president trump takes aim at daca on easter sunday. he vented frustration, vowing no more daca deal and threatening to walk away from nafta. >> plus ousted va secretary david shulkin is denying white house claims that he resigned from his position. now there is reporting the terms of shulkin's departure could impact his replacement. >> and president trump's war on amazon escalates in a series of weekend tweets. he's accusing the company of a post office scam. ♪ ♪ >> good morning, everyone. it's monday april 2nd. i'm alongside jasmine.

we begin with president trump who leveled some factually inaccurate charges this weekend. after a week of more turnover in his administration, during which trump sought the advice of former campaign operatives and hard core supporters, the washington post reports meeting with his political soldiers, corey lewandowski and david bossy, strategist brad and son-in-law and senior advisor jared kushner. white house chief of staff john kelly did not travel with the president to mar-a-lago this weekend, but senior policy advisor stephen miller, a proponent of hard line immigration policies, has been at trump's side. and the president reportedly dined with fox news host sean hannity friday night who was later spotted at the president's golf club. >> all right. so, yesterday president trump began the 16th calendar month of his administration by blaming democrats for the border, lack thereof. a, quote, border patrol agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the border because of ridiculous liberal democrat

laws like catch and release. yet catch and release is actually not a law and the trump administration has frequently claimed the policy ended when he took office. however, the president tweeted, the border is, quote, getting more dangerous. caravans are coming. some view this phrasing as trump's reaction to a fox news segment about central american migrants where caravans appeared on the screen. the president claimed these big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of daca. they want in on the act. but to qualify for daca, immigrants must have lived in the united states since 2007. no one arriving in the country after that date is even eligible for daca. meanwhile, the president complained about big drug and people flows from mexico contradicts his claims of major drops in his first year. watch this. >> since the day of my election, we have already cut illegal immigration at the southern border by 61%.

[ cheers and applause ] >> i'm very proud to say that we are way down in the people coming across the border. we have fewer people trying to come across because they know it's not going to happen. >> all right. so, you're probably asking what's been the reaction? well, there was no reaction from republican leadership or the mexican government as the president tweeted, republicans must go to nuclear option to pass tough laws now. no more daca deal. or the president threatening to end nafta if mexico does not stop people from passing through their country into the united states. >> all right. so, ousted veterans affairs secretary david shulkin is now denying claims from the trump administration that he resigned. a white house spokesperson told politico on saturday, quote, secretary shulkin resigned from his position as secretary of the department of veterans affairs. but on sunday morning, shulkin was rejecting white house claims. watch this. >> i came to fight for our veterans and i had no intention of giving up. there would be no reason for me to resign. i made a commitment. i took an oath.

and i was here to fight for our veterans. >> why would the white house say technically you resigned? did you submit a letter of resignation? were you asked to submit a letter of resignation? >> no, i was not. >> so the fight over shulkin was fired or resigned could play a role in president trump's ability to name an acting va secretary to fill shulkin's place. as the a.p. points out under federal law, the president has wide authority to temporarily fill a federal agency job if someone dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to perform the functions and duties of the office. there is no mention of a president having that authority if the person is actually fired. last week president trump tapped defense department official bob -- robert wilke to serve until ronny jackson could be confirmed. he bypassed tombo man who has reportedly come under criticism for being too moderate to push trump's agenda. >> meanwhile trump's pick for veterans affairs secretary continues to face criticism.

admiral ronny jackson is a naval officer and served as white house physician to trump and obama. he has limited management experience. ousted va secretary david shulkin has declined to fully endorse jackson. >> we encourage -- are you encouraging members of the senate to confirm him? >> the senate has to make up their own mind. it is important to follow the process, which is to do a proper vetting. and i don't think there should be shortcuts in that. i believe in dr. jackson's values. i think that's important. i know that he cares a lot about veterans and i believe that he will work well with the president. but this is a big job that has to be thought about carefully. >> so, others like republican senator lindsey graham are defending jackson's nomination citing his decades long career in the military. >> and how much trouble do you think admiral jackson is going to have being confirmed? >> well, i think he'll get confirmed because he's made life

