to get illegal guns off the streets and keep kids out of gangs, and on the right path. that's antonio villaraigosa. a governor for all of california. a very good morning to all of you. i'm alex witt at the half hour. we begin with a live picture of the white house. that's where the president is airing new grievances against critics of white house dr. ronny jackson but at the same time threat epping political consequences for one of the red state democratic senators up for reelection. allegations made by senator jon tester against dr. ron jackson

are proving false. tester should resign. the great people of montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. admiral jackson is the kind of man that those in montana would respect and admire and now for no republican whatsoever his reputation has been shattered. not fair, tester. stormy daniels is threaten agony lawsuit after the judge in that case gave a 90-day stay. >> i think it may have in an a knoll tkpwous case relating to a defamation claim we may be bringing against the president relating to his tweet when he called my client a connor suggested that she lied to the american people. and so, we may very very well bringing that claim here shortly. >> meanwhile, president trump is volunteered an inning decremental tidbit on the stormy daniels case. three weeks ago he told reporters on air force one he was unaware of a $130,000

payment to the porn star. well, this week he said her name on tweugsz for the first time while answering questions about his lawyer and fixer michael cohen. >> mr. president, how much of your legal work was handled by michael cohen. >> a tiny fraction. he represents me like with this crazy stormy daniels deal, he represented me. and, you know, from what i see, he did absolutely nothing wrong. >> joining me now, staff writer with the atlantic and msnbc contributor. >> he represented me, past tense, would refer to the $130,000 payment. right. it is significant because the president has sought to distance himself from the deal made with stormy daniels during the

election. so if it indicates that he perhaps knew about this deal, if cohen was representing him at the time that he struck this deal with stormy daniels to pay her off essentially to keep quiet about this affair, then it indicates that perhaps he facilitated that payment. perhaps he urged michael cohen to do it, if he was in fact, representing him during that time as the president said, it adds an extra layer of perhaps intent. >> so since that time when one of trumps lawyers him could flip, the president has praised him on twitter and elsewhere. a wall street journal article suggesting that mr. trump treated cohen poorly. in 2012, he was late for his son's barmitzvah and gave a speech saying he had not planned to come but relented after cohen repeat lid called mr. trump, his secretary, his children, begging for him to appear. with this kind of track record, what is is he going to expect

from cohen? >> right. it's not clear whether he can expect loyalty from cohen. he said he would take a bullet for the president, jump off a bridge for him. but he is a complicated figure. during the election, he wanted steve bannon's job. he thought he would be a top adviser to the campaign. then of course he thought he would be chief of staff in the white house. he expected to be given these roles and be at the center of trump's world while he was running for president, which he had been encouraging him to do for years and years. instead of on the edges as he's always been throughout the last two, three years of donald trump's campaign and now his presidency. he's called the president and he has said, look, i'm feeling really lonely up here. he's complained he did not get paid back immediately that $130,000 that he paid out of pocket for the stormy daniels's settlement. and he has been humiliated by the president in the past. this barmitzvah anecdote is

telling that trump found it okay to say that michael cohen had essentially begged him to attend. that is demonstrative of their overall relationship. michael cohen has given a lot to the president and received very little in return. at the inaugural festivities, he wasn't even given a vip place. again, he was at the edges. this is really going to test the limits of michael cohen's loyalty especially when he is faced with an indictment. we saw in the documents filed yesterday in the stormy daniels lawsuit, the judge in that said flat out that the court thinks an indictment is likely coming for michael cohen. faced with years and years of jail time, it is unclear whether he will take that bullet for trump. again, even if he does not flip and he remains loyal, prosecutors likely have all the evidence they need. they went to michael coe hence office and residence and raided them and took years and years

worth of documents that likely have to do with the president and michael cohen's communication. >> yeah. got to just wonder what goes on at home as well. it's been reported the wife has bristled at the way mr. trump has treated her husband. in that fox interview this week, he may change his mind. i'm not getting involved in the doj and the handling of the russia investigation. what are your sources in the doj telling you? >> he's already gotten involved. i mean, he has indicated that he would be willing to interview just by the comments that he makes, just by, you know, the fact that he fired former fbi director jim comey, just by the fact that he, you know, has publicly criticized jeff sessions who of course is recused from the investigation but has been placed under increasing pressure to investigate hillary clinton, for example. he has criticized rod rosenstein. the fact that he is saying also he would be willing to intervene in the justice the department's

deliberations about the investigation into his campaign and collusion with russia is really not exactly surprising but it is really disturbing to a lot of folks at the justice department. they say that this is of course the president now coming out and admitting openly that he would be willing to obstruct justice, that he would be willing to impede the investigation if he feels it's getting too close to him or feels like it is crossing a red line by going into his personal business dealings and financial history. this is again not something that is necessarily surprising to people. he's made comments like this before where he calls the justice department, my justice department. he indicates that he is able to exert a level of influence and control over it that presidents normally have wanted to back away from, distance between the presidency and the white house and the justice department has always been a good thing for both in order to preserve the sreblt credibility and that they are staying away from investigations especially when they deal with the president himself.

