you look at america's population and you look at this. this cannot be correct. >> when we talk about prison reform in this country, we're talking about it mostly for young black males. in fact, out of trump's 87 federal judge nominations, so far only one nomination is african-american. >> time now to hand over to our colleague kristen welker for andrea mitchell reports. right now, supreme battle. with the end of the justice kennedy era at hand, both sides are gearing up for an epic fight before the fall session of the supreme court. >> you have to pick a great one. we have to pick one that's going to be there for 40 years, 45 years. >> this is probably going to be a beare knuckled, down in the dirt, scratching, biting, ear pulling political fight. >> i'm very concerned about the list that the president has put

out. super power summit. mark your calendars. president trump and russian president is sit down for a historic one-on-one meeting. the big question, what's on the agen agenda? >> i'm confident when the president meets with vladmir putin, he will make clear that meddling in our elections is completely unacceptable. words of warning. former secretary of state john kerry sounding the alarm about what he sees as the lack of political will among american leaders in an interview with andrea mitchell at the aspen ideas festival. >> we have always stood up for human rights and to see an administration would treat overtly and openly from his willingness to hold dictators and others accountable to that is a terrible scar on our long term interest and we will pay a price for that.

a very good day to you. i'm kristen welker. we'll hear from andrea with john kerry in just a moment. fireworks on capitol hill. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein on the hot seat facing hostile questioning from house republicans. take a listen. >> why you won't give us what we've asked for? >> i hope your colleagues are not under that impression. that's not accurate, sir. >> it is accurate. we have caught you hiding information. >> allow the witness to answer. we can go to the press conference. we came hear to hear from the witness. >> it's ridiculous. >> i am the deputy attorney general of the united states. i'm not the person doing the redacting. i'm responding to your concerns as i have. i have a team with me, sir. it's a fraction of the team that's doing this work. when i know ever you brought issues to my attention i have taken appropriate steps to

remedy them. your statement that i'm keeping information -- >> you're the boss. >> that's correct. my job is to make sure that we respond to your concerns. we have, sir. >> fireworks on capitol hill. joining me nbc news intelligence and national security reporter and former u.s. attorney and a former deputy assistant attorney general during the clinton administration. thanks to both you have for bei. you call that exchange remarkable. this is a republican lawmaker taking on a republican deputy attorney general. what did we witness here? >> it underscoring how split the republican party is at this moment. it's a trump party and a republican party. rod rosenstein is a trump appointee, a long time pub lek servant. he was being berated by republicans in that hearing and

democrats were trying to come to his defense and interject. what this is all about is devin nunes, the chairman has requested a bunch of information regarding the russia investigation. also the hillary clinton e-mail investigation from the justice department. sochl that informati some of that information the doj won't hand it over. they have to right to learn secret grand jury information about the pending criminal investigation. the only reason they want this stuff is so thiey can attack an discredit the mueller investigation on behalf of president trump. that raises the question of why is the justice department giving them anything. who is pressuring rosenstein and others to comply with these demands by house republicans and where is paul rye yoan in this?

so far he's been reporting that group of republicans attacking rosenstein. it's an incredible state of affairs we find ourselves in. it goes to the heart of the integrity of the justice department criminal investigation. >> we're learning the house just voted to demand the documents be turned over. seems like we're witnessing a republican strategy on display here. have you ever seen anything like this in this? is the ultimate gold goal to build up to fire him. >> the doj has given much more than they would traditionally. this is the real witch hunt on capitol hill. there's nothing here and they summon rosenstein up to slap him in the face hoping he'll hit

back and they can use his hitting back as a pretext to firing him. he's in this difficult position where he does give ground to try to protect the investigation. they are insatiable here. he testified for 11 hours behind closed doors. that we didn't see. the rosenstein spectacle is just for slapping him around p publicly. >> what do you make of how he's responded to these tough questions? >> approximately. he unlike the attorney general has relied on the professional core of the department of justice to tell him what to do. that's the standard procedure