and death decisions on the battle field. he's commanded medical personnel on the battle field. he's been in the middle of this war. he's willing to fight the bureaucracy and i think admiral jackson is a good pick because he's been on the battle field. he knows what the fight is all about. >> all right. let's switch gears here and talk russia investigation. republican members of congress reacted to developments in special counsel bob mueller's probe including court filings that allege a high-level trump aid rick gates was in contact with someone he knew to be affiliated with russian intelligence during the final months of the campaign. here's congressman trey gowdy of south carolina. >> i'm glad we have bob mueller. i'm glad we have an independent ball and strike caller. congress has proven itself incapable of conducting serious investigations. and our best hope -- >> you include your own committee, house intelligence on that in >> absolutely. not just house intelligence. congressional investigations leak like the gossip girls.

i mean, they're terrible. and i would be telling you that if i were staying in congress. they're not serious. >> republican senator tim scott had this response to reports that the president's lawyers spoke about potential pardons with attorneys for michael flynn and paul manafort. >> the fact of the matter is keeping the pardon off the table is a necessary part of the process. i would be disappointed if president trump were to pardon either one of these individuals. the good news is that the mueller investigation continues. the better news is the public will have as much information as necessary to draw clear conclusions. and today it only reinforces why it is important for us to make sure that the investigation continues until it gets to the end. >> all right. joining us now from washington, d.c., white house reporter for the washington examiner steve nelson. steve, good to have you with us on this busy monday morning. president trump toughened his talk over the weekend about the border wall with mexico. are we likely to see him push

congress to get tough on immigration when they return? why now? why did he do this now? >> certainly we will. part of the reason, of course, is the fact that there is this group of migrants from central america making their way toward the border. it seems like that is part of the messaging. but, of course, we lose sight somewhat of the fact that president trump has had somewhat of a win on immigration so far in his wall. last month congress approved $1.6 billion to fund the wall and there is 100 miles worth of construction projects about to begin in a couple months. so, the trump administration already has some accomplishments in this regard and certainly we'll hear more of it. >> here's what we keep forgetting, that when president trump says things like this over the weekend flippantly, it leaves these daca recipients, their lives and their futures very much up in the air. not necessarily knowing what's going to happen next. trump also slamming california governor jerry brown on twitter after brown pardoned

five undocumented immigrants facing deportation. do you think california should get more aggressive here? >> i think so. despite california being a so-called sanctuary state where authorities don't comply with federal immigration authorities, despite many of the cities having similar policies, i.c.e. can go in and round people up. they, of course, attempted to do that in the bay area recently. we're somewhat frustrated in their efforts by the oakland mayor. they can also do workplace raids which is something that didn't really happen much under president obama. there was recently a big sweep of 7-11 stores including in california where people were arrested for working illegally. so, definitely there are ways they can crackdown and they probably will continue to do so. >> there is some talk about whether dr. ronny jackson will be confirmed as the new va secretary. walk us through what his confirmation process will be like. do you think he will face an uphill battle or do you think he'll be routinely confirmed?

>> there's a lot of talk about him facing an uphill battle. dr. jackson has a long career in the military. he has worked at the white house since 2006. he's been at the white house longer than most people. he's not a political novice. he's been around. and frankly, he looks good compared to the last va secretary who was implicated in a pretty sordid scandal involving doctoring records in order to pay for a spouse's travel to europe. so, my guess is that he gets confirmed, but of course there is talk about his lack of managerial experience. >> not to mention going to wimbledon on a business trip. >> you don't do that? >> i personally don't do that. i wish i could get wimbledon tickets. steve, if you can get us wimbledon tickets we'll take them on this program. >> expensive. >> steve nelson, live in washington for us. we'll check back with you in a little bit. still ahead, growing tensions in sacramento after the police involved shooting death of stephon clark and now an

investigation is underway after a demonstrator was struck by a patrol car. >> plus it's been six months since puerto rico was left devastated by hurricane maria. now an uptick in tourism. could it help jump start the island's ee consni those stories and a check on your weather when we come back. ♪ whether it's a big thing,

