the president attacks the media. the media reports questioning the first lady's 26th day public absence with a barrage about rumors real and imagined. california dreaming. republicans and democrats hang in as the golden state primary offers proof to november's mid term. remembering bobby kennedy. 50 years after the night that changed america. the kennedy family gathers and his grandson speaks. 50 years after that funeral made its unforgettable journey to washington and 50 years after his call to peace was silenced forever.

good day, everyone. president trump is lashing out at the press today calling the coverage of his wife melania during her recovery from kidney surgery unfair and vicious. claiming news out lets reported she was near death, recovering from facelift, leaving the president, the victim of abuse. repeating some of the tabloid speculation that's not appeared in the mainstream media. joining me kristen welker and msnbc political analyst robert costa. welcome to both of you. kristen, the president and the first lady are supposed to appear together this afternoon at an event. it's the first time they will be seen publicly. that she will be seen publicly in 26 days. in his tweets today about these

nasty reports, he's recycling tabloid rumors that have not appeared on network television, that's i know of, any of our cable shows. not appeared in most newspapers. >> reporter: you're right. in fact, some reporters have said they didn't even know about some of the rumors that he tweeted about today. really giving oxygen to some of these rumors. some of this buzz worthy gossip that's gone around. we're going to see first lady today with the president. the two will head to the fema headquarters later this afternoon for a briefing on hurricane preparedness. earlier this week she did attend an event for gold star families with president trump. that was not open to the press. there were a few pictures that did leak out but the press wasn't there. she did have what was described as a procedure for a benign

kidney condition. she remained in the hospital for five days and undoubtedly did have some down time at the white house to rest. >> robert costa, the other issue today, of course, is all of the controversy coming out of white house regarding white house aide who had demeaned and ridiculed john mccain and his recovery or his continuing treatment, i should say for brain cancer. tell us about that. >> reporter: the staffer at question is miss kelly sadler who worked on communications at the white house. it is being widely reported that she is being removed from her post. moving else wwhere in the administration or leaving. that was flash point for a white house that's very reluctant to apologize on any matter and even with regard to a senator, a veteran senator who is a military veteran dying, very

much struggling with his health, they were trying to avoid apologizing for her remark. looks like he's heading for the exits. >> robert, you and kristen have been reporting on the president's fascination with pardons. kristen, first to you. how many pardons is he considering making? >> reporter: i was told by a white house official earlier today that there are donzens of pardons. there's no indication how many he will approve or when. we do know that kim kardashian was here last week lobbying to have great grandmother alice johnson pardoned. she is someone who is convicted in the 1990s of cocaine usage, selling cocaine. she said her punishment didn't fit the crime making that case. we know that's one of the pardons the president is considering.

he said he's considering pardoning rod blagojevich as well as martha stewart. the big discussion here at the white house is whether the president thinks he can pardon himself. he says he thinks the constitution gives him the right to do so. there's been a lot of push back against that. he said he doesn't think he will need a pardon. of course, the broader question hovering all of this and the fact the white house is reporting this out is what message is president trump trying to send with these potential pardons. one more note, for context here, it's not unusual for the justice department to have dozens of pardons prepared for a president at any given time. >> he's not been going through the normal process. he's basically freelancing this and not waiting for the recommendations from doj. >> reporter: that's correct in our report today and the washington post, we look at how the president is being persuaded

by friends, advisor, looking at celebrity and the individual nature of the case. you consult with the white house counsel's office and the department of justice. that's not to say those players are not involved in the process. this is the president himself driving the discussion, wanting to underscore his executive power and the time is important to note it comes amid the russia probe as indictments have happened in the mueller investigation and friends of the president like newt gingrich says he believes the president is trying to send a message to those entangled in the probe that the president could pardon them at some point. >> i want to talk to both you have, phillie fans. robert you're from that area. kristen you're a philly person. what we saw yesterday was this tribute to america about an eight minute program on the south lawn instead of the eagles celebration.