for recusal issues. it's true there are some facts that would be considered for possible recusal. they ran them through the professional folks. they said at least for now rosenstein need not recuse. he did the right thing. got the answer. followed the answer. no more can be asked of him. >> let me pivot to the supreme court. justice kennedy announcing his resignation. what's the impact and what could the impact be on roe v wade. the left concerned it could be overturned. are their concerns valid? >> i mean this is so crazy. ts it's going to be a remarkable summer. there's reasons to be concerned. it's also reason to think after a nominee is confirmed is a

widding back to the nub of roe v wade. the basic point it could be at a minimum extremely difficult and hobbled for women, especially younger women. women of color to have reproductive decisions of their own making is certainly a fair point. it will be the whole focus. i think there's much, much more at stake. obviously, as bill crystal just said, they are gearing up for an abortion focused confirmation battle just like we've had in the past. >> i think it's going to be a bruising battle for sure. great conversation. i want to turn now to hawaii democratic senator who serves on the judiciary committee. i want to start with what we

just witnessed. the hearing with rod rosenstein. i don't know how much of it you have seen or heard but essentially he faced some very tough questions over turning over documents related to the investigation. what do you make of that exchange? republicans asking a republican deputy attorney general for documents and saying he's not complying? >> these are not normal times. it's not normal for the republicans, of all people, to go after the fbi. this is what's happening where they are going after fbi to do the bidding of a lying president. that's what we're seeing. i think it's just totally untoward. in so many areas these are not normal times. we have a president who lies every single day. we have members of the administration who lie for him and for themselves every single day. these are not normal times. >> let me ask you the big burning question i think on

everyone's mind. when you watch what we saw, do you think rod rosenstein's job is safe? >> i am very concerned. i think that what the republicans are doing, this all out assault on the fbi, they are setting the stage for whatever the mueller investigation unearths. we've had over 21 indictments, five guilty pleas. this is no witch hunt. they are setting the stage for whatever comes out of that investigation to be questioned. that's what they're doing. >> all right. let me pivot now to justice kennedy. the democrats saying we shouldn't have a vote on president trump's pick until after the midterm elections. lead every mcconnell saying we're going to have a vote in the fall. he wants to get this done quickly. what's your strategy because realistically, democrats just don't have the votes right now to block republicans. >> clearly, appealing to mitch

mcconnell's fairness to stick with his own rule is falling on deaf ears. he considers his orchestration of neil gorsich getting on the supreme court to be among his proudest achievements. he's not going to listen to appeals of fairness. we're going to make sure our voices are loud and clear. we're not going to be party to president trump saying, the supreme court should remain republican. this is a president who doesn't understand anything about the rule of the supreme court. so what. he's going to proceed. we're going to question the nominee. i'm looking for a nominee who can be fair, set aside their very conservative ideological perspectives and do what they are supposed to do. >> the focus shifts to the red

state. do they need to hold the line? republicans can only afford to lose one vote. do you think they will? >> i really respect all three senators. they have got to mobilmobilize. republicans and their rich supporters have set the stage for this to happen over a period of decades. we need to continue to show up and stay the course. we're going to do everything we can. i'm going to do everything i can to raise the concerns that we have about rights for women and workers rights and minority rights. this is not over. we're going to need to stay the course just as republicans have

over time spent millions and millions of dollars to get a neil gorsich on the supreme court and the other courts stacking they're busy engaging in. >> thank you so much for joining us. coming up, putin pow wow. the first official summit will happen in just a matter of weeks. andrea mitchell sat down with general kerry to get his take on that pivotal meeting. you don't want to miss it. man: it takes a lot of work to run this business, but i really love it. i'm on the move all day long, and sometimes i don't eat the way i should. so i drink boost to get the nutrition i'm missing. boost high protein now has 33% more protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. and it has a guaranteed great taste. man: boost gives me everything i need to be up for doing what i love. boost high protein. be up for it.

