good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. after demanding action president trump meets with top doj and fbi officials amid report that his campaign may have been infiltrated by an fbi source. now congressional leaders will get to review highly classified information. >> and mike pompeo threatens to slap the strongest sanctions in history and this morning leaders in iran are sitting back. >> the announcement that the u.s. is putting the trade war on hold has some lawmakers and trade experts scratching their heads.

>> good morning, everyone, it's tuesday, may 22nd. i ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian. we begin with the campaign on the department of justice. top doj and fbi officials have agreed to meet with congressional leaders to review classified information that lawmakers have been seeking related to the russia probe. this comes after president trump demanded the justice department investigate reports that his campaign had been infiltrated or sur veiled by the fbi. white house correspondent hallie jackson has the story. >> reporter: the deputy attorjo walking into the west wing. >> i think it would be very troubling to millions of americans if that took place. >> reporter: democrats say not

so fast. >> the president's claim that there was a political spy imbedded in his campaign is nonsense and the country needs to know this is nonsense. >> rosenstein under orders to do something, finding a middle ground, expanding an existing internal review but not starting one all together. now it will ask the inspector general to look into irregularities and tactics concerning the trump campaign. rosenstein publicly silent on that, but poking fun at what's become a very visible role. >> deputy attorneys general are very low profile, tend not to be recognized. >>en a fbi informant did speak with several members of the trump campaign in 2016 according to a new york times report but experts argue it would have been standard procedure to talk to people during what was at the time the fbi investigation into russian interference. >> there's nothing wrong with this. in fact, it's really the least

intrusive means that the fbi could have used. >> now the president furious and fixat fixated. >> rod rosenstein is in the most difficult of anybody in the department of justice. he's trying to thread the needle between a president who's pressuring him against protecting an institution, the department of justice and the fbi. >> reporter: and the white house is now saying chief of staff john kelly will put together a meeting between the fbi intelligence officials and some law makers to let them review certain highly classified material related to all this. this is something some republicans had been pushing for, but some if law enforcement, officials have been very hesitant to reveal anything that could compromise what they call an asset. back to you. >> all right. thanks to hallie jackson for that report. last night maggie haberman reported a new detail about the president's quote, i here by demand an investigation tweet. quote, trump who is being investigated for obstruction of justice by a department of

justice appointed special counsel consulted with his personal lawyer on his order to the doj to investigate the investigation into himself. and when asked last november about why he had not ordered an investigation into hillary clinton, this is what the president had to say about his relationship with the justice department at the time. >> you know, the saddest thing because i'm the president of the united states i am not supposed to be involved with the justice department. i'm not supposed to be involved with the fbi. i'm not supposed to be doing the kinds of things i'd love to be doing and i'm very frus tratdtr. >> expressing shocks over reports that a secret source met with three members of the trump campaign back in 2016. >> you know, we don't know what happened. we read the press reports, but it's all very troubling. it's all very troubling to those

of us that hold the fbi in such high regard that they're even allegations that people were assigned to sur veil or spy on our campaign. >> but news that the fbi was concerned that russians were trying to infiltrate should not have come as a shock. in fact, since senior fbi officials warn trump's team of just that by late summer of 2016 which was reported by nbc news in december. both trump and hillary clinton were urged to alert the fbi about any suspicious overtures to their campaigns, multiple government officials told nbc. secretary of state mike pompeo making his presence known yesterday delivering a stiff warning to iran if a list of 12 u.s. demands are not met regarding iran's nuclear ambitions and destabilizing activity in the middle east. take a listen. >> we will apply unprecedented financial pressure on the iranian regime. the leaders in teheran will have

no doubt about our seriousness. thanks to our colleagues at the department of treasury sanctions are going back into effect and new ones are coming. this is just the beginning. this sting of sanctions will be painful if the regime does not change its course. these will indeed end up being the strongest sanctions in history. after our sanctions come in force it will be battling to keep its economy alive. >> okay. so iranian president has responded saying quote, the world today does not accept that the u.s. decides for the world. iran's foreign minister was even more blunt calling u.s. diplomacy a quote, sham. british foreign secretary said he can't envision the trump's administrations goals and demands being achieved in anything like a reasonable time scale and a top official at the eu says that pompeo did not explain how walking away from the deal makes the region safer or puts the international

