love, a state where i've had great success, this is a tribute to our nation at the highest level. >> that was the opening of the mississippi civil rights museum. president trump's presence there was controversial to some, prompting a number of black leaders to boycott the event. it is his second speech in the south in the past 24 hours. the president making an appearance last night right there in pensacola, florida. he again expressed his support for alabama candidate roy moore. we're on the ground in selma, alabama to get the pulse of the voters with three days to go. and happening now, the massive wildfires burning out of control in california. 140,000 acres burned, at least 200,000 prompted to evacuate. as more areas are now threatened in the south land. to the latest there. and also for you this hour. but we'll start this hour with president trump's controversial appearance at the opening of two new museums in

mississippi. including one dedicated to the state's role in the civil rights movement. that event boycotted by several prominent african-american leaders like congressman john lewis, bennie thompson and the mayor of jackson, mississippi. the president did not mention the controversy in his remarks. he used his speech to pay tribute to civil rights activists, noting the contribution of the late met ger evers and every honored. >> today we strive to be worthy of their sacrifice. we pray for inspiration from their example. we want our country to be a place where every child from every background can grow up free from fear, innocent of hatred and surrounded by love, opportunity, and hope. >> let's go to white house cour correspondent jeff bennett near the mara laug -- mar-a-lago

resort and what was the president's comments. >> the reaction to the room to the comments, from what i'm told, this person was struck by the fact that the president appeared to hit all of the right notes. the speech was crafted appeared to really mute the backlash and the controversy that you mentioned that was so intense that the white house changed its plans. the president spoke to that crowd in a private setting. he did not participate in the public ceremony that took place after that. and so the speech really trapped the triumphs and the challenge of the civil right movement. you heard the president pay tribute to the leaders of the movement. but it's small comfort to the president's critics that he at times has been the center of or fueled racially divisive issues, including the comments after the racial violence in charlottesville, saying there were both people on the side of

the protest, and they say the rise was built on the notion of birtherism and then candidate -- or donald trump, the private citizen, had said about barack obama. but it was meant to honor the civil rights movement and track the changes against bigotry and the president wanted to be there to do what he could to be a part of that process. >> jeff bennett with the president in florida, just returning moments ago. as i said about an hour ago. president trump last night was in pensacola, florida. flexing his political muscle for u.s. senate candidate roy moore in neighboring alabama. here is a bit of that. >> how many people here are from the great state of alabama? the future of this country cannot afford to lose a seat in the very, very close united

states senate. we can't afford it, folks. >> and he spent a good section of that talking about immigration as well. so a different tone here from what was said today in jackson, mississippi. this being held -- this campaign style rally held just four days before the senate special election was to happen, 25 miles away from the alabama state line. and just a short time ago doug jones gave remarks at selma historic brown chapel ame church. vaughn hilliard is in selma with the race there. and how did it go and what did he say? >> reporter: david, we should know that he is in selma. this is a county here -- a county 80% black. he was joined here by alabama lone democratic congressman terry seoul and massachusetts governor joined him out there and he went on about roy moore calling him the groundhog noting while he is out on the campaign trail, roy moore hasn't been seen and he is not wrong.

he is not campaigning this weekend and we won't see him until monday in a pre-election eve rally where he will be joined by louie gomer and steve bannon returning to the state. but to note where this race is at. doug jones is here in selma and heading to montgomery for another rally with new jersey senator cory booker and then going up to a concert that the campaign is hosting in birmingham where they have having another convert in huntsville to turn out the vote because not only do they need democrats, but they are going to need republican cross-over voters. flyers and mailers have been going out around the state. i believe we have a couple to show you. one of those -- it was sent out on behalf of a pro-jones superpac that has ivanka trump and jeff sessions and a republican from alabama richard shelby and it says listen to the respected voices of alabama. this is at this point a campaign that not only needs to turn -- [ inaudible ] but needs to turn out the republican cross-over

