welcome to "kasie d.c." i'm kasie hunt. we are live every sunday from washington from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. tonight, insider rumors fly as the president prepares to make a primetime announcement about the supreme court. plus, alan dershowitz joins me live. we'll get his top tips for summering on martha's vineyard, oh, and also talk about the president's evolving legal strategy in the mueller probe. plus, some actual good news as divers emerge with some of the boys that stranded that soccer team alive. we'll get a report on the ground as monsoon rains fall and thai

navy seals prepare to go in again. but first we are just over 24 hours away from president trump's primetime announcement of his pick to replace anthony kennedy on the supreme court. by the way, for those of you watching at home, abc says it is prepared to break into the bachelorette to bring you that news. president says he has narrowed his short list to 4. the finalist s were reportedly brett kavanagh, amy and kethledge. mitch mcconnell has been nudging the president in the direction of just two of those candidates. senator mcconnell reportedly told the president that kethledge and hardiman present the fewest obstacles to being confirmed. the times has since reported that the president is expressing fresh interest in hardiman as the process enters its final hours. and here's what trump had to say on his way back from new jersey just this afternoon. >> i'm very close to making a decision. i've not made it official yet obviously.

i've not made it final, but we're very close to making a decision. let's say it's the four people. they're excellent, everyone. you can't go wrong. i'm getting very close to making a final decision. i'll probably be decided tonight or tomorrow sometime by 12:00 and we're going to all be meeting at 9:00, and we have a great country, folks. we have a great country. >> a great country. i'd like to welcome in my panel. chief washington reporter boston herald kimberly at kinz. former press secretary for mike pence, mark lauder and deputy editorial page editor and columnist for the washington post ruth marcus. thank you all for being here on this quasi-holiday sunday night. but of course headed into a busy week here in washington. mark lauder, i want to start with you just because you have been behind the scenes at the white house as the president has made these kinds of decisions. at this point it does seem like he is getting this outside pressure from mcconnell to steer his attention towards it sounds

like two people who have less of a paper trail that might be more likely to be easily confirmed in the senate. is that an argument that you've seen sway this president? >> i'm not sure it sways the president, but -- >> what does sway the president? >> the fact a name has not come out, they've not floated anyone other than these four people i think truly supports the idea that he is still making his decision. hardiman doesn't surprise me as being a last-minute kind of rising to the top because he was -- most people say he was number two when justice gorsuch was selected. he's already been up there in that consideration, so wouldn't surprise me that his name would suddenly start to emerge again. >> kimberly atkins, one of the things that has struck me is brett kavanagh has been a favorite and the concern about him in these final hours seem to be the fact that he used to work for another republican president. >> right, has close ties, very close ties. >> very troubling. >> yes. that's this whole idea that he is establishment, right? he's close to the bush family, very close to the bush administration.

he also played a role in this independent counsel investigation of ken starr which could be problematic for the president if he's pushing against this idea that a special counsel, if he's trying to discredit that. there is a lot of concern inside and outside of the white house. also the paper trail. as you say, the more decisions, the longer someone has been on the bench, the more decisions they have, the more things there are to pick through. with republicans having one slim majority, they don't want to take any chances at all on anyone who would seem to be qualified. you may not like what he rules, but if the qualifications don't seem to be at issue, everything is going to be on the table. that's why mitch mcconnell is frying to take the path of least resistance when it comes to confirmation. >> in his case it's not opinions and other documents, it's all of the documents associated with his tenure in the white house. mitch mcconnell, ruth marcus, is essentially warning according to

reporting democrats could use this to push it off for months and months. it feels like republican are remarkable at eating their own. this is -- >> i agree with you. this is a little crazy. we have four people here and they range on the ideological spectrum from very conservative to super conservative. it's a very narrow range. and the hysteria of some people on the conservative end of the spectrum about not just brett kavanagh, but about the two other judges, judge hardiman and judge kethledge. to suggest that they're open border zealots and crazy things like that, this is just wild. so that part is crazy. to me the majority leaders' concern is real in the sense that he has a very narrow majority. he's got a majority that's even narrower than it looks on paper because senator mccain is sick. so his -- because he understands