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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, everybody. investigations are underway after a sacramento county sheriff patrol car struck a demonstrator and immediately left the scene during a stephon clark candle light vigil turned protest saturday night. according to witness video, two vehicles attempted to disperse the crowd as marching protesters began to move out of the car's way. the first car slowly drives out of the shot, then the second vehicle appears to accelerate, striking 61-year-old wanda cleveland while she walked towards the curb. she was later taken to the hospital and released on sunday morning, telling the sacramento

bee, quote, he never even stopped. it was a hit and run. if i did that, i'd be charged. it's disregard for human life. >> very disturbing. according to the sacramento sheriff's department, the officers left due to safety concerns after vandals scratched, dented and shattered a window of the car involved. following the shooting death of stephon clark in his grandmother's backyard two weeks ago, tensions have only grown after an independent autopsy contradicted earlier statements given by the officers involved in clark's shooting. of the 20 rounds fired, clark was shot eight times primarily in the back. california highway patrol is investigating the incident. the sheriff's department is also launching an internal review. the officer behind the wheel has not been identified. >> unbelievable the results of that independent autopsy saying

he was shot in the back. president trump proposed a ban on transgender people in the military except under limited circumstances. new report indicates the joint military was not briefered against the ban or the president's memo seeking to implement them before trump went public with the tweet, according to two sources. now, one of those sources says the top ununiformed official of the pentagon had to download the documents online, leaked on march 23rd to obtain them the first time just like the rest of the public. although the white house made the transgender policy public, the pentagon insists it will continue to assess and retain transgender troops in accordance with multiple court orders against trump's earlier poll su. that found banning transgender service members unconstitutional. >> all right. switching gears for a moment rchl it's been more than six months since hurricane maria hit puerto rico leaving the island devastated. now tourists are slowly beginning to return, helping the u.s. territory's economy to

pickup once again. nbc news gabe gutierrez has the very latest. >> reporter: six months ago, this didn't seem possible. puerto rico's economic engine sputtering to life after hurricane maria. >> i think now more than ever we have to contribute to their economy because they need the tourism. >> reporter: these couples from baltimore soaking in the sun after refusing to scrap their vacation plans. but some of their friends did. >> i think it's our responsibility to look out for those people. it is part of the united states. >> reporter: outside the capital city, several mountain communities are still desperate for power, supplies and attention. those in damaged resorts will be closed for months more than 85% of the island's hotels are back up and running. an industry critical for the long-term recovery here. >> they're very happy that the island is open for business. >> reporter: this carnival cruise with 2200 passengers is sold out. tourism officials are hoping for

almost 2 million cruise passengers over the next year. pumping a quarter billion dollars into the economy. did the hurricane give you any pause at all? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: in old san juan, business is booming again. coffee shops are packed and reservations are hard to snag at a high-end restaurant where the roof collapsed during the monster storm. >> i think the best thing that people can do is come and not donate your money, but let us serve you. >> reporter: here they're fighting for every dollar. as this island finds its rhythm again. gabe gutierrez, nbc news, san juan, puerto rico. >> all right. switching gears now -- >> wait, wait. you guys are professionals. you're going to keep personal opinions out of the next story. >> what do you mean? >> your story? >> yes. >> we're skipping this segment. >> next on sports we're going to talk to -- all right, bill. listen, you know, go ahead, give it to us, bill. just give it to us. >> it is snowing in new york

city and snowing in pennsylvania and also philadelphia and it is going to snow in the northern plains tomorrow. we may even get snow in areas of the south as we head towards the weekend. yeah, winter is more than just holding on. it's -- that party guest wouldn't leave like aman. welcome back from vacation, aman. we are watching the snow accumulating, even on the roads in areas from just outside of philly. new york city is just wet pavement right now. temperature was 57 yesterday so it is holding on to a little bit of the heat. the snow intensity is going to pick up throughout the morning. a lot of the highways will be slushy. the secondary roads and bridges will get snow accumulating on them especially outside of manhattan. all the blue here is just a solid shield of snow. the good news about this is it's in and out in a hurry. we have the light snow as we go throughout the morning hours, picking up in intensity during the morning rush. here's the snowfall map. this pink is up to 6 inches, this little area between allen

