fine details of that. the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty and is entitled to fair trial. respectfully i ask you allow the process to work. the next step is to take this before a grand jury or preliminary hearing and the days will proceed from that. >> why did you want to waive the hearing? >> thank you very much. i appreciate you guys covering this. that will be all i will be stating today. >> that was wes adams who is the state's attorney. essentially saying that the suspect in that deadly shooting yesterday has had a bail hearing. is being held without bail. good day to you. i'm kristen welker in washington. andrea will join us in just a moment. new details on thursday's tragedy in annapolis, maryland. 33-year-old mass shooting suspect jared ramos charged with

five counts of five-day forecrs murder. the attack coming after an appeals court sided with the paper in a lawsuit brought by mr. ramos. >> i can confirm at this time that we identified the suspect with help through other investigating techniques. there are no other suspects we're looking for right now. we did find evidence at the residence. i can't go into a whole bunch of details about that, but i will tell you it's evidence showing the origination of planning. things like that. i'll say this, the fellow was there to kill as many people as he could kill. >> joining me now is craig melvin and pete williams in our

washington bureau. pete, in addition to everything we heard, the prosecutor said the suspect barricades the exit door to hold his victims in that news room. what are your big head lieps li far from everything we heard? >> one that a person that was shot tried to get out that door and couldn't because it was barricaded. secondly, the ramos bought the shotgun that he used this attack about a year ago. the fact they are confirming they did identify him through facial recognition software. we have been reporting consistently throughout this whole episode that he was not cooperating. he wouldn't answer any questions. he didn't want to talk to the authorities. he simply refused to tell them who he was. . they figured out by comparing a picture they took of him with a database that the maryland state police have that allows them to

look at previous conviction pictures and remember he was arrested and charged with this misdemeanor stalking offense. they could look at the pictures they have on file and that's how they identified him. he did say that as was widely reported yesterday, he tried to obliterate his fingertips. it could, perhaps the confusion is they had difficulty getting good prints to be used. the prints that you have to compare against the database have to be really clear. apparently the technician performing that wasn't able to get good prints and perhaps that's where the confusion came from. he was identified through facial recognition software. we know so much more now about this long running beef he had with the newspaper after an article was published and he kept suing the newspaper. he sued the lawyer for the woman

that was was convicted of harassing and obviously the lawsuits never went anywhere bauds the newspaper was accurately publishing what was in court records but he couldn't understand that. we talked with people connected with the newspaper in past and they say they were worried about this guy and asked the police to investigate threats he was publishing online against the paper. we were told the police did investigate that and there's something of a divergence. the police chief said the newspaper didn't want to pursue charges. what i was told by people connected with the newspaper is they did and were disappointed that the police thought there wasn't enough evidence. in any event the newspaper tried to not get a restraining order for two reasons. one is it wouldn't stop a person. restraining order has no magical power to stop something. it just makes it illegal if they

do. they thought it might further enrage him so they decided to leave well enough alone and that's what has led to this tragedy there. >> the weapon he used, it was purchased a year ago. what do we know about the weapon and that flereflects in terms o the five casualties. a lot of people saying if it was an automatic, there would have been more casualties? >> that's true. a shotgun sets out a spray of pellets and because a bullet goes in a straight line and shotgun is sort of like a backwards funnel, it spreads it out so you don't have to aim precisely. it can do a lot of damage to the people that you aim it at. you don't fire a lot of rounds.

it was purchasedly. the conviction was a misdemeanor. under federal and maryland law you would only be disqualified if it was a felony or a misdemeanor violence. >> craig, you have been there on the ground talking to community members, what are they telling you? how are they coping so many of them starting to share their stories of terror and grief? >> reporter: this is annapolis town. it's the small town. we're talking about a population of 30,000. the editorial staff here just 31 people on the staff. more than 100 when you add in the sales folks and business folks. this was a small business. ef o every one knew someone that