community in a better position to influence iran's behavior. last night vice president mike pence jumped into the conversation going even further and pushing for regime change, perhaps with u.s. involvement. >> look, the people of iran deserve better than a regime that sponsors terrorism across the region. the people of iran deserve better than a regime that continues to focus its resources on threatening the world. >> what would we do to help that or encourage that? >> it would all begin by withdrawing from the iran nuclear deal and making it clear that we're to longer to abide an agreement. >> so here's the point really quickly. they've taken off the constraints that were part of the gcpo away. iran if it wanted to because the deal is effectively dead could start acquiring a nuclear bomb, but the years the sanctions are going to kick in, to force iran

back to the negotiations, then to try to work out a new deal i think that's why a lot of people say the deal neutralized it. >> all right. >> vice president pence also addressed recent reports that president trump is reconsidering going through with his summit with kim jong un partly over concerns that if it fails it could be an embarrassment to the administration. >> i don't think president trump is thinking about public relations. he's thinking about peace. he's thinking about how we achieve what has alluded successful administration. the clinton administration, even the bush administration got played in the past. it would be a great mistake for kim jong un to think he could play donald trump. >> president trump is also hosting south korean president moon jae in at the white house today. he could on china to continue to

be quote, be strong and tight on the border of north korea until a deal is made adding quote, the word is that recently the border has become much more porous and more has been filtering in. i want this to happen in north korea to be very successful but only after signing. despite north korea threatening to pull out of the historic talking the white house communications agency has released a commemorative coin in honor of the meeting. one side of the coin depicts air force one flying over the white house. the other side shows both trump and kim's profiles under the heading, peace talks. in a statement principal deputy press secretary said the white house did not have any input into the design or manufacture of that coin. trump and kim are expected to meet on june the 12th in singapore. though north korea said last week it had no interest in one sided negotiations to relinquish its nuclear weapons. >> once a coin is actually

issued you know at that point they have to have the meeting. all right. so there's a growing belief on both sides of the aisle that the president trump and his administration is being outmaneuvered regarding the trade dispute. china is winning the negotiations, their concessions are things they plan to do anyway. they get no tariffs, can keep stealing intellectual properties and can keep blocking our companies while they invest in the u.s. without limits. the new york times reports that so far any time china resists an american trade demand the u.s. backs down. such as refusing to commit to a fixed dollar reduction in the massive trade deficit. in addition, the paper writes that while china has streamlined its ability to make economic policy decision it is u.s. has shifted its demands and struggled to send out a consistent message partly due to various high profile public disagreements within its own trade team. in addition to the president's own conflicting messages and

tweets. the times notes that the u.s. is exporting $130 billion in goods to china each year. it would be extremely difficult for the country to significantly reduce the imbalance by imports alone unless it cuts its own exports back into the united states. joining us from washington d.c., world editor for axios. good to have you with us. let's start with the president's deal making skills. he's obviously somebody who is -- or he praises himself as the -- i guess the name of the book was art of the deal. so he's obviously fallen short when it comes to reaching a trade deal with china. is the u.s. backing down in the face of some of these chinese standoffs? >> so right now we've got a trade war truce more or less on china's terms and in terms of the art of the deal my colleague has written about what he calls trump's wild predictability. basically he makes these big demands, in this case that china reduces the trade deficit significantly with the u.s.,

stops steeling u.s. intellectual property. he backs them by big threats. he said trade wars are easy to win and good for the united states. but then ultimately when it comes time to make a deal he tends to settle for pretty conventional outcomes. these are promises that china has made in the past, nothing really new to see here, but this isn't over. we'll have further talks i'm sure and probably further threats. >> all right. e let's talk peace talks here. we are nearing the summit of north korea and the u.s. despite what seems to be some road bumps, i guess shall we say, have the chances of the meeting improved since last week? >> we haven't heard much from the north korean side since last week and the administration seems to be taking no news as good news. they're planning to go ahead with the sum met set for three weeks from today i believe. they've already got the coins, so -- in that sense they're very much committed to going ahead with this.