it, any of these four is going to be -- his kind of guy on the court, he wants the path of least resistance. that makes sense. but just fyi, you know what a staff secretary does. staff secretary at the white house pushes a lot of paper to the president has a lot of paper trail. the notion this is what could hold up brett kavanagh veers over into silliness. >> the picture that's been circulating with carl rove -- you've been in this republican party, he was the genius in the republican revolution. >> boy genius. this is like what i would consider a primary election. it's an electorate of one, but you have the election. the various sides jockeying. at the end of the day the party

will rally behind who the president introduces. >> it's very much like a reality show. it's fitting they cut into the bachelorette. it's really fitting for a former reality show host. >> i think it was amy walter who tweeted something to the effect of this is 2018 in a nutshell, this president back-to-back breaking into the bachelorette with a supreme court pick. i want to read to a piece ruth marcus wrote this week about roe v. wade. of all the potential supreme court nominees the president is considering, the one who seems most inclined to undo kennedy's work, is amy barrett. she has the shortest paper trail, her academic writings are

the flashing neon sign, i'll do it. this is already a court that has proved its willingness to overrule in convenient precedence by a single vote, adding barrett would pose a clear and present danger to abortion rights. so, ruth, kind of explain where you're coming from here especially people who may see she's the only woman on the

short list. why is she the biggest threat to abortion rights? >> it's important for us to understand that you can be a woman and a pro-choice -- i'm sorry, you can be a woman and oppose abortion rights. and many women do. so -- and it would probably be politically easier for a court majority with a woman on it to overturn roe. the reason i say she's the most likely to do that has to do with two strands of her writings. one talks about the responsibility of catholic judges in death penalty cases. her hostility to abortion rights becomes clear. the second has to do with her very interesting position about the importance of what the lawyers call starry dee isis is, sticking with precedent. she has a well expressed and developed view when a justice looks at a case and concludes

especially a case based on constitutional law, the justice's responsibility is to the constitution and not to the precedent. the justice, she thinks the precedent is wrong, she should overrule it. therefore, watch out, roe. >> interesting. kimberly atkins, one of the things interesting about the dynamics and some of the reporting last week was around this idea that perhaps a woman would be a better choice if you're trying to convince lisa murkowski, susan collins to vote for you. it seems the indication coming out of republican leaders in the senate is that actually picking amy coney barrett would be a very real risk for people like collins and murkowski. >> i think that's right for all the reasons ruth laid out. the paper trail, and somebody who expressed hostility toward keeping roe v. wade as the law of the land. that would be the nonstarter for her.

i don't know if this quite raises to the level of hostility but it sure doesn't look good. it looks like she's headed in that direction. she would have the most trouble with senators murkowski and collins in this case. that's why i think for a while it looked like it was between kethledge and kavanagh until mcconnell sort of made this last weekend overture. republicans like, he's from pennsylvania, used to drive a taxi, has a great story. now he's back in the mix as somebody who the president can really get behind and so could possibly -- >> we should also mention his secret weapon, judge hardiman's

secret weapon which is the president's sister. on the third circuit court of appeals and recommended him to the president and one thing we know about president trump is he kind of relies on family. >> i would point out, though, that senators collins and murkowski as well as senator mccain and three democrats voted for judge barrett when she was confirmed just last october. >> fair enough. mark, who do you think has the tougher job here, mitch mcconnell in trying to keep senators collins and murkowski in the fold, or chuck schumer, trying to hold the line with joe manchin, joe donley, heidi high camp? >> chuck schumer has a much more difficult position. many of those red state democrats, if they vote for the