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joining me now is the host of this show, andrea mitchell who sat down with john kerry were a wide ranging interview at the aspen ideas festival. great to see you. i know one of the key topics was this meeting with vladmir putin and how the president should prepare for it. >> first of all, the timing of it. now we know it's going to be on july 16th. it's even more fraught with risks for the u.s. and the alliance. the atlantic alliance because it comes right after the president will be in brussels meeting at nato and coming right after the g-7 when he was fighting with all of the allies.

having picked fights with the nato allies, now he will be going to putin after a celebration of the world cup finals held in russia. it's a big moment for putin and a difficult moment for the atlantic allies and european allies. this is the big question when i talked to kerry about whether or not the president is properly prepared. whether he has an ageneral tda t wanted to sit down with his friend. >> let me ask you about the decision to have a summit with vladmir putin. john bolton was many moscow today. they are announcing the summit. some of our nato allies are concerned the president will freelance in a meeting the way he did in singapore with kim jong-un and announce canc cancellation of military exercises without having notified south korea or

secretary of defense mattit. what are the risks of a one-on-one or is it good for them to be talking? >> it depends on how prepared he is, what his agenda is, what he hopes to get out of it. whether he knows what he wants to get out of. >> that's what some people in your profession would call a leading answer. >> whether or not he can explain to people why it is that he praises vladmir putin while attacking our allies. that is why people are so much on the edge of their seats about this. in principle, i'm in favor of meeting with president putin. i met with him more than anybody in the obama administration and for longer. we got things done. russia cooperated with us. russia cooperated on the paris climate accord agreement.

russia cooperated on getting chemical weapons that declared cl chemical weapons out of syria. pute we created the marine protected area in antartica. they worked with us on any number of other issues. history of dealings with russia and there were hung tensions has always been an abilities to be able to compartmentalize and deal. the deep resentment they have for the secondary sanctions that

they've decided to impose because we've pulled out a deal but all the other countries are still in the deal. the challenge is really angering the leaders of the summit. the way you approach the summit is to have done your homework with those nations. build up an agenda which they support and understand and go in united in way that doesn't play in to the narrative that president xi and president putin have been working overtime to push. the president has played into that narrative in dangerous ways. >> what have you seen come out

of the north korea summit, that we know, that vovinvolves verificati verification. >> it will be no surprise to anybody here that the truth is it's exactly the opposite. the ie roon deran deal is the s non-prolifuation agreement on this planet. it was until we pulled out. when we began -- when i sat down with the foreign minister of iran, no secretary of state had sat with a foreign minister of iran for almost 40 years. on that day, iran had 12,000 kilograms of enriched material, enough for 10 to 12 bombs. they mastered the nuclear fuel cycle. they had 27,000 centrifuges.

19,000 that were spinning on a daily basis. today, even today with us having pulled out because the iranians have not moved yet, they have less than 5,000 centrifuges. they are limited to 3.67 enrichment, which you cannot make a bomb at that level. they limited to a 300 kilogram stockpile for the next 15 years. they have a 25-year visual television tracking of every ounce of yuranium they mine in the country. they have a lifetime obligation to live up to the protocol which not a lot of nations have adopted. that's what donald trump has walked away from and given up. in doing of that, he turned everything on its ear because now we know longer control our own security destiny. if thei izthe israelis say you

bomb them now because they are abusing the situation. the pressure will build back up to what it was during the obama administration. >> is it possible that this bold move and arguably it's a lot better than fire and fury and my nuclear button is bigger than yours which is january 2nd tweet. is it possible that sitting down with kim jong-un, as first american president to sit down with a north korean leader, is better than the alternative. >> in principle. let me be very clear here. in principle you want to try to be able to talk and have a rationale for meeting. there's a reason that president george w. bush, president obama, president reagan, nobody gave in on that process because there were no guarantees on what north korea was going to do and north