worked there. knew one of the victims. had some sort of connection to the victims. another aspect of this story that's getting a lot of attention on the ground is the speed with which police were able to respond. we're talking from the time they got that first call, two minutes, roughly. two minutes from time they got the call until when they had the suspect in custody under that desk. this is a newspaper that means a lot. it's been around since before the republic. it's been around for more than 300 years. this is a newspaper that doesn't just report on the goings-on in and around annapolis. it doesn't just report on the community. it's part of the community. >> craig, you're absolutely right that response saved lives. i think one of the things we're witnessing is this incredible resolve of the community where

you are right now and of that newspaper. their determination to put out a paper today, to keep reporting even though they were being attacked. talk a little bit about that. >> reporter: that cover that you see there was on the inside by the way. their editorial page is blank as a tribute to the victims. with the names of each victim there. in the past few hours the associated press deciding to come to the rescue to a certain extent announcing it will be providing resources to help this paper continue to turn out its product every day until it can get back up on its feet. >> that's an incredible development. craig melvin, pete williams, thank you so much on this reporting. this morning on the today show savannah and willie spoke

with a 24-year-old intern. he had only worked for the paper for four weeks. >> i'm still trying to digest everything. i think it was so sudden and it's not something that anybody can prepare themselves for. even today it feels surreal that we all went through that senseless act of just violence. it was insane. >> you've said the police got there pretty quickly and you were able to identify yourselves and get out of there and i can't even imagine what you witnessed as you walked out. >> it was chaos. the office was in shambles. unfortunately, we saw -- we had to pass two bodies of our colleagues which was something that nobody should ever have to stomach. just unfortunate that somebody would come into place that only reports truthful stories that are fact based and unleash hell on the office. >> another incredibly brave face

from that news room. pete smith is a member of the council. thank you so much. i really appreciate you joining us and my condolences to you and the community. >> thank you. thank you for the invitation. >> talk a little bit about one of the themes that's emerged which is the first responders ran in so quickly and that they may have saved lives. what do you take from that? what does that say about your community and the fact that this paper is saying we are going to continue to do our jobs today? >> i got do tell you, i'm just super proud of the police and public safety's response to this incident. chief altomare has a great command deck. they are ready to go in and take any issues that arise. i'm proud of our police department. we have about 700, just under 700 sworn officers and every single one of them do an amazing

job and i'm proud of them. >> one of the images of resolve comes on its opinion page which simply says today we are speechless and commemorating all the victims of this tragedy. talk about the resolve that you have witnessed not only with those staffers at the paper but throughout your community. >> i got to tell you this community, arundel county, we have seven members and an executive who is the government of the council. each day we go to office. we try to give our citizens the best product that we can. the citizens here, my heart is broken. when i woke up to that tragedy. i was in there one week ago speaking to gerald and today he's not here. it's a sad day for this community and this county. i'm proud to have had the moment

to have them in our lives and share our stories from o couna l perspective, political perspective. they have been there rain or shine. rick and his staff are an amazing addition to this community. it just breaks my heart that we found ourselves in the situation. my heart is broken but my spirit is intact. i'm trpraying for the families o are affected. we say this every single time we get on the news with an incident like this with these mass shootings. it's just frustrating. it angers me because we can't, as americans, find way to resolve ourselves from these types of issues whether it's mass shootings with firearms or whatever the case. we have to do something and i think the gazette staff when they mentioned yesterday on twitter they were more than just prayers and wishes.

>> in fact, you're echoing the very powerful words of sun of the survivors. she spoke to anderson cooper about this last night. take a listen to what she said and i want to get your thoughts on the other side. >> i just don't know what i want right now. i'm going to need more than a couple days of news coverage and some thoughts and prayers because it's our whole lives have been shattered. thanks for your prayers but i couldn't give a [ bleep ] about them if there's nothing else. >> councilman can you tell us what you want to see happen in what action should be taken? >> i want congress to do something. i want our country to do something. i want our president to do something. i want our government and our state to do something. phil and the other staff members, i was deployed to afghanistan and iraq.

