a very good morning to all of you. i'm alex witt in new york at the half hour. president trump and the first family are at their home in new jersey today. that is where the president is escalating his attacks against democrats on immigration. and this time zeroing in on rising calls by some to abolish i.c.e. in a tweet earlier, he praised the agency and said the radical left dems want you out. next it will be all police. zero chance, it will never happen. the tweet comes at a time when 130 demonstrations against the border policy about to get under way. they are all in an effort to

pressure the administration to reeye neat the families and put an end to the zero tolerance policy. and the president is eye to go replace justice kennedy. here's what he told reporters aboard air force one last night. >> have you spoken to any of your top five candidates yet? >> no. i start that process on monday. >> not this weekend? >> we have it -- no. we have it set up for monday. >> zerlina maxwell, joe watkins, and republican political consultant singleton, contributor for the hill. very good saturday morning to all three of you. we will get first to you, joe. so politico has this new piece on the potential strategy behind nominating a woman for that seat. it reads in part, some conservatives say nominating a

female justice may assume a loomi defuse a looming fight over abortion rights. >> justice kennedy was somebody who was a swing vote on social issues. certainly the president is well aware that susan collins, senator collins and murkowski are key votes in this upcoming supreme court fight. so he is smart to consider a woman. i wouldn't be surprised if he ended up choosing one. >> zerlina, let's get to a clip now. this is about the president and how roe v. wade could factor into his conversations with the candidates on that seat for the supreme court. let's take a listen to him. >> are you going to ask your nominees beforehand how they might vote on roe versus wade? >> well, that's a big one. and probably not. they are all saying don't do that. you don't do that. you shouldn't do that. but i'm putting conservative people on. but i don't think i'm going to

be so specific. >> what do you make of that? >> he's telling you the answer in the middle, he's nominating conservative people. they have all been vetted by the federalist society. they are all anti-choice. all the people on the list will vote to overturn roe v. wade. the game we are going to play is them dodging, bobbing, weaving and pretending that's not what they're going to do if confirmed by the senate. this is a break the glass moment. if you have never lived in a world where abortion was not legal, where access to contraception was not something that was relatively easy fending on where you are live, this is a moment where you need to get into the streets and make your voice heard. essentially what's happening right now is this is a major power grab by the minority of americans. donald trump only won 26% of eligible voters in the 2016 election. and how republicans are looking

to consolidate their power with the minority of support. he is nominating conservative people going to overturn roe v. wade. >> if the conversations don't focus on roe v. wade, what is it the president wants to hear? >> i think there are a significant number of republican women who voted for donald trump, to the surprise of a lot of folks in the media. i think a lot of the voters will look to see if he does indeed select a woman. as it pertains to roe versus wade, the supreme court will most likely look at this on an individual state-by-state basis. if they make moves to outlaw it, the supreme court, if we see a very conservative justice nominateding uphold those particular state's laws. if you see states like

california and others that say, no, we're going to allow choice, then i think the supreme court will sort of rule in their favor. so i wouldn't be quick to say we know exactly how the court will rule on the cases. the neil gorsuch did not go in favor of conservatives with obamacare, upholding that. so you don't necessarily know how justices will rule on a case by case basis. >> how will democrats absorb that? >> i think democrats right now need to understand that they need to fight regardless of whether or not we win in the end. and i think no matter what, this is going to be a fight for really the literally lives of many american women. and i think that, you know, if you were wondering what you would have done before roe was supported and ruled on by the supreme court in the '70s, then do that right now in this particular moment. get out into the streets. wear white today.

all over the country there will be marches. we are working on a variety of different fronts. women's rights, gay rights. there is a lot at stake. the piecemeal process certainly is going to be something that democrats need to avoid doing in this moment. this is a moment where we leave it on the field. we don't go piece by piece. >> lisa murkowski, susan. they have been in a swing in situations before. >> that's exactly right. they are not afraid to stand up strong for what they believe in. they are not afraid to vote against the republican tide. so this is why it's important for the president to not have a roe v. wade litmus test for his nominee, whoever that person is. and to even hold out hope that that person could be annan thoepb kennedy-like supreme court justice. remember, kennedy was the justice that wrote the deciding opinion on same-sex marriage.

so it could be a republican justice who is very socially progressive. so we'll have to wait and see. but that's what it is going to take to get murkowski and collins on board. >> shermichael, i'm looking at midterm elections looming. the president said he will make his nomination a week from monday, july 9th. with all of this hraoplg, is there a republican advantage to the a quick process or to dragging this out closer to election day, and what's the likelihood this gets done like that? >> well, i think majority leader mitch mcconnell has already stated once the president nominates someone, the senate will try to move as quickly as possible on this. i don't see any political advantage by delaying this. i think there is going to be a lot of enthusiasm and excitement on the republican side. let's keep in mind, alex, there are five democrats who are running in states where donald trump won by 19%, 20%.

