with that, our tuesday night broadcast comes to a close. thank you so very much for being here with us. good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. and fatality mid air, a woman is partially sucked out a plane window when an engine exploded. investigators are trying to figure out what caused the blast. good morning. it is wednesday, april 18th. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside

yasmine vossoughian. a few words used to describe barbara bush. she has died at the age of 92. no word on funeral plans overnight. general public will be able to pay respects friday as the wife and mother of presidents lay in repose, followed by a service for family and friends saturday morning and burial at college station. barbara pierce born in 1925, and raised in the suburb of new york. when she was 16, she met george herbert walker bush at a dance. they married before either of them was 20 years old. >> together they had six children, through an array of business ventures and government service, she shepherded her family through 29 moves in the first 44 years of her marriage.

as first lady, made a huge impact. >> in ten months in the white house, made more than 100 personal appearances to promote charitable causes, from hunger and homeless to aging and aids. conservatives wonder if their republican president is married to a closet liberal. >> liberal when it comes to human rights, education for everybody, liberal and conservative don't mean much to me any more. we are interested and want to help, that makes you liberal, so be it. >> a great woman, a great mother, a great wife. barbara bush was the picture of her resilient generation for her husband's first election. bush visited 189 precincts in

harris county, texas to help him become chairman. still at it more than 50 years later, braving snows of new hampshire as you see to campaign alongside her son jeb. sitting in the front row of a town hall, snapping photos on her smart phone. >> incredible. chief of staff to george h.w. bush says he is broken hearted at the loss of his wife of 73 years, it will not surprise all of you who know him and love him he is also being stoic and strong and lifted up by his large, supportive family. determined to be there for them as well. >> unbelievable. quite a loss. switching gears, the internal fallout caused by mixed messages from the trump administration continues to escalate and spill out into public. you may recall monday, president trump put the ka bosh unveiling sanctions on russia for support

of the assad regime. nikki haley announced it 24 hours early. the director of the national economic counsel larry kudlow told reporters that ambassador haley may have had moem tree confusion and got ahead of the curve. she responded in a statement to fox news saying with all due respect, i don't get confused. kudlow later apologized to her, telling "new york times" he was totally wrong, adding policy was changed and she was not told about it, a problem in and of itself. she was in a box. several officials tell the times the white house did not inform the ambassador of change in plans. it is unclear when policy was changed or why the ambassador was not told about it ahead of time, although chairman of the senate foreign relations committee bob corker seems to have the answer. watch this. >> what do you make of that. >> confusion, read about it, i

don't watch many programs, read about it and saw it, fought back immediately. that's the norm. sounds like confusion from the white house. >> president trump set for potential meeting with north korean leader kim jong-un sometime in the coming months. yesterday he discussed the situation with the japanese prime minister at mar-a-lago. >> we will be depending on various meetings and conversations, we'll be having meetings with kim jong-un very soon. that will be taking place probably in early june or before that. i look forward to meeting with kim jong-un and hopefully that will be a success. maybe it will be, maybe it won't be, we don't know. i can say this, they respect us, we are respectful of them.

we started talking to north korea directly. we have had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels with north korea. and i believe there's a lot of goodwill, a lot of good things are happening. >> so "the washington post" reports that trump's mystery man is none other than outgoing cia director and secretary of state nominee mike pompeo. he traveled to north korea over easter weekend, met with kim jong-un. this according to two people with direct knowledge of the trip that told the post. it is part of the effort to lay ground work for trump's potential meeting with kim. if confirmed, he would be one of the highest ranking sitting u.s. officials to visit north korea and meet with its leader since at least 2000. comes at the south korean president is set to meet with kim in nine days at the peace house on the southern side of the dmz. south korean official tells nbc news among the meeting

objectives is to quote, transform armistice truce into a peace agreement. president trump discussed the situation yesterday. take a listen. >> south korea is meeting and has plans to meet with north korea to see if they can end the war, and they have my blessing on that. they've been very generous, without us and without me in particular i guess you would have to say they wouldn't be discussing anything. and they do have my blessing to discuss the end to the war. people don't realize the korean war has not ended. it is going on right now. and they're discussing an end to the war. >> in following the fbi raid of president trump's personal attorney michael cohen, he previously expressed desire to interview with the special counsel. now saying he is leaning against that idea. trump was in fewer ated by the

