in a campaign-type rally, and in the speech he touted the state's economy and touting major business expansion and jobs pouring into the state, and autocompanies are expanding. and you can see him taking off from joint base andrews en route to the detroit area, and for second straight year, the president is going to skip the white house correspondents dinner. blake mccoy is in washington, michigan for us, and what do you expect to hear from the president? >> well, we have made it from outside of the sports arena to inside now. and as the president's tweet alluded to, he is going to be talking about the economy, and how he feels that he has been able to help everyday working americans who helped to elect him, and he is going to be talk about the economy and the tax cuts and also, president trump is very comfortable in the environments surrounded by his

supporters and look at the red "make america great" hats, and he tend goes off script in the environments and he could talk about anything, north korea, the russia investigation, and you just don't know. so it is interesting to see what he chooses to talk about. we have known that this is the reason that he chose washington, michigan, instead of washington, d.c., to give this speech, is that washington, michigan happens to be in macomb county, which is the key county in michigan that helped to swing michigan to president trump's election. they had elected obama twice and went hard for trump in 2016, so he feels that this is his strong area that he can directly relate to, and by coming out here to macomb county, he can bypass any speeches filtered to them, and go unfiltered. keep in mind, this is not official white house event, but a campaign event being paid for

by his campaign. so it is going to be having the campaign rally feel to it. aaron. >> blake, i'm wondering that we know that oftentimes when the president travels and we saw air force one taking off a moment ago, have you seen any indication that while there are suppo supporters inside, there might be detracktors or protesters of any sort outside of the venue as they know they might, the president might see them on the way in? >> we did not see any protesters coming in, and our crew, we came in from different directions, a nd and we did not see one proes tester, and keep in mind that we are 45 minutes north of detroit, and this is trump country, and people would have to make a little bit of an effort to be here. >> thank you, blake mccoy, for us in washington, michigan. and we are joining jay newton small contributor for "time" magazine, and also erin, our correspondent with the

washington times. this is the second time that he has skipped the correspondents' dinner, and what is the strategy here? >> well, aaron, no question that the administration feels that this is going to help this them with the base in terms of attacking the media, but look, there is an interesting moment at the white house when president trump actively met with the 8 or 11 or so scholarship winners from the white house correspondents association who will receive skol can larships and he met with them, and he called journalism a great profession and made a jock and looked at the white house pool and said, maybe these journalists could replace some of us. and so he has a tense relationship with the media, and some top administration officials who will be in attendance at the dinner and spotted all around the town this weekend and at some of the pre-parties as well. >> blake alluded to the president won michigan by a slim

margin in 2016 to hillary clinton, and why do you believe that the president chose to hold the rally there in michigan? >> well, he is making a political statement, and these are campaign rallies and states that he has to keep and win going into next election in 2020, and michigan is not a traditional swing state. this is actually a county that barack obama won both times in 2008 and in 2012, so this is a pivotal county for him. the kind of the county that he is going to need to win again in 2020 if he wants to keep the seat or the presidency. so, going there to underline how, look the economy is going great, and the auto industry is doing great, and this is all thanks to me is way of saying, look, we are wonderful, and i am on your side, and you have to keep at it. >> it was another tough week for the president with his nominee ronny jackson bowing out after the firestorm of allegations

about drunk driving and drugs and recklessness some say. but the president started to target the senator jon tester. he tweeted that tester should lose the state of montana and very dishonest. that is a recent tweet. and he sup is for re-election, but does the president have political muscle to affect the outcome of the race? >> well, president trump was helped by montana enormously, and it is a red state with a normally of a democratic senator, and this is one of the only two or three places where he could have a difficult year for the republicans, so he is trying to make some lemonade out of what happened with ronny jackson and in doing so, he is

blaming a democrat for something that had a pushback that is bipartisan support. and plenty of republicans were concerned that jackson was nominated in the first place, as a guy who is totally unqualified to run a vast agency with hundreds of thousands of employees. before this cascade of the allegations came up against him, and he had no root in right wing politics unlike somebody like scott pruitt who the mile an hours are in support and why ronny jackson with drew. >> we know that is a failed nomination, but there is a problem with the vegt process at the white house? >> well, a lot of the republi n republicans that i speak to behind the scenes are saying, wait a minute, why wasn't this stuff cleared before all of this happened? but look, in the same case that dr. jackson fizzled, it is worth noting that secretary of state mike pompeo did get confirm and now overseas of course in