here is what lebron james and steph curry agree on that the nba will also not participate in any kind of white house ceremony. let's watch. >> i know no matter who wins this series, no one wants to invite anybody. it won't be golden state or cleveland state going. >> i agree with bron. the way we handled things last year, kind of stay consistent with that. >> robert, the political motivation behind what the president did yesterday. we know a number of the eagles were not going to show up. the fact is the white house cancelled it because it was going to be too small a celebration. what happened next? >> when ever i'm back in philadelphia, for all of your work at nbc news, people still think of your time in

philadelphia as a correspondent and anchor there. a lot of good memoriaes. this is a swing state and state that president trump won, pennsylvania. it was state republicans had not won since 1988. there's a political potential consequence here for a president who is able to win pennsylvania as a republican. now he moves forward into the midterm elections into 2020. having picked a fight with the most popular sports team, arguably in pennsylvania. >> kristen we know you're an egegg -- eagles fans also. a trump administration policy separating children from their migrant family is sparking out ra outrage from critics about denials about the conditions those children are facing. >> my smart was just down in texas and said it looks like a lot of these kids are in what looks like cages. >> that's completely incorrect.

he didn't see the children because he requested at 4:00 p.m. on a friday to visit in texas or in california, a facility. these are minors. we accommodate requests from congress to inspect and look at our facilities. they are provided full education, medicare cal care, athletics meals. >> it sounds like summer camp. nbc news reports department officials are going to tour three military bases to find ways to house the children because of the overflow. oregon democratic senator joins me now from your inspection tour. what is your response to the hhs secretary today? >> he was talking about a detention facility and my comments about the cages was from a different facility which is one done by the home and

security where they process the families that are seeking asy m asylum. they have presented themselves as families and there's an initial room that has series of si cyclone fence and fence post. do you want to call them containers? i call them cages because they look like a cage. >> how big are they? >> about 12 by 12 or 15 by 15. a lot of people crowded into each one. that's not the point here. this is really the same physical set that was used in previous administration administrations. because the press is not allowed in to look, when the press wanted me to give a physical description, i gave it. the heart is the new policy. >> that's started on may 7th. it has nothing to do with an existing law, an obama policy or anything else? >> absolutely not. >> this is jeff sessions announcing refugee families

would be treated this way and children would be separated from families as a deterrent to prevent them from coming seeking asyl asylum. >> exactly. >> if we inflict pain on the children, we will deter parents from seeking asylum. what civilization on this planet does that? harm children to deter or influence the parents. it's wrong on every moral code. it's wrong on every religious code. it's a deep, dark spot of shame for our nation right now that we're doing this to these kids. >> the united nations human rights commission come out and criticize the united states of america in a way that we hear other countries, totalitarian

nations who are mistreating people at their borders. >> almost all of us have histories in parents, grandparents, migrated. many of them fleeing persecution. when family presents itself for asylum and is ready to tell their story of persecution, we have always treated these families graciously. we understand the difficult circumstances that so many have come from. now what we have is a process where they are brought into a room and looks like a big warehouse with a lot of big cyclone fence like a dog kennel. >> are the children isolated in the enclosures without their

parents? >> the first room, there were a number of children in the arms of their parents. then they go through a processing facility where they are interviewed. then there's a big warehouse. inside this, there's larger cyclone fence containers opinion there was a group of boys in one of them and lining up for food. they had the smallest in front and the tallest in back. the tallest was knee high to a grasshopper. i estimated he might be four or five. >> the youngest? >> four or five years old. i couldn't get personal nchgs. i can't tell you exactly how old. that's what it looked like. some of them were unaccompanied when they crossed the border. many of those kids, those young boys in that line have been just recently separated from their parents because their parents are seeking asylum, safety zone from hostilities and agony overseas. there's something else going on

here too. the folks who work with immigrants were telling me how the bridge into the reception center, the border center was proceeding to keep people wait on that bridge sometimes for more than a week. i was extremely hot when i was there. it was high 90s or somewhere like that. the idea of being on that bridge as one worker told me ch interviewed families 10 or 12 days. this is another form of deterrents to keep people from coming across the bridge. >> thank you so much for your personal testimony here. i know there's been a lot of dispute over facts but it's great to have you in person describing what you saw. >> you're welcome. i so much hope that people will say this has to stop. >> thank you. coming up, gold rush. who were the big winners in last night's california primary.

