not only is it embarrassing for the secretary of state, but it's also very difficult from a foreign policy standpoint, to actually be able to have a cohesive strategy dealing with some of these really tough foreign policy issues. >> let me talk about the domestic issues that were brought up, namely health care and striking a deal with chuck schumer. what do you make of that? there's already been some

criticism that the president was kind of veering off away from his base who want to see a strong repeal and replace of obamacare. that's something that chuck schumer said is not on the table. >> i think president trump is actually realizing that it's not going to be repeal and replace of obamacare. i've long bucked my party and said it's going to have to be repair. and he has to prep the gop base for repair of obamacare. only a third of counties in the united states only have one insurer. so you have to bring the gop base over from seven years of repeal and replace, to repair. >> sorry we've run out of time but the president's comments ate into that. appreciate it. with time running out, president trump is expecting to announce this week that the nuclear accord with iran is no longer in america's national security interest, but that does not mean it's dead. joining us live, ali arouzi who has done obviously extensive reporting from inside iran as

well as on the nuclear negotiations. talk us to a little bit about the anticipation this week. we've talked about what we've learned at nbc news, the president looking at a comp hence strategy for a run that goes beyond the nuclear deal and he's expected to decertify that. what does that mean? >> that's right. he's expected to decertify, which means that he doesn't think it's serving america's interests. but that doesn't mean the deal is dead in the water. when he desert fids it, it has to go to congress and congress then has 60 days to decide whether they're going to reimpose those nuclear sanctions that were wavered as part of the nuclear deal. if they do reimpose the sanctions, then the deal is essentially over because america has wavered on its end of the bargain by not imposing sanctions. and then we are opening a pandora's box at that point, because we're stepping into the unknown. it's going to generate a whole host of unknown problems if this deal falls apart. because for the most bapart, it doing what it was supposed to

do, keeping iran's nuclear program in check, and that was all it was designed to do. and the iranians are saying we're adhering by that as well as the iaea, the international body that oversees the whole nuclear treaty. so iran, if this deal does fall apart, it's very likely iran will go back to enriching uranium at high levels, it will fire up its nuclear program to something similar to pre-nuclear deal. we're going to see renewed hostility with iran, renewed sanctions. and it's going to be a very difficult situation to unravel. let's not forget, when the deal was done with the obama administration, some reparation was done between america and iran. there was talk between the iranian foreign minister and the secretary of state. that doesn't exist anymore and that makes the situation very dangerous. >> nbc's tehran bureau chief there. and there are questions surrounding what iran will do. could it possibly keep a

multilateral agreement without the united states, just with the europeans on the issue of its nuclear program? those questions remain to be seen. obviously the ominous warning from president trump earlier in the week and that was a cause of concern as well. that wraps it up for this hour here at msnbc. stay with us. joy reid is next. the infamous trump russia dossier is back in the news. this week we learned that members of special counsel robert mueller's team traveled to meet christopher steel, the former british intelligence officer who put together a 35-page document alleging trump/russia collusion. it's unverified and contains salacious and very personal claims about donald trump's actions in the run-up to the 2016 election. trump has denied the allegations in the dossier. on wednesday, chairman of the senate intelligence committee richard burr said when it comes to the dossier the