>> new overnight. paul manafort accused of witness tampering. now they're trying to send him to jail. >> republicans are weighing in on that very claim. >> and a religious win. justices have ruled that a colorado baker cannot be forced to make a cake for a same sex wedding but it's far from a landmark decision.

good morning. it's tuesday, june 59. new overnight prosecutors working for robert mueller are accusing former trump campaign manager paul manafort for attempting to tamper with witnesses. prosecutors argue he's violated the terms of his relse and are now asking a judge to send him to jail until trial. prosecutors say that manafort repeatedly contacted two witnesses earl wrer this year in an effort to influence their testimony. >> prosecutors say the two named witnesses assisted in lobbying and pub rilic relation. one of the witnesses is alleged to have told prosecutors to understand his outreach to encourage others to lie to

investigators by concealing the work in the u.s. he has pleaded not guilty on all charges includes conspiracy, money laundering and tax fraud. manafort's team had no immediate comment when reached by nbc news. >> we're here with danny, a very busy night with you on the supreme court decision and all of this, but let' begin with paul manafort and the allegations he has tampered with witnesses. how serious are the charges and b, are we likely to see him go to jail? >> they're very serious. they're not exactly charges but they're allegations that he's violated the terms of his pretrial release. depending on the seriousness of the crime, prosecutors will ask to be held, but sometimes a defendant in a case like this, where there's no real violent

danger involving a defendant, they'll say, well, he h should be allowed to replain out, continue to work, continue to provide for his family and the are al theseerms he has to here comply with, but one of the biggies presumed is that you don't contact witnesses and try to influence them in your case. most of the time it's like hey, you didn't check in with your p.o. or you went outside the zone, but contacting witnesses, these are very serious allegations. the court will have to consider whether or not to send him into custody pending trial if it's true or simply tighten up the restrictions and keep a tighter leash on this defendant. >> so the filings include contacting these two witnesses i guess through encrypted means. any indications as to why mueller would and should act on

this now? >> he should act on it as soon as he finds out about it. he may have had his reasons, but it's very important to act on this right away when you're a prosecutor because owe ear making the argument to the court that there's an immediate danger that this defendant is violating the terms of his rial release so there's some kind of pressure on them and completely taint this entire prosecution. so in cases like this it's always important for u.s. attorneys to act as soon as they have this information. >> how quickly are we expecting to make a decision on this new filing. >> this will be the same day after hearing oral argument. right now these are mere allegations by the prosecution and typically the defendant gets to tell or his attorney gets to tell his side of the story to the judge, but it's not a very

high standard and a judge is often very annoyed by a deft who creates a need for an additional hearing on something that probably didn't need to happen in the first place. >> do you see manafort getting jail time for this? >> it's pretrial detention that hee's getting a break from. he's getting the opportunity to stay outside the u.s. attention and the u.s. attorneys may argue that he can't be trusted. revoke this bail and he can wait out trial in a federal detention center where he can't cause any trouble. >> we'll talk to you again at the bottom of the hour. president trump has asserted his absolute right to pardon himself for any crime in if a quickly mounting line after he demanded the justice department to look into the russia probe.

john cornyn says this. i wish he wouldn't comment on things like that because it raises questions that been had to rest. we're equally skeptical. >> i've head the constitution cover to cover. i'm rather fond of it. there's not a provision directly on point. an ultimate issue would land in the map of the united states supreme court. let's hope we don't get there. >> legally i don't nose. i nose nixon was one of the allegations against him was improper use of pardon powers. that was one of the things in impeachment but one of the limits is politics. i think the politics would be very bad. >> if i were president of the united states and i told my lawyer that could pardon himself i think i'd hooig hire a new

lawyer. >> he took his time to find a response. >> the president says he can pardon himself. would you agree with that? >>. >> that is not a kons nugsconst issue i have studied so i will with hold judgment at this point. >> so after president trump boasted, the wife of a former campaign aide is urging the president to use it. george papadopoulus pleaded guilty about his conversations with russian probe and a recent filing indicates they are moving