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the year's biggest primary day close out with both democrats and republicans averting disaster in marquee california races. warning signs still linger for incumbents in both parties. nbc national correspondent joins me from the big board. you have a cot there. i saw you at 1:00 in the

morning. i know i did. >> no time to lay down. let's dissect what happened in california and elsewhere and what it could mean for november. the big question heading into last night, where are democrats going to get lock eed out. they have these ripe, juicy targets they think they can pick off from republicans. the answer looks like it's going to be no. 39th district. a lot of this is orange county. this is open seat. you see a republican there. young kim running in first. you see some real distance between second and third. democrats just want to be in the top two. that was the bottom line for them in districts. looks like mission for them establish in 39, 48. looks like there's still to be settled here. very close. they are both democrats. second place going to go to one of them. democrats getting what they wanted there in terms of surviving. in the 49th, same thing.

democrat second and third. if you continue the screen, you'll see them down in fourth place as well. also this one emerged as the votes started to come in. the 10th district in the central valley. democrat. we haven't called this one yet. about a 900 vote advantage for second place. still keeping an eye on. democrats look like they will probably get this one but not quite there yet. if they do, mission accomplished for them. half to say republicans, democrats are happy about that. what republicans are happy about when they look at these results in california. you can't see every candidate is republicans will say if you looked at the entire ballot in districts like this, the ones democrats are targeting, you add up the republican vote and democrat vote, the republican vote exceeding the democratic vote sometimes by a fairly substantial margin into the low

50s for republicans and mid-50s for them. there is some relationship. this is a very strange system. a lot of states don't do this. there is some relationship in the past between adding up the party votes and the primary and how it breaks in the top two. republicans pointing to that. they're on the ballot. they are in the game in these races. i think that's where they wanted to be coming out of last night. the action though wasn't just in california last night. it was elsewhere. see if we can call this one up without me breaking this thing. it's the most fascinating story of the night. this one you can file under to be continued. alabama second congressional district. you see the southern part of the state right here. what do you have? you have martha roby. 2016 during that campaign year, donald trump, all the controversy specifically the "access hollywood" tape. she refused to endorse him. she's going to a run off with a pro-trump. >> senator menendez did not do

as well as a lot of people expected. that could be a competitive race. thank you. you covered it all. >> we got there. >> thank a lot. kochl mexico fighting back many trump trade war with pork farmers paying the price. pork farmers paying the price. we'll be right back. a hilton getaway means you get more because... you get another day in paradise. get a sunset on a sunday. get more stories to share. get more from your summer getaway with exclusive hilton offers. book yours, only at hilton.com but he has plans today.ain. hey dad. so he took aleve. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve. all day strong.

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president trump is supposed to head to quebec later this week for the g7 summit. what top officials are calling the g6 plus one because of the president's decision to hit them with tariff. mexico is already retaliating and imposing import taxes on $3 billion of u.s. products including pork. that's bad news for american pig farmers like dave moody. >> if it gets into a trade war, it's not good for anybody. we definitely seen some drops in the pork market since the initial discussions of tariffs

and whatnot coming from different countries back in march and to this point in time. >> dave moody in iowa. joining is nick burns. welcome. this is before the big korea summit in singapore which begins on monday. we're expecting the president will be at the g7 and it's going to be a pretty unfriendly welcome. prime minister trudeaux is angry. ange angela merkle is angry. the mexicans are furious. one wonders what can he accomplish there? >> it's going to be a chilly summit on friday and saturday. i don't think the united states has been as isolated from its allies, really in a century.

you have to go all the way back to when we rejected the league of nations in 1920 to find a time when we were so distant from them and we're the natural leader of the western alliance but we're not acting like it because on climate change, iran, je r jerusalem and trade. donald trump appears to have no regard for the european union. doesn't appears to want it to succeed and he's been a very weak and disinterested leader in nato. we haven't seen a president like this in long, long time. >> he's really alienated canada and mexico. mexico really because they have an election july 1st. they will have an anti-american leftist president elected. he's squandering two decades of good u.s.-mexican relations. >> that's true and now we have this decision by president trump

not to negotiate with canada and mexico on the modernization and future of nafta but to negotiate them or try to separately and i think both governments have said they won't do that. you can't break apart nafta into individual components. the question for the president is how many trade wars can we afford at once. the big problem for us is the offensive trade, the violation of trade rules by the chinese. we ought to want to have the canadians, the mexicans, the europeans on our side all pushing for kmie thchina. that's not the case. >> we'll have to jump in with the president signing a bill that would lead toward privatizing some benefits for veterans. let's listen. >> you fulfilled your duty to our nation with tremendous loyalty and courage and with the signing of this veterans choice legislation we take one more crucial step in fulfilling our

duty to you. we're pleased to be joined by our great vice president mike pence along with my nominee to lead the v.a. robert wilkey. stand up robert. you're going to do a great job. working along with robert is acting secretary. where's peter? that's a great team. i also want to thank many of our leaders. i call leaders because they are indeed leaders. they said it would be very slow. we have an election coming on november 6th. they said it would be very, very slow this period of time. i was telling mike this hasn't been slow. we pass dodd frank.

