decision. meanwhile, steven's parents have spoken to sidney about what happened to her dad. >> from my viewpoint, he gave his life for her. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. i'm milissa rehberger in new york. it is 7:00 in the east, 4:00 out west. here's what's happening. boots on the ground. the national guard deploys hundreds to the u.s. border with mexico while thousands are approved to be assigned. are the skies clearing for stormy? while her legal team is enthusiastic following comments from the president on air force one. and sticking by scott. >> the president feels that the administrator has done a good job at epa. >> why the white house shows no signs of parting with pruitt. we begin with a live picture of the white house where pressure is mounting on the

president to fire his embattled epa chief. the associate ed press reports scott pruitt visited the white house yesterday to discuss the recent steps to roll back air efficiency standards for cars. but according to two administration officials he also fought for his job. this as kelly has been urging president trump to fire pruitt. that's according to "the new york times" and "the wall street journal." but this morning, no clear direction from the white house on whether pruitt's job is safe. >> i'm not going to go through hypotheticals until we have time to go through a full review. that's what we're doing right now. but again, the president thinks he's done a good job on the purpose of carrying out the goals of the epa. >> will he have a job by midnight tonight? >> look, the president is the one who makes those decisions. i can't say we all serve at the pleasure of the. as you know, if the president is

displeased you'll know it in a hurry. >> meanwhile, the white house is dealing with fears of an escalating trade war with china. the dow closed down 572 points after president trump threatened an additional $100 billion in tariffs on chinese imports. hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: a tariff tit for tat teetering on a trade war. >> there is a potential of a trade war. let me be clear. it's not a trade war. >> reporter: beijing is promising it's ready for a fight after donald trump threatened another round of tariffs on $100 billion worth of goods on china. >> i'm not saying there won't be a little pain. >> reporter: the president argued short-term pain will mean long-term gain. if china is ultimately convinced to stop what the administration considers unfair trade practices. but calls to cool off. >> of course they're going to retaliate. i'm not sure who's more vulnerable, but both sides are

going to lose. >> reporter: so how did we get here? start with those u.s. tariffs in march on steel and aluminum imports. monday china slapped back. pork, soybeans, and other crops in the cross hairs. tuesday, the u.s. aimed at aerospace and electronics. so china added new tariffs wednesday leading president trump to threaten more. >> nothing's happened. nothing's been executed. >> reporter: the white house insists it's not bluffing but since not all of the tariffs have been implemented, the window is still open. the question is for how long. hallie jackson, the white house. >> some economists are predicting collateral damage to a potential trade war. so let's bring in melni and kevin. thaunks bo thank you both for getting soup early. kevin, let's start with you.

we saw larry kudlow yesterday for the second time this week speaking in defense of these additional tariffs. does the white house think that this is their best shot of trying to calm anxiety on wall street? >> yes and no. look. i think that larry kudlow recently joining the administration as the president's chief economic adviser really signaling this week that nothing has been enacted. i spoke with him earlier this week on thursday and he told me, hey, wait a minute. nothing's been enacted. and that this is going to be a months' long process. there's no question the president cares about television ratings but he also cares about what the market is doing. he's carefully monitoring the back and forth. look. this isn't just china raising concerns. it's also some republicans within the president's own party. senator ben sasse, calling this a stupid idea. on the flip side of that, you have jonierne ernesst and chuck

grassley from iowa talking about the impact on the agriculture business in their state. but i asked point blank to larry kudlow, you know, what is the end goal here. because i spoke to a lot of people on wall street who are trying to price gauge this and say what ultimately is the administration trying to accomplish? he kept it simple. he said, quote, unquote, growth. he feels the chinese have taken advantage of the united states for far too long. you saw this in a tweet from president trump where he said why is china considered a developing nation in the world trade organization? that's something, i think, that you're going to hear a lot about, too, in the weeks to come. >> okay, melanie, let's go to you. what impact is this going to have in areas like soybeans? >> this could hurt the election in couple of different ways. number one, as you said some of these are in the rural red states like iowa and ohio.

