headquarters here in new york. to me this is a very, very sexy subject. the media doesn't find it sexy. i find it sexy because i was always a builder. i always knew how to build on time on budget. president trump unveils his infrastructure plan. he's very excited about it but some in other areas, not so much. >> and a phone call with vladimir putin and it was russian media reporting it out sending u.s. media scrambling to figure out what was discussed. >> and the rob porter scandal drags on for another day with the white house still struggling to get its story straight.

good morning, everyone it's tuesday, february 13th. we begin with the trump administration where officials continued to offer tangled explanations about the departure of a high level aide accused by two former ex-wives of domestic abuse. to the white house chief of staff calling the allegations true without a definitive statement on who knew what when, here's a brief recap for you. >> why would the president accept his resignation if the president thinks he did nothing wrong. >> i think that was a personal decision that rob made and one that he was not pressured to do but one that he made on his own. >> would rob porter still be on the job today had he not decided to resign? >> his last day was yesterday. >> would he still be on the job? sarah sanders made it very

clear -- >> he worked very hard. i found out about it recently and i was surprised by it. as you probably know he says he's innocent and i think you have to remember that. >> was that just what you found about? >> we found about the situation last tuesday and within 24 hours his resignation has been accepted and announced. i can tell you that a conversation took place within 40 minutes and beyond that i don't have anything else to add. >> and the white house also deflektded questions on why president trump has not personally offered any sympathy for the ex-wives or accusing his former aide of physical and emotional abuse. after expressing nothing but compliments when the president spoke to reporters on friday, sarah sanders began with a statement about taking domestic abuse seriously.

>> good afternoon. >> how was your weekend? >> good. it's great to be back with you guys. >> why does he have to speak through you? >> the president has been clear multiple times through myself and others within the administration that we condemn domestic violence in all forms. >> he has not said it. >> i'm the spokes person for the white house and the president and i'm saying it right now. >> why didn't he say it? >> i'm not sure how i can be any more clear. i think the president has expressed his views. >> he wishes porter well and that he believes people should have due process but he hasn't addressed the victims of domestic vie laens olence at al. >> if you paid attention to what i just read to you he literally dictated the statement to me. >> does the president still wish

rob porter well? does he still believe that he wants him to have a great career ahead of him because that would seem -- >> i think the president of the united states hopes that all americans can -- can be successful in whatever they do. >> in the investigation into rob porter's background that kept him from receiving a security clearance despite handling the classified information goes directly to the president has refocused attention on senior white house officials like jared kushner operating on temporary clearances over 15 months. nbc news has been told there are dozens of them working with classified information, but democrats say that congressman trey gowdy, chairman of the house oversight committee has refused to ask the white house about any information about security clearances for for a formal briefing on the matter and that growdy has failed to ak

for clearances. sarah sanders was adamant that they aren't the ones compromising the nation's secret lt. >> can you guarantee that you're classifying information. >> i think we're doing and taking every step we can to protect classified information. i mean, frankly if you guys have such concern with classified information there's plenty of it that's leaked out of the hill, that's leaked out of other communities well beyond the white house walls. if you guys have real concerns about leaking out classified information, look around this room. you guys are the ones that publish classified information and put national security at risk. >> wow. all right. president trump has formally unveiled what he calls the biggest and boldest infrastructure investment in american history but the burden of funding the plan won't fall on the shoulders of the federal government. the plan proposes $200 billion in new federal spending. the white house says that will ultimately spur $1.7 trillion in

investments over the next ten years. it would require local and state governments to either drum up large sums of money or partner with private companies to tap into those federal dollars. during a meeting yesterday with state and local leaders president trump looked to rally support for his plan. >> as of a couple of months ago, we have spent $7 trillion in the middle east. $7 trillion. what a mistake. and -- but it is what it is. this is what i took over. and we're trying to build roads and bridges and fix bridges that are falling down and we have a hard time getting the money. it's crazy. the problem the states have and local leaders have with funding the infrastructure is horrendous and we will build, we will maintain, and the vast majority

of americans want to see us take care of our infrastructure. >> a word that describes so much of the president's bill, probably about 80% of it is trump tolls. the trump infrastructure plan is like a hollywood facade. it may look real from afar, but in truth it's a flat mirage. the trump plan has the skin of an infrastructure plan but it lacks the guts. >> all right. let's talk immigration now. so after months of kicking the can down the road the senate has began working on trying to strike a deal on immigration reform. as the fate of fenearly 2 milli undocumented immigrants hangs in the balance. the senate voted yesterday 97-1. now, the process is expected to include a wide range of plans

