here with us and good night from nbc headquarters here in new york. this morning, an nbc news exclusive, multiple officials say the u.s. intel community had substantial evidence that send states had been, quote, compromised by russia prior to or during the 2016 election. plus president trump senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner losing access to highly classified information. and white house communications director hope lihicks appearing before the how intel committee, but refuses to answer some questions related to the russia probe. good morning. it is wednesday, february 28.

i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside louis burgdorf. we begin with fresh concerns that the u.s. may not be ready to thwart the cyber intrusion expected from russia ahead of the midterm elections. three senior u.s. intelligence officials tell nbc news that there is substantial evidence that russia backed operatives gained entry into the elect websites or voter registration systems of seven states prior to the 2016 election. those states include alaska, arizona, california, florida, illinois, texas and wisconsin as you see on that map. all state officials agree no voters were changed and no on voters were taken off the rolls. while several states were told foreign entities were probing their systems, state officials say none were told russia was behind it. to this day illinois is the only state to acknowledge that its systems were compromised. the other six deny they were breached based on their own

investigations. discrepancy that officials say underscores how unprepared some experts believe the u.s. is for the next wave of russian interference. now, making what is likely to be his final appearance on capitol hill before retirement, admiral mike rogers told senators that america has not used its full power to retaliate against russia for its information warfare in the 2016 election. rogers stressed that he is an operational commander and he is not a policymaker. and gave a similar answer to fbi director chris wray about directives from the trump white house. take a listen to this. >> as i understand you said that president trump has never ordered cyber com to take any being a to defend or thwart russian attempts to medal dle i the elections this fall about. >> i said i've never been given direction to take steps outside my authority. i have taken the steps within my

authority trying to be a good proactive commander. >> but no one from the administration has asked you to take any additional steps? >> i haven't been granted any additional authorities, capacity, capability. no, that is certainly true. >> what message does it send to vladimir putin that the united states is not fully implemented sanctions to counter known russian cyberattacks? >> you know, more broadly, not just the sanctions, but more broadly, my concern is i believe that president putin has clearly come to the conclusion there is little price to pay here. >> bingo. >> and therefore i can continue this activity. >> yes. >> everything both as a director of nsa and what i see in the cyber command side leads me to believe that if we don't change the dynamic here, it will continue and 2016 won't be viewed as something isolated, this is something that will be

sustained over time. there are tools available to us and again, i think in fairness you can't say nothing has been done, but my point would be it hasn't been enough. >> little price to pay here. so later at the white house briefing room, sarah huckabee sanders responding to questions about rogers' warning about future elections. >> he is the one with the power, with the means to do it. all he needs is a presidential directive, the authority to -- >> i disagree with the premise of your question. it's looking at a number of different ways. >> he is in charge of cyber command. why not give him the authority? >> nobody is denying him the authority. we're look at a number of different ways that we can put pressure. this president has i told you last week has been much tougher on russia than his predecessor. let's not forget that this happened under obama, it didn't happen under president trump. if you want to blame somebody on past problems, you need to look at the obama administration. >> but there is not about the past, this is about protecting intrusion in the next election.

he is the authority and he hasn't been given it. >> i can't speak to that specifically. i can tell you that we are taking a number of steps to prevent this and we're looking at a variety of other ways that we will continue to implement over the coming weeks and months. >> with that, let's take a return to security clearances. jared kushner who had been assigned some of america's most important foreign relations priorities no longer has authority to access the most sensitive national security information out there along with other officials unable to be cleared since june of last year. according to multiple sources citing a white house memo, kushner had served for more than a year without a full security clearance, a rare occurrence for someone at his level. kushner is leading the white house innovations office to overhaul the federal bureaucracy and has been tasked with forging peace between the israelis and palestinians as well as conducting diplomacy with china. now, kushner has also engaged in talks with mexico and canada on

nafta, traveled has been broad and has a leading role on criminal justice reform. in a statement a spokesman said kushner, quote, has done more than what is expected of him in this process claiming it is not uncommon for these clearance reviews to take this long in a new administration and that the current backlogs are now being addressed. the statement also contends no concerns were raised about kushner's application. the "washington post" has reported that earlier this month, deputy ag rod rosenstein personally phoned the white house counsel to say new information had opposed and obstacle to kushner's clearance. and the major stories reporting today that officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate jared kushner by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements and financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience. those nations are alleged to be the uae, china, israel and