right to try. we got $700 billion for our military. that's a big one. we needed to get that. military will be stronger, bigger, better than it ever was before. hopefully we won't have to use it very much. the fact we have it so strong means we probably won't have to use it as much. i want to thank all the great people in the audience that helped us so much. on december 22nd, which doesn't quite fit into the january first date but on december 22nd, we signed the biggest tax cuts in the history of our country. that's a big one. we got $1.6 billion we've already started the wall on the southern border. the wall has started. $1.6 billion. so important. i also have to recognize some of the people that have worked so

hard to make all of this happen and johnny isaacson. where is johnny? has johnny been working. have you worked with jerry moran and the whole group. where's's jerry? good job. will cassidy, dean heller, tom cotton all here. lindsey graham. good job. todd young. todd, thank you. where's's joni? we love the farmers. i'm glad it worked out. steve danes. all here. we have on the house of

representatives, mike kauffman, bryan mast. buddy carter. the problem with this, is there will be four people we didn't introduce and they will never speak to me for the rest of my life. they'll make sure i suffer. please, i apologize. jennifer gonzalez. peter king. where's peter? stand up. you've been so nice to me. he should. he comes from new york. thank you, peter. jack burgman. our chair phil row. our chair. >> as you see the president at the signing ceremony. this is a top priority for him. this is legislation that would expand the ability of veterans to use private sector health care rather than the v.a. it's something that been very controversy but it is a top

trump agenda item as we see the signing ceremony there at the white house. just a year and a half ago one of the final press conferences of his administration, then barack obama, talked about the election. >> look, this is a clarifying moment. it's a useful reminder that voting counts, politics counts. what the president-elect will be doing is different from what i will be doing. i think people will be able to compare and contrast about what worked for the american people. >> now we're getting an insider's look at the president's thinking. in a new book president obama national security advisor writes, the president told him "maybe we pushed too far after this election. maybe people just want to fall back into their tribe." joining me is author ben rhoades

and now a msnbc political contributor. congratulations on the book. >> thanks. >> when you look back at that moment on the white house briefing room, what was he really thinking? >> you know i think, like a lot of us, he was think iing i hope this isn't as bad as it seems going forward. i think some of our more worst fears have been confirmed. look ing in the rear view mirro, you heard him say elections matter. there might have been some sense of complacency that hillary clinton was going to win. the complete shock and the feeling of tfeel ing rug being pulled out the day after the election really drove home that i don't think many of us felt in a lifetime how much elections can have consequences. >> there was a lot of second

guessing as to whether he did enough, you all did enough. whether he did enough to warn people about russia's attack on our elections. >> yeah. i'd break those into two different categories. first of all, what if we were wrong. he was talking in general terms. we had just been on a foreign trip. when we went abroad, the feeling of the consequences of the election was even more acute because people around the work were just flabbergasted. angela merkel, he saw a tear in her eye. >> the quote from the book, obama not usually an out wardly sentimental man, appeared to pass the torch. justin, your voice is going to be needed more. you'll have to speak out when certain values are threatened. she talked to him about her looming decision on whether to seek another term. at the end of your trip to germany when obama bade her

farewell at the door of the beast. a single tear appeared in her eye. something none of us had never seen before. she's all alone. this is from the world as it is. pretty touching. >> trump may pursue some of these actions on trade. he said the world will know who to blame. he was talking about trump. the kind of liberal order that angela merkel and justin trudeaux. maybe the pace of change had gotten out ahead of where people are. personally, my view and i wrote the book to try to argue, i think the future will end up looking more like barack obama than donald trump. it just may take 10 or 20 years to get there. >> the criticism about not being more out spoken about the election, you were writing and

i've heard some of the interviews you've given that he had to be concern. donald trump was already saying the election is rigged and he didn't want to feed that by coming out, the criticism is if the president of the united states has come into the briefing room and said what he delegated to j johnson and jim clapper to warn before hand about the attacks. >> part of what i look back on and wonder is when there was statement of warning, it was about the hacking and leasing of e-mails, it doesn't affect the fake news. i think what he would argue, wooeds s we'd say, do you need to go out. he would say i get asked about this in the briefing room. i'm not a messenger the people consuming that stuff will listen to and trump will say it's rigged. the government didn't have a lot of capacity to deal with this.

