much she loved heifer. and what we think her mom would want for her now. >> that's all for this edition of "date line." i'll craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. i'm dara brown in new york at msnbc world headquarters. 7:00 in the east, 4:00 out west. here's what's happening. a new report of dark days at the white house apparently reflecting the president's mood. details on that and new reaction ahead. in the cross hairs, prosecutors turn their attention to jared kushner. could they put down charges against the president's son-in-law? and new remarks at a fund-raiser that appear to be a joke, but could they be interpreted as anything more? and not all giggles at the gridiron dinner. the president with a big revelation about north korea. we begin with a live picture

of the white house and president trump is signaling will the start of negotiations with a possible sit-down with north korea. speaking to a group of reporters last night, president trump said of north korea, a couple days ago, they said, we would like to talk. and i said, so would we, but you have to de-nuke. president trump later said, we will be meeting and we'll see if anything positive happens. earlier in the day, the president attended a fund-raiser at his mar-a-lago home where he talked about xi jinping and his consolidating power. >> don't forget, china's great and xi is a great gentleman. he's now president for life. president for life. no, he's great. and look, he was able to do that. i think it's great. maybe we'll have to give that a shot some day.

>> also new today, "the washington post" is out with a new report, pure madness, that's how one ally of the president describes his behavior in the wake of scandals. aides over the past week have described anxiety and volatility with an uncontrollable commander and chief at its center. as one official put it, we have not bottomed out. now to global threats of a global trade war, president trump escalates fear saying he could impose a tax on european cars. jeff bennett is at the white house. geoff, what more can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, dara. president trump is back at the white house today after spending part of his day yesterday at the mar-a-lago retreat. and attending the gridiron dinner last night. we don't expect to see or hear from the president today, but trade will continue to top the agenda. the president is dismissing warnings from european leaders that his promised tariffs on aluminum and steel will trigger retaliation from some key u.s. trading partners. even as people in the president's own administration

and republican leaders on capitol hill who were told are privately urging the president to reconsider his decision given the potential blow to the economy. now, the white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders says the president can change his mind about the tariffsin, b he's pretty sure he won't. dara? >> thank you, geoff. we'll bring in kevin isscarelli and jonathan allen for nbc news digital. great to have you here on this sunday. >> happy sunday. >> jonathan all lien, the presit got a push-back from many americans after making that rift on tariffs. how does this show they are weighing the politics of this? >> president trump's electorate is different than that of the republicans in congress. there are a lot of them who have sort of an old school

traditional republican business base that they are catering to. and president trump promised on the campaign trail that he was going to put up tariffs if other countries did things he didn't like. and so particularly china, particularly on steel, you know, as geoff was reporting, this is something where he feels like he's following through on a promise. that's a huge rift within the republican party. it's something that members of congress sort of flatly rejected. but the problem for them is they have no say in this. >> and kevin, your colleagues are out with this report, china to hold trade talks with u.s. and beijing as things rise. we keep getting reminded that president trump campaigned on this issue, but how do you think this will play out? >> good morning, dara. everyone in the market world knows that china has been taking advantage of the u.s. steel industry for quite some time.

so sources i'm talking to on wall street suggest this as an opening bid on behalf of this administration. now, as jonathan just pointed out, republicans are backed by the likes of the chamber of commerce as well as the beverage industry have been emboldened by wall street investors with a vote of no confidence once these reports started to surface of the potential for a new tariff. on the flip side of that, they could significantly water this down by having carve-outs for certain businesses. the administration could lead to that point, but look, the politically domestically speaking, the administration feels that this could help them in states like pennsylvania, wisconsin and michigan amongst the electorate of his base. on the flip side of that, you've got south korea saying they're going to move business to southeast asia or to russia should this happen. and you've got the european union saying they're going to file complaints with the world trade organization. >> that's a lot to take in, kevin. jonathan, let's go back to this

"washington post" report that on what it has been like in the white house this past week. and we have reporting that president trump was described as becoming unglued when he made the announcement on tariffs. jonathan, is the west wing staff, do they want these type of stories out there? and to what end, what are they hoping to accomplish? >> i think, number one, there's probably an element of truth to each of these reports. but also, i think there's been a pretty conservative effort over the last few weeks by people outside the white house and even inside the white house who feel like they have lost access to the president to get rid of john kelly, the chief of staff, and perhaps the best way to do that since kelly's m.o. is the idea he's able to keep the reigns on the president, to say that the president is out of control and not being in control. >> and kevin, sticking with "the washington post" report, there's anecdote about hope hicks and her departure. and trump told one friend that hicks was a great young woman who after three intense years was ready to do her own thing.