korea previously cheated on the frame work agreement that was created during the clinton administration. here's the man that criticizes the iran deal and he goes and gives the leader of north korea the very thing that his grandfather and father more than anything which was a meeting with the president of the united states. not only does he do that but he does it without getting any agreement on inspectors going on, on verification, on the iea, on missile and all of that. we're told on some unwritten agreement. if that's the greatest negotiation in the world, i got a couple of brindges you can bu somewhere. >> you can tell that secretary kerry, former secretary kerry is very sensitive about the sharp

criticism about the iran deal. he is saying there's nothing tangible to show from the big widely celebrated north korea summit. >> indeed. you were there with him as he negotiated that deal. you could hear how frustrated he was about that. part still of her interview is still ahead. mpblt co the government watchdog launches an investigation into child housing facilitiefaciliti. we're listening to what matters most to you. and we're committed to improving every ride. starting with features designed to make it easy for your driver to find you... taking the stress out of pickups. ♪ we're putting safety at the heart of everything we do... by making it easy to verify your car, and driver.

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we will vote to confirm justice kennedy's successor this fall. it's imperative the nominee be considered fairly and not subjected to personal attacks. >> mitch mcconnell drawing the battle lines on capitol hill on the president's impending supreme court nominee. i want to throw it back to

andrea. i know you spoke with john kerry about justice kennedy as well. >> we talked to him about justice kennedy. he was in the senate for 30 years. this battle, he's been through a lot of supreme court battles and confirmations. we talked to him about that, about the supreme court muslim ban and immigration. let's watch. >> the loss of justice kennedy is enormous, obviously. not just because of his experience but also because of his balance. he was thoughtful and prepare d stand up and take a 5-4 the other way. that's going to change. unless some republican is prepared to go the other way. given the current trend would be very doubtful about that. here's the real message from it.

i want to mfemphasize this. we've got to stop the day-to-day blo blovuating over our dislike and the daily tweets and start connecting to americans so that it's not just buzz words out there about the international order or the post-world war ii global structures, which are critical. if we don't defind to people how those make a difference to their lives, it's not going to matter. that's what's been missing. i look at the voting turn out of 2016. 54.2% of the americans decided to vote. that's an astonishing figure. i had the privilege of being an election observer in kenya, south sudan, palestinian.

i watched people stand out all day long to put their finger on a piece of ink and wait 12 hours. we in our democracy are costing ourselves our own democracy because we're not holding ourselves accountable. what we have to do is. what we really have to do is focus on the 2018 midterm election and recognize we're in a new fight. that fight has begun and we have to reconnect to the average life daily struggle of americans who are finding that globalization doesn't work for them or congress doesn't work for them. in fact, congress is dysfunctional today. completely and totally. i say that sadly after 28 years plus in the congress because it's just not getting it done.

mitch mcconnell is diststall a president who won by an overwhelming president in 2012 and he nominate and now p they announce they will have a vote in a matter of months and they can pull it off under the rules. we have to strike a better balance of fairness in minds of our fellow citizens. only when we do that in way that's fair. fair on immigration, fair on trade, fair on taxes, fair on all the issues that make of the body politic of our country, that's when we will learn the right to lead oond wand win. >> you talk about immigration. the supreme court ruled on the muslim ban. how does that affect people's lives here and how does that affect our standing around the world? >> it hurts us around the world and affects us negatively. the seven countries in the ban,

i don't think, if i'm correct, and i question myself on this. i don't believe one american has been killed in an act of terrorism by anybody from one of those countries. it's actually terrorists that have come from our allies and friends. >> pakistan and saudi arabia. >> we need to be really thoughtful about this. it's an aberration in the american conscious, in our reputation and psyche. it really doesn't make america great again but also more importantly, i suppose, it doesn't solve the problem. >> how do you justify the morality of separating children from their parents? >> you don't. i was watching one of the reports on that the other day and listening to this poor child screaming. these are lifelong consequences