seizure of sensitive correspondence and work he was doing on his behalf and believe mueller's team was operating in bad faith. two sources say trump was so upset, he had trouble concentrating on plans laid out in front of him that day by the national security team about potential options for targeted missile strikes on syria, told aids he was cool to the idea of doing interview with mueller. according to the post, the president's lawyers are open to the idea of him talking with mueller but now say it is less likely. >> the lawyers are, the president is open to the idea. daniel lipman, good morning. >> good morning. >> let's start there with the new reporting of the president cooled to the idea of speaking with bob mueller over the russian investigation. do you think lawyers could turn this around, convincing him to sit down with bob mueller? and if he doesn't, what do you think would be the impact on the

investigation? >> i think it is funny how he changed his mind a million times on this. sometimes he thinks that he wants to talk to mueller, other times after something like the cohen raid, he is very cool to it. so i think if he doesn't talk to mueller, it makes him look like he has something to hide or that he would worry he would perjure himself. mueller could say we couldn't get full cooperation from the white house and that's a problem as well. >> let me switch gears, talk about the public rift that emerged in the past 48 hours between nikki haley and larry kudlow about russian sanctions. is it going to have impact on the foreign policy teams to be able to get things done going forward, although larry kudlow is not in the national security realm, he still weighed in on the fact that nikki haley was confused, fwot ogot out ahead o

curve. >> kudlow is more candid than most members of the administration. he was on tv like us. so he is a little more truthful sometimes, when he said it was mo momentary confusion. i think he will be stepping away from what's going on as much. it is bad news for the world to see that even the u.s. government can't get their policy ducks in a row. and that undercuts nikki haley's reputation at the u.n. >> she did not hesitate firing back to fox news, i don't get confused. >> all right, we'll touch bas base in a bit. the deadly southwest airlines explosion. what we are learning about the investigation and the fallout. and mitch mcconnell explains why he stopped legislation protecting robert mueller, and democrats respond. those stories and a check on the

weather, with bad news bill karins when we come back.

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now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. welcome back. one passenger was killed and seven others injured when an engine on a flight exploded mid air. happened about 20 minutes into the flight. unbelievable. shrapnel punctured a window, a woman was partially sucked out of the plane, other passengers and flight attendants held onto her, unfortunately she suffered fatal injuries. the passenger was identified as a 43-year-old jennifer rearden, mother of two from albuquerque, new mexico. the first in flight death in southwest airlines history. pilots on the flight made an emergency landing in philadelphia. last fall the engine manufacturer sent out an order to all airlines using this engine to conduct inspection because of concerns of metal

fatigue. southwest airlines says they checked this particular plane as recently as sunday. the faa, ntsb, airline and the engine manufacturer are all investigating, trying to determine exactly what happened and if other engines are at risk of the same thing happening. now to the report that michael cohen isn't the only lawyer that connects sean hannity and donald trump. hannity admitted he retained services of the president's only current lawyer on the russian investigation and one of the lawyers set to add to the russian defense team but didn't because of conflicts. the atlantic report says their names on a cease and desist letter sent to a radio station, sent in response to accusations against hannity, made by controversial activist debbie sh lus he will. during an appearance on kfaq,

she said hannity had been creepy towards her, invited her to his hotel room. he called the allegations 100% false. meanwhile, "the washington post" offers more in sight into the relationship. robert costa writes phone calls between president trump and sean hannity come early in the morning or late at night after the fox news host gets off the air, discuss ideas for his show, trump's frustration with on-going special counsel probe, and even at times what the president should tweet. according to people familiar with conversations, when he is off the phone, trump is known to cite hannity when he talks with white house advisers. >> would you say he is senior producer now of the show? >> or sean hannity is a senior adviser to the president. and reports that executives pressed for more information about his connection to michael cohen. when he offered no more information than what he already stated publicly, the network did

release this statement. while fox news was unaware of sean hannity's informal relationship with michael cohen, was surprised by the announcement in court, we reviewed the matter, have spoken to sean, he continues to have our full support. according to employees, a range of theories swirled through the newsroom, did he have a woman problem. it continues. everyone's first impression was the same. you only hire cohen for one reason, one staffer said. meanwhile, it is a month since stormy daniels claimed that his client was physically threatened not to discuss the alleged affair. yesterday, she and her lawyer released a sketch of the man she claims approached her in the vegas parking lot while she was with her infant daughter. >> this was seven years ago. you remember to that detail.