but other confidants said the president feels abandoned and alone, not angry with hicks, but fr frustrated by the circumstance. kevin, can you talk about what this means for the president's demeanor? may this set him off more? it was a rough week. >> look, i think the palace-intrigued stories, look, i think that there's no question that hope hicks was a long-time aide and confidant to the president's senior administration officials. i don't think she's going to lose that role because she's not in the white house. i think that she'll still be very in tune with what is going on. on the flip side of that, you know, look, this is an administration that is heading into the midterm election season. and clearly, i think, you're going to start to see them increasingly try to ramp things up. but to jonathan's point, i think there are a lot of forces right now outside of the white house, some former campaign staffers, some former white house staffers, that are not happy that general kelly has shut out

a lot of people from direct access or the access they used to have with president trump. hope hicks isn't going to have that problem. >> jonathan, to that point, what is your understanding of the role that the chief of staff john kelly is playing these days to keep president trump from becoming unglued? >> well, i mean, i think it is similar to what it has always been, trying to get the president to focus on what he's supposed to focus on and do a little bit less of the random policy announcement. although we saw with the trade announcement this week, the president sort of busted through a lot of the advisers saying not to do it. if you look at the totality of the last few weeks, though, and the -- nothing is permanent in trump world if your last name isn't trump. but i think if you look at all of this, general kelly has consolidated power. what we have seen is a lot of people that went up against him lose. >> and sticking to trump world shlg kevin, we are seeing multiple reports of president trump waivering on whether he wants jared and ivanka to stay or go. so what is it?

do you see either leaving any time soon? >> well, this is where it gets interesting. no, i don't. but it gets interesting here because you had an interesting tension in the past two weeks between jared kushner's camp and general kelly's camp. and that would suggest that there would be some tension there obviously over the incident of the security clearance. and so, jared kushner's camp has put out a statement saying that his job and role will not change as a result of that. but, you know, look, i think a lot of people up on capitol hill, even within the republican party, would wonder, how much can he get done on something like the middle east if he doesn't have a national security clearance? on the flip side of that, i would quickly note that from a business perspective, jared kushner has been instrumental in connecting a lot of the business community, including silicon valley, to the administration. >> kevin cirilli, jonathan allen, stay with us. we have more to talk about coming up. >> thank you. and what about jared?

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if you take a piece of paper and put on the left side of the paper conflict of interest and the right side of paper conspiracy to defraud the united states and you draw a line, he's somewhere on that line. and that is what -- that is what the mueller team is trying to find out. >> former federal prosecutor cynthia alksne said sources are turning to jared kushner. federal investigators are looking into whether kushner's business discussions during the transition shaped white house policies, giving him and outlet to benefit his real estate

business or retaliate against those who harmed here. here with me is former prosecutor doug burns. if this is true, what charges could kushner be facing? >> well, if jared kushner received monetary benefits and then tried to, you know, put into place a policy to benefit those who gave him the money, that is bribery. you know, selling out your political office. however, a couple quick caveats, one, the cases are not east to prove. two, there was a former famous case involving general mcdonald at the highest level in our courts. three, we head to cases in new york, wione against sheldon silr that was repealed on the reverse. they were reversed on what constitutes an official action for the money. but where i come out on it is very simple, assuming that the unfortunate leaks, which they do

say come from witnesses, because that's allowed, assuming that is true, they will look to see whether the official actions that he participated in trying to lobby for any official government policies in return for monetary benefit. >> how can you see this happen in regards to his business in possible collusion between the trump campaign and the russians? >> well, that is more of a stretch. i'm glad you asked me that, because the point is everybody is politically arguing that, wait a minute, this investigation, you know, is running off the rails. that's not what it started out as. the reverse argument, which actually begins the day, is that the original mandate was russian collusion and other matters that may develop there from, ken starr, bill clinton, that veered way off. but i don't think this line of inquiry goes necessarily at all to collusion during the election cycle. >> and mueller has struck deals and received guilty pleas from five men in the case, three of

whom used to work on the trump campaign. but the former campaign management paul manafort pleads not guilty and maintains innocence. could you see manafort offering a plea deal to get more information on kushner? >> that is interesting. something everybody is debating. using my own personal crystal ball, i do not think, and my crystal ball is not perfect, but i don't think that is going to up what. i don't think paul manafort is going to agree to cooperate. i could be wrong as i said, but back to your point, dara, you're so right. the gates' plea deal definitely has in mind putting further pressure on manafort, which would then under the analysis you're laying out lead to him making a deal. but the reality is you have heard other experts say, the case against manafort is strong and doesn't rise or fall on gates' testimony. >> this is the president's son-in-law, not somebody to easily distance himself from. so if you are his attorney, what would you advise president trump to do in this situation as far

as kushner is concerned? >> one of the absolute cardinal rules in day-to-day defense practice, particularly or most notably in a multiple party investigation as we tell clients over and over and over, whatever you do, do not discuss the substance of what is going on with that particular person. that is just very basic fundamental. here it is difficult. this is not the typical case at all. it's in a political firestorm and mailstorm. and we have a president who is very aggressive and like a bowl in a china shop type of person, so it is difficult. but the advice is clear, do not get involved, mr. president, in discussions about the underlying matters that they are investigating with your son-in-law. >> doug burns, always great to have you, thank you for being here this morning. >> my pleasure. coming up, president trump is full of jokes at the first gridiron club dinner, but what can we take away from his comments on north korea? that's next. and right now, the hope hicks departure, we'll take a look at part of the "saturday night live" spoof of hicks reading a good-bye letter.

