anybody. she was such a sweetheart. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning, everyone. i'm dara brown in new york at msnbc world headquarters. 7:00 in the east, 4:00 out west. shaking up the world stage. president trump arguing on behalf of russia during his time at the g-7 summit. >> and the g-7, which used to be the g-8, they threw russia out. they should let russia come back in. because we should have russia at the negotiating table. >> and in just a few hours, he's planning to leave the meeting early to head to singapore. how prepared he is for the high-staked summit with north korea. >> plus, what to make of the first lady's rebuke of rudy giuliani on the subject of stormy daniels.

>> new this morning, president trump is just about to start day two of the tense g-7 summit in canada. in an hour, he'll attend a breakfast meeting here on the heels of wrangling with america's biggest allies on trade and tariffs. kristen welker has more. >> president trump and america's strongest allies united before the cameras at the g-7 summit, but a bitter battle brewing. president trump dropping a bombshell, complaining there was someone missing. >> russia should be in the meeting. >> but russia was kicked out of the global group four years ago for illegally occupying crimea, now the u.s. and allies blaming vladimir putin for election meddling, not only in america's 2016 election but in europe, too. none of that swayed president trump. >> i have been russia's worst nightmare. it may not be politically correct, but we have a world to run. they should let russia come back in. because we should have russia at

the negotiating table. >> but only italy supports russia's return. other allies alarmed. john mccain saying russia is assaulting democratic institutions all over the world. it's just the latest move inflaming close allies after the president infuriated them by announcing new steel and aluminum tariffs. among those upset, emanuel macron. the bromance at risk of breaking up. earlier, macron tweeting allies could sign a six-country agreement without the u.s., and after president trump vowed to scrap nafta if mexico and canada won't allow more u.s. goods in, meeting with canada's prime minister, justin trudeau. >> justin has agreed to cut all tariffs and all trade barriers between canada and the united states. so i'm very happy. >> but white house officials say president trump is already looking past this summit to his historic face-to-face with kim

jong-un, explaining why the first lady won't be making the trip, her doctor saying she can't fly. >> she had a big operation, close to a four-hour operation. she's doing great. >> president trump is leaving this summit early to travel to singapore. he's been getting regular briefings from his secretary of state, and when asked about his preparations, the president said i have been preparing all my life. dara. >> kristen welker, thank you for that. for more, let's bring in axios reporter erica pandy and erica dell more. great to have you both here this morning. erin, i would like to start with you. president trump is meeting with the leaders of germany and japan. these are countries he has railed against in the past. are gripes about the u.s. trade imbalance supported by many economists. >> they're not new. this is one of the core things that candidate trump brought to the table in 2015 and 2016 when

he was running his campaign. the two main threads where saw in the campaign that really resonated with the public is this idea that america was getting the short end of the stick in the economic deals we struck, even with our partners, and immigration is another theme that ran deep in the campaign. while trump is coming out with a lot of bark to his bite at this point and really making a lot of steps in the direction of tariffs and making the moves against our allies and other countries. it's nothing new. >> let's talk about that bark because when the president makes claims about being taken advantage of by these countries, our allies, do you think it's designed with his base in mind? >> absolutely. i think president trump has shown that he doesn't believe in the continuity of foreign policy, especially when it comes to multilateral agreements. this message that our allies are cheating us, america first, america against the world, is very apparent in these policy proposals. >> erin, president trump is

leaving early from the g-7 to head to singapore for his summit with kim jong-un. according to the official program, the president will be sdiping discussions about climate change and the future of the global economy. do you think the conflicts with his counterparts over the issu s s played a role in his decision to leave early? >> certainly. when we talk about america first or america alone or the policy of isolationism, you see it in the first year as president, mainly the paris climate accord. it's a stance he took in the face of other partners when we made the deal with. of course, that rankles our allies. what else he's missing is the signing of a joint statement here and a group photo. it goes to speak to the discord among the world leaders right now. also coming out and saying we have no problem signing a statement as a g-6 group. so you really do see that divide here, especially with his decision to leave early. >> it will be interesting to see what happens today.