mexico. according to current and former u.s. officials familiar with intel reports on the matter, the officials said that national security adviser hr mcmaster learned that kushner had contacts with foreign officials that he did not coordinate through the national security council or officially report them. and that the issue of foreign officials talking about their meetings with kushner and their perceptions of his vulnerabilities was raised in mcmaster's daily intelligence briefings. now, one former u.s. official says that bob mueller has asked people about the protocols kushner used when he set up conversations with foreign leaders. a spokesman for on kushner's attorney called the report, quote, inaccurate information. and said that they won't respond further to unnamed sources pedaling hearsay. hope hicks is reportedly refusing to answer some questions related to the are russia investigation. she spent nine hours before the

house intelligence committee yesterday. she reportedly declined to answer questions about the trump campaign's transition period, but ended up providing some answers after several hours of testimony. according to the "new york times," hicks also told house investigators that her work for president trump occasionally required her to tell white lies. three people familiar with hicks' testimony tell the paper after extensive consultation with her lawyers, hicks insisted she had not laid about matters pertaining to the investigation into russia's interference in the 2016 election and possible links to trump associates. the white house did not respond to any questions about hicks' testimony. >> i'm not going to comment on any individual's interactions with the committee. but we are cooperating because as the president has said repeatedly, there is no collusion. i'm also not going to comment on leaks from what is supposed to be a confidential setting. there continues to be zero evidence of collusion and we hope these investigations wrap up shortly. >> let's talk about this.

joining us from washington, national security and justice reporter julia ainsley for us. thanks for joining us. let's talk about hope hicks me. do you think there was a slip up when she talked about the white lies comments, did she dig herself into a deeper hole? and what is the likelihood that lawmakers will seek a subpoena to get more answers out of her especially those answers that she wouldn't necessarily give and refused to address? >> so the slip up i think was really not a slip up but just not wanting to box herself in in a way where she could later be found to have been lying to these investigators. she needed to say that there are sometimes where she bends the truth as a communications director and this cute weighed of saying sometimes there are little white lies, but insist there had been nothing bigger that has to do with the russian investigation. but i think that you are hitting on the main point, that would be my takeaway, which is that there is probably little else that this committee, this house

intelligence committee, is going to do to compel her to testify in the way of temperatures. we know democrats requested last night that they subpoena hope hicks and get more information, they are frustrated with the level of information she disclosed and republicans block that had request. it seems that they are trying to check a box here, spoke everyone they can and put out a report that says they are done. we're sxerktsing a more serious and complete investigation by the senate intelligence committee and then of course we'll have to wait and see what robert mueller finds in the end. >> obviously. let's talk here about jared kushner making the move, having this diminished security clearance shall we say. how do you reconcile this but also when the white house is saying he will continue as his role as top adviser? >> so i think a lot of people have said how can he be effective. you listed out all the laundry list of everything that he is involved in, whether those are trade talks, whether that is

peace processes in the middle east. it is incredibly difficult, pretty much img possibpossible a heavy hand in any of those discussions when you have a limited amount of information and you are not getting the daily briefings like he was previously. but i think what we also need to watch going forward is how this new kind of limited access is enforced. this all gets enforced within the closed doors of the white house. so if there is an example for a time where his father-in-law wants to bring him in and says come look at this, take a look at this briefing and see where we go from here, there is really no one -- there is no fbi agent that jumps in and blocks him. >> and this is when the issue once again of nepotism comes up when you hire a son-in-law to work in the white house alongside of you. julia ainsley, great points there. we'll talk to you again. still ahead, the latest in the gun debate playing out on capitol hill. some republicans are slowly moving towards gun legislation, but party leaders are not

promising a vote. and later, the next presidential election is more than two years away, but president trump announces his pick for campaign manager as he sets his sights on 2020. those stories and of course a check on your weather when we come back. c 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. this is a tomato you can track from farm, to pot, to jar, to table. and serve with confidence that it's safe. this is the ibm blockchain, built for smarter business. built to run on the ibm cloud. this is the ibm blockchain, built for smarter business. want us to do about what woulthis president?fathers i'm tom steyer, and when those patriots wrote the constitution here in philadelphia, they created the commander in chief to protect us from enemy attack the justice department just indicted 13 russians for an electronic attack on america. so what did this president do? nothing. he's failed his most important responsibility - to protect our country. the question is: why is he still president?

