the past tense with smiles on your face? >> never. >> we never thought it would be possible. but here we are. >> and we're very glad to see you safe. >> thank you. >> wonderful, wonderful. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning, i'm dara brown in new york. i'm at msnbc world headquarters. it's 7:00 out east and 4:00 out west. four days until the president's first state of the union. we'll tell you whether russia will be mentioned. plus, the tone of the speech. will we see a word of inspiration or more american carnala carnage. what his voters want and whether they are satisfied one year into the trumped aadministration.

>> i am happy of everything he's doing for the economy at least. and what about the white house demand for its release? new information coming up. and a new report is looking at "the washington post" despite the doj warning house republicans that this would be doing something reckless without an official review. members of the house and chair devin nunez may have relied on questionable sources to request the fisa warrant early in the investigation. the senior administration tells "the washington post" that trump is inclined to have the memo released. apparently all the rumors are that it will shed light and help investigators come to a conclusion. white house chief of staff john kelly conveyed to an

attorney general during two conversations on wednesday. msnbc has not end dindependentl confirmed this report. and last night jeff sessions tweeted that the republicans are only interested in obstruction. it is unclear how much of this fight we'll see on tuesday when the president delivers his first state of the union address. here's kristen welker with a preview. >> reporter: poised to address a deeply divided nation at his first state of the union address tuesday, president trump will aim to strike a tone of unity echoing the optimism from his joint address to congress last year. >> a new chapter of american greatness is now beginning. >> reporter: in a preview, one senior administration official says the theme this year, building a safe, strong and proud america.

the president preparing to highlight 14 points, jobs and the economy with a focus on his tax victory. >> it's the largest tax cut in the history of our country. >> reporter: the president expected to press congress to pass a trillion dollar frux p k infrastructure package along with border wall funding. and another key focus, national security. making his case for a stronger military. more secure borders and a tough approach to north korea. >> we will defend our common security. >> reporter: the president will deliver the adepress the shadow of the escalating russia probe. cnn reporting that mr. trump privately was venting about rod rosenstein, his deputy attorney general. the president's counsel on russia, ty cobb, pulling that of the onslaught of false stories. all setting up for the historic moment with high stakes. >> you give someone a chance to

make achievements particularly on tax reform, lay out a road map for the year ahead without having to talk about russia. >> nbc's kristen welker, thank you. let's bring in julia manchester, reporter for the hill. and the chief washington correspondent for bloomberg tv. great to have you here on a monday morning. >> great to be here. >> julia, we'll start with you. once again, mr. trump told reporters there's no collusion. do you think he would discredit the russian election come tuesday? >> i doubt it. the president tends to stay to the script. and he stayed to the script last friday when he was speaking at davos when he talked about economic improvement under his administration. so i think the president will probably be more likely to highlight the improvement in the economy as well as concerns about north korea, then focus on russia. >> and kevin, president trump's

advisers sent the letter telling him the russia investigation would soon be wrapping up. how big of a deal is it for him to deliver the first state of the union address while essential lip under investigation? >> big deal. two things, first and foremost, the president according to sources working on the state of the union address as we heard is essentially going to lay this out in five key areas. two being national security and the second being infrastructure. i think you're going to see the president really try to kick start more of his economic agenda, most monotably infrastructure beyond tax reform. on the second side of that, in the leadup to the state of the union and on the flip side of the state of the union, we'll be hearing a lot about the russia investigation because it's hanging over this administration. it is nearing the completion. and the president himself telling reporters he wants to

testify to bob mueller's team. and his own legal team saying, no, don't do that. but the tension in and of itself is going to be on full display over the next couple of weeks. >> and adding to that, julia, we'll go back to "the washington post" report that talks about bringing the investigation to an end. how do you understand the lengths president trump went to make it public? >> reporter: yeah, i think the president is at odds with his own justice department. we have seen that he obviously expresses this desire but is expressing growing frustration with rod rosenstein. it's not the first time he's at odds with the justice department. and it shows how the president is basically siding with house republicans, devin nunez, to get the memo released. we have heard reports there's a twitter campaign to release the memo over the past week on

