hey there. good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt at msnbc world headquarters in new york. the first big storm of the season has dumped record-setting snow in the deep south. it has caused driving nightmares in many cities unaccustomed on the wintry weather. and icy pavement led to this 15-car pileup. the storm has already knocked

out power to a quarter million customers. we are keeping watch on six wildfires in southern california. authorities confirming the first fatality, a woman who crashed her car while trying to evacuate earlier this week. >> and the loss of 30 to 40 horses at a training center near san diego. hundreds set loose survived. a stormy reaction in the middle east. reuters says israel launched air strikes in retaliation of rocket fire killing two palestinian gunmen. in bethlehem, protesters battled on this third day of rage. also new this morning, the president is scheduled to depart his mar-a-lago state in a few minutes headed to jackson, mississip mississippi. he spoke last night in pensacola. the president throwing his full support behind embattled candidate roy moore.

jeff bennett is in west palm beach. jeff, with a good saturday morning to you. you have election day there just three days away in alabama. how important was the president's endorsement? >> good morning, alex. it was huge for roy moore. the white house has reviewed polling data that shows roy moore with a small but steady lead. he long under performed with republican voters in alabama. he said he would not campaign for roy moore in alabama. last night he did the next best thing, went to pensacola, made a case against the democrat in that case saying doug jones would be a rubber stump. and he tweeted echoing that sentiment. he said jones will always vote against what with must do for our country the the president has long dropped all pretenses

about caring too much about the allegations with roy moore when he was in his 30s. he needs and wants a republican to hold that senate seat. take a look at what he said last night. >> how many people here are from the great state of alabama? whoa! the future of this country cannot afford to lose a seat in a very, very close united states senate. we can't afford it, folks. >> and so the president is going to try to appeal to potential roy moore voters. he will head to the civil rights museum in mississippi. he was met with backlash. they said the president's views, policies, remarks are an insult. here's a statement from john lewis and benny thompson, congressmen who are boycotting the event today in mississippi

because of the president's presence there. in that statement they say this, trump's attendance and his hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed in the civil rights museum. there has been a bit of a concession that n that he will not speak at the private ceremony. >> jeff bennett in west palm beach. thank you for that. let's bring in selena maxwell for the clinton campaign. we have joe watkins, former white house aide to george h.w. bush, and former cruz campaign spokesman rick tyler and political analyst. the saturday trio is what i would like to call you guys. good morning to you all. the president giving roy moore his full support for tuesday's election in alabama. here's what he is saying about the candidate. take a listen. >> we want people coming into

our country who love our people, support our economy, and embrace our values. it's time to get our priorities straight. >> this guy is screaming we want roy moore. he's right. >> all right, joe. to you first. is roy moore a good example of your party, as the president said, is he getting its priorities straight? >> no. he's not the example i want held for my party. i think the importance of not harassing women is what all republicans want. i'm a big fan of course of congressman john lewis, one of the great icons of the civil rights movement. when i was a teacher years ago at a college in alabama, i

purchased is sclc in the civil rights marches to protest against bigotry and racism. so i think the hope of many balanced republicans is they will do the right thing on election day themselves when they get into that ballot boothe. hopefully african-american voters will be injured to vote for a candidate who has a strong sufl rights background and has been somebody who represented them well in civil rights. i hope there is a great african-american turnout neck tuesday. >> we had footage of john lewis. if roy moore wins on tuesday, and we're looking at a very competitive race, what do you think the rest of the republicans in the senate are going to do with him? >> not have is lunch in the senate dining room. i don't know. it will be awkward. they will have to work with him on some level.

