completely understand what's going on in somebody else's heart. >> that's all for this edition of be "dateline." i'm craig melvin, thanks for watching. good morning, i'm dara brown in new york at msnbc world headquarters. it's 7:00 in the east, 4:00 out west, and here's what's happening. the president at camp david and on camera, trying to set the record straight about a wide range of topics, including his mental health, steve bannon, and the explosive revelations in a new book. >> excellent student, came out, made billions and billions of dollars. i consider it a work of fiction. i don't know this man. i guess sloppy steve brought him into the white house quite a bit. i think we're going to have some really great bipartisan bills. we want the wall. the wall's going to happen or we're not going to have daca. there's been no collusion. there's been no crime.

>> plus, ready to talk. the expectations ahead of this week's discussions between north and south korea. we begin with the president mounting a spirited defense on his track record, his mental abilities, and his actions related to the russia investigation. nbc's kelly o'donnell has more from the white house. >> reporter: inside a chilly hangar at camp david, flagged by top republican lawmakers, and administration officials, the president defended his own fitness for office. >> very excellent student, came out, made billions and billions of dollars, became one of the top business people. went to television and for ten years was a tremendous success, as you probably have heard. >> reporter: deeper than bravado, the president had already used twitter to address his own psychological well-being. my two greatest assets have been mental stability, and being, like, really smart. and described himself as, a very stable genius at that.

his trump-style introspection is driven by white house outrage over a new book by michael wolff. that claims the president's inner circle questions his capacity to do the job. >> this guy that does not know me, doesn't know me at all, by the way, did not interview for three -- said he interviewed me for three hours in the white house. it didn't exist. >> reporter: the president's anger extended to fired former chief strategist steve bannon who cooperated with the author. >> i guess sloppy steve brought him into the white house quite a bit. and it was one of those things. that's why sloppy steve is now looking for a job. >> reporter: the president, who threatened legal action to try to stop publication, complained about the system. >> i consider it a work of fiction. and i think it's a disgrace that somebody's able to have something, do something like that. the libel laws are very weak in this country. >> reporter: this weekend's camp david meetings and working dinner did not include the attorney general, jeff sessions. the president was asked if he

had directed his top white house lawyer to discourage sessions from recusing himself from the russia investigation back in march? >> everything that i've done is 100% proper. >> reporter: the president is expected to return to the white house from camp david this afternoon. the time spent there with lawmakers and top officials was intended to set priorities for republicans over the coming year. both on policy, and on the politics of the midterm races. one example, on immigration the president says he wants to strike a bipartisan deal. he wants billions in money for a border wall, and border security, in order to extend legal protection to young immigrants known as dreamers. that's at least where he wants to begin the negotiation. dara? >> kelly o'donnell, thank you. for more let's bring in kevin cirilli, chief washington correspondent for bloomberg news and jonathan allen, national political report for nbc news digital. jonathan, we just heard president trump address concerns about his mental well-being and

it was head-on. was that the right way to handle this? >> i think if he didn't handle it that way once he was asked about it, it would be problematic. i think there would be two issues. one is his general intellectual competence. that's in one basket. and that's not something that the constitution considers or that our laws consider the people elect somebody, what they're smart or not, given what we've heard about president trump through this book "fire and fury" and all of his aides saying that he might not be that bright, that's one thing. it's a totally different thing that's questioned his continued mental acuity. and it's something that he has addressed in a way that i don't think any other president ever has. he did it himself. he went out there even before this question and answer session to try to make people believe that he's stable. not just a genius, but a stable genius, he said. so, you know, i think that is a real issue potentially if, in fact, he's suffering now. i'm not a doctor, nor did i stay at a holiday inn express last night, but there is clearly some

concern among some of the people around him that he may be -- may be losing it. >> kevin, "the new york times" is saying that by taking this issue on so directly that trump is ensuring that the discussion about his mental stability will only intensify. do you see this issue being put to rest any time soon for the president? >> i think this is what's interesting about michael wolff's book, it really did solidify a democratic political attack against the president regarding, as you mentioned, dara, on his health. now, we should note two things, first and foremost that during the campaign this was an issue, not just for president trump but also for his rival, hillary clinton. we all remember the back and forth about their health during the debates, and they're various arguments for fitness for office. on the flip side of that, look, the president didn't release his tax returns during the campaign, but he also never released as many other candidates have the form of health records that