voters. david. >> vaughn, great that you are showing -- >> reporter: sorry about that. >> no problem. i've been called all sorts of things in my time. so you could call me david if you like. but back to the story here. we're seeing both sides and the pulling out of the tars. they are pulling out may add weight to their brand. we've seen this in elections across the country before. and the question is will it work with these voters. they don't like outsiders -- >> sure. they don't like outsiders. and you remember two months ago when president trump came into the state and endorsed roy moore's opponent luther strange and didn't move the polls. despite donald trump suggested it so. when you talk to people on the ground, they say we like donald trump but it doesn't matter what he says or what mitch mcconnell says and we asked doug joans about that, the fact that cory bookers and outsiders are coming in and he believes that the people he's bringing into the

state are at least concerned about issues that are pertinent to alabamans. if you ask on the republican side, they would make their pitch that steve bannon is also listening. but at this point, there is a contingency of voters up in the area and these are the cross over voters that we'll have to pay attention to in the three days and whether they are going out and vote at all at this point. >> and quickly here, tick tock, tick tock, what are you seeing on the airwaves and what are they getting in the mail boxed. is it increasing or leveling off? >> reporter: i'm hearing from people their mailboxes are becoming full. which is unusual for alabama. tl they've been on tv. doug jones is out spending roy moore five to one. dating back to thanksgiving you couldn't avoid the airwaves. suddenly the fact that alabama is in the spotlight is significant. this is it and we're here and it is kind of hard to run away from it at this point. >> nbc's vaughn hilliard. thank you so much, sir. let's bring in our panel.

from blockberg news, sean sullivan and analyst robert trainham, also a former bush-cheney senior adviser and from bustle.com. and you see that the democrat at this point going after african-american voters in the church today but also you could see the schematics in terms of the outside stars and i was asking vaughn as you were all listening to here, is that right, right now, given what roy moore is saying about doug jones? >> well i think vaughn's report spells it out great for everyone. because at the end of the day this is coming down to alabama voters. this race has been volatile to say the least. i think it is captured the attention of the entire country. and it is really taken on a significant cultural meaning well beyond the state of alabama. but what is going to be interesting to see, is should roy moore be elected in just a couple of days in the senate. how is he going to be greeted in

the halls of congress in washington, d.c. and we've seen over the past couple of days in particular again this race take on much more of the significant meaning than just within the state of alabama. we've seen this in the past couple of days with the resignation of senator al franken. i'm not comparing the accusations or allegations made against these two people. but we've seen this cultural moment come to the forefront. however he is greeted in washington, that is the story moving forward. >> robert trainham, that is the question. you heard the names of patrick and booker, are these the names that will get out the vote as you know so well, one out of four potential voters in that state are african-american. >> that is exactly the key there, richard. so two things. number one, alabama will decide this race, there is no question about it. it is their state. this is their future. but for doug jones to win who has been clear i don't want any outsiders coming into the state

and i don't need nor want outside votes coming in or surrogates coming in because that is the antithesis and the nuance is that he needs a significant number of african-american voters to come out, specifically in birmingham and also in selma. so if anyone is going to be able to kind of turn up that base if you will, it is a john lewis, who by the way went to school at troy university in alabama. and marched in alabama. and possibly could be the deval patrick and it is a finite group of african-americans who could reinforce the need to come out and vote come tuesday. so if anyone could do it, it would be a john lewis or perhaps a duveval patrick. >> and then candidate obama, the numbers have gone down in the state as we look at the last race in terms of african-american turnout for a democrat candidate and then what will get the voters out? they are both saying it is about getting voters to the booth. >> turnout is what this ca-- ra

will come down and it is a race we've seen waves. some momentum toward luther strange and then roy moore edged that out and then it looks like doug jones didn't have a shot until the allegations surfaced. but moore has been a controversial figure throughout his tenure in the political sphere in his tate and republicans are seizing on this and look at this as a referendum in 208 -- 2018 and going into 2020. >> and 2020 is interesting sean because in some sense and it is not a new idea, this is a referendum on the teflon quality of donald trump and his base. this is a state wide election and looking past sexual assault allegations, sexual harassment allegations, sexual misconduct allegations, saying i want this candidate because it is good for my party, that is what we saw in 2016. and this is another one of those big tests about how influential donald trump may be in 2018.

