a very good morning to all of you. i'm alex witt at msnbc headquarters in new york. new this morning for you, preparations under way by at least two u.s. border states to send more national guard minutes to the u.s./mexico border. this coming days after the president called for troops to secured area until his border wall is built. just last night, defense secretary james mattis signed a memo approving the deployment of 4,000 troops. here's what the official with the texas national guard told reporters yesterday about how the deployment from his state will unfold. >> within 72 hours, the texas military department will have 250 personnel, along with ground

surveillance vehicles, light and medium aviation platforms as early as tomorrow, notifications will go out to soldiers who will be called up as part of the follow-on phase. this notification allow guardsmen soldiers and airmen to notify their families and employers in the preparation to report as early as next week. >> meantime, arizona governor tweeted his plans to deploy approximately 150 national guard members. let's bring in msnbc zerlina maxwell, joe watkinwatkins, and tyler. my saturday morning family. good to see you guys. with a good morning to you all. rick, i'm going to begin with you here. he wants troops to be positioned at the border for quite a period here, at least until he gets the wall. so what is the strategy? do you think this is some sort of negotiating tactic or is this

legit we're going to see troops along the board or for who knows how long? >> well, i think it is complete overreaction to a fox news fox and friends story the president watched about a caravan heading to the border and felt he had to react to it. he claimed it was new. he did not. obama and bush did it. they have no mechanism to detain or even come in contact with illegal immigrants. they can provide surveillance and support. and they will do that. i think this is complete overreaction. i'm for securing the border, but this particular action seems like a real waste of time. >> what do you think, zerlina, in terms of this action? is it a game changer for democrats when it comes to border security negotiations? >> perhaps. they want to protect undocumented people so they are

not stripped from their familiar members. i think this puts us on the moral high ground. more troops on the border means more death on the border. recently i visited the border of arizona. and one of the things i learned is that a lot of the troops on the border or vigilantes on the board or will breakwater bottles left for people crossing the border with with their family members. children are often crossing with family members. so i think with need to always remember the human impact of trump policy. so if he is sending more troops to the border, that is going to make it more dangerous for people who are crossing. again, i think it is important for us to understand that people are crossing to be reunited with their family members. yes, they are coming for work. y he es, they are coming for more opportunity. but also because their children or husbands are on the other side of a wall or a fence or a border. and we must never forget that. so these trump policies have a

human impact. and this is just something that democrats are going to run into in 2018. >> joe, we cannot forget the way the president announced his candidacy for the presidency of course. he is now repeating some of those claims, as well as thoels he had on the campaign trail about mexicans. let's take a listen. >> women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before. they don't want to mention that. we cannot let people enter our country. we have no idea who they are. we don't know if they are murderers, killers, ms-13. >> when he says these things now, does it add more tkpwraflt to t gravity to the claims? >> it certainly puts a tint on the issue when you talk about immigrants from that perspective. we're a nation of immigrants, all of us, with the exception of native americans or people from other plates who have come here over the generations to live and now call this country home.

so we are all immigrants one way or the other. and i think it is difficult when you categorize any group of people trying to come to this country in a negative light. it doesn't help the matter. it is interesting to see the way in which the president chose to deploy these national guard troops. the president used his authority under title 32 as opposed to title 10 to deploy the troops, which gives the authority to the governors to deploy these national guard troops. very interesting way that he did that. >> yeah. i will talk with ted lou about that later today. we have ann coulter who has made not unusual and controversial comments on the president's troop announcements. let's listen to this. >> he announced he will put the military to the border. is that a step in the right direction? >> i don't think so. what are they going to do, shoot

the illegals in. >> no. >> both obama and bush did this too. unless they are going to shoot one and accepted a message to the rest. as voluntary's line in candide is. we hang one to encourage the others. if you shoot one to encourage the others, maybe they'll learn. but otherwise, we'll see, we'll see. >> that is just classic coulter. it is nonsensical. it doesn't have anything to do with the issue at hand. picking up on joe's point, the mexicans were here before we were the united states. it is is not only native americans it is mexican or mexican-hispanic heritage. we can't keep it a political issue. i think with he should have a secure border and have a way that people come in legally and

rational rationally. we can't be in the middle anymore. we have daca recipients who are in the middle and continue to be in the middle. we have encouraged people to come over the border. we need to figure out a way to -- we're a pro immigration country. always has been. the conservative and republican party have always encouraged legal immigration. i hope that doesn't change. >> look, zerlina, we can't forget that president obama sent 1200 to the boarder in 2010. is it fair for democrats to criticize this president? >> yes. . a lot of democrats criticized president obama for some of his enforcement measures against immigrants coming across the border. so you're right, that president obama certainly did similar things. there were plenty of deportations to complain about. if you're a progressive under the previous president. but this impacts the daily lives