. i remember being shot at our bombed when in afghanistan as well as in baghdad and iraq. i can only imagine what some of the reporters in that room when they started shooting and literally their heart literally jumps out of their throat because you feel like this is it. it pisses me off. i hope we can find a solution not a week from now. this story just becomes another 195th mass shooting or whatever the number is in our sort of atmosphere but that we make meaningful actions. obviously this was a targeted issue but this assailant was very known to this paper. i've been on the county council for six years, serving this county and community. i've seen some of the things that allegedly that he posted. it breaks my heart that we couldn't stop this before it happened. there were some worthwhile people who lost their lives yesterday and it just breaks my

heart. breaks my heart. >> it breaks all of our hearts. pete smith, thank you for sharing all of your thoughts, your emotions. i can't imagine how difficult today is. again, we're just sending all of our thaoughts to your community. >> we're going to prevail. we're going to get past this because we're a strong county. when i go home tonight, i know that i still have life but to rick, if you're listening, to the staff and families of the victims. i'm sorry that we couldn't do something to stop this. we this state couldn't do something to stop this. their lives meant something. they were worth something. it saddens my heart to see wendi who was in everything community thing that we had out there. it's not going to be the same arundel county. i know we'll prevail. >> thank you so much.

>> thank you. >> while still grappling with the devastating loss of their colleagues, "capital gazette" got right back to work. chase cook and photographer banded together behind a pickup truck in a parking lot across the street from the paper to cover the tragedy as it was unfolding in their own news room. look at this image. it's stunning. pat ferguson found himself on the other side of a reporter's questions speaking out about his colleagues to neebc be. >> how you holding up? >> hanging. maintain. trying to stay busy. >> you lost some friends today? >> yeah. yeah. >> how do you think your friends would want to be remembered? >> they were doing their bit for

local journalism. day in, day out, night in, night out. they're just doing their job. >> just doing their job. joining me now is andrea mitchell in aspen, colorado and chris matthews host of "hardball" right here on msnbc. andrea, let me start with you. i'm going to ask you both the same question. i look up to both of you. i wonder what you make of those imag images, the fact those reporters continued to report while under attack. >> it's extraordinary. their courage, dedication to journalism. i'm really struck by the blank page except for a few words about them being speechless on the opinion page. that silence, that white space says everything about the "capital gazette." i covered annapolis when i first

moved to the washington area. i was the annapolis state reporter covering legislature mostly and the "capital gazette" has been there since 1772. they published the declaration of independence. their roots are so profound. this is not a start up. this is not new media. the people there have been speaking out to the dedication of these people. it speaks more broadly to the media being described as the enemy of the people from the white house, from the president. this is exactly the opposite showing the public service. >> chris, we're waiting to hear from the president. we believe he's likely going to comment on this before he talks about taxes. as andrea just said, several

days ago he referred to the press as the enemy of the people. what do you want to hear from him today ? >> not that. i followed andrea's career since she was at kyw and where you worked as well. i've been watching for forever. she's a straight reporter. first page reporter. evening news reporter. niel nightly, facts. the guy with the beard said they were doing their bit. it isn't grand. it's getting the job done. it's not opinion writing. the straight front page nightly news reporters are straight news opinion that's why it bothers some politicians, including the president. they don't like -- they can't handle the truth. >> being in a local news room is a specific thing. these people are a part of the community, frankly, in a very unique way. >> also there's the joy of the job. let's not kid ourselves.

the round the clock craziness and getting the story and breaking this town wide especially the capital city. political stories right after the room around you. >> let me bring in peter alexander who joins me now from the white house waiting for the president's remarks. we would be surprised in the president didn't community. what are you expecting? >> we've heard from a source familiar with his thinking that it is on his agenda. it's intended to focus on something that's more celebratory. the president being joined by top advisors, lawmakers as well. secretary mnuchin in the room.

ivanka trump, jared kushner. we'll see him later today. you can hear the applause as some of the other individuals arrive. there's the vice president. is that the vice president. i'm not certain who is behind me. >> yes, that's the vice president. we're looking at that shot. that's the vice president w walking in. >> the vice president just back in. saying do not do it. do not come here. you will be turned around. we'll see the president later this afternoon as he and the first lady depart. it will be interesting. we'll see what the president says as he addresses what tooks place. he directed his thoughts and prayers to the victims. the families affects. we heard much sharp r condemnation, including sarah sanders who clashes with reporters but he called this an evil act. she strongly condemned what took

place and said an atact on journalist is an attack on all americans opini americans. how the president chooses to address it, we'll find out in moments. >> andrea i want to bring you back in. what do you expect to hear from president? peter says the press secretary was very firm. we do see everyone standing. it's possible the president is about to walk in. andrea, your quick thoughts. >> quickly, i think he'll speak out against the homicides. going to brag about the tax cuts without discussing the fact that the tariffs that he's imposed are a tax on the american people and just about every economist i've talked to is really concerned that he is short sided in his trade policy. >> here's the president of the united states. let's listen.