right-leaning users on twitter. so the president is definitely buying into that and really appealing to that part of his supporters' base. but this also comes, we have to remember, in light of reports that the president asked white house counsel don mcgann to fire mueller back in june. so this is interesting timing. and it plays into that part that the president makes it down with robert mueller pretty soon. >> and kevin, what do you know about the gop memo? especially the refusal to show it to the justice department and richard burr in the senate? >> well, i think what is interesting about the memo is the number of republicans up on capitol hill who are pushing for its release as well. people like house freedom caucus mark med dose. so i think that there is a vocal

constituency on the republican party. they are in lock-step with president trump on this issue. we know for sure it has been quite controversial and others disagree with that. at tend of the day, all the intensity surrounding this, everybody's point would suggest we are nearing the completion of this investigation. and as a result of that, you're seeing republicans and democrats start to amplify their rhetoric around it in the name of transparency, but at the end of the day, it's all about finally seeing a what bob mueller has concluded from this investigation. >> this comes on the heels of the bombshell report that president trump ordered the firing of special counsel robert mueller. let me hear what the cia director robert gates told chuck todd in an interview airing later this morning. >> i don't know how you -- how

you have a congress that extends an umbrella of protection legally through legislation who what is the executive branch nomination. i would say this, is to try and figure out how to make it clear, the magnitude of the political cost that would be incurred should he be fired. >> yulia, it sounds to me like congress has no resource. so whether it is through legislation or what the secretary suggests, which is to convey the ramifications of firing mueller here. what do they do? >> reporter: yeah, so, so we have seen the bipartisan pieces of legislation proposed to protect mueller, but i think it depends on houses. i think the senate has been much more supportive of mueller. we have heard praise of mueller

as fbi director in the past from the senate. however, in the house we have seen a lot of ans noimosity tow mueller. so it dependses what chamber there because there's a big differentiation there. and president trump tweeted last night, i offered daca and a 12-year pathway to citizenship. for two reasons, because the republicans want to fix the long-term terrible program to show that detectives do not want to be stalled daca. only viewed there. so what is going on here, kevin? >> this is a fascinating issue in the sense that 80%, think about this, 80% of the american people are on the side of d.r.e.a.m.ers. if you look at any poll, this is overwhelming support for d.r.e.a.m.ers. so look, we talk about republicans, we talk about the divide on them on the issue of the mueller probe, but we'll look at democrats for a second.

i have interviewed several aids all week. just remember there was a government shutdown a couple days ago and they were frustr e frustrated as chuck schumer negotiated a deal with republicans and didn't really, they feel, what was the deal? what did democrats get out of that? and i think that when you take a step back from this, if there isn't some comprehensive reform on daca come february 5th, we'll see who is going to be leading the democratic party. they will be thrust into the spotlight ahead of the 2020 election. >> that is looming large. kevin cirilli, stay with us. we have much more to talk about this morning. and why president trump is fighting to keep this a secret. that's up next. asked how they like their eggs,

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new developments in the russia investigation as president trump is calling for a highly classified memo to be released. the top secret document allegedly accuses the early reference made into the mueller investigation. those who saw the memo had to say this about it. >> what i read today in that classified briefing room is that it is as bad as i thought it was. >> you are describing the very elements of a palace coup. and after jim and mark meadows and many of us reviewed the intelligence information today, it is abundantly clear that the entire mueller investigation is a lie built on a foundation of

corruption. >> strong words there. joining me is federal prosecutor doug burns. good to have you here this morning. >> thank you. >> the justice department said leasing this memo to the public would be extraordinarily reckless. so do you see this as another attempt to disrupt the special counsel's investigation? and could that lead down the road to obstruction? >> yeah, dara, i call this down the middle. in other words, perfectly liable but they are able to throw smoke screens up and question the integrity of the officials and the fbi and the way the material was used to get the warrant. but at the same time, it's legitimate in the other direction. look, if it is a classified document, legally speaking, it's got to be declassified or has to be what lawyers call redacted, take a number of the names out and so forth. so i mean, the committee claims they are going to vote this week on making it public,

discriminating, we'll see. but i myself have not talked in the there. >> please explain for us and the president why this is so? >> well, it is interesting because i think, you know, various experts in my humble opinion have gotten it a little wrong. in other words, they come out with a blanket rule saying the president of the united states is the head of the executive branch and can terminate anybody. that's generally true, but it's not necessarily true. and it gets a lot trickier for sure if whatever matter we're discussing could double-back to the president himself. now, obviously, you have heard the analogy to the president nixon wanting to fire archibald cox who was special counsel back then. and you just heard on your show, people saying secretary gates,