i'm paraphrasing. the fate of the public depends on alabama electing roy moore. i find that to be just remarkable. and that's the state of our politics today and the state of the republican party that an accused child molester is our great hope for the future. >> he yeah. what about the president, zelena, also took several shots at hillary clinton last night. we're going to watch one right now. here it is. >> look, it's been proven we have a rigged system. it doesn't happen so easy. but this system, going to be a lot of changes. this is a rigged -- this is a rigged system. this is a sick system from the inside. >> interpretation, please? what is the president really trying to get at when he says that? >> i'm not really sure. i think his base there is a perception that the system is rigged against them and there was a lot of talk about, quote,

economic anxiety. but make no mistake, he is in pensacola, florida right on the border of alabama campaigning for a child molester. he's going to mississippi. all of that is essentially a message to his base that we're going to go back to a time when people like me and joe did not have equal rights in this country. we have to stop beating around the bush when we talk about the president and insisting that he is not pandering to the racists in his base. every single person that voted for him is not a racist. but they are certainly embracing extreme rhetoric that he is promulgating as commander in chief. it is is completely unacceptable. i'm completely disgusted at the fact that there is anyone in the republican party who would be embracing of an accused child molester who has serious allegations that have been crab rated by eight different women. he doesn't belong in the senate. he doesn't belong anywhere. he shouldn't even be on a school

board. i'm sad for the country that we have to wake up every single day and that this is the person in charge. it is a disgrace. >> joe, i want to go back to what you were talk about. lewis and thompson canceled the museum opening in mississippi. we will throw up why john lewis in this joint statement with mr. thompson, why he decided to cancel. why do you think the president insists on attending? >> i think the president is a very shrewd politician. he certainly knows how to push all the right buttons in terms of reaching out to his base to attend the museum event is showing he is not a racist and he's for civil rights. but policy matters. john lewis realizes that.

he bears the scars of the civil rights battles having been beaten as he was at the bridge back in 1965. so he knows better than it is to support a strong civil rights agenda. i think appearing at the museum is meant to be a political expression that he is not a racist. but much more important is the policy. policy matters. >> zelena, what should the president do, say to try to improve the situation? or many anything he says or does be perceived as authentic or inauthentic? >> when he is reading from a teleprompter, he often doesn't veer off into something that is racist. when he came down the elevator at trump tower and he said there were good people on both sides when one of those sides including neo-nazis and the ku klux klan, that was a line in

the sand. that was the most in which african-americans like myself said this president has crossed a line and he cannot come back from that. nothing he will do can change my mind or black peoples's minds that will say he cares about our issues and our equality. the president is on the side of nazis and the klan. i didn't think i would live to see that day, but that's where we are right now. >> rick, should the president not be going? >> i don't have any problem with the president going. it is is designed for people with the least appreciation of the struggle. i wish they would all go. >> all right, guys. you can't go anywhere. we're going to talk in just a little bit again. we have the commercial break, even. coming up, words of warning. a report of e-mails. why the agency took steps to

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some new revelations this morning in the russia investigation. hope hicks, a top trump adviser, was warned by the fbi about e-mails from russian operatives earlier this year and was urged to be be cautious. the article says "american intelligence and law enforcement agencies became alarmed by inductry e-mails that ms. hicks received from russian government addresses in the weeks after mr. trump's election. after he took office, senior fbi counterintelligence agents met with ms. hicks in the white house situation room at least twice, gave her the names of the russians who had contacted her, and said that they were not who they claimed to be. joining me now is business insider correspondent. this is fascinating. you have written about it. let's get to it.

the significance of these attempted contacts, how do they feed into the questions about what the president knew about russia's influence attempts in. >> this is a further indication that the russians were trying their hardest to infiltrate not just the trump campaign but to get to them even after trump won. they were trying to get to the president via hope hick. if you'll recall, everyone knows that she served as intermediary between whoever wanted to get to trump and the president himself, or the candidate himself. trump does not have e-mail. she was really in charge of getting this information to him. whether or not she actually told him about these e-mails that she was receiving from these russians really remains to be seen. we don't know that and we don't know what the subject of these e-mails was. but the fact that the russians were trying to get to hope hicks is the first that they were trying to compromise her and get her to say something that would make her keep quiet later on in the effect that, you know, she

learned of something that then she is asked about it by mueller and she doesn't want to tell him because she's blackmailable. the second is they were trying to get directly to president trump which would create new. >> what do you read into the fact that the interview spanned two days? how much would she have known about the transition team's contacts with russian officials? >> well, hope hicks has been there really from the beginning. i mean, she has been one of the closest aides to president trump, if not the closest. she's really in charge of managing all of his communications. she is a direct intermediary between anyone who wants to get to the president and the president himself. in terms of what happened during the transition, i mean, and even during the campaign, we know that donald trump jr. now has said that he was communicating directly with hope hicks when he was directing that statement with the meeting with the russians at trump tower.