move on to the summit in singapore. here's what president trump had to say about how he's getting ready for the meeting. >> what are you doing to prepare for the summit? >> i think i'm very well prepared. i don't think i have to prepare very much. it's about attitude. it's about willingness to get things down. i think i have been preparing for the summit for a long time, as has the other side. i think they have been preparing for a long time also. this isn't a question of preparation. it's a question of whether or not people want it to happen. we'll know that very quickly. >> erica, do you think the president's approach to this meeting with kim will match how the north korean leader is preparing? >> i think with the north korean leader, you know, he's been in the news for several months now, and people were thinking okay, this is an unpredictable and crazy leader. but it's been proven over time that kim jong-un may actually be a very shrewd leader. so the statement from president trump that he's been preparing his whole life is concerning to north korea experts who say i

hope he at least listens to his advisers. i hope he takes their advice to the table with kim. >> erin, what would the president need toalk away with in terms of an adpreement to call his meeting with kim a success? >> there's what he wants and then there's what he said he won't live without. that's complete verifiable, irreversible denuclearization. that's his goal going into this, but it's worth talking about what kim jong-un's goal is. he wants to see sanctions relief for the betterment of the economy and his country and he wants to hang on to some of his conventional weapons. complete denuclearization is not his goal here. so you're talking about the process but also where the two sides want to end up. we could see smaller moves like some paperwork declaring a progressive end to the armistice. a peace treaty between north and south korea. we could see things on a political front, we could see a longer term plan to end or ease

sanctions. the idea of walking away with complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization is a tough pill for the north koreans to swallow. >> i want to turn to scott pruitt and the ethics scandal that just won't seem to let up. recent reports say aides to pruitt were made to bring him yogurt, protein bars, pick up lotion, go mattress shopping. here's what president trump had to say about the whole thing. >> scott pruitt is doing a great job within the walls of the epa. we're setting records. outside, he's being attacked very viciously by the press. and i'm not saying that he's blameless, but we'll see what happens. >> erica, is this a turning point for scott pruitt as head of the epa? >> well, you've seen president trump hold this steadfast support of scott pruitt through this long list of scandals that might have toppled any other administration official. it's president trump, he's the one who matters when it comes to scott pruitt's job security, but the scandals are starting to take a toll.

you have seen president trump say for the first time, i'm not saying he's blameless, and anything coming out of the epa is now colored by this long list of ethics questions. >> erin, what's your take on that? >> so, for me, this turned a corner when we saw a lawmaker from pruitt and trump's own party call this as swampy as it gets. and it's when you start seeing republicans turn on some of trump's officials here, when the needle starts to move. of course, pruitt still has the support and backing of president trump, which in this circle can be all you need to hang on and hang through. but we're seeing a level of frustration mounting within congress. that laundry list you ran before, none of that is pretty trrb it really does hammer home for a lot of individuals even watching the story peripherally, the mattress, the sound proof phone booth, the travel expenses, this has been a drip drip drip for months. you have to wonder when the pressure will turn. >> so many colorful headlines

coming out of washington. please stay with me because in a few minutes, we'll talk about the role of rudy giuliani in the trump white house and what strategy there might be in his appearances. >> now, to the reaction of the death of celebrity chef and tv host anthony bourdain. he died yesterday by an apparent suicide. nbc's stephanie gosk takes a look at how bourdain made a difference. >> anthony bourdain was on a shoot for his show in a small french town. close friend and chef eric repair discovered his body. the 61-year-old died by suicide in his hotel room. he led an extraordinary life. first mastering food and then turning it into a best-seller, kitchen confidential. >> and i remember reading it, and i was astonished how true it was. he will be remembered as a ground breaker. >> from there, he pivoted to tv, redefining the travel show. >> vietnam, it could be no place

else. >> both irreverent and thoughtful. >> no dignified way to eat this. >> bourdain brought places, even ones we all know well, to life. food was at the heart of every episode, and he ate like he talked to people. loving a five-star restaurant as much as a hotdog on the street. >> let's talk about food and eat food. >> talking to a family in gaza the same way he talked to president obama. >> how often do you get to sneak out for a beer? >> very rarely. >> a visit from bourdain changed lives. the owner of a chinese restaurant in queens writes, i wanted him to know it helped bring our family out from living in one room to living the american dream. recently, bourdain became active in the me too movement, dating asia argento, a harvey weinstein accuser. >> came out of a brutal business that was historically unfriendly to women. >> perhaps being a father himself to a young daughter made him more sensitive to the cause. >> is she a tough critic.