it would be a blunder, disaster, i'm not here for that. legally speaking, it's a tricky nuanced question. >> and big news this week, we are told president trump ordered to be fired. but then he backed down when the special counsel threatened to quit over this. >> that is interesting because it highlights what you asked me and some new gloss. there are a lot of debates open on this. he may have ordered it and then don mcgahn said, here are a number of reasons why you shouldn't do this and the president backed down. as far as the reporting requirement, did they have to report it? not clear. i know that is a little

wishy-washy. he obviously has no maternity clients and is with the president white house council. so that is one way of sort of answering that. it is our privilege under the attorney/client privilege. >> i want to take you back to obstruction because of what president trump had to say about the allegations earlier this month. take a listen. >> do you think robert mueller will be fair to you in the larger investigation? >> we're going to find out. >> are you concerned about this? >> here's what everybody will say. there's no collusion. >> what about it? >> well, what if he fights back. you fight back, oh, it's obstruction. so here's the thing, i hope so. >> he is saying he's entitled to fight back, but others call it obstruction. what do you make of this analysis? >> well, both sides have arguments to work with. obstruction, again, some experts say it can't be obstruction of justice because it can ordered a

particul particulardrop. but not to sound like a broken record, that company could double back under the president. as you heard many experts say, dara, you need corrupt intent. so it has to add an additional gloss, money change, if you can establish clear intent on the part of the president. this can't be obstruction, it's down the middle. it could be, but certain elements of it will have to be established. and, at the same time, it may not be, it depends. it's a highly, factually driven situation. >> we'll have to see what robert mueller's investigation reveals.

doug burns, thank you for sharing your insight this morning. next, what is next for the president's state of the union speech? we'll tell you what channels may face him when he faces the nation. and you can roll your credits to the next month if you don't use them. audible members get free no hassle exchanges ... and use the mobile app to listen anytime, anywhere. start a 30-day trial and your first audiobook is free. listening, is the new reading. text audio22 to five hundred five hundred to start listening today.

democrats are looking to counter president trump's message by putting congress on the national stage to deliver the party's official response. what does this signal to you? >> this is very significant. i mean, if you want american royalty, you've got it with the kennedys. joe kennedy really went viral and became very popular last year when he responded to the efforts to repeal and replace obamacare. we see the kennedys very beloved among the american people. he's the great nephew of a former president and beloved senator.

and he's the grandson of attorney general robert kennedy. so i think democrats are definitely banking on name recognition, a family very popular with the american people, but someone who can appeal to middle class and working class voters, which is a segment of the population that trump has also tried to appeal to. this is a big contrast because i think joe kennedy iii is a very big fresh face. and will definitely present a contrast to trump, but i don't want to forget the latina hispanic response after virginia's first ever latina house of delegates member, elizabeth goesmaat will deliver that. >> and he said he wants to give the state of the union address to unify the country, set out his vision over the next year, in particular, trying to get another legislative accomplishment done, most notably on infrastructure. he's got to seize on whatever

political capital he has left in terms of the republican party. and yeah, try to bring about the pull of republicans versus democrats. can he have a speech unifying of a very divided country? >> and we will all be watching. really quickly, you two, what is the headline wednesday morning? julia, you first. >> i think you'll see a lot of reporters talk about the moment president trump became presidential once again. it seems like with every serious address, we saw it with the first address to congress last year, it's about how he acted. >> kevin, what about you? >> congressman kennedy, does he take in any water during his response, like marco rubio. good luck, congressman kennedy. >> what about president trump? >> i think president trump, can he unify the country? can he push forward through the cloud of the mueller investigation and get infrastructure done this year. there are a lot of private investment companies around the world. we heard this in davos, they

want to see a reinvestment in the united states. and infrastructure is a key area for them to do that. >> and he may have that water bottle by his side. >> he may have the water bottle by his side. great to have you here, have a great sunday. that will do it for me. i'm dara brown. thank you for watching. coming up, al sharpton is going to have congressman gregory meeks on with him. "your business" is up next. neither did our story. and that's why we'll always drive a subaru. like you do sometimes, grandpa? and puffed... well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said...

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