that big stick that some of the congressional candidates might use. would you agree with that? >> this is a big test and when i talk to parties strategists on both sides when they look at these special elections, they say, look, momentum bee gets more momentum and it gets whoever wins this race, whichever party wins this race momentum going into 2018. we're almost at the end and the mid campaign will ramp up early next year. we look back at last big in virginia where democrats have a successful day. and they look at this election as a chance to broaden that and ride that wave of momentum and yeah, it would be a message to the president if doug jones does win the race given that he campaigned actively for roy moore when the majority of senate republicans and senate republican leadership we're not with this guy, we're cutting ties with him. so trump is really taking a political risk here for a candidate who polls show right now is in a tight with doug

jones and we don't know how this will turn out. >> and kevin you said, the democrats they win either way. >> no, i don't think so. >> go for it. >> if doug jones -- if doug jones can't be roy moore, and i think it is a great point. he's trying to shun the support of some democratic all-stars. people like senator elizabeth warren, a potential 2020 democratic candidate and he's saying don't get near me. he's not really even running as a democrat, trying to run as an alternative to roy moore. so who is doug jones and what policies does he put forth. he needs various coalitions and i think if this guy loses to roy moore, in a couple of days, a lot of democrats will be like, why didn't he embrace the democratic progressive message. what message is doug jones embracing other than essentially that he's not roy moore. which, yes, could be a winning message. but why isn't he bringing in the democratic all-stars. he's bringing in some, why not

bring in more. >> robert, do you agree with that? >> absolutely not. first of all. >> i got that sense just looking at you. >> i mean i'm not an alabaman but i've been to state a couple of times. i have a lot of friends from alabama. what they just heard is just -- it is literally nails on the chalkboard. doug jones is not a progressive democrat at all. the last democrat to win alabama was a guy by the name of richard shelby who is now a republican. conservative democrats that are pro-life and pro-gun win in the state of alabama. according to history. so for elizabeth warren of all people to come into alabama, with all due respect, i'm not from that state, but even i know that is a kiss of death, to embrace the progressive, quote, unquote, agenda of the democratic party and embrace that in alabama of all places, what i hear that -- it just reminds me all of the reason why alabamans will say you guys in

d.c., you just simply do not get it. you continue to talk down to us, you think that we're one size fits all, please stay away and please respect my conservative lower k.c. values. >> no outside in, only inside out. erin. >> that is the dynamic that steve bannon is setting up. he said they are trying to take away your voice. he is talking about the establishment and the republicans in congress. people are going for roy moore because they see him as a figure that flies to the outside. but look at the campaign the white house is running on behalf of moore. they are saying you have to cast your vote for him because that is a sure vote for republicans. we can't give up our slim edge in the senate. we have to get tax reform through. and infrastructure and border security. they are saying you have to preserve the majority, to me that is similar to the argument that kevin was making. everyone is running here to preserve their party status. >> sean quickly to you, the outside in idea, trump speaking in pensacola last night and also

making the decision to have jerusalem as the capital of israel, a head not to evangelicals there in the state and put that together for us. >> well, to sort of build off the points everybody else is making a couple of minutes ago, it is interesting that both sides are kind of distancing themselves from the national party. they have been in the past few weeks. doug jones trying to distance himself from democrats an roy moore positioning himself as somebody a check against his party. but in the final weekend here you are seeing that distance kind of -- that gap narrow where you have roy moore embracing the president and his national platform and you have doug jones campaigning with national figures, cory booker, deval patrick, the former governor of massachusetts and other members of congress. so we're seeing this final push and for as long as these guys have tried to separate themselves from their national party figures, at the end of the day, as we approach tuesday, that gap is definitely narrowing. >> of all of us, the person with

the best job is vaughn hilliard and going the next three days. because he gets to be there and we all want to be there to soak this all in. thank you. we'll be back later. thank you all. coming up, new information in the russia investigation. one of president's trump's most trusted advisers hope hicks interviewed by special council robert mueller's team. what does that mean? we'll get into it. plus keeping an eye on those massive wildfires in california. a live report next. ost people, e most people. but on the inside, i feel chronic, widespread pain. fibromyalgia may be invisible to others, but my pain is real. fibromyalgia is thought to be caused by overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i'm glad my doctor prescribed lyrica. for some, lyrica delivers effective relief for moderate to even severe fibromyalgia pain. and improves function. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these,

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just serve classy snacks and bew a gracious host,iday party. no matter who shows up. do you like nuts?