town and north of new york city where we'll get hit the hard est the: notice philadelphia is 1 or 2 inches on the grass. this is on the grass forecast, by the way. roads will be less than this. even hartford, down to new hachl in, could be around 2 to 4 inches of snow. boston, you don't get a lot out of this dusting. it will about be the worst of it. the timing 6:00 a.m., here is noon today. 11:00 a.m. till noon. still snowing in new york. by the time we get to mid to late afternoon, guys, it is gone. it will be mid 40s by the evening rush home. all the roads will be fine. it's getting to work and school this morning that's the problem in the northeast. >> and 70 degrees by next monday. >> i'm sorry, did bill say something? >> professional here. >> i missed that segment. i can't catch anything you said. all right. still ahead, the ultimate buzzer beater by one player who has done it before believe it oor not. a wild finish in last night's women's championship game. all the highlights in sports next. d severe fatigue, went to a doctor. became diagnosed with hodgkin's lymphoma.

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the win over uconn and the huge upset, buzzer-beater to beat. this is the irish beating uconn. oh, the irish took its second women's basketball crown with the 61-58 over mississippi state in last night's title game. meanwhile the third ceded michigan wolverines and the top ceded villanova wild cats square off tonight. we mean late tonight, 9:20 start time on the east coast. switching gears now to major league baseball where the yankees look to start the season 3 to 1. however, those hopes were smoked by justin smoke. after he crushed a long ball off david robinson for a grand slam in the 8th inning. the jays win 7-4. that was the second home run of the game. meanwhile japanese sensation otani who decided in the off season to sign with the los angeles angels made his pitching debut getting six strike outs giving up three runs in six innings. not too bad. the angels would wind up winning 7-4 against the a's. the phenom is off to a 1-0 start in his major league baseball

career. meanwhile eli manning and philip rivers now have another thing in common. having geno smith as a back up. according to espn they reached an agreement with the los angeles chargers. smith appeared in two games starting one which broke manning's 210 consecutive game start streak after suffering a scary fall saturday night. moving on to nba, pat mccaw has been released from the medical center. he was writhing in pain for about ten minutes. there is the clip of it here. watch this. he was clipped by vince carter on a dunk attempt. he left the arena on a stretcher. he was dying noticed a lumbar spine contusion. a bit of sigh of relief for him and the warriors. >> tougher to see that replay. >> scary moment. >> painful, terrible. >> congratulations to notre dame and the women's team. >> that noetre dame a is crazy. two games in three days.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm jasmine alongside aman. it is the bottom. let's start with the morning's top stories. president trump is back in washington this morning after spending the holiday weekend at his home in florida. on easter sunday the president made hard line statements on immigration criticizing border patrol, threatening to end the daca program. nbc news white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has the very latest. >> reporter: good morning, yasmin. the spirit of the easter holiday did not keep the president from venting his frustration, even misinformation sunday. president trump again showed concern about the border wall he has long promised that is far from fully funded. with the first laid and i daughter testifying any heading into easter sunday service, the president paused to engage. even inflame a politically

charged issue, immigration. >> and a lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of daca and we're going to have to really see. >> reporter: but the president's assertion gives a false picture of what the daca program actually is. bill richardson was a border state governor. >> the president is factually incorrect. daca has nothing to do with new immigrants coming in or immigrants coming in. >> reporter: daca, deferred action on childhood arrivals, is an obama-heera policy to preven deportation for young immigrants who qualify based on age and education, and must be living in the u.s. continuously since 2007. the future is uncertain for the 800,000 enrolled as the president and congress fail to make their legal status permanent. >> i say this to daca recipients, that the republicans are with you. they want to get your situation taken care of. >> reporter: but that sympathetic tone was gone as the