towards sentencing. but hours aft the president's tweet claiming limitless pardon power, papadopoulus went on fox news begging for one for her husband. >> do you through that your husband is going to prison? >> i honestly -- i know how much dedicated he was in the trump campaign. i know he did an excellent job, i know he's serious, because of this incident his freedom is challenge and i hope he will pardon him. >> so the president's lawyer stood by his claim that donald trump should shoot jim comey and not be indicted simply becse he is is present. although he believes he would be impeached if he did that. >> do you regret saying that the president could shoot jim comey

and not be prosecuted? >> i think i was asked a question and i didn' say it. i didn't elect to say that. i said very theoretically the president can't be prosecuted for anything. there's a constitutional remedy for that and that would be entirely ridiculous. it was a hypothetical that you would entertain in law school totally totally ridiculous. >> all right. we're learning more dekales about the summit with kim jong un set for a week from today in singapore. >> i can tell you, the president has bee receiving daily briefings on north korea from his national security team and i can also tell you the schedule for tentatively for that first meeting will be on june 12th at 9:00 a.m. singapore time and

take place june 11th, 9:00.m. east coast time. >> while an exact venue has not been announced the government has designated a central region as a quote, specialve are june 10th through the 14th. the hotel has been rumored to be the possible venue is located in that area. >> jill, good morning to you. we've go a week to go towards . the summit. give us a sense of what the feeling is inside the house right now. >> there's so much going on. you've got the preparation underway for this summit with kim jong un. preparations arenderway and it appears that summit so going to be on for june the 12th which is only a couple of days away. you saw sarah sanders up there

on the podium taking questions, dodging questions mostly about all these new questions about whether the president believes he is above the law, whether he believes he is entitled to pardon himself and whether he lea believes that the mueller probe is unconstitutional. so this is a president who is continuing to feel under fire as they move forward trying to figure out if they're going to sit down with an interview with mueller's team. >> the president making a lot of headlines yesterday. let's -- what i wanted to get your thoughts on, is inside the white house a serious discussion taking place about whether or not the president wants to use this part or even studying the fact that he can use it or is presidential rhetoric in heated political twitter exchanges? >> this seems to be coming from

the outside legal team. ru rue giuliani and it becomes very muddled but there is a campaign going on by the president, by the president's lawyers, led by rudy giuliani to discredit the legal basis of the special counsel. they're talking about how the president can't be subpoenaed but it could end up being an incredibly messy fight that could its way to the sueme court. >> and it's certainly drawn strong reaction. all right. thank you. still ahead, the controversy over standing for the national anthem gets reignited as the

president cancels the white house celebration. >> those stories and a check on your weather when we come back. ♪ most people come to la with big dreams. ♪ we came with big appetites. with expedia,

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welcome back. more now on that high profile case involving a wedding cake. the supreme court siding with the christian baker ruling that jack phillips of masterpiece cake shop cannot be forced to create a cake for the same sex wedding. the decision was 7-2. the decision applies only to this case, meaning the debate over religious freedom and lgbt

rights remain unresolved. these disputes must be resolved with tolerance without undue disrespect to believes and without subjecting gay persons to indignities when they see goods and services in an open market. >> and clinton addressed his interview about his own past in light of the me too movement. here's a part of that interview followed by the former president's followup. >> looking back on what happened then, through the lens of me too now, do you think differently or feel more responsibility? >> no, i felt terrible then. and i came to grips with it. >> did you ever apologize to it? >> yes, you are giving one side and omitting facts. >> mr. president, i'm not trying to present a side. >> you asked me if i agreed. the answer is no i don't. >> i asked if you ever

apologized and you said you had. >> i apologized to everybody in the world. >> you didn't apologize to her. >> i have not talked to her. i -- i do not -- i've never talked to her, but i did say publicly on more than one occasion that i was sorry. that's very different. the apology was public. i don't think -- you think president trump kennedy should have resigned? he resigned?e president johnson someone should ask you the questions. >> because of the way the questions were asked, the suggestion was that i'd never apologized for what caused all the trouble 20 years ago. so first point is, i did. i meant it then and i meant it