it seems likely to me that we're going to have this summit, mainly because president trump clearly wants it and from kim jong un's perspective backing away from the summit is going to put him right back where he was in a standoff with the u.s. so he problem by doesn't have huge incentives to cancel at the last minute but north korea is pretty unpredictable. >> thanks for that. stick around for us. we'll talk to you in a little bit. >> it's primary day in four states across the country and we err breaking down the competitive races. >> obama is adding a new line to their resumes. we'll explain that coming up next.

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welcome back, everybody. primary voters are heading to polls today in four states. they'll cast ballots in georgia, kentucky, texas and arkansas. voters will have to pick a stacy

abrams and stacey evans are both lawyers. both former state representatives and are both running on similar platforms however they have different strategies for winning the trump era. abrams has mobilized the state's growing population of minorities, young people and unmarried women who do not vote. evans has focused on winning over swing voters who are mostly white. in kentucky, the mayor, jim gray, former fighter pilot, mcgrath and state senator reggie thomas made their final push for votes. they will take on andy barr. >> in texas voters will decide a series of runoffs. democrats will finalize their picks for three gop health congressional seats that the party is hoping to flip. and fresh off his dinner last night at the white house,

arkansas republican governor picked up the president's endorsement via twitter ahead of his primary today. huchz hutchenson is being challenged by jan morgan. >> exciting news, the obama ares coming tonet flix. former president and first lady have inked a production deal with a streaming service to create several high profile projects potentially including scripted and unscripted series as well as documentaries and features. the obama's products will not focus on politics but will highlight issues they pursued during president obama's presidency. in a statement, president obama said we hope to cultivate the creative voice who is are able to promote greater understanding between peoples and help them share their stories with the entire world. no word on when when he can

start binge watching but someone who we all love to binge watch, bill karins. >> i've been called that before. inspirational. good thing their mikes were off over there. more rain from ohio to pennsylvania. yesterday was such a gorgeous day. but now the clouds are moving in. heavy rain about to move into the area. and also right around bingingham. so the rainfall amount is not going to be that heavy. the heaviest rains will be near the poconos down to harrisburg, about one irge, maynch, maybe a and a half. it's not going to pour and when it does rain it's only going to rain for a briefer period of time. here's at 8:00 a.m. this oomorning. we're still dry on i-95 for the most part. by the time we get to the lunch hour, we see that rain moving into philadelphia, new york city could start to see some showers just about noon today. hudson valley, same for you.

notice d.c. south wards. we're okay in virginia for the most part. we have to wait till later this evening. that's when we'll watch some of those showers and storms coming through. also through connecticut and massachusetts by about 6:00 p.m. so for those afternoon activities and those early evening activities outside you'll be dodging the showers and storms. and speaking of rain, the southeast yesterday got soaked. it's humid. each and every afternoon now this week we'll see a lot of he havery rain showers and storms. texas is just fine. and finally guy, our tropical potential, yeah it's may. hurricane season doesn't start till june 1st but we do have a 40% chance of this which is now in the caribbean developing into a tropical system and that could bring rain on memorial day weekend to the south. >> that's going to stink. >> definitely. hope it it doesn't. you just knew it would happen. king james and company bounce back in game four. while on the ice tampa aims to