of people on the border. when you dehumanize undocumented people the way that the president did in that clip and also at the large of his campaign, the treatment of those human beings along the border is a lot more severe. so i think we always need to go back to the fact that these are human beings with family members and children trying to be reunited with their families. and i think we need to talk about them in humanizing terms. it is increasingly difficult to do that when you have a president who refuses to do that. >> okay. let's move to epa administrator scott pruitt. i will start with you, rick, on this. sarah huckabee sanders said yesterday he is doing a great job at the epa. but ethics questions and damaging reports about pruitt are piling up. the new report that the associated press which said he spent $3 million of taxpayer money on his security and travel expenses, and that includes a 20 member full time detail that is more than three times the size

of any of his predecessors part-time security contingent. what is the the republican perspective here? are they looking past this controversy as long as he is advancing the president's agenda? >> look, this is -- scott pruitt to me is a double-edged sword. i think obama administration had a lot of he overreach and pruitt has been rolling that back. on the other hand, he has become a political target because all of these negative optics, renting an apartment from a lobbyist tells people that he may be under the influence of industry. pro energy industry who would have an and in rolling back these regulations. them rolled back. it would be nice if they didn't look like they were in the pocket of industry. he is well aware of the optics, as the president is. and the other side who doesn't like his rolling back is certainly taking advantage of it. i know that the chief of staff recommended he be fired. but i think the chief of staff

is more in danger of losing his job than scott pruitt. i think trump will ride this out. >> to your point about john kelly and his urging, how do you see this playing out? >> well, i think that while the president is inclined to keep scott pruitt and certainly there are conservative voices urging that he do so, it becomes harder over time as the stories continue to drip out. the not only the expense of money, but raising the salaries of several staffers, some staffers leaving because of their disagreement with scott pruitt over how he spends money inside the agency. the stories aren't going away. the stories just get worse and worse. the steady drip of bad stories really hurts -- if you're president of the united states,

you don't want your agenda distracted because of the steady drip of bad stories. >> and you make that about some of the stories at the epa, others being demoted. >> that's right. >> okay, guys. we'll talk stormy in just a little bit. stay where you are. thank you so much. meantime, a dire prediction. north korea will be ready to nuke the u.s. anywhere beginning in july. who says it and why coming up. >> ivanka, the envoy. the first daughter may have laid the work for the upcoming talks with north korea. and melania trump's surprising political impact inside the white house.

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georgetown university, serving on the national security council during the bush administration and korean affairs analyst. victor, with a welcome to you. let's get to this assessment. do you find it shocking. does it make the north korea threat more urgent? can you explain july 23rd, the specific date. why that date? >> well, i cannot explain the specific date of july 23rd. but there has been a reassessment overall of north korea's capabilities over the past year. i think many people thought by 2020 they might have the camability to directly threaten the u.s. homeland. but the 20 missile tests they did during president trump's first term in office caused everybody to reevaluate and see this as a nor near term threat than something three or four years down the road. >> so you believe this thing? you believe by is summer north korea is capable. >> i don't know if it's by summer is.

they haven't demonstrated a reentry vehicle. target capability is uncertain. we don't know if they have a submarine launch. there are many aspects up proven. but in terms on of a prototype of a long-range missile, they are well on their way towards doing that and getting closer and closer every month. >> so if we look at the calen r calendar, that's july 23rd. the president is reportedly supposed to meet kim jong-un in may. you say everyone should be aware that this dramatic act of diplomat is seu by these two unusual leaders who love flair and drama may also take us closer to war. so do you think these two should not meet? >> well, i think normally when we have these sorts of things you would like for there to be qualified negotiators doing the preliminary work trying to work out a deal with the leaders coming at the have end to sign and close the deal. we are doing completely backwards this time. the two leaders are going on to

meet. there is really no time to do a serious negotiation. and so the danger with some is if they fail, there is nothing left in terms of diplomacy. you have run out of road in terms of diplomacy. so this is both high risk and high reward when you do the sum is mitt this quickly. >> vick is tore, let's face it. nothing has worked. the traditional approach to diplomacy in the past has not worked. so what are the chances this could? >> well, i think -- i would agree with you. i participated in the last set of negotiations. it was no fun. as we get closer to the summit, all sides will realize they cannot afford to have it fail. so what's most likely to come out of this is a lot of attention from the world and maybe big statements by the two leaders which will then lead to a negotiation process that trump, for example, will say his guys are going to have 18 months to negotiate what he has put