other folks had, including his challenger hillary clinton. he has released letters, so to speak, from his doctors saying that he is fit for office and whatnot but never the traditional sense of what we had seen. the second point i would quickly make is that there's legislation in the house of representatives backed by democrats, only democrats right now, that would suggest that if someone -- if the president of the united states, is not fully healthy for office that they could somehow be removed. that has no republican support but the groundwork is there at least from an ideological standpoint. to jonathan's point, for this to continue to be the type of thing that is foddering, and festering beneath the political surface here in washington. >> and apparently not going away any time soon. jonathan, you're working on a story about attorney general jeff sessions who notably did not attend president trump's summit at camp david yesterday. some prominent republicans are calling for sessions to resign over leaks at the fbi. we know president trump has fumed at him in the past, at one

point even offering his resignation, so how is sessions managing to stick in through all of this? >> a couple of things, and i talked to some folks yesterday who said he's really shown a survivor's instinct for dealing with president trump's wrath. you know, somebody who when he's in the dog house seems to figure out a way to appease the president. you know, we've seen a couple of investigations leak out into the media regarding hillary clinton and her aides over the course of the past few days. so that's something that should please the president. but, even more than that, dara, with the president under investigation by special counsel, who is -- you know, essentially in the justice department chain of command, i think all of the top executives at the justice department, even jeff sessions who has recused himself from that case, have a lot of job security because if the president starts firing people at the justice department, you're quickly going to have complaints that what's going on is essentially a saturday night massacre and he

is is obstructing justice at the moment, forget whatever may have happened before, or whether robert mueller's got a case on that. if he starts doing it now, so you know i think, you know, jeff sessions probably has a lot more job security than it looks like on the surface. >> and i want to ask you about how president trump is addressing the russia investigation in his latest comments at camp david yesterday. take a listen. >> -- 100% proper. the story by the way, in the "times" was way off. or at least off. but everything that i've done is 100% proper. that's what i do, is i do things proper. no collusion between us, and the russians. now, there has been collusion between hillary clinton, the dnc, and the russians. unfortunately you people don't cover that very much. >> kevin, i want to ask you, what does the president gain by continuing to drag hillary clinton into questions about his campaign's ties to russia? >> yeah, you know, i asked this to a lot of folks up on capitol hill, and they feel, at least from the republican standpoint,

that, look, it's business as usual for the administration this year. now there's a thought vibe within the republican party that the more the democrats continue to hammer on russia, especially this year, the less they put forward their own ideas, that that could potentially hurt them in some districts. not all districts, but in some more independent districts. on the flip side of that, i talk to other republicans who say, look, just wrap this thing up, you know, move on past the russia investigation. can i just quickly note that at camp david yesterday, the senior members of president trump's inner staff watched "the greatest showman." can you just imagine that for a second that they had movie night at camp david and it was the musical "the greatest showman" i thought that was notable. >> oh, kevin to be a fly on the wall in theose meetings. >> get out the popcorn. >> jonathan, we do have the first criminal referral in the russia probe and it was sent to the department of justice by two

republicans. senators chuck grassley and lindsey graham and they're asking the doj to investigate the author of that trump dossier, christopher steele. what does this tell you about the nature of their investigation, if they're focusing on the sources of intelligence rather than the actual intelligence itself? >> well, number one, dare remarks it tells me that this is an entirely political move because it does not appear that chuck grassley, the iowa senator, or lindsey graham, the south carolina senator, are giving the fbi any information that the fbi doesn't already have. so essentially what it amounts to is a press release to say, they think christopher steele should be under investigation for perhaps making untrue statements. and at the same time, you know, they're not saying that they have any real evidence of that or that they believe that necessarily crimes have been committed. they just want the justice department to look into it. i think they were looking for a head line. they got the head line. and we will see whether christopher steele is somebody who ends up with any sort of legal jeopardy. but mostly i think this is an

effort to sort of protect the white house by creating some parody on the other side in terms of an investigation into the researcher. >> and the headlines never stop coming. jonathan allen, kevin cirilli. stick around. we do have much more to talk about. coming up, mixed messages. president trump says he would absolutely talk to north korean leader kim jong-un just days after threatening nuclear war. how do you chase what you love with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis? do what i did. ask your doctor about humira. it's proven to help relieve pain and protect joints from further irreversible damage in many adults. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira has been clinically studied for over 20 years. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure.