including one release by the white house last month. that plan creates a $25 billion fund for border security, provides a 12-year path to citizenship for daca recipients known as deemers. prohibits the parents of dreamers of legal status. limits the nuclear family and ends the diversity of the visa lottery program. less than three weeks to go until the daca program is set to expire, mcconnell called the trump administration's proposal the best chance at passing a bill. watch this. >> this legislation is a fair compromise that addresses the stated priorities of all sides. it's our best chance to producing a solution that can actually resolve these matters which requires that a bill pass the senate, pass the house, and earn the president's signature. it has my support.

>> it won't be easy. it's certainly achievable. democrats are fully committed to protecting dreamers and we have long supported effective border security. many republicans are in the same boat. the only enemy here is overreach. >> i hope to be able to make a deal. i hope the democrats are not going to use it just as a campaign. you know, they've been talking about daca for many years and they haven't produced. we started talking about daca and i think we'll produce, but if the democrats want to make a deal, it's really up to them. >> so while senator mcconnell is getting behind the white house's plan, outgoing republican introduced his own proposal which he hopes to bridge divides between the parties. flake's plan would provide provisions addressing daca, border security, family based division but it is not decrease

legal my grags like the republican plans do. its approval is not guaranteed in the house. house speaker paul ryan would only bring legislation to the floor that president trump supports. let's bring in our white house reporter. thanks for joining us withern morning. what do you think the chances are that we see a comprehensive immigration bill passed before the midterm elections? >> reporter: well, senate democrats and republicans only have until march 5th to do something with the dreamers. the white house has indicated that president trump does not want to extend the deadline past march 5th. that's going to be a very difficult position for democrats in particular if daca is allowed to expire because the white house did lay out a plan that included a path way to citizenship for every dreamer who was even eligible nor the program not just those enrolled.

now, it's important to note that senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is getting behind this plan because it is considered maybe a little bit more hard line conservative than you would think would be able to pass the senate but mcconnell mentioned crucially that this bill has to work its way through the house where it will need to be a little bit more conservative to gain traction and it has to be something president trump has a chance of signing and he's already said he won't sign a bill that doesn't include those four pillars that you mentioned. jeff flake doesn't represent the republican consensus on immigration. and so it will be interesting to see if there are enough senate democrats who can come on board with the white house plan to get it through the senate. >> let me ask you really quickly about a story we were talking about earlier in the program, one that continues to snowball. the issue of rob porter. the conflicting statements coming out of the white house on

his exit. >> reporter: well, there their refusal to clear up a lot of the uncertainties is in part what's fuelling this controversy into a second week. remember that the white house originally tried to treat this story as tabloid gossip before they were forced to take a harsher stance against rob porter once pictures emerged of one of porter's ex-wives that made their original praise of him untenable and now you still have the white house refusing to answer questions about why porter's lack of a security clearance didn't raise any red flags internally and until they clear up some of those questions i think this story is going to continue to dog them. >> all right. live for us in washington, d.c. we'll check back with you in about 30 minutes. and president trump spoke with vladimir putin yesterday. trump offered his personal condolences of the victims of the sunday plane crash. all 71 people on board were killed when the plane went down outside of moscow.

their call first reported by the russian news service came just prior to putin's meeting with palestinian leader and per the white house, trump pushed his desire for the palestinians to come back to the negotiating process. the palestinians have asserted that the u.s. no longer has a role in negotiating a peace due to several moves and decisions by the trump administration, most notably believing the american embassy in israel. it all comes as several democrats are calling for the administration. but which the administration now says are actually not needed. and the diplomatic fit for tat continues to pummel to new depths. moscow is now considering changing the official address to one north american dead end. >> wow. >> that's some serious diplomacy. it comes in response to washington, d.c. city council changing the name of the area in front of the russian embassy.