on these children, on their lives. my daughter is a physician. she appeared recently on morning joe talking about this, and she's a mother. she talked about this will cost those kids something tangible over the course after their lives as a result of the trauma of what is happening to them. many of them may not be reunited. think of that. the united states of america the glorious words on the statue of liberty. we are separating children and in some cases mothers have been told we're just taking your kid away for a bath. they take the kid away for a bath. when have been people been told we're taking away and something else happens. we cannot enter that stage of being and we'll have to change it. [ applause ] >> even worse. those parents are being c

confronted by officials and being told if you sign away your right of asylum, we'll reunite you with your child. you are signing away your rights to have your human rights protected. that's un-american and americans, i believe, i don't care what party you're in or what you're conservative, liberal people know those fundamental values matter and they distinguish us as nation. we have to stand up for that. sfw really outraged by that immigration policy. >> outraged by that and the 54% voter participation in 2016. what a striking statement by former secretary of state? congratulations on a tremendous and wide ranging interview. >> thank you. mpblt we want to look at live pictures right here in washington, d.c. hundreds outside the justice department protesting the trump administration's family separation policy.

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joining me now white house k corresponde correspondent. hhs said all the kids are accounted for. they will be reunited with families. yet it seems like there's a lot of confusion whether or not they are accounted for and whether or not they are getting reunited. what you seeing on the ground? >> reporter: i've spoken to half a dozen organizations. working overtime to get these parents reunified with the 2047 children we know are separated. they the main issue seems to be the parents information is on a dhs track and the kids information is on an orr track. merging those two seems to be the biggest hurdle on the government side.

i spoke to lawyer, for example in brownsville, texas. she represents man desperately trying to reunite with his 12-year-old girl. she's been trying to make phone calls to that hot line since june 11th. sometimes she's made to wait for over an hour. she believes that the government knows exactly where the child is but is reluctant to give out that information. when dealing with children, one has to be careful who you give this information out to but she said she's clear she's the man's legal representative. it's june 28th. this man hasn't been able to get on the phone with his 12-year-old kid. they they are hoping that will change with the injunction. it's now giving the government a deadline to get the parents on the phone with the children in ten days time. >> those types of stories are just heartbreaking. you hear talk about the bureaucratic challenges to reuniting these families.

i know you've been speaking with a number of families first hand. what are they saying about this process of trying to come back together? >> families that i've talked to say they are desperate for answers and there hasn't been a lot of answers given to them. even if you get on the phone with someone to try to get in touch with the family member either a child on the phone with a parent or the parent on the phone with the child, then you have to deal with the process that could take months to reunite these families. i talked to one organization that says it takes two months to reunite families. that's families that have know exactly where the person is. i talk eed to a teenager who sa he spent months trying to figure out where his father was. officials gave him no insight to where his father was. finally he got a call from his dad saying he has a lawyer. they have no idea how long that

will be. whether or not the dad will end up in honduras and he will end up in the united states having to figure it out on his own. >> i want to follow up about the politics of this. we are watching live pictures outside of doj protesting zero tolerance policy that initially allowed these family separations to take place in the first place. president trump then signed on a executive order reversing the family separation aspects of this. the immigration bill failed this week in the house. is there any appetite to get things down now that the focus is on the supreme court? >> the white house, at least the white house officials i've t talked to say if nothing else gets done they wants a legislation to deal with the flores settlement. that's the court case that said children cannot be held in detention facilities longer than 20 days. that's what this administration is feeling if they have to deal with that then they might have to start letting families

occupant aout. they will lose track of a lot of these people and won't be about to detract whether or not people are illegally living in the united states. the problem is, this was an issue that the president created and now they are blaming congress as the white house sometimes does and saying congress needs to do something about this because we can't. >> all right. this is obviously an issue that will continue to grip the attention of the nation. we see someone who looks like actress susan sarandon. not confirmed. a lot of people outside of doj. summer showdown. the battle over the bench heats up. more on the inside scoop next. t geico... (harmonica interrupts) how they could save 15% or more by... (harmonica interrupts) ...by just calling or going online to geico.com. (harmonica interrupts) (sighs and chuckles)