forward. i think we may get big statements but we will end up in a negotiation that follows the big statements in that big summit. >> that makes good sense actually. what about kim's meeting in china? what do you make of that? >> a couple of things i found interesting about that. the first is the chinese basically have not been talking to north korea. traditional partner on the korean peninsula for almost two to three years. so this meeting was a clear effort by china to reverse its policy after xi was rein stated in office now forever. there is no term limit anymore. but the second thing that was interested is that the north korea leader's first trip outside the country. he took his entire entourage which shows he is not afraid to travel now to meet leaders. it raeutsz the question whether he will travel to meet trump. >> that does raise an interesting question. what about the analysis saying

the meeting could prove to be a disaster adding the shift on north korea may have come during ivanka trump's february trip to the winter olympics which she spent a great deal on face took with president moon. is that plausible? >> i'm sure went to the olympics, she met with president moon, probably carried a message. but that olympics is a very interesting piece to the puzzle because the south koreans try to generate a lot of this peace diplomacy out of the olympics. in december, a month before the olympics started, everybody was concerned we would be in a full-fledged crisis. but that has not been the case. and that trump probably had something to do with it. >> do you think she should stay involved? >> i think she went as the envoy. she may have carried a message from the white house. but this is best left to negotiators. it is best left to experienced

people like john bolton, who will start on monday. and negotiators both at the nsc and the state department. >> all right. victor, we look forward to many more discussions as this whole situation heats up. thank you for stormy daniels sew says the president delivered them a an early christmas present. we can't predict what tomorrow will bring. but our comprehensive approach to financial planning can help make sure you're prepared for what's expected and even what's not. and that kind of financial confidence can help you sleep better at night. with the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant.

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new questions in the stormy daniels' saga after president trump broke his silence. >> let's bring in zerlina maxwell and rick tyler. >> wu-day think the president

took the question about stormy daniels this week. can you think of the strategy behind this? >> no, the president is just impetuous and you know, look, he fit into the theory of their case, his theory, the trump theory is that he's a third-party beneficiary, who holds that the contract is valid between her and michael cohen and it has other implications and stormy daniels' case is based on the fact that you can't enter into an agreement which you're not aware of. so we'll see who wins that. >> we're going to hear more on that, zirlena, michael avenatti, he believes those remarks from the president, those are a game-changer for his case. let's listen to his reaction. >> 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 claims that they don't know anything about the agreement? i mean these guys are making it up as they go along.

they don't know what to say from day in and day out. and our case just got a well lot better. >> and then on the flip side. michael cohen, his lawyer says, he's issued a statement saying the president's remarks are an accurate assessment of the facts. so zirlena, does he have a point? >> michael avenatti is a chess player, clearly and he trapped the president and michael cohen into admitting yes, what has been their story all along. but it's a completely implausible story that puts michael cohen in ethical and legal jeopardy. because you cannot as an attorney just go freelance without informing your client. and so michael cohen has a number of issues. and michael avenatti is correct, that this does put their case in a stronger standing. because donald trump essentially was baited into admitting that he did not know anything about his attorney paying off a porn star weeks before the election. their official story doesn't hold up. it's falling apart and i think

we're going to see some interesting legal maneuvers and perhaps a deposition of the president in the future. >> and you know, joe, norm eisen, former white house ethics lawyer under president obama spoke to the "washington post" about the president's comments, and he said they should quote be taken with a large grain of salt because of lying over 2,000 times in his first year alone, according to the "post." if true, however, eisen agreed that it strengthens the case to throw out the hush agreement. do you believe the president's claims that he did not know about the payment and the nondisclosure? >> i'm not sure that i believe that. but what i believe is almost irrelevant at this point. because the president has said consistently that he didn't do it and if he meets with the evangelical leaders as he's supposed to do, he's not going to confess to them that he did it, either. as long as he says he didn't do it. it's going to be up to a court to determine what the truth is. but clearly, stormy daniels said

it happened and there are lots of other people who think it happened. i guess it's a matter for the court to decide. we're going to talk about that evangelical leaders meeting potential in june coming up next hour. meantime i thank all of you as always, zerlena, rick and joe, thank you so much. the new book that has a revelation about phone calls president trump sometimes makes to reporters off the record. ♪ ♪ applebee's to go.

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. good morning, everyone, i'm alex witt here in new york at msnbc world headquarters, 9:00 in the east. 6:00 a.m. out west. here's what's happening now, feeling the heat and fighting for his job -- reports about scott pruitt's oval office meeting amid questions about his ethics and spending. white house line one -- a new book reveals president trump is using a tactic from his past to deal with reporters now. plus a year ago it was just a joke -- this morning, the front-page parody that now looks like a prediction. but we begin with