now, i apologize to my family, to monica and her family and to the american people. thed is that i suppo the me too movement and i think it's long overdue and i have always tried to support it in the decisions and policies that i've advanced. >> the former president is currently promoting his new novel with james patterson and yesterday monica tweeted. >> certainly a very interesting interview that has unfolded there over the past 24 hours. you have some strong opinions about that. >> i think to a turn extent it doesn't seem the president has come to grips that she was a 21-year-old intern at the point. identifying this point where you have a man in a powerful

position and a young woman. >> let's bring in bill karins with a check on our weather with bill karins. >> the rain is t no going to end in the northeast but it's also not going to be all day long so it's an umbrella day but you'll maybe need it for 10, 15 minutes anthat will be about it. a couple showers left over there in northeast ohio. a few weak showers through western new york and this is going to be a theme during the day today. temperatures still in the 40s right now. these cities are in the oos so that's a jacket type morning. this is at 8:00 a.m. showers are green, a little heavier downpours are shown in yellow. that line, new york city should be clear. new york city, the timing right around 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. d.c. it looks around 5:00 or

6:00. by 8:00 p.m. washington, d.c. is done and most areas are done, the exception being done in delaware and maryland. 100 in san antonio today. 94 in denver, so the middle of the country continues to bake. >> it didn't even feel like summer yesterday. alexander thereat and his caps push las vegas to the brink of elimb naugs. they may finally see the return of one mvp. details next in sports.

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and get to the heart of what matters. time now for sports starting with game four of the stanley cup fils. the chance to even the series last night. but they were denied. the night started and ended poorly with the caps going up 3-0 in the first period. the knights tried to catch up but the caps responded with two of their own along with a goal in the second. the caps go on to win 6-2, pushing vegas to the brink of elimination. game five heads to vegas on thursday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. they hope to keep their stanley cup dreams alive. >> tennis fans did not believe to see the showdown at the french open in paris. minutes before she was expected

to take the court she with drew with a pectoral muscle injury that she says affects her serve. while the withdrawal allows sharapova to move into the quarter finals. >> meanwhile the warriors against the cavaliers, the 2015 finals, andrew igoudala is reporting he hasn't experienced any pain in the knee in the last few days. his prospective return m not be welcome news to lebron james. i'm interested to see what ayman thinks about that. >> so i think it's great for them to have that mvp back and i

think it's more discouraging for the cavs who find themselves down 2-0. >> what he said. goahead. >> exciting series on the ice as well. it's primary in eight states and many eyes are on as democrats try to win control over the house. >> and president trump says he has the power to pardon himself. we'll be right back. check out this freak. birth name hannah. not a dresses her dog in human baby clothes kind of freak. nah. hannah has a cat. hannah's a freak about fresh baked every four hours bread. look at her utilizing a bread d perfecgage tngy. so, it's just right! yep, hannah's a freak. the kind of freak that makes the world a better place to eat. freaky fresh. freaky fast. jimmy john's. freak yeah. freaky fresh. freaky fast. 60% of women wear the wrong size pad and can experience leaks.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian, it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. president trump iiting a new debate over the scope and reach of his powers, the president suggesting that he's above the law tweeting that he's got the power to gntse pardon if need be. >> his late est lashing out. >> a vision of unlimited presidential power tweeting about the russia investigation, i have the absolute right to pardon myself while maintaining he has done nothing wrong. >> does the president believe he is above the law? >> certainly not. the president hasn't done anything wrong. >> does the president believe the framers envisioned a system where the president could be above the law? >> certainly the constitution very clearly lays out the law

and once again the president hasn't done anything wrong. >> the president's lawyer agrees the self-pardon is possible but not advisable. >> it would be just be unthinkable and it would lead to an immediate impeachment. >> the republican chairman of the judiciary committee pushing back. >> if i were a president of the united states and told me i could pardon myself i think i'd hire a new lawyer. >> giuliani arguing that the president could get away with murder but concedes he'd be impeached the next day. the president's power to pardon himself igniting a great debate. >> i also believe that that would be a horrendously ignoble act in our history. >> i would say the president doesn't have the power of self-pardon and if he says it or tweets it that doesn't change it. >> the appointment of a special counsel is totally