>> thank you very much, everybody. [ applause ] thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you very much, everybody. the economy is indeed doing well. six months ago we unleashed an

economic miracle by signing the biggest tax cuts and reforms. i have to add the word reform. very important word. the tax cuts is what got us there. that's what's really doing it. the biggest tax cuts in american history. now it's my great honor to welcome you back to the white house to celebrate six months of new jobs, bigger paychecks and keeping more of your hard earned money where it belongs. in your pocket or where ever else you want to spend it. [ applause ] before going any further i'd like to address the horrific shooting that took place yesterday at "capital gazette" news room in annapolis, maryland. this attack shocked the conscious of our nation and filled our hearts with grief. journalists like all americans

should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job. to the families of the victims there are no words to express our sorrow for your loss. horrible, horrible event. horrible thing happened. you're suffering. we pledge our eternal support. this suffering is so great. i've seen some of the people, so great. my government will not rest until we have done everything in our power to reduce violent crime and to protect innocent life. we will not ever leave your side. our warmest best wishes and regrets. horrific, whorrible thing. thank you.

thank you. [ applause ] for today's event we're honored to be joined by our great vice president, mike pence. stand up. [ applause ] also joining us are -- >> you just heard president trump addressing the mass shooting yesterday in annapolis, maryland. saying that our hearts are filled with grief and also saying journalist should be free from the fear of being attacked. should be able to do their jobs. chris matthews, he also pledged his eternal support to decreasing violent crimes. to making sure these violent attacks never happen again. >> this is a hard fight for the gun control people. this is the kind of gun that some people keep for home protection as a multi-shotgun. a pump action. >> right. >> it shoots about five shots or

something. i think that's going to be hard to out law in this country. this is cowboy country in so many ways. i think this election coming november will not be about data points. it will be on emotions. it will be about trump. capital t. i think it will move the democratic vote and move the republican vote. it's going to be an off year presidential election, i think. >> andrea, pick up on what chris is saying and what he just heard from the president. he spoke about very strongly about against violence against journalists. >> i think it was something that people want to hear from the president. as chris said, shotguns are not going to be outlawed under any version of gun law that could be imagined. this is something where the anger against journalists, maybe is promulgated from the white house in this administration in oo way it's never been.

i don't think you can link it to the demockic behavior of one aggrieved vi ed individual. we've seen that before. i don't think it's fair to equity it to the white house but journalist are under attack. certainly from this administration. i think it's salutory that he spoke that way. i think hi speech on tax reform is important. the economic policy this administration, right now they are on a sugar high. there's a lot of republicans hear in aspen and they're not bragging about the trade developments from the administration, the g7 going into this next summit, foreign policy concerns. general petraeus speaking right now upstairs where i am right now. there's kwiequite a lot of conc about the direction of this administration. >> we're going to listen a little bit more. president trump is speaking

about taxes. >> mike kelly, my friend, and jason smith. our great republican members of congress worked night and day to score this landmark victory. it was landmark victory for their constituents but much more importantly for the country. every single democrat in the house and senate, that's right, every single one voted against lower taxes for the hard working americans. you see what's happened. it's turned out to be something very special. the tax cuts and jobs act slashed income taxes all across the board. we nearly doubled the standard deduction and did double the child tax credit which ivanka wanted very much. stand up, ivanka. stand up. [ applause ]