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ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. welcome back. republican leaders on the hill yesterday moved slowly towards legislation on gun control. watch this. >> of course we want to listen to these kids. but we also want to make sure that we protect people's due process rights and legal constitutional rights while making sure that people who should not get guns don't get them. this kid was clearly one of those people. >> we've been down this path before. there are bipartisan differences

about how to address this issue that continually snagged every effort. so what senator cornyn suggested is that we take something we all agree on, not in any way claiming it is a panacea, but at least show some progress toward dealing with one element of the problem. >> so all of this is happening as 19 house republicans sent a letter urging speaker paul ryan to schedule a vote next week on a bill that would strengthen the national instant criminal background check system. senators john cornyn and chris murphy introduced the bipartisan bill earlier this month that would require state and federal agencies to report criminal histories in exchange for financial incentives. meanwhile chuck schumer said that congress needs to do more. >> senator cornyn and senator murphy's proposal is a modest

step designed to address one component of gun safety. i support it. rather than just passing one narrow bill and moving on, we democrats intend to push our republican colleagues to have a real debate on gun safety and pass meaningful measures that will address the wide range of problems that have led to an epidemic of mass shootings in our country. >> we have a new quinnipiac university poll showing lawmakers an approval reading after the parkland school shooting. 42% of florida voters said they approve of president trump's job performance. 54% said they disapprove. florida's governor rick scott approval sits at 49%, about on 40% disapproving there. 48% of voters approve of senator bill nelson with 34% disapproving. and senator marco rubio's approval righting the lowest now sits at 38%, over half of

florida voters said they disapprove of his job performance. meanwhile democrat bill nelson holds a four point lead over governor rick scott in the senate race. 46% of votersnelson. and 42% of voters said they would be less likely to support a senate candidate that supports trump, only 23% said they would be more likely. let's get a check on your weather now with bill karins. bill, we have some wind, rain and flooding in the social part of the country. you say that will move east just in time for the weekend. >> yeah, big friday into saturday storm for the northeast. but first we have to get there and get through this rainy weather. round one going through tennessee, northern portions of alabama, georgia. flash flood watch still from northeast texas through tennessee and even a little portion of north carolina. so this will be round two on this evening. and then when this rain falls, this will be very narrow, but

they have have i where it falls. the red is two, pink is three inches of rain. nashville, huntsville tomorrow morning at this time i'm sure i'll be talking about flash flood warnings in whatever areas get hit the hardest in this band about 24 hours from now. it all starts this evening after dark, thunderstorms will form. slight risk of severe weather in this area. strongest storms this evening. large hail, damaging wind will be the threat. and i don't think we're too much in the way of tornadoes. so here is the rainfall forecast as we will go throughout saturday. now, the heaviest rainfall amounts will be in the coastal areas. en around the boston area. and the winds will be a big issue. so the wind forecast, this is 6:00 on p.m. thursday. by the time we get into the early morning hours on saturday, this is when the winds start to pick up to the 40-mile-per-hour range, 41 ocean city. and throughout the day friday into friday afternoon, they pick up even into the 50 to almost

60-mile-per-hour range around boston. so this will be a significant nor'easter with very strong winds. we will deal with coastal flooding up in new hampshire and maine. some coastal flooding, maybe damage to structures. so we'll get more into that in the days ahead. you say nor'easter and everyone thinks of snowstorms. this will mostly be a rain and wind event. >> so not a good weekend for the northeast. thanks. still ahead, a last second heave stunned the chapel hill faithful and the bid to host the world cup may be in jeopardy. sports next. bye grandpa. and if you have heart failure, entrusting your heart to entresto may help. entresto is a heart failure medicine that helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body. in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto was proven superior at helping people