president declared, no more daca deal. >> the president has dangled daca in a very cruel sense. i don't believe he's ever serious about resolving it. >> reporter: in a series of tweets the president also described eroding security at the southern border, getting more dangerous, caravans coming. that word, caravan, was used on screen during a fox news segment. outside the church, the president again made mexico his target. >> mexico has got to help us at the border, but they're not going to help us at the border, it's a very sad thing. >> reporter: u.s./mexico relations are frayed over the border wall and talks to renegotiate the nafta trade deal, and all of this will be front and center again in just a couple of weeks when president trump and mexico's president both attend the summit of the americas in lima, peru. and all of this conflict will come face to face. yasmin? >> kelly o'donnell for us. thank you. >> president trump spent part of

his weekend once again escalating his attacks on amazon, accusing the company of operating a scam. in a pair of tweets sent saturday morning during his drive from ms. mar-a-lago estate to the nearby trump international golf club, the president argued that amazon costs the u.s. postal service billions of dollars in potential revenue. it is reported that the u.s. post office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for amazon. that amounts to billions of dollars. the failing "the new york times" reports the size of the company's lobbying staff has ballooned and that does not include the fake washington post which is used as a lobbyist and should so register. if the post office increased its parcel rates, amazon shipping costs would rise by $2.6 billion. this post office scam must stop. amazon must pay real costs and taxes now. all right. the chicago tribune points out federal regulators have found the postal service's contracts to deliver some amazon orders has actually been profitable for

the postal service. people who buy products sold by amazon pay sales tax in all states that actually have a sales tax. the tribune also says that the post office's losses are due to pension and health care costs, not its deal to deliver packages for amazon. president trump did see some support over his claims amazon is too big from across the aisle from senator bernie sanders. >> this is an issue that has got to be looked at. what we are seeing all over this country is the decline in retail. we are seeing this incredibly large company getting involved in almost every area of commerce, and i think it is important to take a look at the power and influence that amazon has. >> now, despite the president's concerns about the power of amazon, cbs reported on friday that from 2015 to 2017, his presidential campaign spent almost $160,000 on office supplies from amazon with the

vast majority of orders qualifying for actually free shipping. >> switching gears here, environmental protection agency chief scott pruitt is facing mounting ethics questions in the wake of reports that he paid below market rates to live in a condo owned by an energy lobbyist. an agency spokesperson released a statement on the matter on friday stating that, quote, pruitt's housing arrangement for both himself and family was not a gift and the lease was consistent with federal ethics regulations. reports by abc and bloomberg last week revealed that during pruitt's first six months in washington last year, he paid about $50 a night to stay at the condo co-owned by energy industry lob gist steven harte and his wife. bloomberg notes pruitt only paid for the single bedroom, quote, only on the nights when he actually slept there. that's about less than a third the price of similar properties in the capitol hill neighborhood. meanwhile, abc is reporting the epa paid the condo association

more than $2400 after pruitt security detail broke down the door of the unit, believing he was unconscious and unresponsive and needed to be rescued. the payment which was first reported by the washington post occurred after a bizarre incident in march of last year which the epa has refused to discuss. abc says that pruitt declined medical attention. a police report was never filed and the epa eventually agreed to reimburse the condo owner for the damaged door. meanwhile, former new jersey governor and surrogate chris christie says it's hard to see how pruitt can keep his job amid the latest scandal. watch this. >> the president's been ill served by this and if mr. pruitt is going to go, it's because he should have never been there in the first place. >> does he have to go? >> listen, john how you survive this one. >> if he has to go? >> it's because he never should have been there in the first place. >> $50 a night, airbnb you get a good rate. it happens to be he's a lobbyist for an energy industry official.