the legendary hope, come on up here. she's shy. she's a great person. she's done an amazing job. >> and i have an amazing staff. hope hicks. >> president trump not holding back from the praise of hope hicks who likes to remain behind the scenes. she rarely makes public statements but she was interviewed but robert mueller team. the times also reporting fbi officials warned her earlier this year about repeated attempted by russian operatives to contact her during the president's transition period. although there is no indication she did anything wrong. it shows russian efforts to make contact with the trump team continued even after u.s. intelligence agencies accused the russians of interference in the election. for more, let's bring in spokesperson for the national security council under president

obama, kendall brocky. and let's start with you. the npr headline is if you were to summarize this week, it was a knife fight. in terms of what had happened going back and forth. and there were several items related to the russia question -- russia connection question, one of which is hope hicks. and let's tastart there. what might mueller have asked her. >> she's a trusted loyalist but she will tell the truth, as a reminder, it is a federal crime to lie to the federal authorities and we saw that with papadapoulos and flynn. and as you mentioned, what did she and others do in response to her information from the fbi. the russian agents were trying to contact her. but i think it is a lot of interest in the july discussions about the statement that was presented on behalf of donald trump jr. describing the meeting in trump tower and what was the

president's role in shaping that statement. a lot of critics say it was misleading. and if it was misleading and intentionally misleading, was there an effort to mislead the press, not a crime to lie to the press, not even a low crime or mitsubis misdemeanor or an attempt to fashion a narrative extended to other places such as the narrative presented to federal investigators at some point. that could be the crime of obstruction. >> ned, when you look at the reporting coming from the new york times about russian operatives reaching out during the transition period, what is the takeaway from that. what does it say about -- if you will, how deep the connections may or may not have been according to the question out there with russia. >> well richard, some have seen this as an exculpatory data point, that the russians were blindly reaching out to hope hicks so they couldn't have

maden ---en roads. and i don't think that is the case. they are persistent and ambitious and pursue multiple tracks. so we know they pursued mike plin -- flynn and paul manafort and wikileaks established a line of communication with donald trump jr. and there is a lot we don't know. so what i see here is a russian effort to establish another channel, another parallel channel parallel to the other channels that had already been opened throughout the campaign and presumably were still there during the transition. >> another part of the russia story this week, george papadapoulos, the trump administration as you both know dismissing him as a low level volunteer, coffee boy has been one of the quotes. but his fiance coming to the microphone with abc and saying, no, no he's not that. take a listen to part of what she said. >> it was constantly in touch with the high level official in

the campaign. and he never took any initiative as far as i know unauthorized. >> kendall, why is this important what she has said. >> well, there is an inefitiable dynamic when someone becomes a cooperator. friends and government will say they had a very important role and that is why their cooperation is important. and the other size is those being cooperated against they will minimize and try to suggest he didn't know anything important. it is a pretty common dynamic and at the end of the day there is a lot more than a fiancee's words that define what was the role of papadapoulos, including testimony of other witnesses that he was in contact with within the trump team. >> donald trump jr., also this week going up to capitol hill, having to face one of the -- investigation committees and he said i'm not going to answer, in terms of the conversation he had with the president and he said it is attorney-client privilege

here. ned, is this legal? can he say this. >> i'm not a lawyer. but look, donald trump jr. was essentially saying that because lawyers were listening into their phone conversation that he was able to invoke privilege. that is like me telling you, that if a lawyer is watching this broadcast right now and one day this comes under legal scrutiny, you and i could invoke attorney-client privilege in a court of law setting. i don't think that holds water. more importantly we've heard from attorneys across the political spectrum who say this doesn't hold water. the challenge here is that the republicans on the house intel committee are probably not going to go for a second at bat with don donald trump jr. it is up to the chair to issue another subpoena and i don't see that forthcoming. i think it is up to robert mueller and his team to get to the bottom of these questions and in such a way that don jr.

could not invoke these ridiculous privilege arguments in front of a grand jury. >> i hope we do not have to invoke that by the way. >> me too. >> you are a nice guy, though, kendall, what is your take on this. >> i agree with what was just said. it is one thing to present aggressive use of priv lentil a -- privilege and people not talking with dealing with the press or government officials, but when you are dealing with federal criminal investigators with power of mueller in his office and the fbi, it is no occasion for laying arguments of attorney-client privilege i want to tell the truth and the whole truth and nothing but. >> thank you for stopping by on a saturday. >> thank you. happening right now, the fight against those raging wildfires. they've scorched nearly 300 square miles. a live report next. whoooo.