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always go for 100. bring out the bold™ he takes it for three. tied! and for the win. newton at the buzzer. >> that is a buzzer beater for you. that is unranked miami beating the tar heels for the upset. we start with news from the nfl. the "washington post" reports that dallas cowboys owner jerry jones has requested a hearing before nfl commissioner roger goodell in an appeal to thwart the league's efforts to compel him to reimburse more than $2 million in legal fees incurred by the owners' compensation committee and the league that according to multiple people familiar with the nfl's inner workings. the reimbursement is tied to

jones' efforts to derail negotiations to renew goodell's contract and for a failed legal challenge by ezekiel elliott of his six game suspension last season. meanwhile better ingredients, better pizza, no more. papa john's pizza will no longer be the official pizza of the nfl. the chain said it will shift its marketing to partnerships with 22 nfl teams and with relationships with league players and personalities. the decision stems back to when the company's founder criticized the nfl for not resolving the issue of protests during the national anthem, adding the protests hurt the chain's earnings according to a source familiar with the matter. and the united states' bid to host the 2026 world cup is in jeopardy. according to espn, fifa executives say estimates of voting totals have morocco threatening the bid, but

eclipsing it making the african country the favorite. ballots will be cast days before the 2018 board cup opening in russia and will be announced june 13. switching gears now to the nba, while dwyane wade is weighing his return to basketball next season, the rest of his time in a miami heat uniform this year will be dedicated to the victim of a parkland high school shooting that left 17 dead, joaquin oliver is the victim's name. wade tweeted oliver was buried in one of his jerseys adding that this tragedy is bigger in an basketball. meanwhile wade played like his younger self against the 76ers, scoring 27 points including the game-winning shot with 5.9 seconds to go giving the heat the 102-101 victory, all the while wade wore shoes monitoring his fallen fan writing oliver's name on them, just an incredible story. you see the class and poise and compassion of a veteran player like dwyane wade and hope that

other players, other athletes take note of that. >> certainly a really good new from dwyane wade there recognizing this boy. all right. thanks. still ahead, the latest on jared kushner's security clearance downgrade. and new reported speculation that his days in the white house could be numbered. plus why hud secretary ben carson is falling under scrutiny this morning for an office remodel. have you smelled this

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welcome back. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside

louis burgdorf. let's start with the morning's top stories. jared kushner, president's son-in-law and one of his top advisers, has had his security clearance downgraded after operating for more than a year with interim clearances. the move which strips kushner of access to highly classified information comes amid an overhaul by chief of staff john kelly. hallie jackson has more on this. >> reporter: nbc news is learning jared kushner is now cut off from highly classified information according to multiple sources familiar with the memo sent friday. it alerted staffers with temporary clearance to the country's most sensitive materials, that is over. that includes the president's son-in-law and top adviser those sources say who has been tasked with mideast peace negotiations. >> jared kushner cannot receive the president's daily brief, he cannot be involved in national security council discussions about sensitive matters and he can not be talked to about our

nation's most significant secrets. >> reporter: the white house not commenting, but saying -- >> he will continue to do the important work that he has been doing. >> reporter: the move more fallout from a scandal that raised clearance questions after it became public rob porter never received his full clearance amid accusations he abused two ex-wives. john kelly promising to clean up the clearance process even if it affected kushner or his wife, ivanka trump. >> i will let general kelly make that decision. and he will do what is right for the country. >> reporter: kushner's outside spokesperson tells nbc news no concerns were raised about his clearance application. over on capitol hill by the way it was a different top trump adviser hope hicks facing questions behind closed doors with the house intelligence committee answering some but not all of their questions related to the russia investigation. back to you. >> thanks for that report. jared kushner under

increased scrutiny, and new reporting that a white house official who worked closely with the president's son-in-law plans to leave the administration. axios was first to report that josh raffel has decided to step down and return to the private sector. he joined the white house to work for the office of american innovation and ultimately took on communications for both jared kushner and ivanka trump. according to the white house, raffel todd both jared and ivanka about his plans to leave. and the associated press reported that tuesday's news set off ram pabpant speculation tha kushner's days in the white house might be numbered, a contention that the white house disputes. >> we do not comment on individual security clearances. we actually haven't commented on jared's issue indicated, but we have commented on his ability to do his job. which he is a valued member of the team and he will continue to do the important work that he has been doing since he started in the administration. >> back with us from washington,

julia ainsley for us. good to talk to you once again. we've talked about this before if curb they are was ne kushner. i don't buy it. he is the son-in-law. i don't think he is on his way out. i want to get your take especially because the white house says it is not true. >> i'm with you. it just seems really unlikely especially because he is the president's son-in-law. he is married to the very favored daughter ivanka. and neither jared nor ivanka have passed this sniff test of the security clearance. right now they still are on interim status and as a result they have now been downgraded in what information they can see. and i think that they will stay in that position together. and in fact we probably are looking at the opposite where nell probably still be able to see some material that maybe they shouldn't be seeing. i think in this case it is another one of those kind of palace intrigue rumors where there are people who might want jared kushner to leave and they are starting a lot of this banter.