>> sthe ghe got bigger hand tha politicians. you're all in trouble. the typical family earning 75,000 there are will see a tax cut of more than $2,000 and in some cases more. slashing their tax bill in half. cut taxes for businesses of all sizes to make this this best place on earth to start a business, to invest. we have billions and billions of dollars of additional revenue coming in. we lowered the corporate tax rate so the american worker finally has a level playing field. we allowed companies to deduct every single penny of investment in new equipment and it's called expensing. it's the biggest secret in the plan. i think it will go down as maybe the most important element. it's one year expensing. nobody thought we'd ever see

that. so incredible for starting up a bid or r business or running a business. we greatly reduce the burden of the unfair estate tax, commonly known as the death tax. that's such a big thing and most farms and most small business will not pay any estate tax or death tax. [ applause ] we created opportunity zones to promote more jobs in low income communities. this was one they said no president could get it for more years. i wasn't going to do it because i was angry at someone. when i heard that ronald reagan couldn't do it, nobody could do it. they've been trying for 50 years, i said let's do that immediately. it's like a challenge.

they've started that process. it's going to be something. one of the biggest of the world. we also repealed in our tax cut plan, we repealed the most, i guess you could say, unpop yula thing. the individual mandate on obama care. the individual main dandate. how about that one. that's not a very good one. that's where you have the privilege of paying a fortune in order to not pay to have bad health care. think of that. in other words, you pay a lot of money not to have health care. it's not working too good. we got rid of it. that's a big thing. we got no credit but that's okay. that's okay. [ applause ]

obama care is just about over opini. we have come up with so many plans. we have plan coming out, an additional plan. i think it's going to match your plan from department of labor. tt it's going to be something special. six months after our tax cut, more than six million workers have received bonuses, pay raises and retirement account contributions. one of the beautiful elements of what i do, i love to see happy faces. i'll stand online sometimes before or after a speech and i'll be with a lot of people that want pictures for whatever reason they want a picture of me. i stand with the police a lot. i'll see a policeman and a

particular one in new york city. he said i want to thank you. you've made me a hero to my wife and my family. i've always been a horrible investor. this year my 401(k), think of it, is up like 46%, i think he said. my wife thinks i'm a genius. she thinks i'm the greatest investor for the first time in my life. in terms of value or worth, we've created $7 trillion worth of value for our country. people don't know this. we're double the size. almost double the size because we hear china and china is terrific. our relationship is ter trrific. we're straightening out the balance. we're the largest economy in the wo world by far. we have increased a lot oaf the last one and a half years. we're almost double the size of

china and far bigger than anybody else. we're going up very rapidly and it's going to continue to go up rapidly. biggest in world by far. think of that. we're the biggest. did you know that? the biggest economy in the world by far. that's the only way to do it. it really is. it's pretty good. they helped us a little bit. that's okay. every little bit counts. raising benefits and pay has just set a new all time record and manufacturing optimism is so important. it's all about optimism is the highest ever recorded. this is a -- [ applause ] this is a statistic that's been around for a long time. hundreds of billions of dollars

are coming back from overseas. over $300 billion was just repatriated into our country in first quarter alone. think of that, 300 billion. money we never would have seen. trillions more dollars are on their way back and as you know apple announced they will spend $350 billion. not million. i would have been happy with that too but $350 billion is being brought back. i guess the total amount they are bringing back is approximately 230 billion and putting up the rest the old fashion way. they're going to build an incredible campus. it's the 8th wonder of the world. it's incredible what they are doing. it's going to cost $15 billion.

it's something that's incredible, you have to see it. nobody would believe what's happening. more than 100 utility companies have lowered prices as a direct result. saving americans $3 billion on their utility bills. utility bills are going down. unemployment claims are at a 44-year low. that's a good one. [ applause ] something i'm so proud of. i love it. uc unemployment for african-americans is at the lowest level in the history of our country. you were right about that kevin. everybody in this room was right.

unemployment for hispanic americans, like wise, is at the lowest point in the history of our country. unemployment for women is the lowest in 65 years and will soon be the lowest in history. i'm proud to say unemployment for the disabled americans has reached record lows. giving these americans the chance to realize their unlimited potential. that's what it is, unlimited potential. many form eer inmates are also

getting a second chance at life. we're keeping our promise to buy america and hire american and what's happening is our economy is so good. our unemployment is so low and our employment is so high. maybe that's an even nicer way of saying it. people that want to get a second chance, people coming out of jail. they weren't hiring them. they're hiring them in record numbers. these businesses are saying they are fantastic. they are set. one gentleman said he tihired t mates. he said seven of them are as good as he's ever had and he's going to do a lot more of it.