and number two, this proposal could also wipe out the economic benefits from gop tax cut law. and republicans were really planning on making a tenant of their campaign message in 2018. they don't have a whole lot else to run on. that's exactly why you saw republicans beg the administration not to follow through with this tariff plan. so it's going to come to this sort of messaging when the markets are reacting the way they have been. >> kevin, what is your sense of how far reaching this tit for tat on tariffs will actually extend? >> two things. think back just a couple of weeks ago when the president first proposed raising tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. now, that was also met with wall street jitters. let's be candid here. 70% of the global aluminum and steel tariff industry have since received carveouts. it was fiery rhetoric at first, then a foot on the brake. it was like a one-two trade

bunch. in terms of where the end goal is, the chinese are asking to have a more direct contact. president xi jingping has just reorganized the entire chinese government coalescing all of his power and restructuring the government. when i talk to sources inside the white house, they roll their eyes at that. they say, look, there are back channel trade negotiations going on. quickly i would just note that yes, you have wall street getting jittery over this. and farmers getting jittery over this. but the administration rightfully or wrongfully believes that the base of the trump movement, the workers who railed against nafta when he was running for president are behind them on this. that's an interesting political gamble we'll have to watch. >> all right. let's move onto the controversy surrounding scott pruitt. a republican source tell your colleagues that house oversight committee chairman trey gowdy has begun looking into his $50 a night home rental deal. how serious is this considering

that most republicans have actually been quite quiet on the issue? >> this is a huge deal. now that we have a probe being opened, it's just the latest headache for pruitt. this condo deal is the swampiest of the swamp situations here. anyone who lives? d.c. knows you can't even rent harry potter's broom closet for 50 bucks a night. let's be real. so it's going to be a huge problem for pruitt. what i will say is i don't think it's going to be one single report or investigation that's going to be the nail the the coffin for pruitt. this president really cares mostly about optics. you know, doing things like he went on fox news and did poorly in that interview. if the headlines keep coming out, if this is dominating the cable news, that's where you could see him run into problems. so far he's been able to hang on. >> kevin, to that point when you look at the spending violations

that landed tom price in hot water and then out of a job, why hasn't scott pruitt been fired? what's your sense? >> do you really think mitch mcconnell just a couple of -- a month before the midterms wants to have another senate confirmation on his desk? look. you look at some big donors who are aligned with administrator pruitt who want to see him stay. also, this is about the president's energy agenda. in terms of that, there's a lot of folk who is want to see that consistent policy whether you agree with it or not from the administration's perspective, they want to see that consistency carried out. because again, any type of senate confirmation debacle would take months just before the midterms. and i think this senate has enough with senate confirmation hearings coming up with regards to director pompeo. they've got their hands full. >> melanie, the white house is also being asked to explain some

of president trump's pronouncements this week including pulling troops out of syria and deploying the national guard to the u.s./mexican border. let me play you an exchange between one of our colleagues at npr and sarah huckabee sanders. this was from yesterday. let's listen. >> there seems to be a perception that at times the president makes announcements and then the white house has to come up with policy to match what the president said. like with the talk about the military at the border, there weren't really a lot of details about that at first. >> i think that's a perception of completely -- people that don't understand, i guess, how civics works. the only person elected to make those decisions and actually outline what policy should look like is the president. so when he makes an announcement, he was the only one who has the authority to do so. >> your reaction to that? when it comes to understanding how president trump works with his white house. >> this is absolutely a pattern

with this white house where you see him say something off the cuff or put out a tweet or say something to reporters and then the white house staff is scrambling to pick up the pieces and implement these policies. with the syria pulling out the troops, he initially wanted an immediate withdrawal. and his own advisers had to caution him against that and warn him about the vacuum that could potentially create. i think that's why you saw him back off a little bit and settle on a policy that will take a couple of months to pull out the troops. and then with sending national guard to the border, we still didn't have key details. it wasn't until yesterday we actually got a number for how many troops are there. we still don't know how long they're going to be there. trump just has this tendency to throw out red meat to his base. then he's catching some of his own staff by surprise and they're forced to implement policies to carry out whatever he's saying. >> all right. melanie and kevin, stand by. we will see you both later on in the show. but meanwhile, why stormy daniels' legal team says

christmas has arrived after the president's comments on air force one. that's next. at&t provides edge-to-edge intelligence, covering virtually every part of your manufacturing business. and so this won't happen. because you've made sure this sensor and this machine are integrated. ...& she can talk to him & yes... atta, boy. some people assign genders to machines. and you can be sure you won't have any problems... except for the daily theft of your danish. at&t provides edge to edge intelligence. it can do so much for your business, the list goes on and on. that's the power of &. & this shipment will be delivered... where we're changing withs? contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today. book now at lq.com. when heartburn hits... fight back fast with tums smoothies. it starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue... and neutralizes stomach acid at the source.

