and that talk is after president trump canceled june's summit, and sending a letter to kim jong-un saying let this letter represent the singapore summit for the good of both parties, but the detriment of the world will not take place. but then, yesterday, the president suggest ed thed that june 12th meeting could still be on on. >> and we have been talking to them, and they would very like to look at resuming things. >> and thank you for being with us, ambassador, and so i will start with that statement, and everybody plays games and the gamefication of what you have never seen certainly in your long and esteemed career in this long and difficult process, and the gamefication, does it help to do something that we have not

been able to do before? >> i don't think it helps. i mean, this is high stake stuff, and if you are japan or china or south korea, and this is major league stuff, and it shouldn't be talked about in terms of the game or something. what is clearly happening though is north korea and the u.s. got into this sort of the media war, and the consequence was that i think that the trump administration got er nervous at what they would get from the north korean, because they started toughening up in the media appearances, and the north koreans were worried about what to get from the trump administration. so moon jae in, the south korean president goes to washington to try to get a feel sense of the feeling s and then he has had one night back and he is told that the whole thing is off. so i think that he quite rightly went ahead to try to meet with kim jong un, and to quote the

president, we will see what happens. >> so when you got up this morning you said saw that the he headline was kim jong-un and moon jae in had met. was this world leaders scrambling to make it happen? >> well, there is an element of the scrambling, but our president loves to have stuff fly off at different directions in different moments, and no one else does not like it, and certainly the south koreans don't liket, and we are talking about the future of the country, and so moon jae in was kind of right to sit down with the north koreans and probably to tell them, look, you have to do something on the denuclearization arngtsd don't thi -- and don't think that you want to the go there to talk about pyongyang as a modern city and not want to do something, and you so be serious. something along those line, and

telling kim jong-un and stop with the media stuff. the americant president does it, but you should not try to respond, because he is better at it than you are, and something like that. >> who blinked first at least up to date? >> look, i think for the north korean perspective and having a meeting with the u.s. president is a great deal. that is what they want, and from the u.s. perspective and as president trump has brought on people like john bolton like making a whole career of not wanting to meet with anyone who slightly disagreed with him. so i think that you could see how this could have come about. >> yes, and the reporting that there is the back and forth that you brought it up again, john bolton and mike pence, and perhaps on the other side, forces like john kelly, and what about what is happening there, and the effect of this whole outcome of the meeting. >> well, it is interesting, because the president talking about we will get rid of the

leakers and that, et cetera, but there are constantly the messages of the white house that they are, there's disagreement within the staff. i am not surprised by it, but i am surprised that the president is not able to sort of clamp down on it, and say guys, this is what i want to do and now get behind me, and so there are problems there, and the north koreans, they have just never seen anything like it, and of course, neither have the rest of us. and my bet is that it is going to happen, and my bett is that it is going to happen, and the president wants it to happen. >> and so the meat on the bone here, you discussed it briefly the denuclearization, and do you believe that kim jong-un, and is he open to discussing that, because the public statement s are saying no way otherwise we won't meet. >> well, that is absolute ly th rub. he is open to discussing it, but open to doing it is the big

thing the adviser is saying that they have never come forward in this stuff in the past, so he is getting advice, but he does want to do this. >> ambassador, what is the win-win and say they do want to wmeet, and what is the win-win? >> well, the win-win has to be more than a meet, because that is a win for the north korean, and the win has to be north korea saying something like, yes, we will get rid of the nuclear weapon, and it is going to take more time than you have in mind, but we will do it, and get something to show their own military and their own people that they have gotten something out of it. it is going to be a tough w win-win, really. >> and ambassador, you wish that you were there, but you maybe wish that you weren't there at the same time. >> yes, you got it. >> thank you, ambassador christopher hill. thank you. >> you got it. and now, let's bring a panel.