brussels at nato and from there he is going to go to jordan and saudi arabia and israel, so that is a major development in terms of the foreign policy with the developments out of the korean e peninsula. look, there is no question, when you are looking at this through the lenses of the midterms in particular with people like senator testerer, and senator heidi high camp and joe mapgs, and the centrist democrats in -- joe mansion, and these democrats in fights, that the president would be targeting them, but the point is what kind of races are these candidates running? are they running towards a more centrist democratic model, and regardless of president trump and whatever that decision is, if the centrist has a resurgence in the midterms that is going to dramatically shape the contours of the 2020 presidential cycle. >> jay, i want to the ask you about scott pruitt, another

controversial cabinet member over the reckless spending and ethics violation allegations. i want to pay this for you. >> did the taxpayers pay $30,000 for a security detail to accompany you on the trip to disneyland? >> i am unsure about that. those decision, and that decision was made by -- >> yes or no, did you a -- did you a ar thosize it? >> yes or no? are you going to answer my question. >> is that a bias? >> i am not aware of that contract being reviewed. >> and subject no the penalties yes or no? >> we are investigating this internally. >> the president ran on draining the swamp and yet he is supporting pruitt. he is going to be facing consequences over the alleged misconduct at the epa. >> and scott pruitt like jeff sessions has a strong conservative base, and he has a lot of supporters in the party, and supporters want to see him stay where he is, and they love

the way he has been handling the regulation, and sort of the deregulation, and trying to work in terms of the pollution laws and the climate change legislation or rules. so they want to see him stay there, and so i don't think that donald trump is in a huge amount of trouble with the base the longer he lets him stay there. and this is also something that you don't see just uniquely to pruitt. obviously, tom price who is the secretary of health and human service services shows there is no limit to this. but you have pruitt, and ben carson and others under fire for the spending. that is because the bureaucracy does not love the secretaries, because they are declaring war on the bur xeaucracies to cut i back, and a lot of the leaking is coming from the bureaucracies saying they are spending x-money on this or y-money on that. and so it is egregious that the base says that is not good for

tom price, and says it is time for this guy to go, but until it happens, i think that he is going to stay. >> r all right. thank you, all. >> a reminder, we will bring you president trump's rally tonight. the live coverage is at 7:00 p.m. eastern, and then jake will be hosting the correspondents dinner right here on nbc at 9:00 p.m. and now sh, president trump praising the gop house rer port on russian meddling, but the democrats disagree, and what they are saying that the republicans left out. dynamic lg elevated comfort powerfully efficient and one more thing the world comes with it ♪you can go your own way...

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republicans and the house intelligence committee have released the final report citing no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and rush sharks and that claim is being disputed by democrats and the committee largely exonerates the president and the campaign while faulting donald trump jr. and paul manafort and jared kushner for bad judgment before the 2016 election. and it seems that this attorney may have more ties to the kremlin than she first acknowledged. she had spoke with richard engel with the tie to the russian chief prosecutor.

[ speaking foreign language ] >> when we spoke to her, we brought with us previously undisclosed leaked e-mails. what were you discuss iing in these e-mails and with whom? >> f. [ speaking foreign language ] >> and let's bring the national security an analyst and frank, as a former counter intelligence official, what stood out to you in richard's reporting and ms. moyer and her potential with the campaign? >> it is the strongest information yet on her direct linkage to the russian government and the russian intelligence service, and be clear here. we have a russian intelligence operative sitting down during the campaign with high-ranking

