president's remorse ms that is our broadcast on a wednesday night. thank you so much for being here with us. good night from nbc headquarters here in new york. michael cohn cohen has pleaded the 5th in the lawsuit involving stormy daniels. >> and new questions about whether ronny jackson will step down for consideration for va secretary amid new allegations. >> and emmanuel macron tells he warned that killing the iran nuclear deal would open pandora's box. >> good morning, everyone. it's thursday, april 26th.

we begin with president trump's long time personal lawyer michael cohen. he now says that he will exercise his 5th amendment right in the self-incrimination civil case brought forward by stormy daniels. she's suing cohen for defamation for sug jeszing that she lied about an affair with the president back in 2006 while also saying her nondisclosure agreement is not valid because the president never signed it. in cohen's decision to remain silent he cited the ongoing criminal investigation by the fbi and federal prosecutors in new york. daniels' attorney has reacted. >> this is the personal attorney to the president of the united states for at least the last ten to 12 years. that same individual that the president pointed you, other members of the media and the american people to for answers is now refusing to provide those answers and claiming that he can't answer the questions

because the answers will imkrim na -- incriminate him. >> a lawyer for donald trump has informed the federal judge that the president would make himself available, quote, as needed in the legal battle over documents seized in the cohen raids this month. cohen filed a federal case joined by president trump to restrict the materials prosecutors can use on the grounds of attorney client privilege. if the presiding judge decides to appoint what's called a special master to determine which of the seized materials are privileged, trump's attorney could could tell the court that the president would aid in that review. the judge would need to authorize the president's involvement. there's word this morning that dr. ronny jackson, president trump's pick to lead the department of veterans affairs is in talks to possibly now withdraw. two sources with knowledge of the conversations telling nbc news that dr. jackson has grown

frustrated with the process and is in active discussions with senior white house officials about withdrawing his name for dr ration for the cabinet post. this also comes as we learn now details about the allegations dr. jackson faces. hallie jackson has the latest on this. >> reporter: new allegations against ronny jackson. in documents obtained by fbs news compiled by the top democrat on the veteran affairs committee. tester says nearly two dozen and former colleagues claim jackson recklessly prescribed the drugs. that he kept questionable records for controlled substances and that he drank on the job while traveling with the president and one time wrecked a vehicle while intoxicated. >> we still have more work to do with the allegations that have been put forth in the claims and more scrutiny on his ability to handle a budget as big as the va's budget and the people under him. >> jackson in a brief interview

denies any crash. >> no, i have not wrecked a car so i can tell you that. >> he adds he wants to move forrd what with his nomination and has no idea where these allegations were coming from. he told president trump the accusations were false and misleading. >> most are bad administrative practices. the controlled substances, if those were given out without a doctor patient relationship that could certainly trigger an investigation. >> the white house, scrambling to saifz him, pushing back against claims jackson was nicknamed the candyman by white house staffers. >> every year they come in and they do review of the white house physician's office on things like prescriptions and every year they've said that he's totally in compliance. >> press secretary sarah sanders pointing to four background checks back john passed. >> there's been no area of concern that was raised for dr. jackson specifically. >> there is still no date set for ronny jackson's confirmation hearing and with congress out on

break next week it won't happen soon if it happens at all. all previous va secretaries have been confirmed overwhelmingly. a lot is riding on this potential hearing, given that this is the person who will lead the second biggest government agency. back to you. >> thanks, to hali jack ton for that repo that report. jew >> giuliani pressed mueller for clarity on when the probe is expected to end. in response mueller reportedly reiterated that he would like a chance to ask trump questions about steps he took during the transition and in the early months of his administration. giuliani joined the trump legal team hoping to negotiate an end to the investigation within a couple of weeks. earlier discussions of a presidential sitdown with mueller reportedly broke off after the raid of michael cohen's office, residence and