kevin, what do you think of this, and bas dor hill is one of the people we can go to in order the look at the issues that i are creating, and he is saying that the win-win is not just a meeting. >> no, it is ultimately at the end of the day, it does not matter when the meeting occurs, but it matters if the north koreans are going to actually commit to a long-term denuclearization strategy, and for the republicans up on the capitol hill, and the neohawks are suggesting this is a good thing that the meeting is delayed or now off, because it show shows that president trump is committed to having a denuclearization strategy. and on the other side, the democrats are skeptical saying that the denuclearization is because of president trump's commitment to a longer term deal. at the end of the day, it is not just the united states that has to play a role here, and the chinese have to play a role here as well. i interviewed the senator chris

kunitz from delaware this week who has concerns that the chinese are going to be using the summit as a way to get influence in the region, and the china-u.s. bilateral talks. >> we talked to the ambassador about who blinked first, and who is going to be taking a win, but i think that the plan is the meet. i have not heard the words i-e-a-e in these discussions which is going to be important for these negotiations getting ready for the summit, alexi. >> yes, right. a lot at stake here, and as you were talking about the price of failure here is very high, and getting kim jong un is not enough to get to the way that the united states wants which is to encourage them to get rid of the nuclear weapons. where do we go from there? that is what the president has to think about if he is sitting

down with him, because just sitting down is not enough. until that happens, it is not entirely helpfulle for the president to say, well, if it happens it is going to happen on june 12th, and it is a lie that it won't happen beyond, that and there is so much more at stake than the date of the meeting and than sitting down. >> peter, who is leading the charge on whether or not to meet and what is going to constitute the agenda for the meeting. >> i think that president trump's mood and attitude here is really what is important and what is driving this to large extent. i think that if anyone were advising north korea, they might suggest that they scale back the rhetoric, because president t e takes these kinds of things very seriously and personally, and the insult directed at vice president pence got his attention, and the threats of nuclear retaliation get his attention, and if north korea sincerely wants the summit, and they do it appears and so does

put trump, they have to dial down rhetoric, because trump is alive to those insults and sleights and lack of respect, and he is going to act accordingly, and that is why he cancelled it a few days ago. >> kevin, a win for the country, and there is a win for the world, and then a win for donald trump. which -- how would you describe the win for donald trump? >> well, i think that it would also to have to be a win for the world and the drin which is to get north korea to not have a weapons program, and regardless of the president. everyone woulding a yee th agre positive step forward and what do they want to give up the weapons program a twhantd money, an investment, and infrastructure, and talk about the economic policy here for a second, richard, because north korea's economy is on the brink of collapse. and the economy ax tnld only way to give up the nuclear weapons programs is to lure in private

global investment, and the two big countries best positioned to do that are countries like china which 09% of the exports and the imports come from china and the united states. and until kim jong-un decides the investment that he wants, it does not matter if the president is the democrat or noshgts and it does not matter if he has to give up that those nuclear weapons. >> and talking about a win of the president versus north kree grand world, as you reflect on what, that will be next? >> right. so the president has the ball in thiz court now which is what he has wanted all along by pulling out of the meet iing before kim jong-un had a chance to stand him up, and that is something that the administration found when they went to singapore to prepare for the meeting, and they were stood up by the north

kore koreans, and this is something that the president is clearly unhappy with. the way we move forward is what we are seeing, south korean president moon jae in who is trying to keep it together, whether it is call ing the emergency meeting before the president could win a nobel peace prize for this, and he is trying to be the negotiator here. and the other interesting thing that i will point out for you is the letter that the president sent which is the key line of the only dialogue that really matters here is between you and me here, and he is saying that between them, him and kim jong-un. and he saying that you are unhappy with people like john bolton and mike pence, and it is you and me here, and that is the president trying to step forward as the ultimate decision maker in all of this. >> the president said that he had a win by getting the three hostages again out of north korea, and another headline that came in overnight is the release of a prisoner from venezuela.