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snow. more than 382,000 homes and business in the south do not have electricity. palestinian mahmoud abbas will not meet with vice president pence this month. his diplomatic advisers say the u.s. has crossed red lines on recognizing jerusalem as israel's capital. and president trump toured the mississippi civil rights museum and he honored martin luther king jr. and med ger evers and james meredith from the university of mississippi. let's get to california. firefighters battling the wildfires there. they've been burning more than 270 square miles since monday. president trump has declared a federal emergency in southern california to allow the federal government to give assistance. scott cone is live from southern california and while we're seeing snow on the east coast and hitting 209s in the midwest, you are in the 80s over there. this is not good for what

firefighters need. >> reporter: no, it is not. they could use some of that moisture here. but it is not going to come any time soon. there is progress in fits and starts and the arbiter is the wind. it keeps on kicking up and as it kicks up, firefighters say it makes the fire that much more unpredictable and those santa ana winds just continue to fuel the fire. not as severe as they were early in the week but nontheless they are continuing and gooding throu -- and going through the weekend and this is december. it is not the peak of the normal fire season in california. in fact it is generally agreed that fire season is pretty much year round. governor jerry brown who is here in ventura a short time ago said that is an important thing to remember during the current tax cutting debate in washington. >> i hope the folks in washington realize that as their spending money or helping others spend it by giving them various tax breaks, we need to invest in our fire fighting capacity, we

need to invest in our whole infrastructure, as well as our energy and means of storing. >> reporter: the president has declared a disaster area in the fire zone but that involves assistance after the fact and the governor said there needs to be more investment before the fact and more fire prevention and resources to battle the fires. the fire fighting budget in california is pretty much tapped. >> scott, in some cases the containment is in the teens, 15, 16% as you've been reporting and it changes. when is the next -- where the light at the end of the tunnel when they might say we've made it. >> reporter: well it depends on which fire you are talking about. because we have half a dozen fires burning in california. this is the big one sh the thomas fire that is 148,000 acres just by itself, bigger than the city of chicago. we're at 15% containment and by the time that they get it fully

contained, it could be a matter of weeks because you are talking about actually putting in those containment lines, those fire breaks or whatever you could do around a huge area and the fire is continuing to spread in the north and west. so even as they lift evacuations in some parts of ventura, they're putting in new evacuations approaching the santa barba santa barbara county line so it is a moving target. >> and folks loving warm weather but the converse is connect there in ventura, california. scott, thank you so much. the fallout continues as a wave of sexual harassment has forced three members out of congress and blake farenthold is facing an investigation and one of his gop colleagues is calling for him to resign. what affect could this have on the roy moore alabama senate seat. i just got my cashback match,

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more fallout to tell you about as congress grapples with sexual miss conduct. al franken announced he is resigning in the coming weeks. also resigning republican congressman trent franks of arizona. affective immediately. it was revealed he allegedly asked two female staffers to be a surrogate mother for his children. republican congressman blake farenthold is facing a house ethics investigation overall --

over allegations of sexual harassment after reaching an agreement with taxpayer dollars. and he said he's paying the money back. he is relieved the ethics committee is looking into it. and he said once the facts are released i'm confident this matter will once and for all be settled and resolved. barbara comstock and others have called on farenthold to resign. >> and we welcome back our panel. let's start with you on this, if we can, adrian, is there a double standard here for the republicans and the democrats? >> well, i don't know there is a double standard. ly say if there is any sort of text book way if you will in terms of how to handle graciously being called out for

sexual harassment, it is the wayal franken handled it. he stepped down because he was a distraction and he would continue to be a distraction. but look, i mean ultimately, here is the bottom line, if you've ever sexually harassed or sexually assaulted someone, don't run for congress and expect the news is coming out and your time is coming. so we expect more out of our elected officials, we hold them to the highest standard and this should not be a democrat versus republican issue, it should pspb the -- span the party lines. >> end then how do we get to the grand conversation and potentially legislation on the federal or state level, it doesn't look like we're seeing that, it looks like we're see stilling attrition. >> you are i think adrian is exactly right but one slight correction. all men, regardless of whether or not they are running for