>> certainly a war of naming. >> yeah. neighborhoods. >> sticking with russia here, did russia try to attack computer systems at the winter olympics. >> and another big story we're following for you. the white house budget revealed. >> and a scary situation for the trump family after don jr.'s wife opens a letter with suspicious white powder. what officials are saying about it next. have you smelled this

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with coal baelcome back. the secret service has launched an investigation after a letter with white powder was opened yesterday morning she and two other people were taken to the hospital as a precaution. nbc news has since learned from multiple law enforcement officials that the substance was likely corn starch and that it was postmarked from boston.

thankful that vanessa and my children are safe and unharmed after the incredibly scary situation. va necessanessa trump also twee thanks to first responders. the olympic destroyer, organizers confirm the attack saying it affected the internet and tv services but did not compromise critical operations. however, the security firms could not confirm who was behind the attack but ciscoe's threat intelligence theme had mal ware that point to russian forces being behind the offensive. >> let's get a check on the weather now with bill karins. it's all quiet on the weather front. >> as we go throughout mid february, this is the time of year we can get pretty good sized snowstorms but no signs of

it. it's chilly out there. very typical winter chilly. minneapolis to bismark single digits. in the teens in boston and 20s for i-95 corridor so it's typical for mid february but the warmup is on its way. we have clear skies out there in many areas out there. little bait of rain, freezing drizzle in virginia. that's about it, but the i would building warmth is the story during the day today and during this week. today we'll jump up to 53 at memphis. d.c., 40, that's seasonable but as we get into wednesday, that's when the warmth shoots north ward. even st. louis gets up to 58 degrees and by the time we get to thursday ahead of this cold front it's very mild. 66 in philadelphia and we will get cooler as we head toward the upcoming weekend but it's not going to be frigid. 23 basically typical this time of year. look at raleigh near 80 by the end of this week. maybe one or two days in

february but this is going to go on for a week or two. very strange. >> i like it. >> i'm not complaining. i like the warm weather. >> all right. you can add more olympic hardware to the u.s. medal count and a lot of it is gold. >> the very latest from the winter games in pyeongchang including another crowning achievement for team usa. we'll tell you about it in a moment when we're back. no, please, please, oh! ♪ (shrieks in terror) (heavy breathing and snorting) no, no. the running of the bulldogs? surprising. what's not surprising? how much money aleia saved by switching to geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. ltry align probiotic.n your digestive system? for a non-stop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. get 24/7 digestive support, with align.

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olympics, team usa added two medals yesterday. 17-year-old kim scored a 98.25 in her final run. crowning her with the gold medal there, becoming the youngest female medalist in olympic snowboarding history. gold finished in third giving team usa a bronze. so far team usa has earned three gold medals with all of them coming from snowboard competitions. the other two were won by red yes r gerard. and shaun white will go for gold later today. in the alpine skiing event. ted was among the top american finishing fifth with mar sell hirsher winning gold and the olympic athletes from russia has

won the bronze medal in curling defeating norway 8-4, canada and switzerland face off for the gold today. and other olympic news women's hockey goalies will not have to remove the statue of liberty from their face mask. the images on the masks of net minders do not violate ioc policy. the rule in question states that no item worn or used by a team may feature the word or lyrics from national anthems, or slogans related to national identity. u.s. women's hockey play russia later today. and if you're asked next time about this sport's trivia, who was the first 76 "early starers history will answer will be t.j. mcconnell.

help from mcconnell, the 76ers would defeat the new york knicks. and rose has cleared league wagers to become a free agent. no team has made an offer for the 2011 mvp but the wizards are rumored to sign him. they're also looking to bring in ty lawson. and former nba star koe bryant made headlines speaking with hill on whether he would participate in protests during the national anthem. take a listen to what he had to say. >> if you were still playing, would that have been something you would have participated in. >> i think the message was a simple one. police brutality needs to stop. my point of view, that's what the flag represents as well.

we're certainly in our right to protest. >> now, kobe is up for an academy award next month with his short animated film. >> rob porter scandal continues to raise questions about the white house. >> what's taking jared kushner so long to get clear?

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it is the bottom of the hour, let's start with the morning's top stories. >> the white house continues to face mounting questions over why top aides are working without the proper security clearances more than one year into the trump administration. >> it comes as the white house offers a jumble explanation on where the president stands on domestic abuse.

>> reporter: president trump facing mounting questions about whether his top aides are handling classified information without the proper security clearance. >> mr. president, do you have a vetting problem? >> reporter: the issue front and center after staff secretary rob porter signed amid allegations of spousal abuse which prevented him from gaining permanent security clearance. dozens of white house officials are still operating without permanent security clearances. >> it's handled by our law enforcement and intelligence community. >> reporter: while it can take up to a year or longer, former white house officials from both parties say that jared kushner who has access still lacks permanent clearance. kushner's attorney tells its will take longer due to his business holdings, traveling and lengthy submissions and that there was no concern about the process of mr. kushner's ability to do his job.