president's nominee, whomever that nominee is, they're going to lose their base. they're going to lose their donors. a lot of their activists who knock on doors, make phone calls. >> there was a good analysis on the front page of the times. they may have to be making a decision between do we hold the senate now in favor at the expense of a court for 40 years? >> a nominee by a republican president is not going to be -- fail to win approval from a republican senate unless republican senators peel off. so, i totally agree with mark. mitch mcconnell has a tough hand because of his slim majority, but he's got a way better hand than chuck schumer does. >> we're losing a lot. we have heard that a lot tonight. mark, final question before we go. what is your sense of what conservatives want the court to look like after this particular choice has gone through? you referred to it as a primary. what are the primary voters looking for here? >> i think any of the four, they will be happy with. even though they might have some, you know, leanings one way or the other in the primary process, so to speak. they want someone who is going to uphold the constitution, who believes the constitution. >> and is that about abortion at the end of the day? >> i don't think it is about abortion. i think it's about being true to the constitution and the law in the way it's written, not how it can be shaped into something else. >> that's still code for the abortion fight. >> i don't know.

it's not just about abortion, though. you look at the rulings from last week in the last two weeks in terms of free speech and the government cannot force you to say things that you do not believe in or force you to join a group and pay to join a group that you don't believe in. and we're going to report from bill neely as divers prepare to go back inside treacherous caves in thailand to rescue the remaining boys trapped inside. and scott pruitt becomes the latest high-profile member of the trump administration to take a hike. as we go to break, a brief list of some of the others. phones have made our lives effortless.

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which could save you hundreds of dollars a year. it's a new kind of network designed to save you money. click, call or visit a store today. has there ever been an investigation of this magnitude with such obvious indications of extreme disgusting bias which totally corrupts the process? >> that was president trump's personal attorney rudy giuliani giving us a preview of his legal team's new strategy for handling the mueller investigation. at least publicly. those comments came after "the new york times" reported the president's lawyers are telling mueller's team they need to

prove they have evidence that the president committed a crime before he will agree to sit down for an interview. joining me now, member of the house intelligence committee democratic congressman mike quigley of illinois. congressman, it's good to see you. let's start with what rudy giuliani has been saying this morning across these sunday shows. he is essentially alleging corruption and bias in the people around robert mueller, although he would not go so far as to tell my colleague chuck todd that mueller himself is corrupt. what is your assessment of what these fbi officials did, peter strzok, who is set to testify this week not in front of one of your committees but up on capitol hill, who has sent these text messages indicating that he was -- had negative feelings

towards the president? and that has led to this claim of bias. >> yeah, look, the fbi, the cia, the intel community, the justice department the people who work there don't live in a vacuum. they have their own personal supreme court has ruled on several occasions, two pretty landmark cases involving nixon

and clinton that the president is not above the law and they have to respond to, in one case, legally bound subpoenas. so, look, it's the same legal team that said that he could virtually use pardons to stop a criminal investigation, that they could decide which investigations go forward, those of their friends and which ones they don't against their enemies. that the justice department has to give them information, discovery, before a trial date. this is all total fabrications of a legal team i think that's a legal freaked out by concerns among many about mr. cohen flipping. >> i want to ask you as well

about devin nunes, the republican chairman of the intelligence committee. he has been sending letters to congressman gowdy and goodlatte on the judiciary committee asking them to interview a long list of people about the trump dossier. were democrats on the intelligence committee aware that those requests were going to be made? and what's he up to? >> we haven't had notification from mr. nunes about anything he's going to do for months now. he has under taken rogue investigations. he's working with the white house to prepare his own memo. he began the investigation with the midnight ride to the white house which was very clear that he was getting information, then turn ing it back to the white

house to show some other conspiracy. he also stopped subpoenas on documents and people of critical interest. he's basically worked hand in glove with the white house to thwart the investigation, so what he's doing now, which is unilateral, rogue, against the rules of the committee and the house, is absolutely nothing new. >> congressman, do you or other democrats on your committee have any questions about how the fbi has conducted itself? or if you take back the house, will you shutdown all of these lines of inquiry? >> look, we're the oversight committee. we should always be looking at how the intel community operates. but what we've seen so far is