campaign officials and representing or reporting back to the russian intelligence services, and that is s significant. >> do you see any new legal problems for the trump campaign who participated in the meeting? >> well, certainly, i would say it is more than poor u judgment. poor judgment is one too many glasses of wine. i would say that we really need more evidence to know exactly what their intent was in that meeting, and what was discussed in the meeting, and lot of the report was redacted. i know that the democrats can in the committee complained about it, too many redaction, and so we need the investigation to continue and ultimately we won't find that evidence until mueller's investigation is completed because frankly this house intel investigation was pretty superficial, and it ended very quick ly. >> and given that we, know that we have taken note of the fact

that we have a intelligence committee that the republicans ran the report and finally released from the russian investigation that came out oyesterday. it is essentially absolved the president and the campaign of any collusion allegations. are there actually any legal consequences that could be tied to the report? >> well, one thing that is going to be happening is that you will be seeing the folks scouring the report looking for the potential a avenues to continue investigating. the nra for xexample are just, you know, it was just revealed frida friday, they have have started to preserve documents, and they were mentioned in the document and they were used as a back channel from putin to aide jeff sessions. so that is obviously something that there might be some civil litigation about or obviously a potentially an involvement in the mueller investigation. so i believe it is really the beginning, and a long way to go.

>> fred, what steps would you have liked to have seen the house republicans to take in the committee investigation process? >> oh, gosh, how much time do you have? the first hallmark of a credible investigation is that it is conducted by unbiased objective fact finders with no stake in the outcome. so we don't have that here. secondly, you want an investigation that is conducted by credible qualified investigators, and we don't have that here. you want to ascertain the all of the available evidence to seek the truth and we with don't have that here. and in fact, this the report is going to be issued by the same republicans that are apoplectic when they said that the hillary clinton had not commited a crime, and they were upset because they said it is not a complete investigation, but now they have no problem releasing

this when it is they themselves have released an incomplete investigation. we have witnesses refusing to answer questions. bannon, lewandowski, and the white house counsel dictating what questions can be answered or not because of the so-called executive privilege when the white house counsel a subject himself. and so it is flaw and it does not even meet the basic standard investigation. we have a problem here. >> and another witness, the christopher wily, the cambridge whistle blower was interviewed on capitol hill this week, and tv appearance that followed the interview, and he said no republicans showed up to the interview. as a former federal prosecutor, and what is the absence of the republicans at that meeting signal to you and what do you want to hear from mr. wily? >> well, they were the authors of the report and what it is suggesting is that they are not interested in find iing out mor information.

and the cambridge analytica piece of this investigation is really important, because this is an effort that we know about. there is actually an indictment of russian efforts to undermine and influence our election and t the electoral process, so it is something that really, it should be a non-part san issue, and i don't understand why the republicans are not as concerned as many, you know, democrats and independents as the potential of the attack on our country by a foreign adversary, and it is really something that, it is, you know, as he was mentioning a moment ago, it should be putting the politics aside and investigating this in an honest way. >> gentlemen, thank you both. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> still ahead, north and south korea making a historic push for peace, but the hard work remains. what role will the u.s. play, and how much credit goes to president trump?

he is known as donald trump's fixer. but who is michael cohen and what does he know and will he flip on the president? "headliners" michael cohen tomorrow night on msnbc. it took guts to start my business. but as it grew bigger and bigger, it took a whole lot more. that's why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. everything. what's in your wallet?

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president trump is laying the ground work for the upcoming sit down with the north korean leader kim jong-un and tweet ing that he had the conversation with the south korean counterpart. a had a long and very good talk with president moon in south korea and things are going well. the time and location of meeting with north korea is being set.

this is as the leaders of the two koreas met for a historic summit friday after decades of hostilities and paving the way for talks between u.s. and north korea later in the year. while president trump is working for a deal toward north korea the deal with iran is in doubt. secretary of state mike pompeo s says that he would leave the deal unless there is a substantive fix. and friday, president trump asked if ditching the deal could lead to a militaryp conflict. >> do you have another plan b that is not an agreement and not military force? >> i don't talk about whether i'd use military force. it is not appropriate to be talking about, but i will tell you this, they will not be doing nuclear weapon, and that i can tell you. >> and joining me now is john negroponte, the former united nations ambassador and former secretary of intelligence, and the two have said no nuclear weapons and working towards the