so hope hicks really has been there throughout the entire ordeal. if anyone was to know about the ties to russia and the transition team's communications with the russians after the obama administration impose said sanctions in december, it would be hope hicks. >> okay. talking about donald trump jr., that was one very long day of testimony. let's take a listen to what ranking member adam schiff said about what he said. >> he acknowledged having discussed the june 9th meeting and e-mails that went into establishing that meeting after those e-mails became public, he acknowledged discussing that matter with his father but refused to answer questions about that discussion on the basis of a claim of attorney/client privilege. in my view, there is no attorney/client privilege that protects a discussion between father and son. >> and certainly some discussion about attorney/client privilege, whether there was an attorney present. so they're going back and forth right now regarding that.

with what you've been hearing about his testimony, does that sync up with coming back for another interview? >> the democrats were frustrated that he not only said attorney/client privilege but he just declined to answer a lot of questions. he would he did not recall several times. so the democrats now, from what i'm hearing, is they're setting up a meeting with republicans to make the case that the attorney/client privilege argument that donald trump jr. asserted does not apply in this situation. but ultimately they tell me that it will be up to the republicans to call donald trump jr. back. they do want to see him back, but it will be the republicans's prerogative to do that. >> always good to talk with you. thanks so much. >> thanks, alex. senator al franken could not resign without stinking remarks about the president. you will hear what he said with reaction to them, next. e. winter has arrived. whooo! hahaha

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i of all people aware there is some irony and the fact that i am leaving while a man who

bragged on tape about history of his sexual assaults sits in the oval office and a man repeatedly preyed on young girls campaign for the senate with a full support of his party. >> senator al franken taking a shot at the president and roy moore following multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. >> selena and joe is all back with me. does it set the bar higher for republicans in. >> i do think he has a point. i think democrats, i don't want -- well, forgive me for selling crash for a second. they cannot accept franken and roy moore, they are setting it up and dealing it in their way. the republican party is ignoring

it and not dealing with it. that does set up a contract. we'll see how that play out in a moment. selena, here is how one of senator franken's accuser reacted to the announcement we heard. >> it was not an apology, it was defiance, he wanted to talk about the pain that he was going through which was obvious but not the pain that he inflicted. i thought it was inappropriate to do that from the senate floor? >> he took a moment to attack the president and say a fact that the president is accused o f the same thing and he's still in office. he's just stating facts. i do think that there was a lack of contrition in those remarks and he did not apologize.

i do agree with her that there was a lack of remorse expressed and he seems to be a little bit angry but can you blame him? >> look, he's getting attacked and forced to resign for behavior that in comparison of the president is accused of. there is 17 women claiming that he forced and kissed her or attempted to kiss her years ago. are we going to clean house in terms of investigation of the president or roy moore. are we going to seat him in the senate, republicans are going to accept him in the senate. those are real agree there is a remorse. >> i don't know that, but i had spoken to her since these allegations came out. i believe her and i think that

for peace in the atlantic was well argued and i think that this is a tragedy when women cannot feel safe in the workplace. there is a lot of institutional changes and congress and beyond to ensure that women are empowered to come forward. al franken is stepping down, do you think that at all weakens the argument that roy moore should receive due process before the accusations against him. >> well, i agree of what selena said that women need to feel safe in the workplace and at the very least, this is helping to level the plainfield so that women adodon't have to worry anymore and mistreated by somebody and taking advantage of their position. i think everybody deserves to have their day in court in this country if you are proven innocent.

it is important that people who have done these and take responsibility as what al franken did. it was painful for him but he did the right thing by listening to the requests of some of his peers to step aside. i know it is painful for him and a lot of folks that's been accused. you got to consider the pain and everybody that's been hurt and every woman who's been harassed and groped. you got to think that first. >> guys, always good to see you. all three of you. selena and joe and rick. thanks so much. a race against the inferno, how good samaritans are coming together to help. you got to get your kleenex box for this. we'll be right back.

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