>> he stood out to me, i thought honestly that he was sort of handsome. when i saw him when i was parking, that's somebody's husband. >> her lawyer says they're offering $100,000 reward for credible information about the man who allegedly threatened her. let's check the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, not any good news on the horizon. >> always excited for the first snow of winter but not for the last. >> we're over it. she has no more vacation days to go skiing. >> the snowstorm under way. snowed in nebraska and south dakota and breaking into iowa. winter storm warnings and advisories. not just one isolated area either. here's the snow in blue, spreading rapidly to areas of iowa. going to snow hard through the

morning rush hour. here's the wonderful snowfall map. 4 to 6 inches likely. the northern half of iowa, this section of southern wisconsin getting four inches of snow. the roads will probably be less than this. definitely this much on grassy surfaces. during the taye during the day in april it will be sticking. tomorrow, cold enough tomorrow, in areas of western new york and central new york and cat skills, four inches in purple. good chunk of new york state will see snow. obviously to get all of the snow, you have to have it cold. temperatures are very cold. d.c. at 37. columbus, down to 28. it is frigid. thankfully this time of year the southeast will recover nicely. atlanta up to 80 degrees. d.c. at 63. lot better than chicago's rain

and snow and 37. great news. after this snowstorm, another shot of cold air coming down. bring you the great details coming up. >> i don't know why we do weather. bad news. spend more time on sports. thanks for that, bill. the pelicans continue to roll out west, the nba playoffs heat up. and on the ice, a first for sin city's golden knights. details next in sports. life, we tend to start small. less of this. cut back on that. but if it feels like a lot of effort for a little gain, change that. start with something that makes a big difference... ...your student loans. refinancing with sofi could save you $30,000. it's an easier way to reach your life goal sooner. we've helped over 195,000 people. we want to help you too. find out how much you can save in just two minutes at sofi.com/save. in just two minutes experience a blend of...and raw power,nship... engineered to take the crown.

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welcome back. time for sports. begin with the first round of the nba playoffs, out west in portland, the pelicans take a 2-0 series lead over the trail blazers after drew holiday knocked down a game high 33 points. 111-102 win there. the pelicans scored double-doubles in that victory. won both games on the road. they now head home for game three thursday. in eastern conference, the celtics boast a two game lead in the series against the bucs after 30 poins from jalen brown, 120-106 win at home. and in toronto, the raptors, derosen matched a playoff high with 37 points, unstoppable. 130-119 victory against the wizards. raptors lead that series 2-0. we head to l.a. for the

first round of the nhl playoffs. the golden knights won the first series as a franchise, securing 1-0 victory on the road over the l.a. kings. mcnabb scored the only goal late in the second helping the team advance to second round. washington capitals got their first win of the playoffs over the blue jackets in double overtime. the blue jackets lead the series 2-1. and in saint paul, minnesota, jets pushed the wild to the brink, shutting out minnesota 2-0. leading 3 games to 1, the series shifts back to winnipeg for game five friday. thousands of puerto ricans remain without power. the lights at the stadium in san juan were still on where the

indians and minnesota twins played the first of a two game series. a hormomerun in front of home crowd, helping the indians to a 6-1 win and going down in history books. >> i have to say, despite everything puerto rico has been through, i am sure it is nice for people there to have the lights in the stadium on. still ahead, what we are learning about cia director mike pompeo's meeting with kim jong-un. a live report on that. and tributes pour in following the death of barbara bush. looking at her life as former first lady and matriarch to the bush family. be right back. (cat 1) friskies world...

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmine vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and lewis berg door of. we begin with the latest in the crisis with north korea and "the washington post" reporting that outgoing cia director and secretary of state nominee mike pompeo recently traveled and met with kim jong-un. one of the objectives of the upcoming summit is to transform the current armistice truce into a peace agreement which president trump says he has given his quote blessing to. joining us live from beijing, january is -- janice mackey.

are we about to see an end to the korean war? >> officially. >> officially, it is possible. the korea summit slated for later this month between kim jong-un and moon jae-in will discuss the possibility of some sort of peace treaty or agreement. it is all still early stage. south korean officials use words like abstract in describing what could be a peace treaty, yet the north koreans have agreed only to enter a process, and the goals of which are still ambiguous. it still represents perhaps the most progress we have seen in a generation. as for the meeting that saw mike pompeo travel there secretly, we don't know much about it beyond that he met with kim jong-un to discuss probability of a summit between the north korean leader and president trump. it could happen late may,