unification on the korean peninsula and how likely is any of that and how might that process play out? >> well, it is a road map. it is certainly very impressive document. i think that the fact that they had this historic meeting is very important to note. i think that, you have perhaps a worst case and the best case scenario, and again the worst case scenario is that it is simply a tactical ploy where the north koreans might make some minor concessions to get some sanctions relief or some such. but you could also visualize that this is a strategic move on their part. and i sort of incline in that direction, because, i think that they have seen how the rest of the world is progressing economically, and their country is falling so far behind, and south korea has gdp per capita of about 25 times the size of

north korea c north kor north krorekorea's, and kim jon had part of the education in western europe and so he has some idea how the rest of the world lives, and so he is looking to reengage first with south korea and ultimately to e reengage in north korea and integrate into the global economy. >> what role do you see the rest of the region, the neighbors of north korea playing in the for example china and we know that there have been the complications of the threats of president trump's trade war and how might that impact the relationship with the rest of the region there. >> all right. and so, first of all, china is a player in the situation stay there. been a factor in helping bring north korea to the table with the south and to agree to the meeting with, or offer a meeting with president trump. so i think that is one important point. japan will follow this with a great deal of interest, because they are neighbor to north korea

a and of course, they would benefit from any process of denuclearization. and so, those are probably the two key neighboring countries, but i think that the first thing is that the north and the south have got to have their meetings, and president trump has to sort of set the table if you will, and agree with kim jong un on the road map for talks that are going to have the take -- to have to take place. and this is complicated, because the reference of a possible meeting of north and south korea and the united states is about as scheduled or looks to for about a year from now, and i think that the process could go on for quite a while, and the longer it does, perhaps the the better, because it means they will get down into the real nitty-gritty and the details of the situation. >> ambassador, setting the nuclear issue aside here, and how difficult is a reunification for north and south korea if we

are looking at the politics there, and the people on the korean peninsula and how difficult would reunification be? >> well, it is hard to set the nuclear situation aside in the sense of the question of security on the peninsula has to be dealt with probably as a matter of priority, but assuming that some progress can be made on that, and then the issue of reunification could come under discussion, although, i think that more likely they will have the talks on the economic excan changes and so forth first. i i think that the reunification, and if you are look at the example of east germany reintegrating into west germany at the back of the cold war, so there is some difficulties and challenges particularly in view of the huge discrepancy in the standa standards of living and the economic status of the two koreas, but on the other hand, i think that it is a political will exists to do that, to reunify, that is definitely going to have ways to be found

to accomplish that in some type of a staged fashion. but if you are look at the declaration from yesterday, the reference to reyunification is practically at the very end and in fact, it is at the end of the communique. i don't say it is an afterthought, but i don't believe it is the priority of consideration in the priority topic of the communique. >> and ambassador john n negropon negroponte, we appreciate your perspective on this. thank you. >> thank you. and now, nearly four dozen gop lawmakers are giving up the seat, and to what extent is president trump responsible for the mass exodus. this the live look from washington, michigan, as people are starting to gather for the rally tonight of president trump. he left washington, d.c. a short time ago and we will bring you that rally live when it begins. have you smelled this

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congressman patrick meehan of opennsylvania, a republican is resigning from the house. he had previously said that he would not seek relek shun after it was disclosed earlier in the year that his office had settled a sexual harassment complaint. meehan has denied sexual misconduct involving a former aide and he said that he will reimburse the government for the $39,000 payment. he is more than half a dozen house gop leaders who will not be returning. part of them is the trump factor, and they are not mincing words about it. listen to this. >> what is incumbent upon us is

to stand up for thing, and when the president is off of the rail for trade, we should call him out. >> and talking about point stars for president and not tax policy and what we need to get done by the end of the year or what should have been in the omnibus. >> the enemy of the people is how the president of the united states called the free press in 2017. mr. president, it is the testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by joseph stalin to describe his enemies. >> joining me now are adrian elrod who was director of communications of hillary for america, and bob, a former congressman of south carolina and director of for republican.org. does this criticism help republicans who want to distance themselves from the president? >> i don't think that it may help us with our folks at a home basically to rethink what it is to be a republican. you know, we have gotten sort of sucked up into the populous