unconstitutional. and at odds of what he said in 2016 about hillary clinton. >> special prosecutor, here we come. right? >> the white house would not rule out the possibility that president trump could at some point parten himself on what was day 500 of his presidency. he's still fuming about what's loomed over much of that time. the russia investigation. >> all right. thanks to peter alexander for that report. >> so despite president trump's indistance, the legal team preparing for a showdown. a essential subpoena would seek to compel the president to stify. white house officials say that flood has cautioned the president and others about the unpredictability of a possible subpoena fight that could wind

up before the supreme court. meanwhile the paper says that trump's lawyer, rudy giuliani and other advisors have begun to prepare trump for a possible sitdown with bob mueller. that includes practice sessions to help with this process. but in a tweet yesterday, christie said he has not been asked by anyone to do anything of the source. >> danny, great to have back with this. what is your legal reactions to the president's claims that he can pardon himself and can he reallyo that? >> the president said his pardon power was absolute. the president's pardon power has always been limited. it is one of the broadest powers in the constitution. the president cannot pardon future crime, but he can pardon you if you've committed the

conduct and haven't been prosecuted yet. the question of whether or not the president can issue a self-pardon was not addressed in the constitution. that could be for a couple different reasons. one would be the notion of it was so silly that the framers thought we'll never have to deal with this. the closest they came was a discussion that if he is involved in criminalalty he may be impeached and may be prosecuted and it stands for the proposition that the president cannot self-pardon. >> do you think this could cause a situation that an amendment may be made to the constitution? >> it's never really been an issue. there is one work around. >> it seems like it's becoming an issue now. >> but to create a constitutional amendment as we know is a huge amount of legislative effort so that we -- i think we try not to address

these issues until they become a real problem. in the case of the present situation, one opinion says -- in is a secret i'm letting everybody in. in theory the president could say i'm temporarily unable to serve. the vice president could step in temporarily, vice president issues the pardon. president says i'm over and i'm back in office, pardon accomplished. that's one theory. the real answer to whether or not the president can self-pardon is he can try, but ultimately it depends on the federal judge or the supreme court hears that case and with the issues it's really an open question. >> we've run out of time. >> i did it again. >> just going on and on. >> pardon me. >> thank you very much. >> pardon yourself, will you? >> scott pruitt is facing yet

another controversy involving accusations of abusing his power. according to testimonyt is accused of using epa aides to complete personal tasks. that is prohibited. the allegations stem from an interview the committee conducted last month with pruitt's scheduling in advance. she says that last summer pruitt asked her with looking at apartments for him in washington, d.c. during that same time she says that pruitt also asked her to reach out to the managing director of the trump international hotel in washington to discuss the possibility of purchasing an old mattress. when he was the oklahoma attorney general was one of the two aides who received a large pay bump declining the white

house's request for those increases. >> just wanted to scoop that mattress off the sidewalk. all right. the eagles will not be honored at the white house today after president trump abruptly cancelled the team's visit. a written statement reads in part quote, the philadelphia eagles are unable to como if white house with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow. they disagree with their president because he insists that they proud my stand for the national anthem. the eagles wanted to send a smaller delegation, but the 1,000 fans deserve better. white house officials told the new york times that fewer than ten members of the team were planning to attend the event. president trump said he would quote, be there at 3:00 p.m. with the united states marine

band to celebrate america. he also slammed nfl's policy tweeting last night, staying in the locker room for playing of our national anthem is as disrespectful to our country as kneeling. >> not a single member of the eagles actually kneeled during this entire season. >> it's only igniting a fire it seems which never actually existed. >> a lot of people are saying the eagles never took the knee as others did. >> talk to us, what's actually going on here? >> yeah, what this looks like is basically you tried to throw a party and most of the inved guests decided not to come so you cancelled the party trying to take the higher road and making it seem we are the one that's making the decision here.