perhaps early june. the big issue is where it is going to be held. that's still unclear. what we know is it won't be in the united states. increasingly people are saying it may not be held on the korean peninsula. this is the highest level official, u.s. official to visit and meet with a north korean leader since madeleine albright in 2000. it is unclear what kim jong-un will want from the entire process. his main goal is the preservation of kim family rule. but we are seeing progress. >> all eyes on that meeting. thanks. switching gears. defense secretary jim mattis, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff briefed the entire house of representatives and senate yesterday regarding the strategy and recent air strikes in syria. it comes as military and administration officials tell "new york times" that mattis

urged trump to get congressional approval before the air strikes, saying it is important to get public support for military operations. however, he was overruled by the president who the times reports wanted rapid, dramatic response. >> senate majority leader put a stop to protect robert mueller during an interview with fox news, mcconnell felt the legislation wasn't necessary, he doesn't think president trump will fire mueller. >> there's no indication mueller will be fired. i don't think the president is going to do that. and just as a practical matter, even if we passed it, why would he sign it. >> you don't think it is a good idea, and you don't think it is something the president would entertain or should entertain? >> i don't think he should fire mueller and i don't think he is going to, so this is a piece of legislation that's not necessary in my judgment. >> enough colleagues fear it enough to say it should be in there. >> i'm the one that decides what

we talk i can to the floor, that's one of my responsibilities, we will not have this on the floor of the senate. >> chuck schumer issued a statement slamming that decision, writing it is a mistake not to pass legislation to protect the investigation. we ought to head off a constitutional crisis at the pass, rather than waiting until it is too late. z >> daniel lipman joining us. you heard from mcconnell there, saying he doesn't feel there's a need for legislation to protect firing of bob mueller, but also doesn't understand why the president would even sign legislation like that. there is growing partnership support for something to be passed to protect the firing of mueller. do you think members could push something through to protect mueller? >> i think if you don't have mcconnell on board, then it is not going to happen. and to mcconnell's point that the president may not sign it, they could override his veto,

they're not entirely powerless. i think a lot of people that are pushing for the bill to protect mueller on the republican side, they're doing it to protect trump, too. if trump fires mueller, that back fires on them. remember last time he fired comey, that launched the whole investigation. clearly it is something to watch. >> let me switch gears and ask you about this meeting with kim jong-un between the cia director mike pompeo and kim jong-un. are we beginning to see an actual meeting likely to take place between the two leaders, between trump and kim jong-un, and if it does actually happen, what should we expect to happen coming forward? >> all signs are pointing towards this meeting happening. trump views himself as master negotiator, thinks he can overpower kim jong-un in

negotiation and what we should expect coming out of it is i think there's going to be some type of deal because it would look bad for both sides if they have the grand summit and nothing is accomplished. so there will be a deal to stop icbm testing or something to put a limit on the nuclear program. >> stakes are so high, what happens if they don't reach agreement, does that mean end of the road of talks? >> seems as if there's going to be so much build up to this, they want to get somewhere with this. let's talk syria quickly before we let you go. defense secretary mattis and joseph dunford briefing lawmakers on recent air strikes in syria and they actually left some concern. what do you make of some reactions we have been hearing. >> a lot of members are congress don't believe that the trump administration has a strategy going forward on syria.

they think you have this constant trump saying he wants to pull out of syria and a few weeks later hits with air strikes. clearly there's some concern that they don't have a clear strategy to help u.s. interests in syria. >> thank you, daniel. >> thank you. condolences pouring in, following the death of former first lady barbara bush who passed away yesterday at her home in houston. >> her family announced after a series of recent hospitalizations, she would not seek further medical treatment. she was 92 years old. jay gray has a look back on her remarkable life. >> reporter: she was the matriarch of an american political dynasty, barbara pierce bush, wife of the 31 president and mother of another.

she was a popular first lady. >> atlas i get a chance to prove i'm more than just a pretty face. >> she was a force for a number of causes, including literacy, aids and children's issues. >> did you like that story. >> reporter: driven in part by loss of a daughter to leukemia. with her husband, she raised more than a billion dollars for charity after leaving the white house. >> my wife barbara, the silver fox. >> reporter: former president george h.w. bush publicly referred to his biwife as the reason for his success, fiercely protective and loyal to family. >> at the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal. you will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend or a parent. >> she often joked that she had been lucky to marry so well. while friends and fans say it is

the country that was lucky to have such a gracious, caring woman as first lady, and in later years affectionately known as america's grandmother. jay gray, nbc news. >> the funeral will take place saturday in houston. members of the public can pay respects friday. still ahead, seeking solution on daca. new campaign on a surprising source calling on congress to strike a deal for young, undocumented immigrants. and we are approaching may, bill karins hasn't gotten the memo. he is back talking more snow in the forecast.