nationalism which is not conservative and my friend jeff flake there is making the case for conservatism, and i'm glad he is making the case. i hope that those of us here at home wake up to the reality that we have really been taken into a populous nationalist kind of affect. it really does not fit us as conservati conservatives. >> adrian, we know that the democrats are facing their own internal battles as well, a and loft the criticism of nancy pelosi, and time for new leadership in the democratic party? >> well, first of all, nancy pelosi is one of the most effective leaders that the democrats have had in congress, but it would be nice to have a new faces for the leadership lineup, but that is for the democrats and congress the decide. it is not a pleasant place for the democrat or the republican to be in washington, d.c., right now, because of the dysfunctional atmosphere that president trump has created. so it is certainly no surprise

to me that a lot of the republicans are retiring. you not seeing as many democrats retire, but you are seeing the republicans retire. >> you make the point about nancy pelosi being a popular leader r, but many say she is out of step with younger democrat, and any viability to that argument and might there be room for new blood to step in and make the democratic party more effective? >> well, any leader is going to have plenty of critics out there who don't want that person perhaps in their position, but, you know, again, i do want to see some new leadership blood. it does onot have not necessari be from the top, but we need younger and more diverse faces in the top of caucus, and i am hope hopeful to see that after the midterms. >> and congressman, trey gowdy of south carolina talked about why he ist not running again. i want to play a piece of this sound bite for you. >> to the extent that men judge

themselves based on what they do for a living, i don't have a lot to show for the last seven years. >> and the president would say the opposite, that he is often boasting about all that he has achieved and why this disconnect between the party, and the people in the party and the president? >> it is sort of donald trump's personality to overstate, shalle we say, his accomplishments. and maybe it is good that people like trey gowdy are willing to be a little bit more humble in that regard. so i think that it is also indicative that, you know, there is a point with when people won't go, and in trey's case, it is the attack on the department of justice that was just too much, and in paul ryan's case, it is the tariff s ths that wert too much. so, there is a point at which republicans get fed this massive load of populous nationalism, and they begin to resist it. so i think that is what happened

with trey in the department of justice and with paul ryan in the tariffs. >> and so, congressman, why leave? if so many republicans are dissatisfied with the direction of the party and the way that the president has been handling thing, and the optics coming out of the white house, with why jump ship and why this mass exodus and why not stay and fight for the ideals that the republicans own? >> i wish it were the case actually, because i believe it is important to stand your ground and be willing to lose if that is what it comes to. the worst thing in the world is not to lose a election, the worst thing is to lose your soul. i happened to lose an election in standing in against some of the populist nationalism in the tea p tea party in 2010, but i did not lose my soul. so it is important to stand. i the they what with i said at the outset is that it is about us at home more than the folks in washington. here at home, among the republicans at home, what we have to do is to ask ourselves is this really what we want? this kind of the populous

nationalism kind of doctrine of the grievance where we are all victims and we need some strong man to save us. is that really what we want? is that how we see ourselves or no, americans who can solve challenges. that is what is conservatives should be, and so it is up to us to say that to the elected officials and then some of them will stick around. >> and adrian, with so many members leaving and the new blood coming n do you expect a return to the statesmanship or the stateswomanship or more -- seen? >> well, as long as president trump is in the white house, that is going to be difficult, because he is the chief executive of the entire government. but i think that getting democrats back in, and more democrats back n and the democrats will hopefully will regain the control of the house of the representatives and perh

perhaps the senate, and having a little bit of the diversity in terms of the party that is in hower will bring perhaps a little bit more civility to this, because, again, you have this is our government here. we have got to have a little bit more civility as part of the process. >> congressman, i will end with you on speaker ryan. we know that he is retiring and some people want him to steps aside, because having a lame duck speaker is hurting fund-raising efforts. >> i hope not. he said that he signed up for two years, and it is sort of like volunteering in the armed force, you volunteer to serve and you say to the constituents that you will stay for two years if given the opportunity. it is a problem that people leave early, because you signed up to, and that is what paul has said and i surely hope that he stays on. and no, i don't think that it would affect fund-raising, because i believe that perhaps paul could help to turn it around and now be free to speak

more openly as for example s senator jeff flake is doing. we need to hear that voice so that conservatives at home can be hearing from some great leaders like paul and jeff flake what with can conservativism should sound like. >> and former congressman bob i inglis and adrian elrod, thank you. after the break, president trump steps out of the correspondents dinner to hold his own red carpet event. that is next. brad's about to find out