but trump has shown a willingness to cross that line and whether or not he goes any further in that is something we'll have to watch and see. of course he has publicly -- well, not publicly but he has resume nated about perhaps firing rosenstein and he has already been laying the groundwork for saying special counsel is not legitimate, that he was hired on ill he illegitimate grounds. >> natasha bebertrand, thank yo for that. in the next hour, coming to america perhaps. another surge of migrants is expected to enter the country this weekend.

nbc's bill neely joining us from seoul.

how are soerbg soak auth koreano this? >> good morning to you, alex. they are looking at it with high hopes but also with skepticism because, as regards to yesterday's summit, they have heard some of these fine words before. and in north korea, they are reporting yesterday some extraordinary detail and praising it as a path to prosperity. globally leaders digesting the detail of the deal but also there are a lot of unanswered questions about it. a day after a summit like no other, old enemies making a new push for peace, praise for their deal pouring in. from the u.s. to china, presidents are hailing this summit as hopeful and brave. kim jong-un stepping where no north korean leader ever has. into the south and into what he

calls a new era. the peace era starts now, kim said. but no promise here or timetable to get rid of his nuclear weapons. no more war, said president moon. a peace treaty their eventual goal. north korea an state tv told kim's people about the new goal of complete denuclearization. the state newspaper showing 61 photos of their leader talking to the enemy. in soccer is soerbg too, millions who faced the threat of the north's missiles for decades watched live. the promises peace for a new generation. >> the question still left unanswered is whether he is willing to give up his nuclear weapons. there was argue knowledgy no progress made on that crucial point. >> the agreement they signed didn't mention ending this program. but old enemies acted like new

friends, talking alone in the woods, toasting the future. aware always of the symbolism. kim, who has threatened the region with weapons, well protected from any threats here. kim and his wife's next date will be with president trump, who said their meeting should be quite something. >> well, this summit has set a broad outline of that deal. it's now up to president trump. he says he won't be played by kim jong-un. meanwhile, he's due right about now to be speaking on the phone with south korea's president moon with a man he will he meet in a few weeks's time. >> thank you, bill for that update. joining me now, senior fellow and director at the federation of american scientists, adam. with a welcome to you. you wrote a piece in the atlantic. it is titled north korea is not

denuclearizing. things have changed. are you looking back to 2006 when north korea totally violated the moratorium on the 1999 agreement? is that something you point to as hey, this could happen again? >> it is a good historical analog. they promised a moratorium on missile tests and proceeded to announce one a month later. that deal fell apart. we should expect and be wary of north korean intentions and expect them to defect on promises they made. don't trust them more than an inch. >> what about reuters quoting a u.s. intelligence official saying they can't be sure a test site isn't operational. how quickly could get the nuclear program up and running again. >> the nuclear program is currently up and running. that test site is operational as far as we know. tunnels go into neighboring mountains that they could test at a moment's notice. so the first priority for donald trump will really be to take

these voluntary steps is that kim jong-un has proposed. it is a leaky and loose fitting cap, turned into a hard cap. that's the first priority, to cover more missiles, to really pin down what he means by a nuclear test freeze. and then to progressively screw that cap on tighter until there is little room left underneath it. we can't expect them to say, for example, sure, pull the ships in. we've got everything packed up and we will hand it over, which is literally what john bolton says he expects. >> look, the president said it is different this time. do you feel that it is different this time? how do you expect the president to handle this meeting coming up and will he do it well? >> well, one of the things that's different this time is the active engagement of south korea and the fact that north korea has now crossed this icbm threshold where they are really on the cusp of being able to deliver a nuclear weapon to the kopbt them united states. so that raises the stakes.

moon jae-in has spelled out a vision of peaceful coexistens with north korea. that's the right vision. it is a foundation that donald trump can build upon. it is not clear that he will choose to do so. he may decide that he prefers war to managing this problem. but the rule he should follow is do not walk away without ehle deal that can make americans safer and a cap would do that. >> look, mixed opinions on how much credit this president is deserves in terms of where things are in this particular breakthrough. of of it along party lines can you engage whether he deserves the credit and how much? >> it is clear that it has shaken things loose on the north korean issue. it's not clear to me it has gotten kim jong-un to the point where he is ready to give up nuclear weapons. as you said, i'm highly skeptical of that. he has not managed the process well.