peter nicolas, the president also calling that a win. >> yes. >> and we will see around 7:00 p.m. today the presentation if you will of joshua holt, the 26-year-old from utah. what is the takeaway now of the president dabbling into two hemispheres on the issues of foreign affairs. >> well, i was talking to the white house about this a little bit earlier, and what i was hearing from them is that this is a goodwill gesture on venezuela's part, but maybe it is not sufficient enough for the united states to normalize relations with venezuela, because they want political prisoners released there, and they want to see free and fair e elections in venezuela, and we have not seen the commitment from president maduro to do that, so while he is pleased to get the hostage home, and taking the most of the opportunity, it is not going to necessarily lead to a thaw in between the two

count countries. >> okay. thank you all three so much. msnbc will have live coverage as i mentioned of joshua holt's return live at 7:00 p.m. eastern and we will be there on it, and stay with it. >> and next, will president trump go face to face with counsel robert mueller, and how it is affecting ongoing investigations. ♪

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a new development to russian investigation to special council's office could be honing in on a new target.

michael isikoff of yahoo! news is reporting that the fbi has received transcripts of secret wiretaps collected by authorities involving alexander torshin a close ally of russian president vladimir putin and also involves money launder, a top prosecutor involving is kof saying that the wiretaps were given to the fbi some months ago. this is a first clear sign that torshin may be part of the mueller probe. one person with whom he had a meeting with is donald trump jr. the two men at a nra convention at a presidential campaign. joining us is former u.s. attorney joyce vance and seth who is the author of the book/trubook

"trump/russia." so there should be some concern that donald trump jr. should have, and why might that be? >> this is another manifestation of this phenomenon that mueller is typically far ahead of the public's knowledge of what went on in the campaign and what the nature of the connections of trump and russia were. so here we have a situation where it is becoming increasingly clear that trump junior had a series of contacts with torshin and a russian banker, and with the senate and parliament, but we don't know yet that relationship, but the spanish government has said that they have incriminating wiretaps that could become available to the prosecutor, and trump has locked in the story, and testified on the hill, and made public statements and now we will find out if the statements were the truth against wiretaps

and the rest of the evidence. >> your concern coming from this spanish prosecutor, seth, and what should he be concerned about? >> well, you know, what is interesting is that, you know, i have been following this story for a long time, and these are the con nnections that go back decades. trump has been chasing the russian criminal money in the buildings and trump tower and the casinos and in as many projects for years, and so it is not surprising to see russia knocking on the door of his campaign, and what is also interesting is that the door was opening. and now it seems that don jr. may have been one of the doormen, and where he may have concern is that he met with torshin in the 2016 campaign, and from mike is ksakissakofp's is that they may have met as

early as 2013, and so that is evidence of a long relationship with don jr. and torshin and he is not just a politician, but a suspected member of the russian mafia, and that is interesting intersection here at this point. >> and another development on this week of the very story of the investigation ongoing, and rudy giuliani saying here that trump's legal team want a briefing on what was discussed on the classified information that was shared at thursday's briefing as i was discussing here with lawmakers, and how might that happen, joyce? how might that kcome to pass? >> there is a real conflict of interest here between the president's role as the head of the executive branch, technically the man who is in charge of the justice department and the very unusual position that he finds himself in as a subject of a criminal investigation. so the challenge for trump's legal team is to avoid doing anything that would be improper,

because of the president's status as the head of the executive branch to permitting themselves to obtain any information about an ongoing criminal investigation that no other criminal would have access to, and rudy giuliani is taking a stance this week that they should be be entitled to evidence above and beyond what any other subject of a criminal investigation is to receive. i would expect rod rose en stein and others to push back strongly if this goes on much farther. >> and rudy giuliani is telling the a.p. that he may get some information on that discussion that happened with the lawmakers this week, and in addition to that, information about the informant that has bn een debat this last week. >> yeah, you know, to the informant is yet another smoke screen that trump is throwing at us. we have had a number of these