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the annual white house correspondents dinner first held in 1920 will go on without its traditional guest of honor tonight. for second straight year president trump is saying no to the gala that has evolved as a night for the presidents and the press to make nice and poke fun at a themselves. >> evidencely, you journalists have a lot of friend s s in the media. they have only got seven more monthses to investigate me. >> that is a lot of pressure. >> nuclear proliferation. nu

nuclear proliferation. nuclear proliferation. >> next year at this time, someone else will be standing here in this very spot, and it is anyone's guess who she will be. >> now, it should be noted that past presidents have occasionally skipped this event, and tonight, the president plans to hold his own rally in michigan. nbc savannah sellers is in washington for us on the red carpet at the washington hilton. savannah, the president is skipping the event, and who is going to be there to represent the ad m the administration. >> yes. so from the administration, we are hearing that press secretary sarah sanders is going to be here, and she is going to be in a lighter setting than the weekdays, and also, counsel to t the president kellyanne conway who was out and about at the parties that are sort of ancillary events for big night tonight, and she was also sort

of rubbing shoulders with the people, and the members of the press who will be in the press also. and people are starting to also, omarosa is grabbing pictures and she was a part of the administrations, but not anymore, and people are starting to arrive and just about to hit 6:00 p.m., and the dinner, itself, does not start until 7:30 p.m., and you can see omarosa on the red carpet and she is one of the bigger high profile names that that we have seen arriving. people will come through the doors here and head down, and one of the differences of the president not being here, and other than him just not being in the room to be roasted and other than to not hear him speak is the security in here, and speaking of people who have been in here r years and years past and a different vibe because there is not security, and mags outside, and there is by, and sl be back, so we will talk to her

then. and my seating chart says 261 tables and it is a massive room. we were in a place signing the place cards and the handlers are figuring out who they are representing will be coming in and seegt and nonprofits are now beginning there. is a 6:00 p.m. reception on the terrace that people attend before the 7:30 dinner. we will be speaking with our own talent coming through here, and we will grab andrea mitt can chel and nicolle wallace and -- andrea mitchell and some our correspondent correspondents. >> who is on tap for headlining? >> tonight, michelle wolf who is rocketing right now. she is about to have a netflix show start and a special on hbo and she is actually used to work for seth myers and she a "late night with seth mi yeyers" and she said that she got some tips from him, and she has said interestingly that she believes that the president is bad for comedy and it is turning comedy into activism, and where she

says 2say says that comedy is not good in that realm, so it is going to be interesting to see what she does in the past and if she takes the jabs or tries to do it in another way. the netflix show is called "the break" and she wants it to be that people can literally take m the norm. all right. savannah sellers, thank you. joining me now, patrick gavin, producer of a documentary on the correspondents' dinner. he's also a former politico reporter. and claire atkinson, nbc news senior media editor. i want to start with a little bit of a taste of what president trump could be missing tonight. >> donald trump has been saying that he will run for president as a republican, when is surprising since i just assumed he was running as a joke. donald trump often appears on fox, which is ironic, because fox often appears on donald trump's head. donald trump's head recently has a great relationship with the blacks. though unless the blacks are a family of white people, i bet he's mistaken.