we can't edit people's facebook ne feeds and say that's fake nus. our government is probably not doing anything to prevent this. the likelihood the russians will doheading into this north korean summit and it's something you guys couldn't have imagined. some people say you inherited a mess. they already had nuclear weapons. >> everyone inherits a mess. >> maybe he's right. maybe calling him rocket man and fire and fury and on january 2nd, my nuclear button is bigger than yours. all of that scared the heck out of kim jong-un and got him to the table. >> i don't think so. what concerns me here, first of all is kim jong-un, it's not he was scared, i think he feels

he's in a position of strength. he comes into the talks saying i have a missile deterrent. >> he didn't get that in 17 months. >> no. i think he accelerated the testing. what are they trying to achieve? if it's just to have a meeting and north korea says some day we'll give them up but they don't. north korea gets sanctions. >> maybe, according to rudy giuliani today, an interview he did injerusalem, he's saying kim jong-un was begging for this. >> somehow, north korea after he cancelled the summit because they insulted the vice president, they insulted his national security advisor and they said they were going to go to nuclear war against us. they were going to defeat us in a nuclear war. we said we're not going to have

a summit under those circumstances. kim jong-un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it which exactly the position you want to put him in. >> they're going to the summit and the president's lawyer is saying that kim jong-un got on his hands and knees begging. how might the north koreans react to that? >> it's probably not the mood muds music you want for the summit. that's what worries me, besides having joyour lawyer talk about this. i met 20 times with the cubans before barack obama met with them. i think this meeting is happening is the south koreans wanted this meeting to happen. we had a right of center government.

understand what they are trying to achieving my concern is north koreans could play this. they know trump will want to declare it a success. he's already awarding himself the nobel prize. the northerns could say let's make a bunch of empty promises. the north koreans get their legitimacy. they may even get sanctions lease and the status quo is codified. >> so much to talk about. you have to come back. >> thank you. >> now that you're part of the team. >> yes. >> congratulations. >> thank you. back to kristen welker at the white house. you've got confirmation of the communation of a sentence. this goes back to kim kardash n kardashian. >> reporter: that's right. this is for alice johnson.

this is according to one of her attorneys as well as white house official who confirms this. this was what kim kardashian was here lobbying for last week. what some referred to as the first kim summit. johnson was sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking back in 1996. kardashian argued that the sentence really didn't fit the crime. this is a grandparent who deserves to be released. very big news here today at the white house. kim kardashian tweeting. best news ever. we'll watch our twitter accounts to see if she has any more to say as she learns more about this. this does come as we have been reporting throughout the day that president trump is considering dozens of other pardons including, according to the president himself, commuting the sentence of rod blagojevich as well as martha stewart. will that happen? we'll have to wait and see. some critics look at some of

these pardons in question, if there's a political purpose to them. that's a nar tifr thrative the house has pushed back against vigorously. the question is president trump with some of these pardons trying to send a message to some of those wrapped up in the russia probe like his pardon of dinesh d'souza. this pardon will likely be less controversial. this is a great grandparemother back in the 1990s was sentenced to life for drug trafficking. >> there are a lot of others, thousands and others who are less entitled, less well represented who are incarcerated. mostly minorities, mostly men who are inkars racarcerated on drug offenses. thank you kristen welker. the president is signing

that bill for the privatization of some veterans health benefits which would mean taking them outside of the v.a. coming up next, why did the chicken cross the road? the story of the epa's unusual meeting with chick-fil-a. stay with us right here on msnbc. it was our time to unplug and be together. with my bladder leakage, i'm not doing that anymore. when i went hiking with the other product, it just didn't fit right and i was always readjusting it. so, now our camping trips are their camping trips. but with the new sizes of depend fit-flex, it feels like it was made for me. i'm ready to get back our time together. introducing more sizes for better comfort. new depend fit-flex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. get a free sample at depend.com