since the russian investigation began, and i don't know if you recall, but he was allegedly wiretapped by obama, and there is repeated kinds of repeated attempts to distract, and as mueller is getting closer, and as the investigation is closing in and now dragging possibly his son into this, it is going to be increasingly desperate and increasingly, you know, kind of outlandish efforts to distract from this investigation, and undermine robert mueller who is a republican despite what trump says, and respected man of law and order, you know. >> as well as rod rosenstein in addition to that. and when you are looking at, this joyce, because that is what the president is saying, again, his words, spygate is happening here versus the word informant and how do you parse that out from where you are sitting and have sat? >> the president is engaging this very explicit public

relation strategy and we heard it out of his own mouth this week this willingness to do that and he chose the word spy, because it is so inflammatory or that he is willing to be dismissive and in fact, really disregarding of the press and disrespective of the press so that the public would not accept their stories if they were held in better credibility, but that is what we are seeing with the spygate. nothing is further than from the truth. this is the use of the fbi during a confidential source in a counter investigation. they were not spying on the trump campaign, but instead, using a confidential source to talk to folks within the campaign, because they had credible evidence that russia was trying to infiltrate or potentially use these folks to get knowledge about the campaign, a tnd the fbi was in damage control mode to protect the united states of america, and the fact that a now sitting president doesn't see itt that

way, doesn't support law enforcement and the intelligence service, and in fact, is more interested in protecting his personal interests and the family than in protecting the country is really something that is shocking here. >> you are talking about the influence here, and so seth, and this is michael cohen reporting here that he met with a billionaire just 11 days prior to the inauguration, and a pew tipp ally, seth. >> right. so you are talking about victor vekselbe vekselberg, and -- >> yes. >> and so that is the personal profit and his m.o. and frankly trump's m.o. to use whatever advantage he could to profit from it, and again, he is dragging the boss down with him it seems. >> maybe it is that you have to

revise the book here, seth as good as it is, and you may have the opportunity to do that in the year or two. joyce and vance, thank you so much. and i a appreciate both. >> thank you. and now, harvey weinstein's casting couch. the defense and the accusers he is facing. the first thing that was important for me to change was the culture of the company. and i think that had to shift to responsible growth. second thing i wanted to change was the leadership of the company. and the third was for us to start listening. listening to our riders. listening to our driver partners. i think listening is ultimately going to make us a better company.

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i anticipate that the women who have made these allegations when subjected to cross-examination to the event that we get this far that the charges will not be believed by 12 people, assuming that we get 12 fair people who are not consumed by the movement that seem t seems to have overtaken this case. >> that is the attorney for movie mogul harvey weinstein declaring his client's innocence. there are felony rape from two allegations from two women, and one maintaining that the sex was not consensual, and weinstein's attorney saying it was consensual, and prompting the me too content. and ashley judd went on the say,

this is possible of harvey in handcuffs because of the determination and the survivos s of journalists who reported our stories. let's bring in nbc analyst katy fang, and you heard the lawyer use in statement and i dont n't know if this is a precurser to the defense, but he did not invent the casting couch, the client didn't, but does that make it right what he did? >> well, true, richard, of the possible defense of richard brafman of harvey weinstein. it reminded me of a movie a few years ago when the lawyer gets up to tell the jury, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my compliant is a flandering and lying but you cannot convict him of murder. so that is what he is going to

say, you may not like the idea that he turned in sex in hollywood, and i expect that is what the convictions are going to be now. >> and so you are writing for him now. well, we have not seen harvey weinstein in some time, the perp walk, and what did you take away of what you saw him in that, and he may or may not take the stand. >> and there is a look of emotions there on harvey weinstein and the smirk when he got out of the car dressed so nicely and carrying the books, but when he was led out with the handcuffs with a female detective behind him, he was not that happy, and it took three sets of handcuffs to be linked together, because he is a big guy to get him handcuffed, but the reality is that the guy is on a gps monitoring bracelet, and he had a $10 million bond