you know, they hold these events honoring various sports champions at various times of the year, but this is an issue that had sort of been settled by the nfl. they had comeut with this new policy that players that could, if they were on the field they had to stay in the national anthem or they could stay in the locker room. this is a culture war that is invigorating the president's base and what this appears to be is an attempt to keep this issue alive. >> a winning issue for them in the president's base. >> i tried to side step questions over the don jr. statement. take a listen to this. >> if you're saying one thing from the podium that it wasn't dictated from the president. how can we believe what you sere

saying in his lawyers are saying it's entirely inaccurate? >> i can't comment on a letter. >> you said he did not dictate. the lawyer said he did. what is ? >> i don't know, i can only respond to a letter from the president's outside counsel. we purposely walled off and i would refer to them for comment. >> to that reporter's point who are we supposed to be when the official white house spokes person is saying shing the official -- >> and then rudy giuliani is saying something totally different as well. >> this has come up again and again. how are we supposed to trust you when we're getting all of these contradicting statements. i mean, you have directly

contradictory statements here. speaking on behalf of the american government that the president did not dictate this statement, rudy giuliani saying actu she made a mistake. that jay sekulow just made a mistake. it was just on oops. >> it is not a good day for democracy when you cannot trust the spokes person for the white house. >> thanks, jill. >> still ahead, voters head to the polls to make their nominees for the midterms. the broader impact they could have. >> and a check on the forecast and the continued severe heat in some parts of the country. hey blue. i brought you something. okay. we're getting out of here. you're welcome.

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made bluer. it allows the top two vote getters to avance despite party affiliation. and voters could end up sin only democrats in december. lieutenant governor is expected to top the field. however, former los angeles mayor and state treasurer are hoping to box out trump backed republican john cox to make it a one party showdown this fall. democrats are hoping to oust house republicans from district won by hillary clinton including four that are entirely in orange county once known as a republican strong head. it now groene grown more diverse. however, republicans are hoping that the crowded democratic field could di leet tlute the p photo. >> let's get a check on your weather with bill karins.

>> good morning. it's a pretty quiet morning out there. not many issues. as we go through the afternoon with the heat in the middle of the country, we do have a risk of severe storms and even tornados today. we're focusing on a slice of minnesota. a few tornados are possible. about one million people in this risk area. tomorrow we shift those and again, isolated tornados, more widespread wind damage and hail. i don't expect anything too horrible. hopefully they'll be out there on the open plains and miss everyone. temperatures it's been divided. with challenging records daily and still cool in the northeast and that's what's going to happen for the next couple of days. buffalo about 90 degrees. bismark 91. that's about0 degrees warmer

than normal. so the flows continuing out of canada. the great lakes wednesday and into the northeast but when will it finally warm up? philadelphia, friday 80. saturday 81. raleigh near 9 # 0 by the weekend so it's a slow warmup guys. >> but hopefully you won't have bad for us going into the weekend. >> like every other weekend? >> like every other weekend we've had so far. >> as of now in the northeast, saturday looks better, sunday, possible rain. >> i'd like a summer forecast. >> good luck with that. >> still ahead, one top republican's rebuke on president trump for slapping tariffs on allies and the actions he may take. >> and why future in d.c. may be next on his agenda. it takes to brew your cup. first, we head to vermont.

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welcome back. everybody. howard schultz is stepping down as executive chair of starbucks on june 26. starbucks made the announcement yesterday. the memo sent to employees, the decision coming am speculation as schultz is seen as the architect of the modern starbucks. he's considering a presidential run in 2020. in the memo he wrote i'll be thinking about a range of options for myself. from philanthropy to public service. but i'm a long way from knowing what the future holds.

schultz who stepped away from his role as ceo of the coffee chain will assume the title of chairman emeritus. and chairman of the senate foreign relations committee bob corker has choice words for president trump's tariffs imposed on america's closest allies. adding that america may te acga. >> the legislation we're working on to do would be to make sure that before those things could even occur, you'd have to get congressional approval. so i mean i think it's, inappropriate just to be will g willy-nilly to be throwing tariffs around. i think that's not the way you deal with economic issues like that and to state that they are you know, national security issues when i mean, there's almost no way you can stretch these to be national security issues. it then is abusing the authorities that you have. >> imposing the 232 tariffs

protect the steel and aluminium industries, because they're very critical to our national security. tariffs are the only measures appropriate to safeguard the untry. >> coming up, axios' onthon swan has a look at this morning's one big thing. and the serious growing questions over a president's power. president trump facing new warnings over his claim that he has the absolute right to pardon himself. republican senator rand paul weighs in on whether it's time for special prosecution, excuse me, special protections for robert mueller's russia probe. and ben rhodes joins the conversation on his new book. pulling back the curtain on the administration's final days. we came with big appetites. with expedia, you could book a flight, hotel, car, and activity all in one place.