hotel room. overseas we are less than 24 hours away from the historic summit between moon jae in and kim jong un. establishing a peace treaty to formally end the korean war. expected to take place before the end of june. you may recall that on tuesday, trump called kim quote, very honorable, a stark contrast from little rocket man, a litany of other insults that he's rolled at the leader. press secretary addressed the apparent disconnect yesterday. take a listen to this. >> the president's referencing the conversations that we've had on going over the last month or so in regards to the meeting to take place and their willingness to denuclearize on the peninsula and that's what --? >> shehe's changed his appraise

kim jong un? >> not that, but he wants to sit down and have these conversations. >> what could be a major reason why north korea says it will close a nuclear test site just by being seen as concession by pyongyang, a chinese sign to say that the site has partially collapsed rendering it unusual for future tests. french president addressed a joint session of congress yesterday. the first one hosted by president trump. and despite their mutual admiration, a little dusting of dandruff of the shoulder of macron, they have a stark difference on several issues and policies and ideas regarding everything from really from trade to climate change to even america's place in the world. take a listen. >> we are experiencing positive impact with innovations, with

jobs creations, we see however the abuses of globalized capitalism and digital disruptions. i believe facing these challenges requires the opposite of massive deregulation and extreme nationalism. commercial war is not the proper answer to this evolutions. i believe in building a better future for our children, which requires offering them a planet that is still habitable in 25 years. by polluting the oceans, not mitigating co 2 emissions and destroying our diversity we are killing our planet. let us face it. there is no planet b. >> all right. so one area where president trump and president macron do not see eye to eye is on the iran nuclear deal.

watch this. >> there is an existing frame work called the jcpo to control the nuclear activity of iran. we signed it. at the initiative of the united states. we signed it but the united states and france, that is why we cannot say we should get rid of it like that. but it is true to say that this agreement may not address all concerns and very important concerns. this is true. but we should not abandon it without having something substantial and more substantial instead. that's why france will not leave it because we signed it. >> macron says while he doesn't

know what trump will decide he warned trump that killing the deal would increase tensions in the region and would quote, open pando pandora's box. asking him quote, do you want to make war with iran? macron also says he thinks trump has learned from his experience with north korea that you can be quote, very tough and make the other side move calling it a quote, strategy of increasing tension which could be useful. macron adds that trump is quote, a deal maker who wants to find a deal with his conditions. all right. joining us now from washington, d.c., white house reporter for the washington examiner, steve nelson. good to have you with us on this thursday morning. so let's pick up on one of the newer scandals if you want to that plagues the white house. dr. ron y jackson obviously facing growing pressure to withdraw with the news that juszcz jackson has become somewhat frustrated with all these stories that have been coming

out against him, is he likely to stick it out or where do you think it goes from here? >> well, it's shocking that he is still -- he still has his name in contention i would say. it's pretty wild to be accused of drinking on the job and overprescribing opioids and drunk driving and crashing a car, just to name the top few allegations. the white house is pushing back on the claims saying they're from a bitter ex- colleague who was fired. of course senator tester says there are many more than just one accuser. we'll have to see where this goes, but if these allegations are true, there's going to be an additional question of white house vetting. dr. jackson has been working at the white house for more than a decade. this would make the rob porter controversy seem minor, i would say. >> actually i've been wondering, if we were ho stto step out of nomination, do you think he would stay as the white house doctor or would he step down

from that as well? >> that would be -- that would be interesting. i don't know. if these allegations are true it's hard to see him keeping that job either. >> yeah, okay, i want to switch gears to rudy giuliani opening up these possibilities about a trump mueller interview, but we know trump has gone on with a twitter rant and focusing on mueller in general. do you think that's going to affect the possibility that he could have a sit-down interview with bob mueller once again? >> if he does sit down with mueller it's going to be a lot different than his bullish talk going in and setting the record straight about the so-called russia hoax. i think after the raid on cohen's office and his residence it's not going to be this free for all. it's certainly if he sits down going to be a bit more controlled. >> all right. live in washington, we'll check back in with you in a little bit. embattled epa scott pruitt

heads to the hill today. will he point the blame at somebody else? those stories and of course a check on your weather when we come back. ♪ ♪