and had to the put up a $1 million cash year's check and to be blunt, not all of the defendants get that luxury of posting a $10 million bond and go home to meet with his attorney in a attorney that is as expensive as richard brafman. >> the toerp as y-- the attorne brafman as you saw making the movements to allow his client to testify before a grand jury, and what does that mean? >> well, he is supposed to let us know, he being benjamin brafman by next wednesday if harvey weinstein is going to definitively testify before a grand jury, but i want to remind everybody out here that it is not just this case that harvey weinstein is being looked at in l.a. and london and also in looking at a federal offense involving the interstate

commerce and the fact that he was in different states and jurisdictions with these crimes committed and so if i were him, i would not let my client speak to anybody formally or informal ly in any capacity. >> and so, what should we watch? all tof the other women who are maybe asked to come to the case? >> well a couple of things. i want to see the motion to dismiss that brafman is saying that he is filing whether it is successful or not, and if it is, this case is dead in the water. and if yes, i want to know how many of the 95 or the 102 victims of harvey weinstein, how many will be able to testify in the trial of harvey weinstein if he does not take a plea. >> and done in 29 seconds. nbc legal analyst katy fang. thank you so much. >> you are welcome. and president trump is remaining optimistic about the meet iing with north korea, andf the summit were back on, would he be prepared for it? we will discuss that next.

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we have new details to share with you this hour on the surprise meeting between the leaders of two koreas. reuters is quoting that north korean state media is that talks centered around the denucle denuclearizati denuclearization, a tnd the sumt is that kim jong-un is expressing the quote fixed wilton summit, and some were going to implement a declaration to have high level talks on june 1st coming on the heels of the press secretary sarah sanders

saying that the advance team will leave for singapore as usual in case the summit should take place. president announced the cancellation of the summit, and then he sunl ed thed that it co still take place. we go to joel rubin, and what is the latest report coming from ksna from north korea, and take ut for wh-- take it for what it you will, and so fixed will, and what do you think that this means to have fix ed will to mae it happen? >> well, richard, it is that north korea has a clear idea of what it wants to do, and the president does not. the world is laughing at us right now to paraphrase him, a that we don't have a policy or plan of how we will approach north yee ya at this stag-- nor

this point, and it is clear they are in charge of the diplomatic process, and so we are witnessing the diminish iing of the american stature on the global stage. >> as you so well know, joel, the united states is the military powerhouse of the world, and the number one economy, and all of these dynamics do have a place, and if the president decides to undertake foreign affairs, and international policy in this manner, that is the way that the world must play the game, and as we must know, the president did make the statement that the deal is off, and the meeting was off, many world leaders were scrambling to find out how they could make it work under his rules. >> absolutely. the united states is clearly the world's dominant military power and economic powerhouse at that, you are right. and this is a strong hand that the president has to play, but he is squandering it right now, and what he is doing is to get the world nervous like he did the other day as you reference and not nervous because they

want to see a summit, but they are afraid of what could happen next if there is no summit. there really needs to be a diplomatic solution of this crisis between the united states and north korea, and there is no way out other than through words. the president right now doesn't seem to value the words in a way that makes sense for adversaries and allies alike, and that is very concerning. >> i want to bring in again the information about the fixed will. and the june 1st information coming in from kcna in the last hour, because we believe that moon jae in, the leader from south korea is coming to the the cameras in four or five or six hours potentially to release more details of the meeting that he had had with north korea's leader. so, joel, what did they discuss that was at least ableb from the read out to be possible for meeting? >> well, we are seeing the south korean diplomacy really lead this process.

the north is driving as i mentioned the public relations, but the south, they are getting in the middle and trying to ensure that their interests are protected, their interests first and foremost are in insuring that there is no war between the united states and north korea, because they would suffer greatly, and president moon would be blindsided by the summit from president trump's letter the ho other dother day,e driving them into the arms of north korea as we saw that in the photo the other day, and we are g are going to begin to speak with a more unified voice, and that is from the united states that we are careful not to be left out of the process, and instead being able to following and rather than leading this process, and joel, june 1st, more high level talks between the north and the south and moon jae in turned out to be a player here, and only because it is

brought up within the scope of the peace process, and the man to watch? >> yes, she man of the moment, and he is able to adeptly work with two mecurial leaders who are highly unpredictable, and he knows one who is a real leader from the united states or able to corral into the process, kim jong-un and can he do the same for donald trump? we will see. >> and typically the leaders coming out of south korea in this topic. thank you. >> thank you very much. and now, the midterm showdown that could impact the democrat's chances of taking over the house in november. stick around. (vo) new purely fancy feast filets.