public office should be held to the highest of standards when this comes to treating female counterparts with dignity and react and equality. regardless of whether you are running for office you should be a man and a gentleman and treat people with dignity and respect, especially women. but to your question, richard, this is an avalanche. this is nunbelievable and it holds all victims here because when you look at matt lauer, our colleague here on nbc news or whether it is harvey weinstein or the members of congress, members of the press, several members of the press, it seems like this dam now is over flowing and i don't think anyone can stop it. so the next question is whether or not there will be a call in the house -- houses of congress and the senate for pieces of legislation to put stuff into law that makes this squarely illegal and i think we are -- they are sooner rather than later. >> a tale of two cities, adrian,

because we look at conversations out of alabama and washington, d.c. and i understand alabama is not a city but you get my point, but we are seeing in terms of being gender woke, we are getting ideas coming from both men and women saying that could be secondary to the person that we might hold -- that we might vote into public office. >> yeah. and that is a real -- >> to this day -- to this hour. >> right. absolutely. and it is a real shame. that any party, in this case the republican party, would choose to go in full force for a candidate who has allegedly -- who is an alleged child predator. and i think at this point we e foe -- we think we know that he is. but to get some legislative priority through to endorse him and to fully embrace him and to see president trump who has his own issues with sexual harassment going down to there,

holding a rally where he endorsed again roy moore yesterday. it makes my skin crawl. it is pretty pathetic. and no wonder so many americans have issues with our political process today and no wonder congress's approval rating is so low because you hear more of the stories come out. >> and the proverbial leader of the republicans here, is saying i want roy moore, very overtly and there in pensacola last night and we certainly understand the many allegations against this president who has bragged about sexual assault and has some 20 women that had allegations against him and he is supporting another candidate, roy moore, who doesn't have quite as many, but significant numbers of allegations against him, he is going back to potentially -- here, robert, if you agree with this, going back to a staeentertainment about fi avenue, that he will go anything and still get elected. >> and that is the conundrum and

that we find ourselves in. we know full force very transparent about donald trump and the 20 women that have come -- we knew that before the election and we now this before roy moore. so what is interesting is that as we know, donald trump won. and as we think roy moore is ahead in the polls. so that is the interesting thing here, is even before they face the voters' decision, they are ahead or were ahead in the polls. and so that is -- i don't know where to go with that. where the voters clearly know that there is some alleged -- inappropriate behavior and they double down and say i get that, i understand that, but i still want this person in the white house or in the halls of congress. i don't know what you do with that. >> a lot of questions. adrian quickly finishing, ending where i start with the double standard and that was alluding to democrats -- do they lose more than republicans do applying the same standard on sexual misconduct long-term.

>> i will say. this i think it is dangerous for any party to try to claim the moral ground on this. i'll go back to saying, this should not be -- this shouldn't be a political issue or a democrat versus republican issue which we should not toler eight this. and i want to make -- this is one of the reasons you have 350 women running for congress this year. because they are tired of seeing this sort of behavior and they want change in washington. >> and it needs to be men doing the same thing as robert and you were saying, this same idea when it comes to gender issues like this. >> exactly. >> great conversation. thank you for bringing it. coming up, something that may have been lost in the headline this is week, the supreme court -- we'll take a look at the big cases this week that could have a lasting impact for years, specifically on immigration and civil rights. breathe freely fast with vicks sinex.

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or urinary problems. these may worsen with anoro. call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain while taking anoro. ask your doctor about anoro. ♪go your own way get your first prescription free at anoro.com. this week, the supreme court looked at some big cases that could have a lasting impact on civil rights and immigration. on tuesday arguments began in the masterpiece cake shop cake, that determines whether a business owner has a religious right to refuse service to an entire class of people. in this case, a gay couple, who were refused a custom wedding

cake by a colorado baker. >> he asked who the cake was for. we told him it was for us. and immediately he informed us he would not make a cake for a same-sex wedding. and what followed was just a horrible, pregnant pause, as what was happening really sunk in. and we were mortified. >> this week, the court granted the trump administration's request to enforce the travel ban. that also happening after several lower courts blocked the ban. the supreme court this week gave it a timperary green light while the lower court cases proceed, limiting entry for citizens of eight countries, most of them with predominantly muslim populations. all of the top court's decisions are being influenced by its newest member, neil gorsuch. here to explain more is lawrence hurly, supreme court correspondent at reuters. hopefully we got it all right