there's nothing like a great any to solve that problem. thank you very much chris. this is all because we're one country and really one family. we salute one great and beautiful american flag. we love that flag. at last our country finally has a tax system that is pro-jobs, pro-worker, pro-family and pro-american. one incredible citizen who has benefitted from our tax cuts and job act is lasonya hill. i love that name. if i have another daughter, i think i'm going to name her lasonya. is that okay?

can i copy? of jacksonville, florida. she's the director at customer care at crowley marine. following the tax cut, crowley was able to pay employees like lasonya a big tax bonus. they took a lot of money and gave it around to employees. that bonus will help support the education of her two sons cameron and christian. [ applause ] pretty good. [ applause ] >> we're so happy for your family. i know your sons are going to make your very proud. great young men. please would you say a few words. please. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. president for

the invite. it's an honor to be here today. >> that was president trump touting the tax cuts which passed six months ago and running through a greatest hits list of what he sees as his biggest accomplishments. i want to bring back my panel including chris matthews and andrea mitchell. what did you make of what you heard? the president really getting into campaign mode. >> he's not just the quarterback, he's the chief cheerleader. b.t. barnum has nothing on this guy. the tax cut didn't work their way down to the workers. the numbers show that most of the money that came into the tax cut has gone to corporate leaders who bought back stock. it's been much better for the top.

he's talking to an afric african-american woman who is probably middle class. >> you bring me to my next subject. andrea, weigh in there on justice kennedy. we woke up to this report that the white house had been behind the scenes waging very privately subtly, this campaign to encourage justice kennedy to resign so that president trump can leave his mark on the legacy of the supreme mark. you know justice kennedy. talk about how he may be influenced by that. >> he's a republican. he's a conservative. i was at the briefing room in the white house has ronald reagan brought him in. i've watched his whole career. i think that would be a compelling argument to him. that republican president has the right with the republican

senate to confirm and they don't know what's going to happen even though there's some very tough races in red states for democratic incumbents. they can't be sure what will happen in the mid term elections. it's significant that rather than saying he will stay till his successor is confirmed, he said he's leaving as of july 31st. that does give what mark short told hallie jackson, they believe this could be fast tracked. they have the votes with the majority in the senate if they can hold the people that they brought to the white house to meet with the president last night. so fantastic. he was already lobbying senator kcollins and some of those marginal democrats, joe mansion and joe donnelly.

they may have the votes to get this through. >> chris, you have been calling for the democrats to really dig in to wage a big battle on this in this mid term year. do you think they can do that? what is the strategy when they just don't have the votes? >> they may not have the votes on paper. i always look at politics when i'm smart about it. when i thought about trump winning, it would be working class whites, the resentment against the establishment. in this goes through with only a 59-49 goes through mitch mcconnell will be hailed a geni genius. if that's true, there ought to be an opportunity for the democrats to find a way -- >> slowing down votes.

bringing this to the american people. do you want a pro-life guy committed to ending roe v wade. that's the ground rule that the president said. committed to ending choice. i'm tieing it together with what happened in queen s the other dy with ocasio-cortez. they have to act as leaders. they can't say we have the numbers. that's not going to sell with the base. the base is energized. they want leadership. >> thank you so much for helping me break down efrverything that the president said and the high stakes in terms of midterms and as he picks his next supreme court justice nominee. joining me now is nbc political contributor ben rhoades under president obama and author of the world as it

is. i want to have you pick up on that very point. what are you anticipating? thaifr g they've got to find way to block this vote. >> first of all, i completely agree with chris that they need to fight. for eight months after a sitting president, barack obama, nominated merritt garland, mitch mcconnell said let's wait for the american people to have their say and he created the mcconnell rule that we wait until an election before having confirmation vote. democrats can take the words and throw them back and say the stakes are too big for a woman's right to choose, for whether we want a court that prioritizes workers over people. we need to stand united and fight against this nominee and insist the rule applies in this case too and there's not a vote