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here we go again. em battled epa chief facing scrutiny. this time over revelations he asked a senior aide to inquire about a business opportunity for his wife. what kind of an opportunity? according to e-mails obtained and first reported by the washington post, he directed the aide to reach out to the ceo of chick-fil-a in hopes of helping his wife become a franchise owner. he did talk to someone else in the company's legal department. a spokesperson for chick-fil-a told the washington post pruitt's wife started but did not finish the franchise application. it's the latest in a string of ethics questions surrounding pruitt that have dawned dozens

of public probes. i'm sorry. >> i feel like we've been here before. >> i don't know how to say franchisee. >> franchisee. >> i was franchisee? >> franchisee. sure. thinking it was a chicken dish. what is going on there. he's under scrutiny. why would he do this? >> this was prior to the allegations. earlier e-mails. it's very clear that scott pruitt does not have the strongest ethical compass of all the cabinet officials. using your position of power even impress italy or ex-press isex-press -- explicitly to help a family member is a no-no. would have gotten forme cabinet leaders to step down.

not a cat with nine lives. he's the cat that has a dozen lives. i don't know what it is about his tenure trump find he can't do without. >> and republican senator in iowa criticizing him on a podcast. what does he have to do to get the would us to rethink him? >> i think that certainly part of why trump has kept him in place is because he remains popular among some conservatives. has certainly been instrumental rolling back a lot of the obama era environmental regulations. but i think what this really speaks to, despite trump's promise to drain the swamp he's done anything but that and is willing to tolerate clear ethics violations within his administration. in fact, beyond cabinet officials, a public analysis found near lly 187 of trump's employees have been lobbyists and on behalf of what he lobbied. a lot of the waivers people who join the white house were able

to sign to clear themselves of potential ethics violations and this is yet another example in a mounting list for scott pruitt and speaks to a larger culture within the trump administration. >> the fact we don't know who's going in and out of the white house. the penetration of lobbyists on a daily basis? >> something the obama administration made public. a difficult list to navigate. at least we had names. for the trump administration there is no white house visitor logs and we have some visitor locks for cabinet agencies because of lawsuits that were filed successfully. but we really do not know, absent litigation, who scott pruitt or others are meeting with. we do not know who's getting the white house audience. that give as huge blind spot in terms of the corruption sabrina is talking about. >> thank you so much. coming up, remembering bobby kennedy. activists paying tribute today 50 years after his death including parkland survivor who read an excerpt from one of

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and finally today, looking back to the importance of what happened 50 year s when robert . den kennedy was struck down. as kennedy family and friends

gathered to mourn at arlington tom brokaw looks back at the political turmoil during that final campaign that he was covering and its tragic aftermath. >> -- state of california might very well decide who's going to be the democratic nominee and, therefore, very possibly the next president of the united states. >> reporter: he campaigned against the war. >> the american people want no more vietnam. [ applause ] >> reporter: and spoke out for social justice. for black and white for the poor and disenfranchised. >> every american no matter what his background, what his creed, what colorf his skin or where he lives shall walk with dig niy and honor in the united states. >> reporter: the california campaign was an exhilarating, exhausting marathon. >> bobby! >> kennedy! >> reporter: you could feel the danger in the air. nowhere more so than at this rally in san francisco.

[ gunshots ] >> a heart-stopping moment that turned out to be just firecrackers. the next day at his ambassador hotel headquarters in los angeles, kennedy was vick ftori. >> the winner in the democratic presidential prime maprimary. >> we want peace in vietnam and deal with the problems in our own country. >> reporter: finally told and aide he had escaped his brother's shadow, my thanks to all of you and now on to shangd let's win there. >> reporter: minutes later -- >> has been shot -- >> stay back! >> he's been shot in the head. >> in the head. >> he is still alive. that is correct. in the head. they just removed him -- to the hospital on a stretcher. >> kennedy's death brought shock and grief to the nation. it seemed to are more than we

could bear. >> wha hasiolence ever accomplished? what has it ever created? no martyrs cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet. >> reporter: we don't know if he could have won the nomination or the election but without him we got more deaths in vietnam, nixon and watergate. even now we think of what might have been and we remember him today as his brother did 50 years ago. >> simply as a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it. saw suffering and tried to heal it. saw a war and tried to stop it. those are us who loved him and have take him to his rest today

what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. >> our thanks to tom brokaw for that. that does it for us. craig melvin takes over now in new york. >> good to see you. good afternoon. craig melvin at msnbc headquarters in new york city. breaking news. president trump commuted the sentence of 63-year-old alice marie johnson. this coming after kim kardashian lobbied the president for her release last week. right now the white house is also preparing dozens of additional pardons for the president to review. sources say that the president is "obsessed with pardons." some of which against the wishes of his closest add vidors. also, it wasn't my finest hour. president clinton apologizing again for his behavior in the monica lewinsky scandal and raising questions about how he conducted our interview this week. what he's claiming and our