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you have to have a certain attitude. and you have to be prepared to do certain things. i'm totally prepared to do that. a lot of people have said, a lot of people have written that without my rhetoric, and without my tough stance, and it's not just a stance, i mean, this is -- this is what has to be done if it has to be done, that they wouldn't be talking about olympics, that they wouldn't be

talking right now. >> president trump at camp david taking credit for the first talks between south and north korea since 2015 that will take place tuesday. joining me now is jack jacobs, medal of honor recipient and msnbc military analyst. and good morning, colonel. i have to ask you, is president trump bringing these countries to the table? >> well, he could argue that he has. that he has driven them together. south korea's terribly scared about north korea. they're also scared about what trump might do individually, and unilaterally, and, yeah, i think he has driven them together. and that's not necessarily a good thing because these conversations are going to take place between north and south korea. but without the united states. and i don't think that's a very good thing at all. we have been effectively shut out, no matter what the conversation is about, if it's about the even something as mundane as the olympics, i think

having the united states not a party to those discussions, when, in fact, we're still actually still at war with north korea. we just have a cease-fire, not an armistice. the fact that we're not involved, and have driven them together to talk, indicates that we're not in control of the situation, and that's not a very good thing at all. >> but let's talk about the conversation, because mr. trump also said that he's willing to engage north korean leader kim jong-un on the phone, adding that kim understands he's not messing around. do you think a phone call is realistic? >> no. i think it's -- it's hard to envision a circumstance in which the kim is going to talk to trump. and, indeed, even if there is a conversation, what that conversation might look like, no, i don't think that's in the offing. and even if it does happen, nothing substantive will come from it, dara. >> a "new york times" article

today looks at how u.s. intelligence agencies underestimated north korea. the report says after early hesitation, analysts now degree that the north's september nuclear test was its first successful test of a hydrogen weapon with explosive force 15 times greater than the atom bomb that leveled hiroshima. what does this mean for the u.s.? >> well, the size of the weapon actually i think is insignificant. if the north koreans had one weapon and it was really, really big, i think it would be much easier for us than having many smaller weapons, they have by some estimates between 30 and maybe as many as 50 weapons. with only one weapon, we could possibly conduct a preemptive strike with so many weapons, smaller weapons, scattered all around the country, it's extremely difficult for the united states to conduct a preemptive strike. i would much rather they had one

gigantic weapon than the many smaller weapons they do have. makes it much more difficult, indeed, impossible, to conduct a preemptive strike. >> and colonel, kim jong uncelebrates his 34th birthday tomorrow. do you think he surprised the u.s. last year with his commitment to the nuclear weapons program? >> oh, yeah, definitely we were spliced. we were all sanguine about how long it would take the north koreans to develop weapons, to develop the capability to deliver them. and when kim came to power, he accelerated the north korean program to result in exactly what we see now. we were caught completely flat-footed, and now can't do very much about it. i think it's -- it's interesting to note that we became really sanguine about it because we relied very heavily on sanctions. we thought that sanctions would really make it impossible. certainly more difficult for north korea to do what it's

done, would make it difficult for others to assist. in fact, both north korea and others who have been assisting them including operators in pakistan and other places have gone around sanctions and have been able to permit kim to deliver the goods. we are now in a position where there's not much we can do except accept the fact that we're going to have to deal with a nuclear north korea, and that puts us in a much more dangerous position. >> and colonel, real quick, what do you expect from the talks between north and south korea on tuesday? is kim making a play to get around to the united states? >> well, he's already done it. and can do it with great effectiveness. i think the talks are going to be relatively superficial. north koreans have been involved in talks with us, and without us, before. nothing has ever come of them. we have to remember this. north korea will not give up its nuclear weapons. certainly not without a fight.