all right, joining us now from washington, d.c. white house reporter for the washington examiner steve nelson who is also an expert on airbnb rates in washington, d.c. steve, good to have you back with us. president trump escalated his attacks against amazon over the weekend, even calling for the washington post to register as a lobbyist organization. what is behind trump's ongoing war with amazon? are we likely to see him take this feud with the internet retailer beyond twitter? could we see something on capitol hill? >> so, if you want to be charitable, you could say that this is about president trump being upset about brick and mortar stores suffering from online commerce. perhaps he read the citigroup analysis last year that found that the packaging shipping costs were too low for the post office. but his tweet directly linking amazon to the washington post, it seems to portray what he's really upset about, which is seems to be the joint ownership between the washington post and amazon. whether this actually goes

anywhere policy wise, i'm doubtful. >> so, while we have you, steven, i quickly want to ask you about scott pruitt, the story we just talked about. do you think that that he easily could be on his way out, considering the fact, though, he is pretty loyal to the president, his views are very much in line with the president? the president rewards loyalty. >> it's funny, he was rumored to be a possible replacement to jeff sessions just a couple months ago. pruitt really antagonizes environmentalists who typically like the work that the epa does. i don't know that this will be enough, but it seems that more and more is coming out about this arrangement and i think we really have to wait and see what more is coming. >> all right. and before we let you go i have to ask you a really quick question. today the white house will host its annual easter egg roll for the 140th time, one of the most coveted questions, coveted, i would say, positions in washington. who is trump putting in the bunny suit this year? >> okay, you know, i'd say it's got to be kellyanne conway.

>> oh, wow. >> a book coming out today accuses kellyanne conway apparently of being the top leaker in the white house. apparently accidentally said on the record unkind things about jared and ivanka. so, i'd say -- she may be in the bunny suit. >> the bunny suit better than any other suit. >> steve nelson, thank you. >> thanks. >> kellyanne conway in a bunny suit, we'll have to see. still ahead, everybody, the man at the center of the white water investigation speaks out about the stormy daniels scandal. kenneth starr said the justice needs to look into the $130,000 payment to the porn star. >> the calendar says april 2nd, but bill karins has his own idea what time of year it is. he's going to tell us about snow. yes, i said snow, some people will be dealing with in the northeast. i'm on the move all day long.

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allegations that she was paid to keep silent about an alleged affair with president trump. in an interview on the podcast called dugery with yahoo! news chief's investigative correspondent michael isikoff, former white water independent counsel kenneth starr says the $130,000 payment raises difficult issues that need to be investigated by the department of justice. he stresses it is difficult than those at the center of the russia probe. take a listen. >> it's a serious question, did the president know, did he authorize all those sort of things have to be sorted out. but remember, bob mueller was appointed to investigate whether there was collusion, and this obviously is way far removed, i'm not saying it's not a serious matter, but it's way far removed from what the special counsel was authorized to do. >> michael isikoff will have more on his conversation with ken starr coming up on morning

joe. >> all right. let's begrudgingly get a check on the forecast. >> bring bill karins in. >> with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> four weeks in a row we've had at least one snow event in the northeast. it's beyond ridiculous. this one is in and out. the problem is it's right during the morning commute. there are already an inch or two on the ground in areas of pennsylvania. it's snowing hard. that is moving towards new york city. you can see the times square cam. it's all pavement. yesterday it was in the 50s. it holds a lot of heat. that's why you won't see accumulation theirs. in central park on the greenspan there could easily be 4 inches of snow by noon today. the snow intensity is picking up and the snow is now overspread all the philadelphia area, new york city, and now it's really increasing in areas of southern connecticut and soon in rhode island if it's not already. so, by the time we're all said and done, the area that is going to get one to 2 inches on the grass goes from albany to boston just south of philadelphia but it's really that northern portions of pennsylvania, the poconos, northern jersey, southern new york, southern