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within 10, but the king would not abdicate. lebron finished with a game high of 44 points. the cavs take game four winning 111-102 evening the series at two games apiece. the series heads back to boston with game five on wednesday night. things are getting good. let's go to the nhl eastern conference finals where the lightning have a chance to punch their ticket to face the golden nooikts in the stanley cup final. there was one problem. the caps were in desperation mode. the caps were led by a two-goal performance. perfect goaltending. the capitals force a game 7 shutting out the lightning in the 3-0 win there. the series heads to tampa for the finale on wednesday night. a lot of good sports on wednesday. sticking in the nation's capital we turn to major league

baseball, the 19-year-old outfielder, soto, the youngest player in the league made a smashing debut. slugging a three-run homer in his very first at bat helping the nats on their way to a win against the padres. imagine just being 19 years old. first at bat. >> unbelieverable. >> a bright career ahead of him. >> new reporting on president trump's cell phone security or lack there of. what trump is doing that could potentially lead to hacking or surveillance. plus, the latest on kilauea's volcano. lava is now cutting off escape routes and creates new danger. we'll be right back. little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months, ... with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. it is the bottom of the hour. the white house will gather lawmakers and intelligence officials for a meeting on a secret fbi source in what the washington post describes as either a concession from the justice department or a maneuver to buy time and shield actual documents. yesterday president trump met for an hour at the white house with rod rosenstein seen leaving there as well as with fbi director christopher wray and national intelligence director dan coats. i here by demand and will do so officially that the department of justice look into whether or not the fbi/doj infiltrated or

surveilled the trump campaign for political purposes and if any such demands were made by people within the obama administration. >> the white house reaffirmed a doj inspector genre viewed and added it was also agreed that chief of staff kelly will set up a meeting with the doj and dni together. the decision means congressional republicans like intelligence chairman devin nunes can access information on any secret source the fbi used during the russia investigation. something he has been demanding. yesterday morning at cia headquarters trump praised nunes. >> a very courageous man. he's courageous. thank you very much for being here. >> two senior administration officials tell politico that president trump uses a cell phone that is not equipped with security features designed to shield his communications. a departure from the practice of

his predecessors that potentially exposes him to hacking or surveillance. he uses at least two iphones, one capable only of making calls. the other equipped only with the twitter app and preloaded with a handful of news sites as well. the phones are issued by white house information technology and the white house communications agency and office staffed by military personnel that overseas white house communications. while aids have urged the presidents to swap out the twitter phone on a monthly basis trump telling them it is quote, too inconvenient. >> a law firm representing president trump's former communications director and robert mueller's russia probe has reported by been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the republican national committee. the rnc paid more than $450,000 to the firm representing hope

hicks. both publications say that hicks retained a lawyer last fall as mueller's investigation began to intensify. the rnc and the trump campaign have previously acknowledged of paying legal bills including the president's family members. the post says the revelation of the payments is the first public disclosure of the rnc paying the law firm since hicks hired trout. and paul maufrt is set to go on trail in ju-- trial in july e doesn't think it's going to happen. >> i would expect paul manafort will plead to something. i think facing an extremely lange jail term, haes goie's go look at things. the government has more money than you do. i think they'll make h1n1 aim a offer. i think the day before trial he

pleads guilty. >> and also two cryptic messages. michael cohen tweeted yesterday, the problem today is if you don't want the news on television cable and/or read the newspapers you are uninformed. however, if you do watch the news you are misinformed hashtag the truth will come out. haters never win, hashtag maga. and last year nbc news reported that robert mueller's team was also interested in michael flynn jr. for his work with his dad's lobbying firm. yesterday the younger flynn tweeted quote, you're all going down, you know who you are, mark my word. his dad has already pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and has agred to cooperate in the special counsel investigation. >> serious words there. >> how many hashtags were in cohen's tweet there? >> at least three. >> serious words there. >> joining us now, dave lawler.

talk to us about these cryptic messages that luouis was going over. what do you make of them? >> i think michael cohen genuinely thinks he's being kind of unfairly maligned in the press here. you know, obviously he's been under a tremendous amount of scrutiny that he's not used to in the past. he's being portrayed by ben stiller on saturday night live. somebody who's operated in the shadows for president trump for a long time is now on headlines across the country and he's pushing back against what he says are inaccuracies and he's under a tremendous amount of pressure. in terms of michael flynn jr., my first thought was wow, it seemed like a long time ago that his dad pleaded guilty but that was only november, december and now we're coming up on his sentencing. a lot of these key figures in the mueller investigation disappear for a while and then pop back up. i didn't know what to make of