those senators will have a very difficult time voting against this nominee. even if we were to lose one or two on the republican side, collins, murkowski, we could potentially make it up with one or two democrats. >> zerlina, let's talk about democratic strategy here. a, is there anything they can do to slow down this process and if not, how does this play into midterm strategy? >> i do think there are ways procedurally in the senate they could slow down the process. certainly on their parliamentary straeplgs that they can try to, you know, clog the wheels a bit. but the reality is that this is a very uphill battle for democrats just because they're in a position in which the republicans have the majority in the senate. leader mcconnell has stated what his intention is going to be. and now we're at a time frame when we're just heading into the midterm elections. i think while democrats are in a position of disadvantage when it comes to, you know, leverage in this particular moment and

trying to push forward for what they believe in, i think it's not a moment in which we can cower. it's a moment where we have to fight back. because every single right that has been fought for, whether it be women's rights, rights for african-americans, rights for gays and lesbians and workers. we just had a horrible decision on workers' rights this week. those are all up for grabs in this particular moment. so our strategy needs to be that it's now or never. >> all right, guys. sit title. we will talk about family border separations when you come back 10 minutes or so. >> why sentencing for national security adviser michael flynn has been postponed again. is it a legal strategy in the russia probe? and next hour, actress diane guerrero from "orange is the new black", how her undocumented parents and brother were deported. and "the dividing line."

we will go to the border. he will talk with families seek agriculture sigh hrupl. that airs tomorrow at 11:00 p.m. on msnbc.

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your teen may not be vaccinated against meningitis b. meningitis b strikes quickly. be quick to talk to your teen's doctor about a meningitis b vaccine. >> new today, for awe third time now delaying the sentencing of michael flynn who lost year pleaded guilty to making false statements to the fbi saying due to the status of the special counsel's investigation, the parties do not believe that this matter is ready to be scheduled for a sentencing hearing at this time. joining me now, msnbc cob treubgt contributors. very good saturday morning to you. katie, you first here. this is certainly not the first time mueller's team has played sentencing for flynn. talk about the legal strategy to this. >> well, there's a couple of things to look at. a joint status report was filed that basically said we need a little bit more time. both parties agreed. both sides agreed.

it could mean flynn is still in the process of providing valuable information to the mueller team for purposes of the sayre yours tentacles of the investigation. there was also included in this report a request that a pre-sentence investigation report process begin. and what that means is a ps i-report, as it's called, is an investigation into the background of the defendant michael flynn. it is really what the federal judge will look at in terms of a recommendation for sentencing to get an idea of what michael flynn is all about and what has he done to assist the united states government in its investigation into potential other defendants, co-conspirators, he could. >> so that means he can't be sentenced until that is completed, or shouldn't be? >> he's not going to be sentence said until that particular investigation is done. what i mean by investigation, it's done on a formal level. sit a formal process. but it is not something that involves an fbi agent. what i mean is you've got people going to go and look into his

background, his education, his family, things like that, things the judge needs to know about in order to make a determination as to what appropriate sentencing should be. president trump legitimate mize said russia's saying they didn't interfere. what's your reaction? >> he acknowledges the fact that russia did, in fact, interfere in the 2016 election. but my first reaction to this is it's extremely concerning because he's about to go into this summit with vladimir putin next month. and if he walks into the meeting and does not confront the russian leader about russian meddling, in fact, he concedes and says, well, our intelligence community says that it happened. you're saying that it didn't. they're the deep state, so why should i believe themming et cetera. that will be extremely problematic. we have already seen he is going

into the summit ready to make concessions. he has not ruled out, for example, recognizing crimea as russian. he said crimea, because of the majority of people speak ru russian, should belong to russia. and he has not ruled out lifting sanctions on russia. so it really remains to be seen whether he's going to go in there ready to give concessions for nothing in return. because as we know, vladimir putin is known to put on this kind of charm offensive and, you know, president trump is very susceptible to flattery. >> yeah. and i would love to know what he thinks the chances are that the president will go and talk to him about it. he says he's asked twice before. both teams he said i had nothing to do with it. and the president said i believe him. he said it publicly. what is the likelihood he will say can we get back to the russian meddling situation? >> it is very unlikely.

he said his main priority is to improve relations with russia. there is of course no reason why that should be his number one priority because russia has not done anything to deserve that kind of legitimacy and recognition by the united states. they have not curbed their bad behavior in cyberspace. they continue to try to interfere in our politics and they will continue to middle in the 2018 midterms. whether or not president trump goes in and says, hey, you know about that meddling thing, cut it out. if you are did do it, if you didn't do it, say you're not going to do it again. that will not accepted any strong signal to vladimir putin. >> absolutely not. all right, katie, the president tweeted asking when is bob mueller going to list his conflicts of interest. why has it taken so long? rod rosenstein said he is not aware of a.