♪ tum tum tum tum... smoothies... only from tums and it's also a story mail aabout people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you you might be missing something.y healthy. your eyes. that's why there's ocuvite. ocuvite helps replenish nutrients your eyes can lose as you age. it has lutein, zeaxanthin and omega-3. ocuvite. be good to your eyes. he's playno, with us. he's trying to tell us something. let's see what forensics thinks. sorry i'm late. what did i miss? wanna get away? now you can with southwest fares as low as 49 dollars one-way. yes to low fares with nothing to hide.

that's transfarency. you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, 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. did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no. >> then why did michael cohen make it if there was no truth? >> you'll have to talk to michael. michael's my attorney. you'll have to ask michael. >> do you know where he got the money to make ma paymethat paym? >> i don't know. >> did you set up a fund to draw from? >> new information as president trump breaks his silence on the stormy daniels matter. michael avenatti says the comments are just what stormy daniels' legal team has been waiting for. >> it is a very, very merry

christmas this evening here over in our camp. you know, this is what happens when you have an undisciplined client. as you know from experience. we waited patiently and lo and behold, christmas has arrived. the president's comments on air force one are serious for him, serious for michael cohen. how can you have an agreement when one party claim this don't know anything about the agreement? >> joining me is msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. good morning to you. how will the daniels legal team use these comments to their advantage as he says it's christmas. >> the president's answer fits in with avenatti and stormy daniels' theory of the case. and by this i mean their theory is that the president could not be a party to this contract if he didn't know about the payment. that same fact and this is what's amazing about contract

law, can be used by the other side as part of their theory. trump's theory of the case is number one, cohen has always been the fall guy, the central guy. he is -- if anybody made a contract, it was cohen. and that trump if anything was a mere third party beneficiary. and you, me, everybody out there, we're all third party beneficiaries to contracts like insurance contracts, other kinds of contracts. we don't need to be parties to the contract. and that's the trump team's theory of the case. that he cannot know about the payment, not be involved with it at all, and still benefit from t it. so long as the contract between ec and cohen and daniels remain valid. avenatti's position is there is no contract.

>> can the president face criminal charges? >> not for not knowing about the contract in a contract law perspective. but to the extent that may have been a violation of campaign finance law, there's potential criminal exposure there. but as a general rule of contract law, you shouldn't be entering into contracts -- large settlement agreements without the client's knowledge. because that's in evidence what this was. a settlement agreement. trump is a third party beneficiary. he is a party to a settlement agreement. that would make more sense. but again, the beauty of contract law is it's often whatever the party's draft, whatever they choose to sign or in this case not sign. their theory each of them has about breach of the contract. >> all right. let's turn to russia.

the russian probe. sources tell "the washington post" the president is still under investigation by robert mueller's team. but trump is not a criminal target. do you think that could change in this case? >> there are three levels of investigation for a client that criminal defense attorneys are always concerned about. there is witness. there is subject. and there is target. and before you ever let a client talk to prosecutors or testify before a grand jury, you need to know how the u.s. attorneys view your client. and the problem is there's a very thin line between target and subject in an investigation. and someone who's a subject may give some strange answers and suddenly find themselves a target. there's a very thin line between those two categories. that being said, it is possible that mueller's team takes the position similar to that of the justice department that the president cannot be charged. so it may be the case that the

president is the one person in america, the world, that can only ever be a subject. and never be a target. the difference is a target is likely to become a criminal definite. a subject just means your conduct is within the scope of the grand jury's investigation. again, not a lot of difference between those two. but it may be the case that the president tops out at subject. >> danny cevallos, thank you. evangelical leaders may be organizing a summit. is it connected to the stormy daniels saga? that's next. i'm on the move all day long.

and sometimes, i don't eat the way i should. so, i drink boost. 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. look for savings on boost in your sunday paper. hello. give me an hour in tanning room 3. cheers! including calcium and vitamin d. that's confident. but it's not kayak confident. kayak searches hundreds of travel sites to help me plan the best trip. so i'm more than confident. forgot me goggles. kayak. search one and done. weeds. nature's boomerang. at roundup®, we know they keep coming back. draw the line. one spray of roundup® max control 365 kills to the root and keeps weeds away for up to one year. roundup®, trusted for over forty years.