that threat. michael flynn jr. is pretty active on social media but certainly seemed like a warning. >> let me ask you about the state department for a moment. the new yorker has this sweeping profile about the ambassador to panama who quit the administration, being very public about it. the article also tells an anecdote of how after he briefed the president and other senior members on policy issues at the white house, the president quickly started talking about the trump hotel in panama city, even going so far as to asking him is it still the tallest building on the skyline down there in panama. how is -- do you think the foreign service faring under the trump administration these days with a new secretary of state as well? >> that's an interesting factor. mike pompeo says it's going to el h help them get the swagger back. the tillerson era was stalked by

cuts and pretty low morale. some who have left saying we don't know what the state department is supposed to stand for. all these policies that we advocated for are being pulled back and the values we thought were pushing in the world no longer seem to be a priority for this administration and so yeah, you've had a number of these high profile exits and this is a department that has not gotten along very well with the white house under trump, but yeah, this is -- this is perhaps the most striking one that i've seen. >> what are your thoughts on the trump campaign's pressuring the doj to investigate his demands? >> i think what's interesting here is how the doj is playing it. they seem to be taking a middle course where they're going to take the president's demand seriously, but not comply in full in the way that he might like which is a very public investigation that reaches a conclusion saying hey, we shouldn't have looked into trump, but here we were, you know, we were doing this sort of

shady stuff. i don't think you're going to get that from the department of justice but they do seem to be willing to at least go halfway. >> all right. thanks, dave. still ahead, the dangerous situation hawaii amid a volcanic eruption. the new dangers residents are now facing as the lava continues to flow there. >> the dramatic images from the big island, plus bill karins is back with another check on the forecast. stay with us.

i'm about to start the nature's bounty hair, skin and nails challenge. so my future self will thank me. thank you. i become a model? yes. no. start the challenge today. and try new tropical citrus flavor with collagen. nature's bounty. and we got to know the friends of our friends.r the friends. and we found others just like us. and just like that we felt a little less alone. but then something happened. we had to deal with spam, fake news, and data misuse. that's going to change.

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spreading farther. a river of lava pouring into the ocean, where magma cascades into the water laze is formed. a haze of hydrochloric acid mixing with volcanic glass, dangerous to breathe. just like the sulfur dioxide in ash blanketing the air. >> the sulfur, it's very high right now. >> reporter: with molten fire balls launching through the sky, a high velocity lava bomb catapulted into its first victim. mark clawson rushing to help his neighbor struck in the leg. his friend rushed to the hospital as clawson stops the home from burning. >> it was about a 12 pound rock. had glass off the railing and obviously hit him. >> reporter: with new fissures splitting the earth open lava is rolling over a highway cutting off escape routes.

at least four more homes destroyed. her shell hood lost more than just his house. >> we had two cats. they wouldn't leave so i said good-bye to them and everything else. >> reporter: a spectacular display of nature's power, in the air, on the ground and now out at sea. >> incredible images there. >> thanks for that report. all right. let's get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> i can't top that. >> you feel terrible for those people losing everything. >> you do. 50 homes now and -- yeah, shutting down the major highway. it's leukoa movie. it's just incredible. that's how hawaii was all created so i guess it shouldn't shock us. it's amazing to see in person. we have rainy weather today that's going to develop in the east. further in the northeast, mid-atlantic or the south have that umbrella handy today.

we had some rain around key west that is now falling apart. miami, a hit and miss shower but now these little thunderstorms are starting to develop here north of west palm beach. so we'll watch those this morning and we'll get a lot more showers and storms in the southeast today. so humid. with any sunshine we'll get the instability building and then atlanta to new orleans, everywhere in between will have showers and storms. new england with the clouds and the rain, temperatures only in the 60s so you may want to have the long sleeves and yourself as you head out the door. st. louis, chicago, you're stuck in the clouds and you're cooler today. into tomorrow, still the southeast is where we'll have the rainy weather. nice, beautiful day moves in behind the storm system in the northeast. this is going to start a stretch of about 3, 4 days in a row of summer like beautiful weather conditions that will probably end sometime sunday afternoon with some storms. middle of the country starts getting a little hot. no problems in the west. just a few showers in montana.