so it possible mueller has conflicts of interest that are perhaps being overlooked? >> no. that completely fits with the narrative that continues to come out of trump and the trump camp and his surrogates. the suggestion of a conflict of interest is done to discredit the basis of the investigation. who else to target better than robert mueller. but the thing about rocket mueller, because he keeps his mouth shut, keeps his head down and works steadfastly forward, that is exactly what the house republicans are trying to do. we saw during the congressional hearing this week where rod rosenstein and chris wray were attacked. ultimately we got that resolution that said they have to turn over the documents by july 6th. >> to that end, i want to play awe bit of what deputy rosenstein said in his exchange with jim jordan. >> i don't know why you won't give us what you asked for. >> sir, i hope your colleagues are not under that impression.

that is not accurate, sir. >> it is accurate. we have caught you hiding -- >> mr. chairman your statement that i am personally keeping information from you, trying to conceal information. >> you're the boss, mr. rosenstein. >> that's correct. and my job is to make sure we respond to your concerns. we have, sir. >> what is your biggest takeaway center rosenstein's testimony, natasha? >> republicans were on attack. a republican appointed by the president. the biggest takeaway is that this proved that the gop -- that the house gop members are an appendage of the president at this point. it's become a complete effort to undermine rod rosenstein so they can eventually set up a scenario where the president can fire him and not be politically attacked for it. one of the more remarkable things that came out of the hearing is rod rosenstein's stoicism and his willingness to push back like jim jordan who were eager to make personal

attacks on him. he read allowoud a news report t was inaccurate. asking if he subpoenaed the phone calls of house staffers. that was a dead phone calls of house staffers. that shows that the house gop is doing everything in its power to undermine the investigation and by doing that they're cutting into rod rosenstein who is a trump appointee. natasha bertrand and katie phang. thank you very much. first lady, first daughter. their ditch reactions to the migrant family separations, how much influence have they had on ending the practice? a coconut water company. we've got drinks for long days. for birthdays. for turning over new leaves. and we make them for every moment in every corner of the country.

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thousands of americans are expected to take to the streets for protests fans the trump administration's handling of family border separations, about 750 protests being held by the nationwide families belong together which includes the aclu

and moveon as partners. our panel is back. joe, who you do you think is white house is going to look at the protests? do you think they have the potential to make any sort of tangible difference in. >> i don't think that the white house, white houses in general don't really respond to protests, because protests take place every day outside the white house walls. they did when i worked at the white house, that being said, i think the president is going to continue to listen to his woif and to his oldest daughter, ivanka. while ivanka will never openly disagree with the president, i know behind the scenes she's telling the president this is not good, this does not work. i'm sure that she and the president's wife were instrumental in him signing the executive order. >> so the responses from the first lady and first daughter, zerlina to the family separations, those have been drawing scrutiny. melania makes the second trip to the board they are week to visit the dhs facilities, ivanka has largely remained silent on the

issue. she did tweet praising her father for his executive order ending the separations and her confirmation in a she has strong opinions on this. how do you make sense of this? >> i think that oftentimes we'll see an extreme policy implentied by this administration and hear that ivanka trump was very upset in private and told her father in private how upset she was at the policy. i think that anybody associated with this administration's policy in terms of how they are treating undocumented people and asylum seekers on the border is complicit in what i think is an extreme human rights violation. you have a situation where even with the signing of an executive order, you still have children separated from their families around 3,000 children have not been reunited with their parents and we have to always remember, that we're talking about a misdemeanor offense. something very minor.

or no offense at all. if you're legally seeking asylum. i think that americans are going to go into streets and tell people like ivanka and melania, who are complicit in these policies, that this is wrong. that we should never have done that. >> do you think there will be a change? publicly, say from ivanka? >> they're not the president, right? all they can do is behind the scenes attempt to influence policy, attempt to influence the president's position on these things. we can hope that the president will take that advice and we'll see a change, policiwise. for me, i have argued that we should have a two-prong approach policy. i think we should try our best to keep families together. i think if you don't address the overarching issue here of violence in these countries, and this will be an issue that we will continue to see president after president. i think we need to try to establish a border committee to work with those countries to to

figure out a way to stifle the violence to work with their government and police force to train them so we can assist those individuals who want to stay within their own countries. most of those folks don't want to come here. >> all right. guys, interesting discussion as always. zerlina, joe, shermichael. coming up, preparations are under way for the protests in washington, details next. [ drum roll ] ...emily lapier from ames, iowa. this is emily's third nomination and first win. um...so, just...wow! um, first of all, to my fellow nominees, it is an honor sharing the road with you. and of course, to the progressive snapshot app for giving good drivers the discounts -- no, i have to say it -- for giving good drivers the discounts they deserve. safe driving!

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