>> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. i'm dara brown in new york at msnbc world headquarters. here's what's happening. bargain bng. under scrutiny for his -- causing tension between officials. stormy's strategy. what is the move behind her legal team's moves this week? >> if they came to you with a settlement in this case, would you accept it? >> well, i think we would consider it. a number that would allow him to continue to hide the truth, is that the question? >> yeah. for you to go away. >> no number. >> plus, why the voice from the past wants a justice department investigation into the porn

star's allegations. the power of parkland. could one student take down a conservative host as more of her advertisers drop out? and we begin with a new report out of the white house suggesting president trump is at odds with senior administration officials over his russia policy. "the new york times" says advisers are urging the president for more aggressive action against russia. the report coming on the day russia confirmed it had conducted the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking any target in the world. meanwhile, "the washington post" reports how president trump's decision to maintain ownership of his business although putting his stake in a trust managed by his sons is coming back to haunt him. from mueller to stormy to e m l emaluments with, they're trying

to pry open the books. this after a report he rented a condo linked to an energy lobbyist for a very low rate. kristen welker has more. >> reporter: growing concern inside the white house stemming from what appeared to be an unusual living agent. scott pruitt reportedly paid 15 a night to live in an apartment partially owned by an energy lobbyist last year under terms having him pay only for the nights he stayed there. according to to another revelation, pruitt's security detail broke down the glass panel front door of that condo when the administrator was not reachable. earlier this year pruitt came under fire for flying first class on official business with his staff. a move he defended. >> i don't make those decisions. they place me on the plane where they think is best from a safety

perspective. >> president trump should fire him if he doesn't resign. this is not good for citizens' confidence in our government. >> reporter: watch groups say it all raises red flags. >> every dollar that's wasted on travel or security that's unnecessary is money that's not going to protect the health and environment for the american people. >> reporter: ethical questions have dogged other trump cabinet secretaries. former va secretary david shulkin coming under scrutiny for an official trip to europe that was mixed with personal activities. and housiing secretary ben carsn testified about spending taxpayer money on more than $30,000 for office furniture. an order he ultimately canceled. the epa tells nbc news as epa career ethics officials stated in a memo, pruitt's housing arrangement for himself and family was not a gift and the lease was consistent with federal ethics regulations. as for president trump, he'll

spend the holiday weekend at mar-a-lago in florida. >> kristen welker, thank you so much. let's bring in julia manchester and kevin surley. kevin, let's talk about something kristen mentioned. the ouster of david shulkin. do you think that scott pruitt is on his way out? >> well, it's difficult to know right now. and we've seen this in the past. someone like a hud secretary ben carson really tried to navigate the murky waters of trying to weather the storm. there's no question from a conservative standpoint, this stings. wasteful spending, government spending, wasteful money, government money. all of that is stuff republicans had campaigned on they would get rid of. and so this really does kind of hit to the core of it. but then you put it in the broader context of the trump administration and this of course with the revolving door swinging round as fast as

possible. you know, these shakeups are rumored to be every other day. >> and does this make it harder for president trump to promise to drain the swamp or do his supporters actually see this differently? >> absolutely, it does make it harder for president trump to drain the swamp. this isn't only hard from a conservative standpoint, the president trump's entire campaign was based on getting rid of stuff like this and getting rid of officials who use taxpayer money for all this and that excessive spending. i think the problem with the trump administration right now is this isn't just scott pruitt. we've seen it with steve mnuchin, ousted secretary shulkin, ben carson. the list goes on. i think the president and the administration really has to come up with a strategy that would, you know, i guess, defend their message of draining the swamp. but at the same time to kevin's point, there's a shakeup happening every other day. and that's a huge distraction in the media cycle. >> kevin, i want to go back to