there, lawrence, because it's your beat. let's talk about this story about the cake maker who says this is an expression of free speech for him. at least this is what he's been saying in interviews. and that he's decided, therefore, he does not have to make a cake -- he did not have to make a cake because it's part of his creativity, his free speech, in relationship to the same-sex couple wanting him to create something. how does that fly and where do we sit on this case? >> well, after this oral argument this week, it seems like the court is very closely divided and justice anthony kennedy, the conservative swing vote on the court who sometimes sides with the four liberals, is going to hold the key to this. based on what he said during the oral argument, it's unclear how the court's going to rule. so i think anyone who thinks they know what's going do happen in this case is kidding themselves. >> what are you watching? what's the key point that might come up for justice kennedy in

terms of his decision? >> well, justice kennedy, obviously was the justice who authored the court's gay marriage decision in 2015. so he's got a long decision of supporting gay rights. so on that front you might think he would be supportive of the gay couple, and he certainly did say things during the argument that suggested that. but on the other hand, he's also a big advocate for free speech rights and this is a free speech case. the baker saying that making the cake is a form of expression and that he shouldn't be forced to speak something that goes against his conscience. and he also, justice kennedy, said things in the argument that supported that side. so it's going to come down to how he is able to reconcile those two competing interests. >> add to this on the conversation here, lawrence, and ta taking us to texas, the supreme court accepting a challenge from same-sex couples in that state specifically over whether states

must provide equal benefits to all married couples regardless of sexual orientation. it's been about two years since same-sex marriage was legalized. what are we seeing here? >> well, that was a case where the court declined to hear the case. they left in place, a lower court ruling from the texas supreme court, which had sort of raised questions about the scope of the court's gay marriage decision. but it was also a kind of preliminary decision that just sent the case back to a lower court for more litigation. so it seems like the supreme court's decision not to hear that case suggests that maybe they don't think that was such a big deal. there were no dissents and so it may be that the court just decided that that wasn't so important after all. >> and quickly here, the travel ban in the lower courts right now. what does this mean long term if you can prognosticate here?

>> well, the travel ban decision from the supreme court really suggests that the court is comfortable with this ban right now. it's not a final decision obviously on the legality, but it certainly sends the message to the lower courts that the supreme court is likely to ultimately uphold it, and it certainly means in the short-term that what the lower courts rule are not going to have any effect. these are two appeals courts currently deciding whether to rule against it. they had oral arguments this week. but the supreme court has put all that on hold, so the bans will stay in effect until the supreme court gets the final say. >> lawrence hurley from reuters, thanks so much, sir. >> thank you. coming up in our next hour, more on president trump's appearance at today's opening of the mississippi civil rights museum. how leaders in the black community are responding to his appearance right there. plus, wildfires leaving hundreds of square miles scorched and forcing hundreds to

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we are the driven... the dedicated... the overachievers. we know our best investment is in ourselves. we don't take no for an answer. we fight for what we want. even for the things that were once a given. going to college... buying a home... and not being in debt for it for the rest of our lives. but we're only as strong as our community. who inspires and pushes us to go further than we could ever go alone. sofi. get there sooner. and good afternoon to you. thanks for being with us on this saturday afternoon. i'm richard lui at msnbc headquarters in new york city. president trump back at his mar-a-lago estate in florida within the last hour or so. earlier today he made a controversial appearance at the dedication of two new museums in spps.

one of those dedicated to the state's role in the civil rights movement. the ceremony boycotted by john lewis, benny thompson and mayor the jackson, mississippi. the president did not mention the controversy in his remarks. he stayed on message, highlighting the importance of the museum. >> the civil rights museum records the oppression, cruelty and injustice inflicted on the african american community, the fight to end slavery, to break down jim crow, to end segregation, to gain the right to vote, and to achieve the sacred birth right of equality. >> there in jackson, mississippi, nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker. kristen? >> reporter: hi, richard, good afternoon to you. president trump stuck to his script when he spoke here at the civil rights museum in jackson, mississippi. he paid tribute to all of those who have fough