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welcome back, everybody. the supreme court signalled yesterday it is likely to uphold president trump's travel ban. travelers banned from several muslim majority countries from traveling to the united states. despite discussions of anti muslim statements as a candidate, no justice specifically referenced his tweets. they hoped they would join the four member liberal wing to oppose the ban but their questions were almost uniformly

hostile to the ban's opponents. if the contraurt rules in presi trump's favor it would help fulfill a center piece of his presidential campaign. >> one of the most important decisions i think people are watching across the country. let's get a check on our weather. bill, seems a little bit moist outside. >> a lot of fog. >> i hate that word. oh, that's the worst word. >> you work with them. we'll work with them. the rain is now in eastern mass heading up through maine. that will be tracked for fiefz or six days but it is leaving during the day today. the next rainstorm is right on its heels raining hard now in mississippi, spreading to alabama, much of tennessee, at least western half of it is now covered and is spreading towards nashville. here's the timing on this rain system over the next two days. we take it today, this morning, worst morning decatur to new orleans. and could be a thunderstorm.

it doesn't look very impressive here, at least the radar indications. it's going to be hit and miss. then tomorrow morning it will be right over the top of washington, d.c. and baltimore at about 7:00 a.m. keep that in mind if you have an early flight. new york city, philadelphia, looked like a brief period of rain to move through on friday from about noon to about 4:00 p.m. by 6:00 p.m. it's over long island and it could be heavy for a short period of time. boston looks right around the tail end of your evening rush hour. there is some great weather out there today. san antonio and oklahoma city, st. louis, middle of the country looks fantastic. very few problems from denver to the west and notice all the warm air building in the west. for the first time in a while, all that warm air is heading east as we go through the weekend and into next week. we should see 70s and 80s widespread on the east coast for much of next week. a little early taste of summer. >> all right. thanks for that. well, the new york times has obtained audio of the roughly

three-hour meeting between the informal owners, league owners that sparked over protesters during the national anthem. the times reports quote, the unvarnished conversation reveals how the leaders of the most dominant sports leagues in the country and several of its outspoken players con fronted the moment mostly by talking past one another. while players sought an explanation for the perceived blacklisting of colin kaepernick, team owners on the the other hand seemed more focused on damage control following the unprecedented fire storm of negative publicity brought down on the league. still ahead, king james bails out his cavs with a classic performance in an epic buzzer beater. details next in sports. t a flate in the middle of the night.

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oh! lebron james delivers! >> a couple days ago when they lost to the pacers, oh, it's over, lebron it coming down. yeah, that was magical. king james drains the game winning three at the buzzer. cavs win 98-59 taking a one-game lead in this series. toronto rebounded after guam 5 against the wizards. 32 points. lowery adding 17. they'll punch their ticket to the next round when the series switches back to d.c. for game six. now to the western conference finals the timber wolves down 3 games to one against the rockets. look to keep their season alive. however, didn't happen. they were dashed quickly. center led the team. james harden recorded a double double. 24 points, 12 assists and the third quarter was the achilles

heel as the rockets held them to 15 points. the rockets will face the series winner of the jazz and thunder. the thunder also find themselves down 3-1, but they had a better outcome than minnesota. russell westbrook went on otear. he scored 45 points, took 39 shots, grabbing 15 boards to lead his team to 107-99 victory. the series returns to salt lablg city for game six on friday. i think ayman takes 35 shots maybe he scores 8 points? the city of toronto no longer has a dog in this fight after game 7 in boston. the bruins earn a spot in the next round after defeating the maple leafs 7-4. boston piles on another 3. it was a close last period. the bruins will next face top