connecticut, that purple is up to 4 inches. a little slice in there could get 6 inches of snow. that 6 inches is almost enough for the possibility of getting some downed tree limbs and power outages. today's forecast, a quick moving snow. we are also going to be watching a new snowstorm. yes, a second one, that's going to be in montana today and moving across the country. this storm ask going to bring with it not just snow on the backside but severe weather on the front side of it. this is for tomorrow. we're getting into severe weather season and a slight risk of severe storms, a huge area from the ohio valley all wait down to houston with this little area in here, a paduka, indianapolis, into areas of central kentucky including bowling green. that is an enhanced risk of severe weather. tomorrow we'll be watching the potential for isolated tornadoes. the isolated side of the storm. this forecast, you think we're complaining. this is 2 inches from montana. minneapolis across, 6 inches of snow. green bay 6 inches polkt for you tomorrow night. tomorrow, tomorrow night same

for northern michigan. so, yeah, not even fun into tuesday, guys. >> we're all in it together. >> yeah, exactly. no one is going anywhere. >> the southern half of the country is just laughing. they're complaining about pollen. >> florida had 30 degree weather a couple weeks ago. >> really tough. still ahead, new report raising serious questions about a department tasked with filling key government positions. >> why this particular office has struggled to carry out its duties under the trump administration and the criticism of one former trump surrogate has about that department. captivating exteriors dynamic lighting elevated comfort powerfully efficient and one more thing the world comes with it ♪you can go your own way... the 2019 jeep cherokee

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welcome back, everybody. a little-known white house office responsible for vetting and placing thousands of qualified key posts across the government appears to be in utter chaos. an investigation by the washington post found that the presidential personnel office has struggled to place qualified people in key positions. the ppo is responsible for recruiting and vetting candidates for more than 4,000 government jobs with more than 1200 requiring senate approval under trump. the office was launched with only about 30 employees, far fewer people than prior administrations. in addition, six senior officials of the ppo over the age of 35 left just months after their arrival, according to documents and interviews by the post. >> all right. so, since the inauguration, most staffers have been in their 20s, some with little professional experience apart from their work on trump's campaign.

while the ppo struggled to keep pace with its enormous responsibilities, their office became something of a social hub where young staffers from throughout the administration stopped by to hang out on couches out on couches and vape. true story. in addition ppo leaders hosted happy hours last year that in at least one instance included a drinking game. the white house confirmed the happy hours and the drinking game saying it was a way to network and let off steam. >> i mean. >> we do this on the show here. >> yeah. >> white house officials told post that the ppo is performing well yet former new jersey governor chris christie led trump's transition team for a period of time had harsh words for the transition cast, particularly those in charge of the vetting process -- >> this was a brutally unprofessional transition. this was a transition that didn't vet people for this type of judgment issues which i think could have been seen very easily in a lot of these people and you

cannot do this with rick deerborn on a back of an envelope in 73 days. >> doesn't everybody vape and have drinking games at their job at 23. >> bonding experience, except when you're working for the federal government. up next a look at this morning's one big thing from axios and much more on the busy holiday weekend. president trump spent signaling an end to a possible deal over daca, threatening the future of the north american free trade agreement and escalating his attacks on amazon. "the washington post" phillip rut kerr will have more on more how the president is calling his own shots. "morning joe" just moments away. let's go to sumatra. where's sumatra? good question. this is win. and that's win's goat, adi. the coffee here is amazing. because the volcanic soil is amazing. making the coffee erupt with flavor. so we give farmers like win more plants. to grow more delicious coffee. that erupts with even more flavor. which helps provide for win's family. and adi the goat's family too.

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because when it comes to your finances, if you focus on today, tomorrow has a way of working itself out. ♪ all right, welcome back, everyone. joining us now from washington with a look at axios-am, alexi great to have you with us on this monday morning. >> good morning. >> what is the one big thing axios is looking for this morning. >> >> my reporting on dems 2018