>> patrick, some pretty tough jabs there. you saw the footage where the president didn't really react at all. is president trump's personality just not suited for this kind of event? >> i mean, i just don't think that is the case. he's someone who loves the spotlight. he's obviously skilled at television, as he's proven before. he on occasion can be, you know, quite adept at telling jokes and making fun of himself. i think certainly no matter what your political stripes are, probably not as skilled as his predecessor, president barack obama. it's not surprising he's skipping this. making fun of the fourth estate, going after the fourth estate, going after the fourth estate is not something he just likes to do. it's a very serious part of his, for lack of a better word, policy platform and campaigning style. for him to let his hair down and hobnob and rub shoulders with members of the fourth estate

would be very inconsistent with sort of how he campaigns and how he governs. also, i think it would ring hollow to all the supporters he has who also share his view of the fourth estate, which is that these people are the enemy. they're not people that we should have drinks with and crack jokes with. that opposition is quite serious. so i don't share his world view on skipping this dinner, but from his perspective, from a political perspective, it does make a lot of sense. >> claire, what do you make of this? this is obviously -- we've noted the second time he's not gone to this dinner. is he missing an opportunity by skipping tonight's dinner, or is this rally he's going to hold in michigan working more in his favor? >> let's not forget that members of his administration are going to be at the event tonight. there seems to be this recognition that perhaps with the talk of possible impeachment in the air that it might be a good idea to have some friends in the media. it's interesting to see

kellyanne conway schmoozing the likes of michael avenatti at one of the talent agency parties last night. we see sean spicer as well doing the rounds, trying to rebuild credibility. so i think there's a recognition on both sides that, a, the president needs advocates who can speak to the media, and if they're not friends, then at least they need to have some kind of solid relationship. on the other side, perhaps the media is seeing that we're in the second year of the white house correspondents' dinner and, you know, these are the guys in power for the next four years. so we have to accept the fact that they're there and perhaps there's a new recognition that everybody has to deal with each other and be as friendly as possible. >> patrick, i live in washington, so i know what that town turns into on this night

and the people who come in, the celebrities that come in. what's the -- why is this such a big deal? what's the significance of the correspondents' dinner? why have it at all? >> historically, it was this opportunity for politicians and members of the press to sort of let their hair down, have a few drinks, and get to know each other. you know, oftentimes a way to ingratiate yourself with sources and get to know people in more of a personal setting. really over the past couple decades -- let's not forget it's not just tonight's dinner. there's historically about two dozen parties that really drag on for about five days. the question is like, why has that happened? i think the reality is that this dinner has turned into this week that's become an incredible opportunity for business and branding and professional exposure because you've got -- this year you've got "playboy" coming in, some of the biggest companies in the of world spon

sorg parties. there's maybe no other weekend, i think, around the world all year that's one-stop shopping for journalist, politicians, taste makers, celebrities, business people. if you have a message to get across, if you're trying to promote something, sell something, when you look at what washington becomes for this week between the parties and the events and of course this dinner and the branding opportunities, this is a must attend event in our nation's capital. sadly, i was very critical of it in my documentary, but it is the biggest week in washington every year but not really for the right reasons. >> can i just jump in? >> please do. >> go ahead, claire. >> i've been going for a couple years now. certainly the very last year that obama was fated, it was extraordinarily glamorous. there were supermodels, hedge fund guys. there was money people everywhere. then last year, we had woodward and bernstein give the address.

it was a very somber affair. it was very much getting back to the origins of what the correspondents' dinner is really about, which is celebrating the first amendment. i think it would be remiss if we didn't mention the fact that these white house political reporters have been killing themselves night and day given the current news cycle. they've worked extraordinarily hard to expose some of the lies of the administration, and they deserve a night to be fated just like folks in every other industry. i feel that this year is a very deglamorized evening. i don't necessarily buy that it's all about big brands trying to buy out journalists. i think that's been toned down a lot. >> all right. i think we'll leave it there. patrick and claire, thank you so much. this reminder, msnbc will bring you president trump's rally tonight in michigan and of course the correspondents' dinner at 9:00. vo: gopi's found a way to keep her receipts tidy,

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tonight on "all in" -- >> there was no collusion with russia. >> as the president spins -- >> she probably can't believe it. who can. >> an nbc news exclusive. new reporting that the russian lawyer from the trump tower meeting had much deeper kremlin ties than we ever knew. plus, what paul manafort's big loss in court today means for the mueller probe and why the sudden pause in the stormy daniels suit. then the growing fire storm over paul ryan's decision to fire the house