seeded tampa bay lightning. i give you 39 shots in an nba game. >> if an nba game i'll probably not make any of those. >> what about a game of horse? >> if it was an open court, no one to jump and block my shots, maybe. >> i half court you'll make two of those. right? >> thanks for the vote of confidence. >> he's got the height. >> did you see the block lebron james had -- >> indiana said it was a goal tend. >> it could have changed that game one way or the other. thanks for that. still ahead, president trump still standing by his nominee for va secretary, but some members of his party don't seem so sure about the president's pick. >> jeff sessions recused himself from oversight of all campaign investigations last year, but does that include the michael cohen probe? we'll try to figure that out, next.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. as new allegations emerge against president's nominee for va secretary we're learning that ronny jackson is in talk to withdraw from consideration. two sources with knowledge telling nbc news that dr. jackson has grown frustrated with the process and is in active discussions with senior white house officials about withdrawing his name for consideration for the cabinet post. a two page document obtained.

according to the summary, the white house medical unit had questionable recordkeeping for pharmaceuticals. it was distributing under dr. jackson's leadership. the summary also notes quote, multiple incidents of drunkenness on duty adding that jackson once got drunk at a secret service going away party and wrecked a government vehicle. >> jackson denied that specific allegation saying quote, i never wrecked a car and that it should be pretty easy to prove. dr. jackson said earlier this week that he looked forward to a confirmation hearing so he can answer lawmakers' questions. despite the new allegations the white house continues to stand by dr. jackson. >> dr. jackson's record as a white house physician has been impeccab impeccable. in fact, because dr. jackson has worked within arm's reach of three presidents he has received more vetting than most nominees. dr. jackson has had at least four independent background investigations conducted during his time at the white house including an fbi investigation

conducted as part of the vetting process. >> republican support for dr. jackson may be collapsing according to politico, three senators said they want the white house to withdraw jackson's nomination immediately, calling it a self-inflicted wound that will only get worse with time. democratic senator tester who released that summary of allegations against dr. jackson is still offering a bit of hope for the navy admiral. watch this. >> do you think this needs to be aired out in a confirmation hearing or do you think the white house should withdraw the nomination? >> no, i think we today to get to the bottom of it. i'm still mott confident that admiral jackson is not confirmable on these grounds. i think there's still a potential of a confirmation hearing and a vote. >> at a hearing on the budget yesterday, jeff sessions faced questions about his roelt in the michael cohen investigation and whether the white house is

weighing in for the president's lawyer and business associate. >> if you discover any connection between this investigation and to mr. cohen and the ongoing investigation into allegations of russian interference or anything related to the 2016 election, would you recuse yourself? >> yes. >> has the president or anyone in the administration discussed with you the possibility of president trump pardoning michael cohen? >> i'm not able to reveal the contents of any communications i might have with the president of the united states or his top staff. >> all right. so amid the uproar over the reported comments by acting director to bankers, the agency has released a transcript of his remarks. t maul -- critics were outraged following a new york times report which has quotes of mulvaney telling executives how they should press lawmakers hard

to achieve their agenda. the transcript does confirm he told the crowd that when he was in congress, quote, if you were a lobbyist who never gave us money i didn't talk to you. if you were a lobbyist who gave us money, i might talk to you, but the transcript shows mull th -- mulvaney also told them i talked to you without exception regardless of the financial contributions. now, speaking yesterday on msnbc, elizabeth warren had some pretty blunt criticism for him and the trump administration over this matter. >> i'm tell you exactly what it means. it means most corrupt administration ever. the fact that mulvaney would stand up and say that, the public place, they knew the press was there and that he would say it and figure hey, why not? because -- because that's the kind of administration he's in. >> scott pruitt heads to capitol hill today to discuss his