it's only tuesday but we got the big holiday weekend coming up so let's get into the forecast for the upcoming memorial day weekend. starting for friday, the big get away day, the day that the roads are typically one of the worst they'll ever be for drivering. one beach day that's guaranteed in the mid-atlantic is going to be on friday. it's going to be gorgeous in the 80s. then all this rain down here in the south that's plaguing us all week long is going to continue into friday and then that begins to sneak north wards by the time we get into saturday. notice that new york city and d.c. 87 on saturday. you hold on to one more gorgeous day like summer like pool or beach day and then we watch some of the soggy conditions trying to move north wards. sunday does not look great from the southeast, the mid-atlantic, even some of that trying to sneak up towards the northeast. the bottom line for a lot of people, mid-atlantic and the northeast, saturday are your best days of the upcoming holiday weekend period. >> thanks for that tip, bill. the supreme court hands down a major decision. a surprise decision by a lot of

people's account dealing with blow to workers' rights. >> around mark zuckerberg is set to face european leaders over his data breach. those stories and more driving your business day coming up. i'm about to start the nature's bounty hair, skin and nails challenge. so my future self will thank me. thank you. i become a model? yes. no. start the challenge today. and try new tropical citrus flavor with collagen. nature's bounty.

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it's a drone! i know. find your phone easily with the xfinity voice remote. one more way comcast is working to fit into your life, not the other way around. the supreme court has handed down a major victory to corporations in its ruling allowing employers to ban workers from joining forces over complaints on pay and work place conditions.

the justices ruled 5-4 yesterday that businesses can force employees to individually use arbitration to resolve disputes. an estimated 25 million employees work under contracts that prohibit a collective action in an effort to raise disputes about some aspect of their employment. in the court's dissent justice called the decision egregiously wrong. the justices ruling not only guarantees employers abilities to bind workers to arbitration but it also expands that power to include asking workers to waive the right to take collective action. that's despite the fact that such a right is protected by 1930s lay bore laws and 1960 civil rights measures. the supreme court majority ruled the arbitration law in this case overrides labor laws. and stocks closed higher on monday as trade tensions between the u.s. and china were momentarily put on pause jumping

nearly 300 points to close at one of the highest levels since march. we're joined live from london. good to have you with us. long time, no see. the question this morning is should investors feel relief or market jitters simply on hold? >> relief certainly was the trade of the day. yesterday, the dow getting above 25,000, and if it's any consolation, u.s. futures also pointing to a positive open to get the day going today. yes, there were some drcritics t there saying a u.s. china trade truce doesn't mean mission accomplished but today confirmation from chinese officials are going to greater lengths to open up their economy making good on a promise to reduce tariffs on auto imports. remember that's something president trump has pushed for. they're going to slash those tariffs to about 15%. overall analysts say that spells better news for the german brands than the u.s. brands because the u.s. brands already have production so heavy based in china.

the apology tour for facebook does continue. mark zuckerberg lands in brussels today. he'll be facing lawmakers taking questions about the data scanda capitol hill. european policy makers have their own concerns with new privacy rules coming into action here. louis? >> times have been tough for the sux postal service after losing $1.3 billion last quarter. the agency could be in for a sweet summer with their newest edition. tell us about this. >> yes. the u.s. postal office, not always known for it's innovative abilities, but a new kind of stamp coming out. the first-ever scratch-and-sniff stamp. bring out the smell of possible sickles to make you think of summer. we don't know the official smell yet. we'll have to wait until june 20th when the stamps are released. it can be the fruit variety,

watermelon, kiwi, why stop at popsicles? >> all you got to be careful. you scratch it, it smells good, but don't lick it, because it doesn't taste good. >> it reminds me of those markers we used to have. >> the scratch and sniff stickers, it smells good and you lick and it's like, ugh. >> or the marker that hits on your nose if you smell it. >> the new chief officer of the postal service is actually 11. the scratch-and-sniff. >> nancy hungerford live from london thank you. coming up, one big thing from axios and the high-stakes confrontation between the white house and the justice department. the latest on the president's meeting with the doj on the probe in the trump campaign. as trump and his legal team weigh a new plan of attack against robert mueller's russia probe.