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welcome back. everybody, joining us from washington with a look at axios a.m., national political reporter for axios, jonathan swan. talk about the one big thing today. >> we take you inside the white house when there are these

crazy, frenetic news cyc consumed by the mueller investigation. we oftenetke wt's it like in there when all of this is going on on television? and the reality is it depends which part of the building you're in. the president might be raging at the television in the dining room adjoining the oval office. elsewhere in the building if you're not a member of his legal team you're watching the show like the rest of us, truly watching on tv. completely unaware what giuliani is going to say nex and quite happy about that. because none of them talk about russia, it's the one word that they try to avoid. and at all costs inside the building. >> so can only manage what happens in the white house if the cable gets cut off. what are the white house aides that you're speaking to telling you about trump's legal team and how they're handling all of this, depending where they sit in the oval office or the west wing? >> there's not a lot of confidence in trump's public facing legal team. and in fact there never has

been. i think there's from what i'm hearing, much more confidence in their behind-the-scenes team led by emmet flood, certainly inside the white house and the husband-and-wife team on the outside. but rudy giuliani has been a force unto himself and really has been viewed very conceptically from a lot of people inside the west wing. and that was the same with john doud, who was answering questions from reporters, without the team inside the white house having any clue about what he was doing and the paths down which he was walking. >> talk to us about jonathan, what you have dubbed the actions taken by the president, about, by president trump and his deba club news cycles. as the >> i think the last 48 hours, have been some of the weirdest news cycles with regard to the mueller investigation. it's the been the debate club led by rudy giuliani and president trump.

the last night the first substantive thing happened. which was the mueller team suspecting manafort of witness tampering. but last 48 hours, nothing substantive happened in mueller investigation, yet we were consumed by this arcane legal debate about whenot the president has the power to pardon himself. whether or not he can obstruct justice. these are questions usually discussed in debate club, not in relation to a sitting president. >> anything to the donald trump's legal team, anything can prevent them from taking whatever action they want in regard to the russia probe? do they generally believe they are somehow immune or above the law with all of this? >> i spoke to source last night who is close to rudy giuliani and trump's legal team. beyond rudy giuliani. and they absolutely believe the legal argument laid out in that memo to mueller.

which is that the president can pardon himself and the president cannot be indicted, a sitting president. but that's a veryferent question from whether they think they should carry out these act. it's very cloer thear that they that should the president attempt to pardon himself that the president would likely impeach him the very next day. i don't think they're going to go down anything like this path, despite the public bluster. >> jonathan swan, thank you very much. we're going to be reading axios a.m. in just a little while. and to all of our viewers, you can sign up for the news letter by signing up at axios a.m. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf, "morning joe" starts right now. >> he certainly didn't dictate, but he like i said, he weighed in, offered suggestion like any father would do. >> president trump dictated the misleading statements. >> you said he did not dictate. then he did.

what is it? >> we're not go to respond to a letter to the president's outside counsel. >> what's the reason for the discrepancy? >> this letter from outside counsel and i direct to you them to answer the question. >> trump wrote and dictated a statement. >> i would encou to you reh out to the outside counsel. >> it was his father, the president, who dictated the letter. >> can't comment on a letter from the president's outside counsel, i direct you to them to answer it. >> that's press secretary sarah sanders, referring reporters back to the same lawyers who they are directly quoting in their questions. welcome to "morning joe," it's tuesday june 5th. with us we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. national affairs lafayette for nbc and msnbc, jon heilemann. jeremy bash and nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of