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and that's why exxonmobil scientists think it's not small at all. energy lives here. following tuesday's vote in arkansas, georgia and kentucky and texas -- the shift to the next elections is california which is turning out to be critical for the democrats in their effort to try to win back the house. in california so-called jungle primary system there, the top two vote getters advance to the general election regardless of the party they from diluting the

vote that sets up no democrats on the vote in some con gre congressional districts. and so joining me is a republican consultant consultant and reporter for hill and democratic and so i thank you both for coming here. the jungle primary, it was not designed here to really help them, but to perhaps help the republicans so they can get into the discussion if you will on the statewide basis early on in the election process. is that working for them? >> well, it is unfortunate actually, and having a chance to watch the univision gubernatorial debate and i could not focus and distinguish between the positions, and from what you have read and this is

not necessarily good for the democrats there. >> and sure, michael. as we are looking at what mark murray is reporting for us this week, there are three seats and darrell is a is a sa is one of t two republicans may make it, and this could actually blow up or backfire into the democrats' face there in the state. >> well, richard n the totality, the democrats are not going to have an easier time taking the house easier than we once thought a month or two ago including looking at myself. the democrats were ahead of the republicans significantly, and the fact that there are so many candidates running that it will complicate things for the democrats. and republicans, and we have made this mistake before, and i have been of the position that either party is going to have candidates that coalesce around the moneys and materials et

cetera so that the best candidate can win, and you don't end up dividing the party overall. >> and so this is interesting as you move forward to june 5th with california being in the sites as well, a jound mississippi and alabama and iowa as well. and rielgabriella, what is the on the statewide basis there, and there is a lot of back and forth in terms of where are the plays that will work, and what will do best in different places? what is going to work? >> well, i was hoping that you could answer that question, and to be honest, i don't know what the democrats at least their national message s and obviously, when you are going state by state and you know me, i'm an immigration activist and i'm a latina, and i have been focusing on this for 20 year,

and what i have been seeing in the races where i can thread a needle is the republicans leaning into the racism and the hate, and you have the people who ran against the republican, and against stacy abrams with a against stacey abrams with a campaign deportation bus touring the state of georgia. stacey doesn't have immigration on her website or doesn't lean into it. you have rohrabacher leaning into his hate of the lgbt community. i'm not seeing what the left is saying. you have the republican contender in ohio who says when president trump calls haiti, el salvad salvador, et cetera s-hole countries he is saying what he really believes and again contradicts from the other side. i'm concerned as i watch these elections. i was hoping that a year and a half into a bigoted presidency democrats would have found some sort of backbone some sort of compassion to stand up and actually make a moral argument why we can't continue with four

more years of trump. i'm frankly not seeing it. >> what is in the playbook for either side? what works? >> for democrats if you recall the lamb race in pennsylvania he did not run on a national message. he sort of ran on the issues that were of importance to the people of that congressional district. by all accounts he was sort of like a conservative or at least a centrist democrat at best, if you will. i think for democrats they are going to have to run candidates on messages that work for their respective states, and those respective congressional districts because i don't think they quite have an idea of what their national message is. for republicans, i think we have to be wafl not to step away from -- careful not to step away from the message of the economy which i think is doing fairly well. what you are beginning to see is individuals are starting to target different groups based off of fear, based off of a lot of other things that i don't think will benefit the republican party. because what you do, richard, is you risk isolating independents,