challenge to find a unifying message connecting tax reform and the economy and health care. it's a tall order for the democratic party most often criticized for not having a unified message. >> so how are they going to sort of spin this tax bill now? this tax cut bill. >> so that's the interesting thing and a tight line they have to walk because americans all across the country are already seeing bonuses in their paychecks from the gop tax bill. one way i'm told from democrats that candidates and incumbents alike will approach this and spin the tax bill is pointing out that republicans wanted to make cuts to medicare and medicaid to pay for it and some are considering cuts to medicare and also going to focus on middle class voters and tell them in detail throughout the campaigning that you might be seeing bonuses now but come november or even after you'll ultimately see tax increases. >> this may not come as a surprise to some but there's a battle brewing between democrats and republicans over who is to blame for these rising health insurance premiums, which is expected by a lot of people's

estimates to be a key issue just before the midterms. how do democrats, you think, plan on capitalizing on that? >> senior democratic aide familiar with the party strategy told me over the weekend that they know this issue is top of mind for voters. and they're going to point out early and often that republicans are not only responsible for these rising health care costs, which of course that's the argument they're going to make, but that that will ultimately offset any increases in paychecks people are seeing from the tax bill. so they're going to point out that, yes, this benefit you're seeing in the paycheck is great for now but it's not going to last and also it will ultimately be offset by the health care costs that republicans are sort of giving to voters is ta way they will talk about it. >> is this sort of dependent on the race as to whether or not they'll push this plan to couple the tax bill with health care costs? >> so, that's the interesting thing. we're seeing some ads from democratic senators have ads about tax reform but also about health care.

so red state democratic senators will certainly have to walk this line because their constituents voted for donald trump in 2016. but the real challenge is that democrats can't seem out of synch with voters who ultimately think the economy is improving overall and who are generally happy with this tax bill. so it's district specific but overall democrats across the board are being encouraged to talk about health care and economy. polls show those are the top two issues for voters all across the country. >> it seems as if a recent survey revealed president trump's approval rating on tax policies in general have increased. >> right. so that is certainly a challenge because, again, they don't want to seem out of synch with what voters are clearly thinking and feeling as shown in the poll numbers. but what they can do is point out the specifics of each plan whether it's health care or tax bill and the economy. so they're going to say the things that voters are happy about but they're going to have to explain in detail what it

will ultimately look like. i think that is a challenge because it can be boring especially when trump is out stumping for republicans and animated and makes people feel things. people might be bored in sitting through the details. i interviewed randy rice running against paul ryan and he gives a nod by saying things like i'm running to repeal and replace paul ryan. a nod to the failed attempt to republicans to repeal and replace the affordable care act. >> job losses is a result of automation. what are the forecasts showing how long before the two of us lose our job here? >> well, you two probably will never lose your jobs to robots, right. so there's a new report out that shows only 10% of u.s. jobs could ultimately be lost completely by automation. and that is a stark contrast from the previous most accurate study that said 47% of u.s. jobs

would be lost. now, the numbers in this new report are still alarming because it's 38% overall, 28% of jobs that would be changed or altered by automation, ultimately forcing employees to undergo retraining and 10% that would be lost completely. >> i can see one day having a virtual newscaster you don't have to have a person. >> thanks for putting that idea out there. >> thank you in washington, d.c. >> thank you. >> we'll be reading axios in a little bit. all of our viewers out there, of course you, too, can sign up for the newsletter. >> that does it for us this morning. "morning joe" starts right now. mexico has got to help us at the border. they're not going to help us at the border, it's a very sad thing between two countries. mexico has got to help us at the border. and a lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of daca. and we're going to have to really see. they had a great chance. the democrats blew it.

>> wow. >> wow. that's remarkable. >> this is quite the white house transcript. >> that was remarkable on so many fronts. >> yeah. >> inaccurate on just about every front. >> he doesn't understand. it's 50/50 on that. that was the president speaking outside church before easter services president trump railed against mexico, democrats and the immigration policy known as daca, which he got completely factually wrong. >> he also was using language from a fox news script that had been playing earlier this morning. >> that was the last thing he saw and heard so it came out of his mouth. that's his pattern. >> it's unbelievable. nick, it's unbelievable. >> sad. >> you had a busy weekend this weekend, didn't you? >> i did. >> the president apparently did, too. golfing. watching fox news. going to church. but he said people were trying to flip over the border to take ad