>> it is highly unusual for senior white house officials to have only temporary security clearances a year into an administration. it means they're not trustworthy and they could be blackmailed. >> is this white house -- >> we take every precaution possible to protect classified information and certainly to protect national security. >> reporter: looming large over the security concerns, mixed messagingen othe issue of domestic violence after president trump praised rob porter but said nothing about his accusers. >> he says he's innocent. >> reporter: it's become somewhat of a pattern. mr. trump defending his allies and not the alleged accusers from bill o'reilly to roger aels and roy moore. >> why hasn't he said that? >> it's my job to speak on behalf of the president. >> reporter: the white house again struggled to clarify who knew what and when and how long rob porter was allowed access to classified information.

for his part president trump tried to put the focus on his new infrastructure plan, a $1.5 trillion package. >> all right. thanks for that report. so the trump administration said that don mcgahn is still on the job but would not unveil any more about what he knew about the accusations against rob porter. he first learned of them more than a year ago and was contacted by porter's ex- girlfriend back in november. >> can you explain why no action was taken by don mcgahn? >> those allegations that have been reported are not accurate. >> to don mcgan specifically though, had he learned at any time before last tuesday when this story was broken by the daily mail that there was any allegation of any sort levelled by any person against rob porter. >> again, i can't get into the specifics. i can tell you that we were dwsh the process for the background was ongoing. and the white house had not

received any specific paupepers regarding the specifics of the background check. >> so yesterday the white house unveiled the budget plan. the plan would ramp up spending for the president's priorities like the military, the southern border wall and would reduce entitlement spending and cut funding to the department, housing and urban development and the epa. the budget also allocates $200 billion in federal funding towards trump's proposed $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan. while trump's budget does push for $3.6 trillion in savings over ten years it will add 7 trlz doll trillion dollars to the deficit. however, fights over trump's proposed cuts may loom lashlgly. chairman of the house foreign affairs committee says that the

cuts to the state department and agency for international development would undermine the country's national security. he respects republicans and democrats to work together to fight these cuts. >> back with us from washington, white house reporter for the washington examiner, good to have you back with us. let's talk a little bit about reaction to the president's budget so far. are we expecting to hear more from deficit hogs like rand paul about how much this is going to affect us? >> many are sounding awill remembers about the president's budget and even though it's very unlikely to ever become law it signals that president trump is not serious about limiting government spending, that he doesn't really care about getting spending cuts to offset the military buildup that he's called for or the revenue loss from his tax cuts that congress

passed last year and that could zap some of think good will with congressional conservatives. >> so the white house has now tried twice now once in june and i believe in august to roll out infrastructure plans. he had infrastructure week, but both times those events were eclipsed by controversies, obviously this one now being rob porter. are we seeing the same thing happen again and what do you think with all that's happening within the white house is the outlook for this plan moving forward at all. >> reporter: the white house has really struggled to have their infrastructure plan gain traction. in june, comey's testimony before congress overshadowed infrastructure week. in august the president's response to charlottesville drew attention away from the second attempt to roll out infrastructure and now you have both sides sort of sneering at this plan because it does call for $200 billion in spending from the federal government over the next ten years, so there are fiscal conservatives who don't like it and democrats don't like it because it puts so much of

the burden on states and private companies to fund this infrastructure projects and to direct them. that creates the fear that like senate minority leader chuck sumer mentioned. that asset that would typically be in control of the federal government would be in the hands of private companies or states and localities so it's a complicated plan and it's something that i think only some are on board with and people are on opposite ends of the spectrum and they're not liking it right now. >> all right. live for us in washington. great to have you with us again this morning. >> thank you. the department of homeland security has issued a statement highly critical of the nbc news. appears to mostly be critical of statements made exclusively to nbc news regarding 2016 election hacking by manfra less than a week ago. take a listen. >> i can't talk about classified information publicly. we saw targeting of 21 states in

an exceptionally small number of that 21 were actually successfully penetrated. >> we were able to determine that the scanning and probing of voter registration databases was coming from the russian government. >> so in her rebuke she says quote, recent nbc reporting has misrepresented facts and confused the public with regard to department of home and security and efforts to combat election hacking first off, let me be clear, we have no evidence old or new that any votes in the 2016 election were hacked and the report never discusses vote many niplation as a topic let alone that votes were successfully manipulated. >> she continues quote, nbc news continues to falsely report my recent comments on attempted election hacking as some kind of breaking news, however, nbc news made sure to mention that the