agency's budget but a new document reportedly shows when it comes to the tough questions he'll likely face over the litany of spending and ethics scandals surrounding him he'll likely just blame someone else. according to the new york times which has reviewed the document laying out pruitt's talking points he'll tell the members he's testifying before that other people were responsible for giving two close aides who used to work with him in oklahoma were given pay raises. pruitt will say that they all had performance issues. and the paper adds that the documents suggests pruitt will also tell lawmakers that he now flies coach when traveling giving up the first class he's become known for. the talking points may not have been finalized. meanwhile john kennedy of louisiana has once again offered up some tough words on the epa chief ft take a listen. >> you cannot abuse taxpayer

money and i don't care who you are, i don't care how big of a big shot you think you are. you can't abuse taxpayer money. he's leading with husbais chin. >> steve nelson, good to talk to you once again. so as ayman just mentioned scott pruitt heading to the hill today to answer some questions over all these recent scandals that we have been talking about. what do you predict here? how do you think he comes out of all this? >> you -- imagine that fit would be an absolute blood bath. there is so much material here, so many juicy scandals and subscandals. the -- the renting an apartment from interested party, putting on sirens to get to a restaurant reservation, there's so many more. it is interesting though now former va secretary shulkin

appeared and amazingly it wasn't a blood bath. everybody was asking about local va issues. here i think it's going to be different and pruitt is known for being a self-assured person so it could be quite the show. >> let me ask about jeff sessions. on one hand he refused to tell lawmakers whether he has refused himself from the michael cohen investigation though he said he would if he learned that there was anything connecting michael cohen to the russia probe. what do you make of sessions' response? how is that going to play out, you think? >> the tone of his response i thought was interesting chts maybe i'm parsing his thick alabama accent too much but it seemed like he was trying to hint something to the lawmakers, i don't know what. he refused to say whether he recused himself after reporting that he had not recused himself. who knows what the actual situation is. ? >> let's quickly talk about mulvaney here and his lobbying -- are we calling it

advice? do you think he could face some consequences from this? >> no, i don't. this is something that trump has said, you know, publicly repeatedly, you could just go buy a politician. i think that it would be seen in that vein. i don't think he'll be in any trouble for saying it. >> although i think trump was saying it as a critique of the system and mulvaney was like advice to the system. >> the very latest statement from the office of george bush says the hospitalized former president is improving. yesterday bush moved from the intensive care unit to a regular patient room where he's ebs president-elected -- expected to stay for the next several days. he's alert and talking. the statement from his spokesman concluded he also wants to assure everyone that as good as he feels now, he is more focused on the houston rockets closing out the playoff series against the minnesota timberwolves than anything that landed him in the hospital. >> he wanted to make sure he is

well enough to watch that game. still ahead, kanye west defending his online support for president trump. the back and forth exchange in this budding bromance. >> lots of twitter tirades from kanye. the rapper says the traits that both men share. >> and bill is back with a check on the forecast including some warmer weather on the horizon.

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does and we have the right to independent thought. he also tweeted a photo of one of trump's signature make america great again hats. the president showed west some love right back. you know the president is not going to miss that opportunity. resending his original tweet and writing thank you, kanye, very cool. the two men famously shared a photo op in the lobby of trump tower in 2016. the praise came amid a flurry of tweets by west and some cryptic pronouncements. he's schedule to release two new albums. >> pence needs to watch out because kanye may be on the ticket with president trump. >> is this something he genuinely -- >> i think there's probably a bit of that ahead of the release of his two albums but we knew from the get go that he supported president trump. >> my wife called me and told me

basically that i should put it out there that i don't agree with everything that president trump does. all right. let's get a check on your weather now with bill karins. >> who is actually very close with kanye west. >> i haven't called him this morning but he gets up a little after this. >> ooevery day? >> so the rain moving up, that's going to go up into maine. wet weather going through tennessee and into alabama as we go throughout the day from mississippi. let me take you through the fro forecast and get into the weekend. today is a really nice day from d.c. to philadelphia. the southeast atlanta you left some showers and thunderstorms today. airport delays shouldn't be a problem. as we go into friday the rain that's today and areas of the southeast will be up into england as we go through friday. it's a period of about 2 to 3 hours of rain. it's not going to be a washout. here's where things change. the west coast is all of a