until of that november election. >> what about murkowski and collins. >> let me acknowledge that mcconnell may be able to ram this through. if you fight and put a spotlight on the record of the person nominated and that person is extremist then you have a shot at something like a collins to say if you really stand for a woman's right to choose. if you don't want to get to a place where abortion is illegal in 20 states. if you don't want to see that right removed then you need to stand with us in this fight. by fighting, you create an opportunity to maybe block that nominee and you put the pressure on senators like collins and r murkowski. >> the state department issuing a new warning holying --

highlighting the dangers of the spating children. saying it can cause lasting damage that can leave them vulnerable to trafficking. i wonder what you make of that report. do you expect it will have any impact on the way this white house actually deals with its zero tolerance policy? >> i wish they would read that report in the white house. the fact of the matter is because the united states for so many years has stood for certain values around the world, that's how our state department operates. what that highlight s how out of step this white house is from the way in which the united states has operated around the world. it is damaging to children to be separated from their families. i also noticed the other day you had the vice president down in brazil meeting with refugees from venezuelvenezuela. we can't let them into the

united states but we're welcoming them in brazil. >> ben, stand by with me. president trump is talking about trade. we want to listen in and i'll get your reaction on the other side. >> we were losing our steel th. >> we were losing our steel business. united states steel. the head called me up two days ago. it's the most incredible thing we've ever seen. we haven't expanded in 30 years. we haven't done anything remotely like expansion and are now expanding and renovating areas of plants that haven't been used in forever. you remember, u.s. steel was massive. they had plants that went a mile narr long and were using little corners of plants. he said, this has not happened for decades. it's back. we were in south carolina the other night, and georgetown steel. georgetown is a wonderful company. couldn't make it. they closed four years ago. they announced as i literally was getting off the plane, they

announced they're opening up their steel mill. 600 people are employed. and don't forget. what it means, it means jobs. we can't lose the steel industry. steel we need. certain industries we have to have. and what else it means? billions of dollars will come into our treasury. nobody talks about that. billions and billions of dollars, but what's happening with steel, aluminum, happening with other industries where we're working to revive them, dumping washing machines and they weren't good machines all over the country and we put a big tariff on a certain country for doing it and now we have these washing machine plants that were closed. they're opened and they're thriving. solar panels. 32 plants. it's a new industry.

so they weren't -- 32 plants all over the country. two open. the rest had gone out of business. now those -- and those two were in bad shape. they're doing great now. looking at 10, even 11 reopenings of solar plants all over the country and really great plants. so the level of quality. just to finish. many countries are calling, saying, let's negotiate. they were never doing that. they're saying, let's negotiate. please. please, we want to negotiate. they weren't doing that before. of course, i'm not sure if your past representatives would have known the difference. but let me tell you, they're calling, and they want to negotiate. and all we want is fairness. we're going to be the smart country again. not the stupid country that was taken advantage of by everyone. [ applause ] and you made this possible. you are all truly making america

great again. a slogan that i'm very proud of. that was a slogan that seemed to have worked. tell you what, it was a very special -- and it's so accurate. even more so than america first. you know, america first is very threatening to others. we don't want to be threatening, but make america great again. that's what's happening. we're bringing back our pride. we're bringing back our jobs. we're bringing back our wealth and for the citizens of this great land, we're bringing back our beautiful american dreams. we have dreams. you guys have dreams, i'll bet. right? big ones? because now you're on a level playing field. now you're on a level, beautiful playing field. go out there. go be fantastic. yours are going to be great futures. i want to say thank you all. god bless you all. very, very special people. thank you for all the help. our country is doing so well.

possibly as well as its ever done. >> and that is president trump wrapping up his speech on taxes and the economy by talking about trade. saying that other countries are begging to negotiate with the united states. that they are calling. they want to renegotiate some of these trade deals after president trump imposed harsh nur tariffs on some of america's closest allies. ooh want to bring ben rhodes back in. the president has really alien ailed some of america's closest allies on the issue of trade. what do you make of his comments that other countries are calling up begging to negotiate? >> reporter: that's not what they appear to be doing, kristen. i'm watching president trump tout the obama economy. the seven years drop in the unemployment rate that put us where we are today. what he's doing through these trade actions is putting these trades at risk.