it could be that there has been some anger about jared kushner and about the fact that he still hasn't gotten his security clearance, but in the end of the day, you're right, he is the president's son-in-law and the president can choose whoever he wants to surrounds himself with. >> so aside from kushner and ivanka, there are still a number of people in the west wing who do have issues with this permanent security clearance or getting this permanent security clearance. do you foresee some exits from the white house because of this and because of john kelly's crackdown? >> i think there could be. what is really interesting is the white house line on this saying that it is not uncommon for administrations that are still new or just over a year into have a lot of people with their pending security clearance. that is true if you are talking about lower level people at certain agencies, but it is uncommon within a white house. what the fbi can do if they are instructed to by the white house is put more people, more manpower toward any investigation for securities clearance, speed up the process because they know that they are

very important people within the white house who need access to information. that hasn't happened here. either because the white house manhattan pressured them or because there are a lot of complications like there is in jak' jared kushner's. but it is also a matter of how the president and chief of staff want to use this issue to pressure certain people to leave. at the end of the day, anyone in the white house who wants to have access to information can do so at the request of the president. >> and i'm wondering are we going to see these exits because it also has john kelly trying to save his own job. >> that is true. maybe he will want to sort of make an example of someone and say this person needs to leave. but of course they have done that with rob porter. and what we've seen from this white house, they are very reactionary. they fire someone after media reports like rob porter, like michael flynn, even if it has been known that there are a lot of concerns there. so it could be that the next shoe there drops when there is a report about someone getting

access to something who shouldn't be. >> crujulia, thank you. and ben carson is under fire over the reported purchase of lavish items for his office. according to the "new york times," the agency spent $31,000 late last year to buy a custom hard wood table, chairs and a hutch for carson he's office. the times says the move came as the white house serk lacirculats to cut programs for the homeless, elderly and poor according to federal records. the paper adds that the agency did not seek congressional approval for the purchase even though the federal law mandates authorization from lawmakers to furnish or redecorate the office of a department head if the total cost is more than $5,000. the "times" also says that the purchase of the furniture came a month after a top agency staff member filed a whistleblower complaint charging carson's wife with pressuring department officials to find money for the expense of redecoration of his offices even if it meant sir

consume venting the law. separately "the guardian" is reporting that hud has agreed to spend $165,000 on lounge furniture for its headquarters. >> who doesn't want to spend $31,000 on a hutch? i don't even know what a hutch is, i have to be honest about that. i think that we can find one though for a little cheaper. >> i think so, yeah. with 978 days to go until the next presidential election, president trump has taken the next step towards securing a second term in office by naming the head of his 2016 campaign, digital operation to lead his re-election effort. the campaign announced that brad parscale will help lay the foundation for the run. he is expected to focus on midterm contests and maintain gop control this congress, something the president has been stressing the need for in recent weeks. in the announcement, eric trump

and jared kushner praised parscale with eric saying he is the perfect person to be at the helm of the campaign. kushner and parscale specifically enjoy a close relationship dating back to their time on the 2016 campaign. parscale's work on the trump campaign is notable beyond the praise he has received for his success. special counsel robert mueller is reportedly interested in his campaign data operation including the work it did with the conservative data firm cambridge analytica. and also questions about his use of dark ads on facebook which have been shown to swing political opinions. he has previously met with the house intel committee. and his work was notable given that he was a political novice before 2016, something he discussed in an interview last fall with "60 minutes." watch this. >> how many presidential campaigns had you worked on before this one? >> zero. >> your wife has a wonderful expression about you being thrown into this.