sudden instead of being hot, a storm system moves in. we'll be talking 70s and 80s pretty much everyone on saturday from texas north ward. there will be a few showers going through the northeast. it's not horrible. temperatures still in the upper 50s and 60s. southeast, you are fantastic on saturday and you look great on sunday too. sunday is a little cool in the northeast, but temperatures in the upper 50s, you know, considering how cold april was, it still feels pretty nice. the southeast is great and we start to watch that warmth spreading into the middle of the nation by sunday afternoon. the only bad weather on sunday will be in the pacific northwest. so i guess the trend as we end april and head into may is for the warm air in the west to spread finally to the east. and i think monday through about wednesday of next week will be some of the warmest temperatures the east coast has seen so far this spring. >> i think i saw 80 on wednesday or something like that. >> stop looking at your phone app, all right? wait for me to give you the information. >> well, sometimes the phone app

is a little bit more reliable than -- >> oh, boy. >> thanks, bill. still ahead, macron putting the pleasantries aside and criticizing president trump. >> we'll go live overseas for more of his rebuke of trump's policies and how that's playing out on the world stage. experience lexus safety system plus standard in the 2018 lexus es and es hybrid. lease the 2018 es 350 for $399/month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

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one generation away from extinction. europe and the united states must face together the global challenges of this century. and we cannot take for granted our transatlantic -- we have two possible ways ahead. we can choose isolationism, withdrawal, and nationalism. this is an option. it can be tempting to us as a temporary remedy to our fears. but closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. it will not douse but inflame the fears of our citizens. >> all right. so you're hearing that and despite their public bromance president macron did not hold

back. including his view of america's place in the world. joining us now live from london with the overseas reaction to macron's visit, cal, good to talk to you this morning. give me your take on all this. >> yeah, so listen. it's very interesting what you listen to that speech and you played the perfect quote. we can choose withdrawal, we can choose nationalaliism but we shouldn't do it. it's fascinating that you have on tuesday this back slapping, this hand shaking, the funny hats, the laughing but then on a wednesday you have the french president going out of his way to knock president trump on a number of issues, that first one there, globalism, countries getting along. we also saw the french president presenting himself as a liberal and also perhaps the new go between europe and the united states. i think they're watching this video, this body language and perhaps from a strategy

perspective, if you are able to flatter this president, she talks about front ending the question with a compliment, if you flatter this united states president, are you able to get your policies when you have the void of the things like the state department not being functional in the united states, is it better to take a shot at getting on one-on-one with this president? you guys talked about it earlier, right? there's not the attention span there that existed previously, president trump on tuesday is talking about the french president, on a wednesday, he's moved on to kanye west. >> i wonder what the reaction would be from 10 downing street watching this. watching folks in london and america watching the french president, knowing that the uk and the u.s. have the special relationship. >> cal perry for us, good seeing you. coming up, axios and mike allen has this morning's one big thing.

and "morning joe," ronny jackson looking to pull his cabinet nomination. the latest on the president's pick for va secretary, and whether he'll bow out. senate committee on foreign affairs richard blumenthal of. and michael avenatti. and mandy patinkin joins the table to discuss his hit show, "homeland." ured with harvoni. harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. it's been prescribed to more than a quarter million people. and is proven to cure up to 99% of patients who've have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. before starting harvoni,

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play [music plays]his". when everything's connected, it's simple. easy. awesome. welcome back. joining us from washington, d.c. with, a look at axe yoes a.m., the co-founder of axios, mike allen, good to have you with us, what's axios' one big thing for today? >> macron's candid postgame. we just heard in that report that he wants to be the new go-between on the iran deal. yesterday evening he sat down with a dozen reporters, including me, to talk about his

visit in washington. and he did it in astonishingly clear, blunt, terms, this is a conversation that's usually off the record. this was on the record, macron saying in front of these reporters, that he thinks president trump, as he has hinted, will get out of the iran deal by may 12. he said he thinks that the president will do it for his own domestic political reasons. his campaign promises. he said your president is a deal-maker and i understand the person i'm working with. they want to make deals and he said, in the oval office, the president said the deal is insane, repeating some of the language that he used on the campaign trail. so this is somebody who had taken president trump's mark, seemed comfortable with it. and he predicts the president wants to make a series of front deals on climate, north korea, iran. similar to what the president wants to do on trade, remake agreements in his own image.