janice, mom told me you bought a house. okay. [ buttons clicking ] [ camera shutter clicks ] so, now that you have a house, you can use homequote explorer. quiet. i'm blasting my quads. janice, look. i'm in a meeting. -janice, look. -[ chuckles ] -look, look. -i'm looking. it's easy. you just answer some simple questions online, and you get coverage options to choose from. you're ruining my workout. cycling is my passion.

one of the leading evangelical voices are pushing back on the fact stormy daniels will be the subject of an upcoming meeting. here's what tony perkins who's helping to organize that meeting said last night. >> it's news to me. as one of the key organizers, that's news. that's never even come up in the

conversation. he wrapped himself in the most conservative party platform. he's now been executing on that. as long as his behavior we're talking about here is the past and stays in the past, that support for him will continue. >> let's bring in melanie and kevin. moo melanie, your reaction to that explanation. >> they may not mention stormy daniels at this meeting, but she will be looming large over it. i think the point of this meeting is not only to remind voters what's at stake in the upcoming midterm elections. trump might not be on the ballot, but there's a a lot stake. so i think this is a way to soothe the nerves, get everyone on the same page, and try to close that enthusiasm gap. >> president trump broke this silence this week denying he knew about payments to daniels.

>> i think they ultimately care about tax policy, supreme court justices, and abortion. and so that i think is why you've seen time and time again evangelicals stick by candidate trump as well as donald trump. i don't see the evangelical base leaving president trump any time soon. >> melanie, what did you make of president trump's comments on air force one considering there was no guarantee reporters would ask about stormy daniels. >> yeah. i think it was haremarkable to hear him say no, he didn't know about this hush money. as you pointed out earlier in the segment, this could be a tenuous situation for him legally. but he had been avoiding reporters largely after the "60 minutes" interview. to hear him break his silence i think is a big deal. >> kevin, what's your take? >> well, you know, i think that this is not something that they feel that is going to significantly hurt them politically. as this moves forward. you know, i think it does raise questions about where the money

was and how the money got there. and i think that all of those questions ultimately will be answered. but i think that in terms of a broader initiative, this is not something that they're really focusing on publicly. >> melanie, to another part of this story -- different story, actually, the border crisis. sarah huckabee sanders referenced this article yesterday when asked about claims of unprecedented rapes happening. it said rapes and robberies are common. do you think this is just a continuation of his immigrants are rapists or is it something else? >> well, i think he's also clearly conflating two things. he brought up his own comments he made in 2015 when he first announced his candidacy. and he was talking about two very different things. he was suggesting that the immigrants themselves are rapists. so, you know, i don't think he's quite getting all the facts

straight here. >> well, we will have to leave it there. thank you so much. that will do it for me. i'm milissa rehberger. at the top of the hour it is hugh hewitt, but first "your business" with j.j. ramberg. this. is. lobsterfest. at red lobster with exciting new dishes like dueling lobster tails and lobster truffle mac & cheese. classics like lobster lover's dream are here too. so enjoy these 10 lobsterlicious dishes while you can because lobsterfest won't last. a hilton getaway means you get more because you get a break on breakfast

get an extra day by the pool get to spend more time together get more from your spring break getaway with exclusive hilton offers. book yours, only at hilton.com pepsoriasis does that. it was tough getting out there on stage. i wanted to be clear. i wanted it to last. so i kept on fighting. i found something that worked. and keeps on working. now? they see me. see me. see if cosentyx could make a difference for you- cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...find clear skin that can last. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. never give up.

see me. see me. clear skin can last. don't hold back... ...ask your dermatologist if cosentyx can help you find clear skin that lasts. you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, 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. good morning. coming up on msnbc's "your business," we're here in austin, texas, at south by southwest where innovators and disrupters have gathered to talk about the big things coming next. we're going to pick their brains to find out how you as a brand can reach generation "z." and we head down to florida to meet a woman who's making a real difference. when it comes to big decisions at work, we have your back. that's all coming up next on "your business." ♪ >> announcer: "your business" is sponsored by american express