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society and welcoming society at the same time. >> there's a bipartisan path forward on immigration that offers a permanent solution for our dreamers and a stronger border. what are we waiting for? >> funded by the freedom partners, the 30 second spot aims to revive talks. the white house sought $25 billion to build a border wall, democrats demand path to citizenship for the 1.8 million eligible for daca. under threat of veto, the omni bus spending bill passed without action on immigration. . let's go to the favorite part of the show, a check on the weather. >> i knew it. should lead the show with weather every day. the never ending winter continues. these are snowfall totals for some cities, just in april alone. sioux falls, had over two feet.

minneapolis, over two feet of snow. if you want to complain in the ohio valley, great lakes, don't complain to these people. green bay had three feet, alpena, northern michigan, over 30 inches. here is today's snowfall. we're going to add to snowfall. 3 to 6 in iowa and lower portions of wisconsin. after the storm leaves, here comes cold air again behind the storm. you get a one daybreak. tennessee, nashville will be great. south carolina, good warmup. chicago is frigid with snow and rain, 38 degrees. then here comes cold into thursday. this is how far below average it is. normally indianapolis should be mid to upper 60s. only 52. pittsburgh, only 41 degrees. here's a slice of good news. no other snowstorms are behind this, and this cold air mass slowly warms up going through

the weekend. philadelphia, friday is 52. by sunday, sunny and 62. it has been so cold for so long, 62 will feel warm. boston jumps to 55. buffalo only to 50 sunday. columbus up to 62. there's some hope that this is the last snow, that this is the last cold arctic air. it will be beautiful in the southeast. atlanta at 80, new orleans, 81. florida is great, too. then going to thursday, much of the country is okay, just chillier than it should be. bring the umbrella tomorrow. it will be chilly but rain. >> i heard this before. this should be the last winter arctic blast, and middle of next week, you're like guys, i have bad news. >> it is okay to have okay news. it is ayman's birthday, everybody. >> what? >> we have okay news on his

birthday. >> you can't have a cake, fire hazard. make a wish, pretend to blow it out. >> thanks, guys. appreciate it. i went for warm weather. >> happy 50th. >> 50th? all right. still ahead. supreme court takes up a case on how much you pay online. and another bad day. the standard company car wasn't good enough for the embattled epa chief.

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welcome back. self imposed life-style of embattled epa director scott pruitt continues to get more extravagant, all at the expense of taxpayers, of course. according to new report from "the washington post," he upgraded his government vehicle to a larger and more expensive version, complete with plenty of bells and whistles. for past administrators, a chevy tahoe was sufficient. the post citing federal records and current officials say pruitt said he wanted a larger chevy suburban, similar to what other cabinet secretaries have, the lease on the car ran more than $10,000 for the first year, he had the vehicle upgraded with leather interior bucket seats, a

bulletproof seat cover, wi-fi, and gps, tacked on several hundred dollars to the bill. >> did it have bluetooth? that's the question. >> i'm going to say yes. switching gears. the supreme court weighing a case that could have a major impact online retailers and their customers. the case focuses on collection of sales tax by businesses for online sales. more than 40 states led by south dakota are asking them to abandon previous ruling in an effort to even the playing field between online and brick and mortar retailers. currently if a business is shipping to a state where it doesn't have an office, warehouse or other physical presence, it doesn't have to collect state sales tax. customers are generally supposed to pay tax to the states themselves, but most do not. several of the justices suggested in arguments that they had concerns about reversing course, including chief justice

john roberts, along with stephen breyer, alito and sonya soto meyer. a decision is expected by june. if you failed to file tax returns by yesterday's deadline, there's good news. the irs gives you one more day to do so after the.

coming up on morning joe, the trump administration mixed messages on foreign policy. when it comes to syria and russia. learning details about mike pompeo's secret meeting. they're weighing in. more on the life and legacy of barbara bush as the country and world remembers the wife and mother of two u.s. presidents and matriarch of a notable family. experience the 2018 lexus nx and the nx hybrid with a class leading 31mpg combined estimate. lease the 2018 nx 300 and nx 300 all wheel drive for these terms. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. ♪