>> mike, what do you make of their relationship in general, macron and trump's relationship in general? do you think macron knows how to work president trump more than any other foreign leader. >> he does, he had a great story saying that macron, who is a former investment banker, was treating trump like a client. he sucked up to him a little bit. he pushed him a little bit. but he basically knew what he was up to. and that was the fascinating part of these remarks. was how clinical president macron was, in talking about dealing with this president. one question for macron was, if the united states renounces the iran agreement, doesn't that make it harder to make an agreement with north korea? president macron mostly didn't talk about what he said to trump. here's a place he did. he said i made that argument. he said to this columnist, i agree with you about that. what president trump would say is, he thinks the iran deal is a bad deal and any north korea

would be a not-bad deal in his view. >> two more things to talk about, including the kanye/trump love-fest on twitter. i want to talk to you about a more serious issue, the white house pushing back at senator tester's claims about dr. ronny jackson, could the senator face a fallout over the move? the fact that he's coming forward with these allegations and kicked up a dust storm? >> that's a great point. this helps explain why the house has stuck with him longer than we thought. the president seemed to walk away from him, said i wouldn't go through with this if i was him. and the white house said they were all in, here's behind the curtain. this is jonathan swann's reporting. what if what you're trying to do is get democrats to go all in on this, to put out all their assertions about this admiral who passed background checks under both democratic and republican presidents.

and so you have the top democrat on the senate veteran affairs committee handling this confirmation, putting out these allegations and the white house thinks there could be some backlash to this. now axios is reporting that it looks like dr. jackson is going to withdraw. that all the signs are that he's going to walk away from this nomination. but an important quote from the white house, we're told it will be his decision, he will decide, he won't be pushed. but it does look like that's where he's headed. >> i'm curious, i asked one of our guests earlier as well, if he were to withdraw his nomination here, mike, do you foresee him staying as white house doctor? >> i do. the problem with this nomination from day one was he may be a very good doctor, but even people in the white house didn't see him as qualified to run this massive government agency. one of the biggest ones that there is. so it was, it was the management experience with a large

organization, not being a doctor. that was the problem. >> let's switch gears and ask about the big question that a lot of people are scratching their head about, which is kanye west's twitter love for president trump yesterday. we'll let that speak for itself. what are you hearing about in terms of how the white house is reacting to this? they don't shy away from any cel celeb love. >> the president recognizes as we've seen going back to the time he was building his name in new york, the power of popular culture. the president latched on to this, answered kanye twice. and the white house says more bold moves to come. so they're embracing this. and with that album coming, i think you're right that will make for a fun conversation. >> mike allen with some kanye

album. >> thank you. we're going to be reading axios a.m. in a little bit. you can sign up for the newsletter at axios.com. i'm yasmin vossoughian along side joumanna bercetche. when you have your staff taking the fifth amendment so they're not prosecuted. >> this is the pleading from michael cohen. this is the first time that the president's lawyer has sworn to the court he will plead the fifth. >> fifth amendment. >> michael cohen said based upon the advice of counsel i will assert my fifth amendment rights. >> you see, the mob takes the fifth. if you're innocent, why are you taking the fifth amendment. >> he cited the ongoing criminal investigation in the southern district of new york as the reason for taking the fifth amendment. >> taking the fifth amendment, how about that? >> of course back in 2016, michael flynn famously said -- quote, when yo