>> ivanka, my bff, you were the one who told me about this internship or job or what is it? and ever since then, it's been like a never-ending sleepover. like one where you wake up in the middle of the night and you are like, is that my friend's dad in the doorway? is he just standing through watching us? and it was that moment just stretched out over three years. hearts, girl. and to everyone else at the trump white house, i'll see you guys at the reunion in ten years. seven with good behavior. >> hope hick, everyone.

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president trump is telling people that the gathering last night was to poke fun of the president. let's bring back kevin cirilli

and jonathan allen. what are your colleagues telling you about president trump's delivery in making that comment about north korea? what did they walk away with, the notion that he was being serious or did they find the comment out of place for the dinner, for the purpose of the dinner? >> there's no question that from a policy standpoint this is very much newsworthy in the sense that should the president be sitting down with representatives from north korea, that would mention, that would represent a major breakthrough in terms of back-and-forth negotiations. kim jong-un has been one with the sources of the national security world that i speak with, they suggest that any type of back-and-forth communication, democrats and republicans saying this, by the way, would be a positive step. but also, one to be met with great skepticism, simply because this is someone who clearly cannot be trusted. >> jonathan, what is realistic on this north korea point? >> so far it seems that there's not much that would get the

north koreans to stop working on their nuclear weapon system and from their perspective, that makes sense because it gives them leverage and means the united states is paying attention to them, the koreans are paying attention to them, and we have not figured out over the course of the last several presidents what it will take or what can be done to get the north koreans to back down. if president trump has a plan for that and includes meeting with kim jong-un, then perhaps it will happen at some point. but i think we need to wait for a few minutes to see if this is actually u.s. policy or simply the president talking out of turn. >> what about his comment about the chinese president xi jinping? are we reading too much into that? maybe that was just a joke, he would be a leader for life and trump would like that? >> i'm sure trump would like that. the question of whether he's able to accomplish it is another. the 22nd amendment, the president is not a fan of it at the moment in the past week. he tried to take out the 7th, 5th and 10th amendments now and

ask questions later. it's a rough week for the constitution rhetorically speaking. i expect that the president is having a little bit of fun with this, but worth keeping an eye on. >> kevin, i heard you chuckle, what about the president for life bid? >> hey, they love president xi, whether or not people should like him is not something i will comment on. but he's having fun. you know, it's interesting, i would just note that i believe, if i'm recalling correctly, that the former president obama had also made several jokes about potentially doing a third term in office. but michelle obama would not let him. so i guess it's something that presidents just ruminate on for quite some time. >> and looking ahead, kevin, how does the white house pick up the pieces after this roller coaster week? >> this is a big week for them. on the issue of trade, i think we'll be talking more about trade over the next couple of days because the president is headed to southwest pennsylvania less than a week on saturday.

joe biden, potential 2020 contender is in the region this week in the first half as well. this is a special election heading up in just a couple weeks in early, two weeks, march 13th, around them, around the march. and so this could be a bellwhether for the 2018 midterms. while a lot of folks don't like it, it could play well to his base in the region among a key constituency of republicans. >> jonathan, how about you? where do they start? >> i'm sorry, where does which start, the midterms? >> where do they start picking up the pieces after the roller coaster week? >> well, i think trying to get forward with this trade policy that the president announces is probably step one. and kevin makes a great point, the western pennsylvania race with the steel workers and a lot of people who have that sort of culture of steel manufacturing

in some of the jobs, a lot of the jobs have gone away. i think that's a good place for the president to try to get the republican party back together a little bit, at least focused on the race, and we'll see what happens with it after policy. >> what about gun control? the issues discussed in the beginning of the week but sort of went by the waist side at tend. are they going toward with that? >> they are. i'm keeping this quick. i'm hearing from sources on capitol hill there's a big push to get it done this month. especially on the issues of mental health. and i think that the horrific tragedy due to domestic violence that just a couple days ago, senator amy clobichar is discussing the security clearances. and there's bipartisan issues on mental health. let's hope they can push that through. >> kevin cirilli, jonathan all lien, great to have you on this sunday morning. thank you for being here.

>> great to see you. that will do it for me. i'm dara brown. thank you for watching. at the top of the hour, "politics nation" with reverend jackson. and straight ahead, "your business" with jj ramberg. stay with us and have a great sunday. i'm on the move all day long... and sometimes, i don't eat the way i should. so, i drink boost to get the nutrition i'm missing. boost high protein nutritional drink has 15 grams of protein to help maintain muscle and 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d. all with a great taste. boost gives me everything i need... to be up for doing what i love. boost high protein be up for it and when you switch to esurance, in the modern world, it pays to switch things up. you can save time, worry, hassle, and yup, money. in fact, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved hundreds. that's auto and home insurance for the modern world. esurance. an allstate company. click or call.

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