story was first reported back in september of 2016 by nbc news. and perhaps in odd fashion for an official government statement, she adds, quote, nbc's irresponsible reporting undermines the ability of the department of homeland security to do our incredibly important jobs. olivia of new york magazine notes not only does it read like a recent brietbart article, most of the original coverage originated from bite bart. >> and new information on the resignation at the number three official leaving. the announcement had many wondering why she was leaving after just eight and a half months. now multiple sources tell nbc news that she was unhappy with her job and that she quit in

part because she feared she'd be asked to oversee the special counsel investigation into russia. ros ro rosen stooin currently oversees the investigation. she's worried that the president's public criticism meant that his role could be in danger. she also expressed she felt overwhelmed and unsupported in her role. however, the justice department is pushing back writing in a statement quote, it is clear these anonymous sources have never met rachel brand let alone know her thinking. all of this is false and frankly ridiculous. on the issue of vacancies at the justice department jeff sessions lamented that situation in a speech to u.s. sheriffs yesterday. >> we're trying to confirm a number of important component

heads at the department of justice. it's getting to be frustrating. i got to tell you, that includes we're -- we can't get -- we're being blocked from confirming ahead of the criminal division, our civil rights division, our national security division. a nominee to the national security division, the anti terrorism division was approved unanimously in the committee. but because sometimes and right now one senator's concerns over unrelated issues like reversing federal law against marijuana, we can't even get a vote. >> the lawmaker sessions is referring to cory gardener of colorado. he's been blocking doj nominees ever since sessions rescinded an obama era policy that protected states where pot is legal. of course marijuana is still outlawed on the federal level. still ahead, a first for the art world.

the new ground broken with the portraits of former president obama and the first lady. >> what the couple had to say at the unveiling and bill karins is back with us with a check on the forecast. excuse me, are you aware of what's happening right now? we're facing 20 billion security events every day. ddos campaigns, ransomware, malware attacks... actually, we just handled all the priority threats. you did that? we did that. really. we analyzed millions of articles and reports. we can identify threats 50% faster. you can do that? we can do that.

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dizziness or confusion. ask your health care provider if you're tresiba® ready. covered by most insurance and medicare plans. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ welcome back, everyone. portraits of the former president obama and first lady were unveiled yesterday. the two portraits will now be displayed separately and reflect the artist's individual styles. obama floating in a bed of flowers, and michelle in a dress depicted in the signature robin blue background. >> i'm also thinking about all of the young people, particularly girls and girls of

color who in years ahead will come to this place and they will look up and they will see an image of someone who looks like them langihanging on the wall os great american institution. >> the works will hang in an area reserve before moving to their permanent homes within the gallery in november. >> let's get a check on your weather with bill karins. bill, you're just getting some images in from the island of tonga. it was devastated by a cyclone yesterday. >> it was equivalent of what we call a category 4 hurricane here. yesterday about 24 hours ago, it went right through the southern portion of the eyewall and we were afraid how bad the damage would be. there's about 100,000 people on the island of tonga and there was some extreme damage. again, there is some communication with the island and they are going to need some help but you know, pretty

significant blow there to local economy and to a lot of structures too. so let's bring it back home. quiet weather continues. a very unusual pattern for february. the end of february is going to be very warm. no signs of any snowstorms or ice storms for that matter. the cold air is, rapid city at negative 2. d.c. starting at 34 degrees. it's chilly but it's how it's supposed to be this time of year. today's forecast very quiet on the east coast. we will see a little bit of rain developing around new orleans and cloudy and school in areas of the southeast and that will be -- if we have any issues, travel delays like memphis and nashville and atlanta and some light drizzle and then tomorrow afternoon that rain spreads into the ohio valley and a little bit into early thursday morning but again, it's rain. it's not going to be any snow or ice. so rainfall totals by the time we get to friday, maybe about one to two inches here,

especially kentucky, and west virginia but as i mentioned it's a really nice forecast across the board today, guys, not many travel issues. >> still ahead, kim jong-un speaks out on the reconciliation efforts with the south amid the olympic games. this is the story of green mountain coffee roasters dark magic told in the time it takes to brew your cup. first, we head to vermont. and go to our coffee shop. and meet dave. hey. why is dark magic so spell-bindingly good, he asks?

let me show you. let's go. so we climb. hike. see a bear. woah. reach the top. dave says dark magic is a bold blend of coffee with rich flavors of uganda, sumatra, colombia and other parts of south america. like these mountains, each amazing on their own. but together? magical. all, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee roasters packed with goodness.