>> yeah, she said that i was thrown into the super bowl, never played a game, and won. >> and jared kushner may have broken the law with his praise for brad parscale in the announcement about his new duties as manager for president trump's re-election. the announcement includes a quote from kushner who is identified by his official white house title. and the group citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington says that kushner's statement appears to be a violation of the hatch act that prohibits government officials from using their titles for political purposes including influencing an election. a version of the statement was later posted to the campaign's official website and it had removed kushner's title. the associated press first reported that. white house official tells nbc news that kushner provided the campaign with a statement in his personal capacity and that his statement was not made in his official capacity as a member of the white house staff. the official ad adds the campaign committee inadvertently

added his title and subsequently removed the reference when instructed to do so by the white house. >> just can't stay out of the headlines. and arizona senator jeff flake who is not running for re-election this year may have his eyes set else where. 234r5 flake is set to participate in a politics and eggs breakfast next month. it is being organized by the new hampshire institute of politics which has a history of hosting es featuring possible presidential prospects. yesterday flake who has been an outspoken opponent of president trump and has been critical of the current state of the republican party did not rule anything out for the future. >> yeah, i got an invitation and i accepted. >> what do you say to people that say people who go to new hampshire are people running for president? >> i have no idea what they are talking about. no, that is not in my plans to run, but i don't rule anything out. >> no idea, don't rule anything out. um. even though his fellow

republicans hope he will reconsider, senator bob corker is standing by his decision not to seek a third term. corker reconsidered retiring in mid-february after a group of establishment republicans argued that without him, the gop could lose the seat and their narrow senate majority to the democrats this november. however, congresswoman marsha blackburn the gop frontrunner vowed to stay in the race even if he re-entered. blackburn has been a known ally to president trump since his 2016 campaign. so if corker was to re-enter the race and stand the chance of winning, analysts say he would need to win the approval of the president who remains popular in tennessee. and last night democrats flipped their 38th and 39th legislative seats since donald trump became president and democrats picked up a statehouse seat that has been held by republicans for more than 40 years. and in a city that trump won by 13 points in 2016, democrats won by 7 points flipping a statehouse seat from republican

to democrat. the fifth time that has happened in new hampshire over just this past year. this is as the cook political report has moved the special election in pennsylvania's 18th congressional district from lean republican to tossup. president trump carried that seat in pittsburgh suburbs by 20 points. and yesterday the democrat in that race reported raising $3.2 million in the first seven weeks of 2018. the vote is less than two weeks away. and still ahead, markets get rattled by new fed chair jerome powell's economic outlook. what he said that led stocks to heavy losses. plus bill karins will be back with a check on your forecast.

you are the chairman of the federal reserve. do you know when you sneeze wall street crumbles?

your experience as i've read it shows that you have a deep compassion for people. all i'm asking you to do is to every once in a while if you could say hold on, mr. president, this isn't right. >> that was congressman david scott of georgia, a member of the financial services committee, questioning jerome powell in his debut as chairman of the federal reserve. congressman scott was one of several democrats to press the chairman on policies that fall beyond his purview like taxes and entitlement programs. on the issues of central banking, the chairman did make some news. powell said the economy has strengthened sending a signal that more interest rate hikes could be on the way. his remarks spooked investors. the dow fell almost 300 points offer of those remarks. and another story we're following, dina powell, president trump's former deputy national security adviser, is headed back to goldman sax.

the firm announced powell will rejoin its management committee and also assume the responsibility for the firm's corporate engagement initiatives. while in the white house powell was largely an ally of ivanka and jared kushner taking the side of the globalists with the nationalists which at the time were led by steve bannon. powell was goldman's global head of impact investing and president of the goldman sachs foundation before joining the twru trump administration. and let's get a check on the weather. >> very active weather over the next couple days and of course travel issues and unfortunately structure al damage maybe from a sa veer weather, flash flooding and then the nor'easter with wind and waves by the time we get to friday, saturday. is so today 12 million people at risk. this will be a flash flood this evening into tomorrow morning. we're expecting to another 1 to 3 inches of rain, it's been a wet february everywhere east of

the mississippi river and arkansas, too. and another 1 to 3 inches tonight. and here is our severe weather threat. it shouldn't be the tornado threat we had this past weekend, maybe one or two isolated tornadoes. more a threat of large hail, damaging winds, shreveport area. so the storm that will cause the severe weather on thursday and wet bring to the ohio valley, a little bit of snow in the great lakes, it redevelops thursday night off the east coast. this is when the winds will start to pick up, it will become a full-fledged nor'easter. you see this onshore flow here coming into areas of eernl new england, 40-mile-per-hour winds, that will be with us for like 36 straight hours. we'll have multiple high tide cycles with the water piling up. that is why we're afraid of at least minor, moderate, major for coastal flooding. we'll definitely be in the moderate, we may get to major. so could have second huge impact. remember the storm at the beginning of january had horrible coastal flooding there. and on the back side, it will be pretty windy, too.