reciprocal events are costing yours. and what president trump has done, ailelienated our closest allies in japan, china and the world. that's going to hurt our workers and frankly won't lead other countries to be calling president trump. they're going to call each other to make deals around us. that's ultimately very bad for americans. >> ben rhodes. we covered a lot of ground today, my friend. thank you for joining us. appreciate it. >> reporter: thanks, kristen. house republicans engaged in a war of words with rod rosenstein during an explosive judiciary hearing on thursday, but the deputy attorney general proved he could handle the barrage of attacks and defended the autonomy of special counsel robert mueller's investigation. look. >> donald trump, our president, tweeted, when is bob mueller going to list his conflicts of interest? mr. rosenstein, does mob mueller

have any conflicts of interest? >> chairman if there were any conflicts of interests brought to our attention i would discuss with mr. mueller and there could be review within the department if there were credible allegation of a conflict of interest. and so i'm not aware of any disqualifying conflict of interest. >> and msnbc contributor u.s. attorney and former fbi official and joins me now. thanks for being here. >> my pleasure. >> what did you make of what we witnessed yesterday? no surprised president tweeted things about rod rosenstein, about the russia investigation trying to undermine it. did you see yesterday as an extension of that? >> in part, yes. there's a lot of politics in politics, right, kristen? what the deputy attorney general did and the fbi director did is correct. trying to protect the integrity and sanctity of the investigation. you know, congress has a legitimate oversight function. so done right, you want congress to know what's going on and make sure folks are following the rules, but this isn't being done

right. this is politics. >> a lot of people said in were moments are incredibly high drama. the deputy attorney general was very firm. some instances got, you could see it, anger sort of bubbling over. what do you make of how he handled yesterday? you know him. have you ever seen him like that yesterday? >> i do know him and i wrap he did yesterday. i think he did a fine job. here's why he has to do this. say we had an insider trading investigation of kristen welker. i know that would never actually happen, but say we did and turned out you were completely innocent. the last thing we want to do, have that investigation known p publicly and tried in the court of public opinion? conversely, did something wrong, we want the investigation to run silently because we don't want witnesses or documents to disappear. there's lots of good institutional reasons for investigations to be silent, and that is exactly what the deputy attorney general was standing up for. >> and that is where the focus

has become. this push. >> right to have these documents released. i want to ask you about something trey gowdy said. a lot of reaction and your reaction on the other side. >> you bet. >> we're two years into this investigation, a year and a half in to the presidency. over a year in the special counsel. an old say, justice delayed is justice denied. i think right now all of us are being denied. whatever you've got, finish it the hell up. >> hmm. >> we're hearing that more and more. the reality, special counsel's investigation has gone on for a little more than a year. trey gowdy let the benghazi investigation well over two years. don't these investigations take time? >> surprising, mr. gowdy is a former federal prosecutor. either he never did a big, sophisticated white collar case or forgot how long they take or is making stuff up for political gain. i've done big sophisticated white collar cases as

prosecutor, kristin. they take a long time. particular will when talking about documents and witnesses that are overseas. one year is a bleink of an eye for this type of investigation and he should know that great to see you, as always. that does it for this very busy edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember to follow the show online, on facebook and twitter @mitchellreports and follow me @kwelker, nbc, and craig melvin sup live from annapolis where he's been all morning long. craig, good afternoon. >> reporter: kristen, good afternoon to you. thank you. enjoy your weekend. good afternoon to you as well, as kristen mentioned there, we are live here in annapolis, maryland. 1:00 here in the afternoon. we start here. another day in america. another mass shooting. another community grieves and asked, why? . a massacre at a small local newspaper. five people killed.

two others wounded in a scene described by a reporter trapped by gunfire as a war zone. a 38-year-old maryland man, arraigned on five counts of first-degree murder. premeditated murder in yesterday's shooting in the newsroom of the "capital gazette." the victims, five gazette employees, editors gerald fischman, rob hiaasen, writer john mcnamara. news assistant, wendi winters, assistant rebecca smith. >> this shocked the nation and filled our hearts with grief. journalists like all americans should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job. to the families of the victims, there are no words to xplexpres our sorrow for your loss. horrible, horrible event. horrible thing happened