. welcome back. let's turn to business in a rare pull back. april will zon has announced

unders of layoffs at its corporate office. is this a sign of a slow down or is there another expansion on the amazon horizon. >> they are laying off hundreds of employees but it's at their headquarters in seattle and specifically in the consumer retail business which is more things like groceries, books, et cetera and their goal is to make more head counts for businesses that are growing. as a reminder, the earnings reports are very strong last week, they were going to double down their efforts on alexa. i would read this more as a realignment toward strategy rather than the beginning of a slow down there. other news, remington the gun maker has reached a financing deal that will allow it to continue operating as it files for chapter 11. this gun maker had been beset by falling sales and lawsuits after the sandy hook massacre and other gun makers were also down yesterday in trading.

>> another interesting story here one that could have a massive impact on the tech industry. unilever is pulling it's 9 billion until ad budgets unless they address the toxic content posted up on their site. what more can you tell us? >> absolutely. so the chief marketing officer of unilever has called and said to police what he describes as a tomic online environment that is allowing for hate speech and disturbing content. the company promises to boost more responsible content including ads that tackle gender stereotypes and they will only work with networks that pledge to use an industry standard. applying pressure here on silicon valley. unilever spent $2.4 billion on digital sales last year so they may want to listen to them. back to you. >> all right. live from london. thanks so much. going overseas now.

north korean leader kim jong-un met with high level delegation which included his sister upon their arrival back in the north. according to north korea state media he expressed his satisfaction over their visit adding that south korea's efforts to prioritize them was, quote, very impressive. kim jong-un also said that it is quote important that the north and south continue, quote, livening up the arm climate of reconciliation and die lg. moon jae-in has been involved to pyongyang for a summit with kim jong-un at an early date and although he is not formally accepted the offer, a spokesman said moon wants to create conditions to make it happen. the white house is hitting back at reports out of israel that the two countries were discussing the possibility of annexing jewish sentiments in the contentious west bank. it all started after prime minister netanyahu told a closed door meeting of his party's lettingers of possibly annexing. i can say that i have been talking to the americans about it for some time.

yesterday, white house spokesperson actually said the reports that the u.s. and israel have discussed of any sort of annexation plan are false. however, netanyahu's later said that israel has updated the administration about several different proposals being discussed in the israeli parl money and an official later said that while netanyahu has not the presented any proposals to the u.s., quote, in any way the u.s. has not expressed its dwraemt to the proposals obviously under international law the west bank is considered occupied palestinian territory so there's sensitivity on that issue. coming up next, on "morning joe," the continued questions of security clearance. the concerns of whether top aides are handling classified information without proper approval and the fallout of a high level aide leaving the white house on domestic abuse.

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president obama and his wife michelle were honored at the smithsonian today with the unveiling of their official portrait. this portrait got me thinking today, the president gets to pick the artist. i wonder what trump's official portrait is going to look like and i imagine it will look something like this. right? no comment. let's get a check on the stories you'll hear about on the day ahead. >> lawmakers will hear from top intelligence officials today on worldwide threats facing the united states. cia director and the director of national intelligence all among those expected to appear. ivanka trump is set to head

to pennsylvania today on a roundtable focused on small business. and it's that time of the year again as the big party happens in the big easy. mardi gras takes place today in new orleans. it comes one day before ash wednesday. >> we're all heading back down there after the show. >> that does it for us on this tuesday morning. "morning joe" starts now. in this generation, a defining responsibility of government is to steer our nation clear of a debt crisis while there is still time. >> so this is the question, does it balance? no. it doesn't. i probably could've made it balance, but y'all would have

rightly just absolutely excoriated us for using funny numbers because it would have needed funny numbers. >> all right. the house speaker wanted nothing more than to balance the budget he's now facing a white house spending plan that does anything but as acknowledged by the president's own budget director himself. welcome to "morning joe." it is tuesday, february 13th. with us here in washington, we have politics editor bill stein. >> the joy is all mine. >> it's so good to have you here. nbc correspondent and host of casey dc on msnbc. >> oh, wow. >> it's awesome. former white house press secretary now nbc news political correspondent josh ernst