>> she's brutal. i cannot get anything past her. no, daddy, it's too salty. >> he faced struggles, heroin addiction and divorce, but friends and family remembered him for the good things. he was an exceptional human being, so inspiring and generous, one of the great story tellers of our time. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. >> he will be missed. if you or a loved one need help, call the national suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-talk. >> coming up, breaking from the pack. president trump's call for russia to be readmitted to the g-7. what he's trying to gain from this. that's up next. without all the bad stuff. yes! you can still stream your favorite shows. yes! with no annual contract. wait, what? it's live tv. yes! with no satellites. what? and no bulky hardware. no bulky hardware! isn't that great news? yes! nooooo! nooooooooooo!

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new this morning, president trump's call to readmit russia to g-7 has been shot down by

world leaders. angela merkel told reporters on the sidelines of the g-7, russia will not be readmitted until it meets conditions imposed following its incursion into ukraine. joining me is christopher dic y dickey, an msnbc contributor. the president also fired off twitter broad sides against canada and france. so how do you interpret his attitude toward traditional u.s. allies? >> making enemies of our allies and friends of our enemies is what he seems to be trying to do. you know, i think a lot of this is just a distraction. there are real trade issues that need to be negotiated, and you need to sit down and talk about those and work those out. that's all fine. and the g-7 meeting could have been a meeting in which that sort of thing was moved along significantly. at the same time that it was looking at issues like climate change, even the terrible plague of plastic in the oceans.

those are the kinds of things the g-7 summits are looked at before, but he doesn't really want to do any of that. it's not a club that interests him very much because it's about shared values as much as it is about industrialized economies and he doesn't share those values. he shares the values of vladimir putin apparently, maybe xi jinpi jinping. they were meeting at the same time, yesterday, by the way, and probably toasting donald trump and saying thank you for tearing apart western alliances and western patterns of cooperation and friendship. >> christopher, french president emanuel macron posted this on twitter two days ago suggesting world leaders were okay with being the g-6. then yesterday, he tweeted several videos of himself and trump in private talks. how much of this is pure showmanship? >> well, on macron's part, i think he's not just -- he's not bluffing on that. i think the question of shared values is an important one. and the g-6 do share those

values. whereas trump really probably does not. but macron has always said let's be polite to trump. let's try to get along with him at a personal level, let's try to persuade him on various issues because ultimately the united states is a huge power. it was and remains the biggest economy in the world. so if you're going to deal on the economy, on defense, on terrorism, on lots of issues. you have to find a way to at least have a civil conversation with the united states. that's what he tries to do. it's very hard with trump, but that's what macron particularly is trying to do. >> christopher, is there any case to be made that president trump's approach could help the u.s. with respect to trade at some point? >> well, you know, there are serious tariff issues on certain commodities and products. he wasn't kidding when he said there was almost a 300% tariff in canada on american dairy products.

actually, it's 270%, and a loophole that was helping american dairy farmers is being closed in canada. so that's a real issue. but that's the kind of thing you sit down and you talk out. you don't tweet about it and make a big deal out of it and use it as an excuse one of your excuses to leave the g-7 early and go off to what one of my friends called a hot date with kim jong-un. >> and what does mr. trump gain from being vladimir putin's number one cheerleader? >> well, that is the big question, isn't it? why is he vladimir putin's number one cheerleader? you know, when it comes to the question of the g-8 and the g-7, was a courtesy to bring in russia. russia's economy is tiny compared to the g-7 economies. russia's economy is on par with australia. it's smaller than india's economy. there are lots of countries more deserving, have better values and more economies than russia,