"the washington post" report on president trump's business under scrutiny with special counsel and stormy daniels wanting to pry open those books. emolument case was told to go forward. how will president trump reveal his finances and in what form might this happen? >> well, this is something that has been a red line of sorts when you talk to folks inside the white house as well as folks connected to the president's legal team with regards to this. originally they said there's no collusion, there's been no collusion. we're willing to cooperate in any way, shape, or form. now you're hearing from republicans saying they don't want to see this investigation go beyond the scope of collusion. and that's why, dara, when you start talking about things like subpoenaing or issuing subpoenas for the trump organization or whatnot, that's why this has become so incredible contenti s contentious. but there's a divide within the republican party as we've talked

about for some time about whether or not all republicans agree with that. i've spoken to some saying let's let bob mueller's team go to wherever the investigation leads. that's why i think this is getting so tricky. quickly i would just add with regards to the shifting of the policy cabinet officials, that impacts policy. these cabinet officials like hud secretary ben carson, housing reform, fannie and freddie. when they're taking credit for these, they can't enact policy and that allows a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace. >> and things don't get done. i want to follow up on this. can you explain why president trump has been quiet in the days following the stormy daniels interview? >> well, i think this is really obviously embarrassing for the president. and another thing is this really goes into his personal life. i mean, the first lady melania trump has really had to weather the storm by the president's side. and we've kind of seen her almost take her own road

throughout this whole scandal. she'll arrive separately to events or arrive separately to air force one to fly out with the president. and the president also has a son. i think we should -- i'll draw your attention to a recent tweet sent out by her communications director just i guess highlighting that barron trump is in the middle of this. and i think the president does recognize this. and this is a very sensitive issue. we also see michael avanetti dangling carrots in front of the media on additional evidence he could have from stormy daniels. he tweeted that infamous picture of a cd, i guess, saying this could be more, this will be revealed in due time. so i think trump's legal team and mr. trump are on the edge right now. >> kevin, adding to these problems is the departure of

hope hicks. is there a sense of who in the west wing president trump can confide in and be a sobering influence on him? >> you can't replace hope. look. i think this is someone who folks are familiar with the trump organization. and she's someone who will have close access to president trump for quite some time. she's someone who has been there for quite some time. but kellyanne conway, her role i think is similar in some ways but no two roles are the same. but she could potentially see a resurgence in terms of what her role would be. you could see a shift there. >> julia, according to "the new york times," the president's chief of staff john kelly has told several people he might leave the communications director role open for a time. do you see that happening? and how would that even work? >> so it's actually very possible.

with hope hicks' role, her official title was communications director. but i would say her unofficial title and mostly her full-time job was really the trump whisperer. we saw president trump really confide in her on various topics and issues. she's really been with the president since the start since 2015. she obviously had control over the communications staff. but her role was really the trump whisperer. i think president trump when it comes down to it is his own communications director. his administration with all fairness does not have a set communication strategy. and i think this was really put on display at his speech in ohio earlier this weekend. the president doesn't have a set, i guess, talking points on issues such as syria. he's saying it's time for the u.s. to get out of syria and u.s. troops to get out of there. however, pentagon officials and white house officials were

puzzled by that. because that waunt pasn't part plan. >> kevin, i know you want to jump in on this. is there a sense of who will eventually get this position? >> well, there's been some rumored names. we have tony seaga and then you have mercedes shlap. you've also got other folks and it's been interesting to watch the jockeying around the folks supporting president trump here in new york about who they think should have that role. kellyanne conway of course another one. but, you know, i think hope hicks' role -- the title that she had i think maybe you could see jockeying over. but her role as a confidant, her role as a gate keeper, that's not going away. >> stay with us. we do have more to talk about. >> thank you. and why our next guest says the last place president trump's

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new developments in the stormy daniels saga as a federal judge denies her request to depose the president. the ruling comes after daniels amended a complaint in federal court accusing michael cohen of making defamatory statements against her. joining me is msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. what is behind this move by the team to go after cohen? >> first they've alleged a non-contract claim in the form of defamation. defamation is what we call a tort. it's got nothing to do with the contract claim. and consequently, there's no arbitration possibility when you allege that somebody has defamed you because the only way that

cohen and ec consulting get into arbitration is through the arbitration clause contained in the contract. so this is a very clever strategic move because cohen will not be able to force the defamation claim into arbitration. and that is where cohen and ec and trump need this case to be. arbitration out of the public eye, private proceeding without public filings. that is their only path to victory. >> and you reported the last place michael cohen wants to be is in a courtroom. why do you say that? >> because a courtroom is by nature public. courtroom filings are public. and they're something we can nowadays just log on and pull directly off of the website or anything else. and that means anything public for cohen and trump is necessarily bad. they have a lot of things to