i don't think anything substantive is going to come out of these talks. north korea does not want to be out of business, and nothing in these talks is going to result in their being out of business. don't expect very much from these talks. >> colonel jack jacobs, great to have you on this sunday morning. thanks so much for being here. >> you bet. president trump says he wants to build a wall. but, will his fight for it lead to a government shutdown? a closer look up next. te autogls we know that when you're spending time with the grandkids... ♪ music >> tech: ...every minute counts. and you don't have time for a cracked windshield. that's why at safelite, we'll show you exactly when we'll be there. with a replacement you can trust. all done sir. >> grandpa: looks great! >> tech: thanks for choosing safelite. >> grandpa: thank you! >> child: bye! >> tech: bye! saving you time... so you can keep saving the world. >> kids: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪

happening now, it is another bone-chilling day for those on the east coast. this comes after a rough week snoef and icy conditions. in providence, rhode island, firefighters were struggling to put out a fire inside this frozen home, as crews dealt with ice coated frozen engines and ladder trucks. and over in eastern massachusetts the massive storm caused severe damage to the coast and a record high tide caused icy flooding in the streets. amazing. now back to politics and the

president's plans with the border wall. let's bring back kevin and jonathan here. and the president is demanding the wall in exchange for a deal that would protect the daca recipients. here's what congressman gregory meeks said yesterday about how democrats would respond to this proposition. >> is that the kind of divisive request that could lead to a government shutdown? >> it is. now he then put down his list that says that there is -- has to be $18 billion for a wall in regards to immigration, moving forward with the daca kids, and things of that nature. things that he knows that will cause a partisanship, and thereby shut the government down. it seems as though he wants that to happen. >> kevin, is president trump deliberately trying to provoke a government shutdown with this third rail issue? >> this is going to be a bitter political battle in just a week and a half. look, i've spoken with several folks up on capitol hill who say

that this is really where this is headed. i mean, look, democrats are united on this. republicans are united, as well. i spoke with one republican aide, prominent senator in congress who said essentially, you know, game on. but i think when you look at the polling, i mean this is a political gamble. because, for republicans, because on the issue of dreamers for example, i mean the majority of the country has really been advocating for this for quite some time. now from a business community standpoint, dara, this is a point that i would note, is that prominent business communities, both on wall street, and in san francisco, in silicon valley, are advocating particularly with the visa programs, that the president and the congress get to some type of resolution on this for dreamers, so i think that as a business community starts to be heard a bit more louder, in the next couple of weeks, that could be something that could potentially change this. but, the president tweeted last year that he doesn't think a government shutdown will be an

entirely bad thing. >> and jonathan, president trump yesterday expressed hope for more bipartisan cooperation in congress. republicans claiming that they reached across the aisle on health care and taxes. but the democrats are not willing to work with him. so do you think the president is being naive here. do you think there are issues that could actually unite both parties in congress for this? >> sure, i think there are issues that could, in theory, unite members of congress. but you know, the way the white house, and the way that the members of congress and both parties operate in congress oftentimes they don't really seek that common ground or use it. i think there is an amazing moment right here, that we're experiencing, where president trump has basically cast out steve bannon, the populist nationalist, you know, leader, and so, that's an opportunity for him to do some things that the base would normally be angry at, and yet we're not seeing him start to do that. >> jonathan allen, kevin cirilli, thank you for spending another weekend with us here. >> thank you. >> thank you, dara. >> have a great week.

that will do it for me. thapgs for watching. your business with j.j. ramberg is up next, and at the top of the hour, politics nation with reverend al sharpton. among his guests, former hud secretary julian castro. have a great day. i saw the chn we moved into the new house. but having his parents over was enlightening. ♪ you don't like my lasagna? no, it's good. -hmm. -oh. huh. [ both laugh ] here, blow. blow on it. you see it, right? is there a draft in here? i'm telling you, it's so easy to get home insurance on progressive.com. progressive can't save you from becoming your parents. but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto. progressive can't save you from becoming your parents. but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how.

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find all the answers you're looking for - because getting what you need should be simple, fast, and easy. download the xfinity my account app or go online today. good morning, everyone. coming up on msnbc's "your business," the clothing company dstld was the first to launch a crowd funding campaign. we look at how they raised $7 million and tripled their revenue. jason baldoni of "jane the virgin" on creating content that feeds the soul and both clients and consumers are loving it. and dr. deepak chopra with advice an alleviating stress in order to be more productive at work. let's grow fast, and work smart. that's all coming up next on "your business." >> business busines