he allowed the negotiations to go into two separate tracks with south korea and the united states. it looks like kim jong-un is exploiting that to try to split the allies. is and that really risks redrawing the political map of northeast asia. . splitting us from our ally and making them less safe over the long run. >> very interesting. >> even though things have is changed, we're not out of the woods yet. huge risk here. >> adam, always good to talk with you. many thanks. >> thank you. chaos and contradiction at the white house. what's next? parallel parking job" goes to... [ drum roll ] ...emily lapier from ames, iowa. this is emily's third nomination and first win. um...so, just...wow! um, first of all, to my fellow nominees, it is an honor sharing the road with you. and of course, to the progressive snapshot app for giving good drivers the discounts -- no, i have to say it -- for giving good drivers the discounts they deserve. safe driving!

you look at the corruption at the top of the fbi, it's a disgrace. and our justice department, which i try and stay away from, but at some point, i won't. our justice department should be looking at that kind of stuff, not the nonsense of collusion with russia. there is no collusion with me and russia. and everyone knows it. >> the president ranting at the

fbi, the justice department, and the russia probe in one of his many noteworthy moments this week. the "washington post" sums it up, how a week of triumph by trump was convulsed by chaos and confusion. joining us sirlena and joe watkins and rick tyler, former cruz campaign spokesman. rick, how do you gauge these competing narratives all week for the president? >> it's remarkable. you have all of these legal things going on with the, with his lawyer, michael cohen. at the same time you have these really what amounts to amazing optics at the south korean border or the dmz. where he he had the dictator comes over. and it looks really good. but the problem is, the united states was not there. and i mean, i guess you know, a

little fire and fury and a few rocket mans and boom, peace in our time. who knew diplomacy was this easy. the united states is nowhere near any part of this that's troubling. >> sirlena, were this to be happening dur the obama administration, would people be giving the president the credit for helping bringing about this detente? helping release the detente? >> i think the president had sort of a mixed week. i would grade him at a c. because obviously the developments with north korea are positive. any time you have something this historic, that is a good thing. i think this we have to increasingly look at foreign policy as not something that is fully removed or in a vacuum from all of the chaos you see in the white house. so i think if you saw this during the obama administration, certainly i think critics of obama's foreign policy would not give him the credit. i think he would deserve some of the credit. i think if it happened in the obama administration, there would be underlying policy.

there would be negotiations and plans on how to bring about a solution in the long-term and i think that's what's missing here. we don't have a plan. we have rocket man, we have nicknames and name-calling and tweets. but we don't have the substantive policy that you would have seen in an obama administration. >> a c from zirlena, joe, how do you assess the president's week? >> i think it was a c. a mixed bag. i don't think the "fox-and-friends" fle viintervi helped him very much. i think the republican committee saying there was no collusion sounds good. i think the north korean opportunity looks favorable because the optics are very positive. but the devil is always in the details and we don't have any details and we don't have a meeting yet between the president and the north korean leader. so i think it was about a c. it was about a c. >> okay so let's take a look at

in terms of the chaos staffingwise. "vanity fair" has a new article on what could be next for chief of staff john kelly. given the diminished influence in that role. the article says the white house is considering moving him to the head of the department of veterans affairs. trying to figure that vacancy. would that bring an end to all the issues surrounding the role at the va? could john kelly do that? >> i think he's probably one of the best qualified candidates that's been raised to go over there. the veterans affairs is a mixed bag. some of the system works, some of it doesn't. some of the hospitals are very specialized in dealing with ptsd and amputation issues. but it has been, we have been underserving our veterans for a long time. we need someone over there who is qualified and has management experience. john kelly fits the bill. and i'm sure he would be happy to get out of the white house. >> okay. stormy daniels, starting with you, joe, on that one. the judge granting the 90-day delay in the lawsuit against

trump it appears likely that trump's personal lawyer will be indicted in a separate criminal investigation. does the delay hurt the president by dragging this out longer? >> i think it does. i think it's more bad news for the president. i think the michael avenatti is a very skillful lawyer. he's kept this front and center in the american public eye. and i think that he, the president's talk on with "fox & friends" host this week further complicated the matter because he admitted that cohen represented him on the stormy daniels deal. i think this delay hurts. and avenatti is going to challenge it, anyway. >> in terms of vulnerability overall, zirlena when you look at everything the president is facing, is it with the russia probe? the stormy daniels lawsuit? is it with the michael cohen investigation? where do you see him having the most vulnerability? >> there was a certain point where when michael avenatti came on the scene in the stormy daniels case haand the story

pivoted to the point where there were legal processes in california and new york i said at the time that i think the stormy daniels lawsuit is actually something that's more precarious for the president than the mueller investigation. i say that in the short-term. i think mueller will take a longer time to come out with a report, that then has to be released to the public. and so i think that in, in the short-term, the president is in big trouble here, because his personal lawyer is baseball to be indicted. his personal lawyer. to the president, is about to be indicted. i think that we, we just have to stop and rumen ate on that particular detail. because that's a huge detail in the history of the united states. i think it's unprecedented for reason. because the president is in a precarious position if his lawyer is under intense criminal scrutiny. and potentially could flip on him. >> well you made your point by repeating it twice, think we got the message and you're absolutely right.

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