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talk to us about axios one big thing is this morning. >> we spend so much time on the show and i know you're going to talk about it on "morning joe" about all the tension around trump and his administration. we look at who gets along with trump. who's played. best. and when you talk to white house officials they're unanimous it's mike pence. vice president pence. despite the flap earlier this week about his national security adviser very rarely do they have public or private tension or friction, which is very unusual in this white house. and the twha pence does it, we call it his art of the deal, is that he knows he has to be in public and in private 100% loyal to the president so that he can stick around as vice president, but also be a viable option if the president were to get impeached or if the president were to not run in 2020 that he could still be a viable option in 2020. and he is somehow been able to thread that needle. >> so let's talk a little bit about an interesting point that you guys brought up at axios,

which is that somehow the vice president mike pence has got a real talent for being out of washington when trouble hits the wlo white house and there tends to be a lot of trouble these days. what's pence saying about this? >> first off happy birthday. he does have this uncanny ability to not be around when a lot of the trouble especially around russia is swirling. part of that is he's on the road doing his duties as vice president. but part of it is he's a pretty strategic guy, a smart guy and somehow has not gotten caught up in a lot of the investigation. there's definitely parts of it where he'll get pulled in. for the most part when you hear these stories about the meetings that could be problematic in the white house or during the campaign, he wasn't around. remember, he's a very, very cautious, conservative, and pretty calculating guy. and so he knows what he's -- he knows the hand that he's playing. what i find interesting is even the people who are closest to him, i'm always poking and prodding him saying come on in

private does he roll his eyes? does he pore trait fact that i can't believe this is happening? and he doesn't, which just speaks to his -- >> a true company man. >> when we interviewed him, mikey interviewed him a couple weeks ago, you could just see it. he's just a machine like he was on talk radio in terms of the mess zblath has anyone watched homeland? just saying. something similar going on in the show right there. as we talked about pence being able to skirt around the wrath of the president as of late, talk about the latest battles that the president is facing with members of his own cabinet. >> bunch of them sort of erupting overnight put had this yesterday this back and forth about whether nikki haley over at the u.n. had gotten over her skis saying there might be sanctions against the russian, then had you trump saying that's not going to happen. then had you larry kudlow and others saying that there was a misunderstanding suggesting it was on her part. just tension right there in terms of nikki haley saying i didn't get anything wrong, i

know what we were plan doing if there was a shift it wasn't on me it was on the president or others. that's unusual. the other piece overnight was this thing about defense secretary mattis who i would say like pence is really navigated his relationship with trump better than almost anybody else. there was a difference of opinion between trump and mattis on how aggressively to go after syria and whether or not they should have sought congressional approval for a military strike. mattis has a listening history of believing if you can get congressional approval it gives you more public support, more lasting support for war efforts. but the president wanted a quick, tactical strike that he could say constitutes a forceful response to the use of chemical weapons in syria and so they compromised in the middle. but once again had you mattis and trump not totally on the same page but mattis being able to navigate trump. i would say he and pence are the two best at navigating trump and being able to stick around while maintaining some level of authority.

>> let me ask you about something that i think is catching a lot of people's attention. i know that axios is look at how issues that are likely to be big in the midterm elections aren't actually receiving much coverage in the media now that they're not front and center in congress. what did you find out about that? >> well, if you look especially at the last month of cable coverage stormy daniels getting way more coverage than any debate about healthcare or taxes. particularly on taxes, this really matters for republicans because we've now seen a decrease in the number of people who have a favorable opinion of the tax cut. and republicans are really banking on the fact that giving tax cuts in an election year would benefit the party because there would be an economic effect, upward effect and people would feel like with more money in their pocket they'd be more appreciationtive of the republican party. they need people to be supportive of that tax cut otherwise there's nothing for them to feel good about and republicans have an all-party

rule. >> all right. thank you very much. we're going to be reading axios. >> enjoy your birthday. >> to all of our viewers out there, you can sign up for the newsletter at axios.com. >> seems like everyone's wishing you a happy birthday. it ends here my friend. that's us for this morning. "morning joe" starts right now. what do you make of the sanctions walk back? >> confusion. saw it, read about it, i don't watch in programs but read about it and then saw it was walked back immediately. but that's kind of been the norm. it just sounds like confusion from the white house. >> that is the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee bob corker with his take on president trump balking at implementing new sanctions against russia, sanctions that his ambassador to the united nations nikki haley had announced just the day before. this morning a new development in that morning. welcome to "morning joe," it's wednesday, a