so why do we need russia in the g-7? because it's got nuclear weapons? that seems to be the thing most important to donald trump, and nuclear weapons are important, but the lesson the world can learn is let's get nukes and maybe trump will pay attention to us. >> christopher dickey, always great to have your insight on this. thank you for joining us on this saturday morning. well, the president, his attorney, and stormy daniels. what rudy giuliani's comments about the porn star accomplished this week. >> plus, we would like to point out in honor of pride month, the nbc out pride 30 list celebrates lgbtq changemakers from across america. read their stories at nbcout.com. some cash back cards send you on a journey to get to your bonus cash back. first they make you sign up for bonus cash back and it's only on a few categories. and when those categories change, you gotta sign up again. when does it end?!

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including virginia. so far in midterm primaries, 120 women have won elections amid a record number of women running for office. and more victories are likely ahead. the new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows 67% of registered voters say the country would be better off if more women were elected. 24% do not agree. >> after melania trump's reemergence in public earlier this week, some comments by the president's lawyer rudy giuliani got serious pushback from the first lady's spokesperson. let's bring back erica and erin. and erin first, the president's lawyer, rudy giuliani, has been making headlines on his own. and since wednesday, he told a conference in israel that first lady melania trump believes her husband in the stormy daniels scandal. but the first lady's spokesperson said melania has had no interactions with giuliani about the meeting. what do you think the first lady

means with this somewhat cryptic statement? >> it might be cryptic but it's sharp. she's dealing a blow to giuliani's credibility. her team came out and said he hasn't had any conversations with her on this topic. and this mirrors other things we have seen out of giuliani lately. even mike pompeo to say he doesn't have an inside track with knowledge on north korea. basically, giuliani, a lawyer, is functioning in these circles more like a spokesman at this point. he and trump get along well personally. they have the same tv-friendly style. that means he can go on the airwaves and capture an entire story the way we're talking now. but what it doesn't mean is he's really pulling a lot of power behind the scenes. when i say i see him as a spokesman, it's worth noting that's the role he's functioning on in mueller's eyes as well. >> rudy giuliani created a whole news cycle about his client's relationship with his wife. do you think this is part of some legal strategy or is giuliani needlessly spotlighting the first family? >> i don't know if that was part

of the strategy, but jonathan swan has reported rudy giuliani's role is to get in the media, distract, attack the credibility of the mueller case as a witch hunt. he's done that. he's shown there's few questions he's unwilling to answer. he's made the rounds on cable news. while he's making headlines like this, it's hard for administration officials like mike pompeo to ignore what he's saying. mike pompeo was visibly uncomfortable when he had to address rudy giuliani's comment on north korea. axios reported this is very typical in this west wing. throughout these mad mueller news cycles, the administration officials have generally been quiet, and there's like two parts here. and you know, those worlds collided with rudy giuliani. >> erin, real quick, what is your reaction to that? >> well, i think it's a valid point. i think you do see styles and worlds colliding. there have been almost no leaks out of the mueller team. we see big reports come out and

in fact you see trump's team in front of the tv cameras every day. different styles. >> erin and erica, thank you for joining me. that will do it for me. i'm dara brown. thank you for watching. at the top of the hour, hugh hewitt, but first, stay with us for "your business." i would not want to pay that insurance bill. [ ding ] -oh, i have progressive, so i just bundled everything with my home insurance. saved me a ton of money. -love you, gary! -you don't have to buzz in. it's not a question, gary. on march 1, 1810 -- [ ding ] -frédéric chopin. -collapsing in 226 -- [ ding ] -the colossus of rhodes. -[ sighs ] louise dustmann -- [ ding ] -brahms' "lullaby," or "wiegenlied." -when will it end? [ ding ] -not today, ron. i'm still giving it my best even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin, i'm up for that. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin.

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good morning, everyone. coming up on "your business," how do you expand your business across the country? the owners of a healthy meal vending machine company show us their game plan. >> model and actress brooklyn decker becomes a business star with her digital wardrobe company, finery. and, protect your business from a starbucks situation. what you need to know about implementing anti-bias training in your company. when it comes to making choices for your business, we have your back. so let's grow fast and work smart. that's all coming up next on "your business."