watch throughout the day friday, winds on the north side are in the 50 to 60-mile-per-hour range. but even the south side of the storm, the back side will have winds of 50 to 60. no leaves on the trees, but with an inch and a half of rainfall predicted for the area, any loose trees in that soil could have issues. so could have minor power outages. saturday morning, still gusty, but the storm begins to head out during the day on saturday. but still in the 40-mile-per-hour range in many of those areas. again about 1 1/2 inches is expected throughout much of the northeast by the time we get through saturday night, it is all over with for a nice sunday. but -- >> that will be nice to have at least one good weekend day. thanks, bill. still ahead, the syrian government showing no signs of letting up its bombing campaign. pl despite a u.n. call to do so. the new details on the role north korea may be playing in the ongoing civil war. coffee roasters sumatra reserve. let's go to sumatra. the coffee here is amazing. because the volcanic soil is amazing.

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these are television and twitter savvy warriors, these student activists fighting for common sense gun reform. i think donald trump and the nra have met their match. am i watching too much tv? >> a lot of these members have fired an ar-15 and they've heard the loud sound of that weapon but most of them haven't been on the receiving end of that sound like these kids have. >> what type of country do we want to live in? >> welcome back, everybody. despite a u.n. resolution calling for a cease fire, the syrian government conducted an astonishing 268 land and air strikes on rebel held eastern ghouta yesterday killing at least 21 civilians according to the british based observatory for human rights. more than 580 people including 146 kids and 88 women have been

killed since the assad regime began its assault on the city on february 18th. astonishing numbers there. despite the humanitarian promises, a report say at least six missiles hit ghouta yesterday during the first pause. the first day it was set to be in effect. russia vowed to continue to fight against quote terrorists in syria, a term assad and russia routinely use. on the u.s. led coalition, one day after blaming sunday's suspected chlorine gas attack on rebel groups. it all comes as a stunning new united nations report shows how north korea has been sending supplies to syria that can be used in or producing chemical weapons. north korea technicians and specialists have also been seen working at missile facilities

inside of syria. the confidential u.n. report has not been publicly released but has been reviewed by several publications including the new york times and the wall street journal. skr we're in a monomental shift that it will alter itself constitution and abolish presidential term limits. the move paves the way for 64-year-old ping to become a leader for life essentially creating a new era f ototalitarianism. a huge amount of power since coming into office since 2012, he's already had his political philosophy in trying for the communist party. a distinction previously only afforded to jinping. sarah huckabay sanders says while he supports term limits quote here in the u.s. it is up to china to depseudofor itself. coming up on morning joe, the new questions about jared

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welcome back, everybody. before we toss over to morning joe let's get a check on the stories you'll be watching. students in marjory stoneman douglas high school are set to return to classes just two weeks after a gunman opened fire killing 17 people. students will only take part in a half day day today. meanwhile rick scott is set to hold a press conference this morning to tout his student safety proposal. the republicans plan calls for the state to send $500 million on sets including strengthening

gun purchases. >> and the late billy graham will lie in honor at the capitol ro tun da today. the reverend becomes the fourth private citizen to be given such recogniti recognition. graham's funeral will take place on friday. >> that does it for us on this wednesday morning. morning joe starts right now. >> we do not comment on individual security clearances. we actually haven't commented on jared's as you enindicated on h ability to do his job which he's a valued member of the team and he will continue to do the important work he's been doing since he started in the administration. >> all right. so a senior advisor just lost his top security clearance, and the communication director admits to lying for the president. the nsa hasn't been authorized

to fight russia meddling and a cabinet secretary spent 30 grand on a new dining room set for his office? all this as president officially rolls out his campaign manager three years before the next election. >> you missed the biggest news. >> i did? what did i miss? >> the pop culture whiz will know this. i just read this this morning. john, do you know the number one reason people are disqualified from going on to the bachelor? >> herpes. >> exactly. >> they take a test and apparently a lot of people have herpes. >> he knows everything. >> i bet they found that out the hard way. then changed the rules. >> oh, dear god. >> i'm sure of it. >> i think it's too early. >> you know the number one reason why people can't come on