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all right. joining us from washington, d.c., with a look at axios a.m. editor in chief for axios and making his "morning joe" "first look" debut, nicholas johnson. what's the one big thing for this morning? >> we're looking at trump's cave on china. you remember the rhetoric from earlier this year about a coming trade war that sent markets reeling. markets are at new highs thanks to the changing tone over the weekend when treasury secretary steve mnuchin came out and said a trade war is on hold. think we're looking at why trump changed his tone on china. >> so talk to me about the role that north korea plays into all of this? >> that's a huge part that hangs over what the administration is doing. china is north korea's biggest

patron, a key point of leverage on what happens with north korea, the summit is just a couple of weeks away in singapore between trump and north korea's leader. donald trump wants that summit to be a success and he can't go into that in a trade war with china, so was certain to smooth over the relationship with china on trade before the more important meeting with north korea happens next month. >> what's the perspective on why china is the winner in this? why do they emerge as the likely winner in the stand-off? >> were none of the strong provisions that a lot of anti-china people wanted. none of the huge openings-up of the market. key point of contention is how china treats intellectual properties there was no crackdown on how china treats intellectual property. it's seen as a way that china out ahead. because steven mnuchin is more of a free trader than others in the administration. because he led the dpoerkss we think there was a softer tone

taken. >> how are voters more impatient, distracted and demanding? and is that making it tougher for politicians really to reach them now? >> this is a great story we have on our site this morning. something we look at a lot on axios, people holding their phones, rewiring our brains, turning us more distracted and impatients. consumers only want to see things when they want to see them and they won't tolerate ads at all. that's upending the media landscape. looking for deals among technology companies to try to create more content and it may make it more difficult for campaigns to get their message out because the audience is so distracted. >> we've gotten reporting about white house who draft tweets for the president. incorporating elements of his own twitter style. sometimes with words in caps and all the exclamation points.

what is axios hearing about this, the mystery behind the tweets. >> the key to social media is being authentic and i think that's something that president trump mastered during the campaign. a great story in the "boston globe" shows that even when staff writes tweets for the president, they try to mimic that kind of style, the punctuation, the grammar. i think a key thing she noticed in the story. they don't include spelling mistakes on purpose. that's all the preds. >> what's axios looking at today in. >> continuing to follow up on the ongoing china results, more news coming out on preparation for the north korea summit. and as well, we're looking at mid-term elections later today. a couple to keep our eye on. and the follow-up between the justice department and the fbi. a lot of news yesterday about the meetings the president trump had. we'll dig more about what the president wants to get out of that. >> a way to delay getting those documents to the congressional

leaders. in a report by the "washington post." nick johnson, great to have you on the program. we'll be reading axios a.m. in just a little while. you can sign up for the newsletter by going to axios.com. i'm yasmin vossoughian along side ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf, "morning joe" starts now. >> the saddest thing is that because i'm the president of the united states, i am not supposed to be involved with the justice department. i'm not supposed to be involved with the fbi. i'm not supposed to be doing the kintsds of things that i would love to be doing. and i am very frustrated by it. >> well that was president trump last year. frustrated with his inability to order an investigation into hillary clinton, but now he is wading into the dojed on directing investigations into perceived enemies. >> he was frustrated he couldn't order an attack an investigation against his political enemies,

because after all, all of the people he admires, putin, you know, erdogan -- >> they can do that. >> so why can't he? but it's interesting when it has to do with him undermining investigations into his activities, and his family's activities, and his campaign's activities, and his white house's activities. he's not so frst rated any more. >> last night maggie haberman of the "new york times," reported a new details about the president's "i hereby demand" tweet. >> this is an open question. it's taken so long just to get through the introduction. every sentence offer as new historical precedents. can anybody name a president in 240 years of this republic's existence, i'm serious, that has ever said the