risk isolating those suburban republicans who will either consider voting for the democrat or they will stay home. i think because of the amount of attention that you see on the democratic side, there is a lot of excitement on their side, that will hurt republicans. so i think we have to be extremely careful here, with the messages and our tone going forward. if not, then it will hurt us. >> so -- >> you know -- >> gabrielle you can reflect on that also add in on the idea here, will the winning formula including depending where you are in the country a -- i'm to the with pelosi". >> i don't think you win elections saying what you are not. i think you rinne elections saying what you are for. i think that was the biggest problem in the last presidential election. i would just hope, you know, that as republicans focus on --s is sir michael was saying -- as they focus on economic issues, they actually really put a stop

to the racism that we are seeing. i'm sorry, richard. i'm on a twitter campaign right now that has over 7,000 retweets because the united states has lost 1,500 refugee children. 1,500 refugee children and we now have a policy of separating kids from their feels on the border and the family values party not saying anything. i'm hoping maybe you can convince them. i'm hoping while they do their economic platform they can actually put an end to racism and separate themselves from the president. >> richard are i have nothing -- >> do react to that but i want to ask you the equivalent to that, do republicans need to say i'm not with trump? >> look, republicans have to be very, very careful with that. because an overwhelming majority of registered republican voters do support the president. and i think if you step too far away from him, then you risk isolating those voters and they will potentially vote for someone who is more extreme, which is something i don't want. or they stay home.

i think republicans have to figure out a way to sort of say what they are for and try to be careful and walk a tight line as it relates to the president. now as it relates to refugees, look, we are a compassionate society of i think it's very, very important to care for individuals who come from countries that are going through war and other things. but at the same time, we have a lot of issues in our own country. whether that's urban america, whether it's rural america, whether that's the hispanic community. where children in our own country are suffering from poverty and not getting a solid education. let's focus on the children right here before we start focusing on other folks. >> i think we need another show for that. >> we will have another show for that. thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> alrighty. now, after the break, honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom of all americans. remembering memorial day. -♪ he's got legs of lumber and arms of steel ♪

♪ he eats a bowl of hammers at every meal ♪ ♪ he holds your house in the palm of his hand ♪ ♪ he's your home and auto man ♪ big jim, he's got you covered ♪ ♪ great big jim, there ain't no other ♪ -so, this is covered, right? -yes, ma'am. take care of it for you right now. giddyup! hi! this is jamie. we need some help.

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sthi breaking news for you right now. nbc has just obtained an exclusive interview with josh holt, the american just released from an venezuelan prison. this interview was via text message. he is on his way back to the united states. he says he has nothing against the people of sens venezuela. he holds them in his prayers. his wife is venezuelan though he is not going to be visiting the country any time soon. he is happy to be heading home.

he thanksed evan for their support is prayers and thank for them never giving up on him. we will have live coverage in an hour at 7:00 p.m. eastern. stick around for that. we finish with this. many people see memorial day as an extra day off on the calendar arc long weekend full of fun. as the unofficial start to summer. but its original intent as to honor our fallen men and women in uniform, a tradition that dates back to the mid 1800s. as we get closer to the holiday here are a few ideas on how we can all pay our respects on this monday. according to the memorial day foundation, you can honor those service members bay flying an american flag at half staff, observing a moment of silence at 3:00 p.m. local time and by placing flags or flowers on the graves of veterans. with that, we enthis hour. thank you for joining us here on msnbc. "all in with chris hayes" starts

right now. >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. tonight once again we have new evidence of contact between trump world and russia that the trump folks did not want you to know about. now, you remember essential consultants the hush money slush fund that michael cohen set up to pay off stormy daniels and who knows who else, we learned earlier this month a bunch of companies funneled millions of dollars to cohen through essential consultants among them a firm called columbus nova. columbus nova's biggest client is a kremlin linked russian billionaires named viktor vekselberg, one of the world's ripest men, and a guy who has already been questioned by robert mueller's investigator. they questioned him when he flew into the country. there's evidence that vekselberg may have used his holdings to do the kremlin's bidding in the past.