explain and a lot of things they don't want to come out in public because there are some questionable activities. scrutiny in their case is not a good thing. that's why obviously they imported all of these arbitration clauses into their nondisclosure agreements and their settlement agreements. so they could keep all of these dealings in private arbitration, in private alternative dispute resolution. so that they could resolve them without anybody finding out. >> and danny, this week daniels' attorney seemed to change his message on what stormy daniels wants from the president. let's listen. >> if they came to you with a settlement in this case, would you accept it? >> i think we would consider it. i would converse with my client. at this point i don't see how the case gets resolved. >> there is no number that you and your client stormy daniels would take from michael cohen or the president to make this go

away? >> a number that would allow him to continue to hide the truth, is that the question? >> yeah. for you to go away. >> no number. >> no amount of money? >> no amount of money. we're going to get to the bottom of this. my client is committed to it. this isn't about the money. >> so danny, what do you make of avenatti's back track there? >> for the most part, everything eventually is about the money. however, it is an admirable mission to seek only the truth. seeks the opportunity to get out of a contract and tell the story or tell the truth. ultimately that may be a truth that is financially viable for daniels. but this case must have trump and cohen very concerned because if no amount of money to settle it and no amount of money will make it go away, that means that this case will only go towards a

trial issue on whether or not they can tell the truth. but of course at the same time as this case goes through trial, as it goes through the courts, the truth will inevitably come out in the form of discovery, depositions, and court filings. so the trump team is really in a pincher movement here. the only way is either arbitration or settlement of the case for them to keep it out of the public eye. avenatti knows this and he is really applying the legal pressure. >> and danny, let's talk about the money for a minute. kenneth starr is known for his work on the bill clinton/monica lewinsky scandal. he said they should follow the money. do you agree with him? >> yes. because this is a potential campaign finance law violation. on the one hand, the issues of personal morality, presidential

character may not be as important as the potential campaign finance law violations. and for that reason, the doj should consider looking into it and also recognize that this starts to get far of the original mueller mandate which is to investigate potential russia collusion. the potential payments by cohen and ec consultants to stormy daniels could violate campaign finance law. but you could also draw a connection between the fact that trump and cohen could potential ly have a practice of being in compromised positions and paying off others to get out of them. >> danny, we have to leave it there. danny -- >> go ahead. >> thank you so much. i appreciate you being here with us. i got to wrap you. thanks so much. and could the message on gun control from parkland students

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critics are drawing comparisons between the reboot of "rose ann" and -- tulsa was the number one market. and chicago came in at five. julia, i want to start with you this time. when you look at that breakdown, does this reflect a polarized america? >> yeah, it does in some cases. i want to draw our attention to a recent morning poll that found that 36 senate republicans believe their views are represented in mainstream television today. that's a really interesting number. and i think roseanne's reboot

showed that. it's not just a conservative show. it's really interesting because it brings together various points of views. roseanne's sister is a former hillary clinton supporter turned stein supporter turned antitrumper. her grandson in the show is gender fluid. so there's a lot of political topics really discussed in the show which is really interesting. but i think overall something that we should look at is the future of roseanne. she's been known for tweeting a number of conspiracy theories. recently she tweeted a picture of parkland survivor david hogg turned activist basically. it was photoshopped making him look like hitler almost doing a nazi salute at the march for our lives rally. so she definitely has some controversy around her. but the show has been renewed for a second season. it seems like it's gone pretty

well. >> kevin, i want to ask you. let's turn to the advertisers pulling from laura ingraham's show after she criticized david hogg. might these kids still have the nation's ear when it comes to gun control? >> they definitely have the nation's ear. whether or not they have lawmakers' ear, we'll have to wait and see from a policy standpoint. look. there's been 11 advertisers that have pulled back. she's apologized via twitter for that. to bring it back to roseanne, the thing that is so brilliant about this show is that it's really not taking a political side. it's easter weekend, it's passover. families are going to come together. i come from a politically diversed family. this show talks about how to talk to each other. not just how to talk to each other, but how to listen. i think that's what's interesting here to put it in the laura ingraham angle, we've got to listen to each other and

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good morning. coming up on msnbc's "your business," in spite of facebook's troubles, companies still see it as a powerful marketing tool. but is it really working to increase your sales? it was one of the hottest topics at the south by southwest festival, the future of artificial intelligence and how it may affect your industry. and how shopify is looking to attract customers. we've got the latest strategies you need to grow your business. that's all coming up next on "your business." >> announcer: "your business" is sponsored by american express open. helping you get business done.