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pete williams at the supreme court and ron claim, supreme court nomination aid under the clinton administration. thanks to all of you for being here. peter i want to start with you, you've been tracking this since it was announced yesterday, this earthquake of an announcement, who do you think the too much picks are to replace justice kennedy? skb >> reporter: i can only say my conversations with white house aid, right now, amy barrett of indiana, they're all appeal less court judges, and the republican mantra h mantra as you know, ever since the bush has been no more daft suitor. thomas ha thomas hardman, present

cavanaugh of maryland. and the additional advantage of being from the senate majority leader's home state. >> you have been reporting that the timing of this is significant. because it could actually push the whole confirmation process once it gets under way do happen a little bit faster? >> reporter: on the one hand yes, justices say when they announce their retirement, their retirement will be official when the next justice is named. if the president and the senate want to have nine justices here when the new term begins on the first're going to have to get it done then. but there's some feeling on the floor of the senate, that they're going to drag this out as long as possible, it will be a live election issue all the way up to the november election.

the white house they want to get the full nine justices here, but the senate republicans may well want to make this a campaign issue, and people tend to pay the most attention to campaigns the closer they get. so we may not have a ninth justice on the court come the first monday in october. >> is it possible to overstate the significance of this, talk about the stakes, everything from roe v. wade to same-sex marriage. >> reporter: you would say this was the kennedy court, because he played such an important role, he wrote the landmark decision on same-sex couples have having the right to marriage, upholding the decision of roe v. wade and he upheld that basic right to abortion and affirmative action cases, and

the most recent ban with the same-sex marriage ruling was 5-4, i got to know him well outsi. let's a remarkable man. >> what can they do to block president trump's pick from getting a vote before the midterm elections? >> what they're going to have to do is get organized and there's already many democrats going on the steps of the supreme court, rejecting the lists of candidates that trump has put forward. justice kennedy is on the supreme court because democrats organized to beat robert bourque, nominated by popular president president bush. >> who does it energize more, democrats or republicans?

donald trump was out last night, he is making it clear, he's making this a midterm issue. >> more republicans voted on the supreme court than democrats did. but in part because republicans with aggrieved by decisions of the supreme court. now democrats are fired up. i think this issue will rally more democrats than republicans given what's happened since 2016. >> andrea, what are you going to be watching for as this battle on capitol hill unfolds? >> reporter: whether the democrats can hold, because you ree eve got joe manchin and they're going to be concerned if they can where -- it was arlen specter, republican, who really sank robert bourque, i covered that confirmation hearing. >> very important points there,

andr andrea mitchell, pete williams and we thank you for all of your reporting on this. the line between work and life hasn't just blurred. it's gone. that's why you need someone behind you. not just a card. an entire support system. whether visiting the airport lounge to catch up on what's really important. or even using those hard-earned points to squeeze in a little family time. no one has your back like american express. so no matter where you're going... we're right there with you. the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it.

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. and we do have some breaking news. the first lady has just touched down in tucson, arizona where she will be visiting immigration facilities. this is her second such visit. of course on her first, she visited with children in texas. so we will be tracking that throughout the day and bringing you all of the updates as we get

them. for now i want to turn it over to my friend and colleague craig melvin who's up next. >> good afternoon to you as well, at msnbc headquarters in new york. culture shock, words like historic, consequential, seis c seismic, we're going to look at how this decision could affect many of the rights we take for granted in this country, like ballot access, health care access, our privacy. and save the date, president trump will meet with vladimir putin, what's the stated purpose of the summit? what sum are surmising might be the real purpose. and road blocks to reunification, first lady melan melan melania trump is in arizona,