desperate attempts by the republicans in the house trying to protect the president politically and legally. nothing in all the wild allegations they've made for over a year and a half now has been found to be true. so we can only expect this to continue. as, again, i think this investigation -- >> would you urge democrats to shutdown these lines of inquiry if they take back control of the committee in >> look, if there is a reasonable line of inquiry, we'll follow-up on it. what is more important than all that, the most important investigation of our lifetime, i would say more important than watergate, especially to our democratic process, was shutdown unilaterally by the republicans on this committee. that would reopen. >> i want to show you something that the president had to say about his upcoming meeting with vladimir putin and then get your take. let's take a look. >> i'm meeting with president putin next week, and getting along -- let me tell you, getting along with russia and getting along with china and getting along with other countries is a good thing. it's not a bad thing. it's a good thing. they're going, will president trump be prepared, you know, president putin is kgb and this and that. you know what? putin's fine. he's fine. we're all fine. we're people. will i be prepared? totally prepared.

i've been preparing for this stuff my whole life. they don't say that. they don't say that. >> congressman, do you agree that putin is fine? >> yeah, he's a ball of fun. he's a dangerous man. he isn't a kgb person. he was kgb. he kills journalists. he is engaged in a war with one of our allies in ukraine. he annexed crimea and our president who is not prepared for this has opened up the possibility of recognizing the annexation of crimea and bringing russia back into the -- it would be the g-8. so he's talking about attacking our allies and going along with one of our great adversaries. it's okay to talk with him. it's important to engage. but what he's doing now is turning over the world order. the liberal democratic world order that began right after the second world war. that world order is under attack

by its primary architect, the united states of america. and at the same time embracing president putin, refusing to acknowledge what the russians did to the democratic process which the entire intel community agrees to, and a bipartisan senate committee agrees to. so he believes putin more than his own intel community and our allies. >> congressman mike quigley, thanks so much for your time today. really appreciate it. >> thank you, sure. >> ruth marcus, i want to pick back up on what we were talking a little about the house intelligence committee, the inquiries from devin nunes.

if democrats do get a chance to run -- go back to running these committees, how does that sort of unwind? it seems to me they would shutdown most of the nunes inquiries, most likely, but there is potentially quite a few threads for them to pickup going forward. >> yes, and we just had this very interesting, very compelling, very telling report from the senate intelligence committee. but there are additional things to look at, and i think for me, taking back the house is going to be -- would be significant if it happened, not just for the russia inquiry, but for all of the other -- i would be worried if i were the white house and republicans about all of the other strands of inquiry that could go on. imagine what an actual functioning house that was going to be willing to engage in oversight could have done with the late lamented scott pruitt. >> i was just going to say there was reporting in "the new york times" today, mark lauder, before we go, officials said there was no way we'd be prepared to fight against those investigations. >> let's remember when the democrats took control during president george w. bush's presidency, they established a

war room just to deal with the endless string of inquiries and subpoenas and investigations that were coming then. >> do you think your former colleagues were ready for it? >> it would multiply 100 times over now. in these circumstances, i don't think they have to be prepared for it today. i think as we get closer to that time, which i don't think will happen, but they will -- there is time to prepare. >> all right. ruth marcus, thank you so much for your time tonight. really appreciate it, all of your insights. as we go to break, if the president says a certain yiddish word on tv, journalists can, too. >> the way he talked about us and nato, for example, am i allowed to say this on msnbc? that we're just a bunch of schmucks. my day starts well before i'm in the kitchen. i need my blood sugar to stay in control. i need to shave my a1c. weekends are my time. i need an insulin that fits my schedule. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ (announcer) tresiba® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. don't use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. don't share needles or insulin pens. don't reuse needles. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headache. check your blood sugar. low blood sugar can be serious and may be life-threatening. injection site reactions may occur. tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. taking tzds with insulins, like tresiba®, may cause serious side effects like heart failure.

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welcome back to "kasie d.c."

we are continuing to follow breaking news out of thailand. eight boys and their soccer coach are still waiting to be rescued from the cave where they've been trapped for more than two weeks. so far four of the boys have been safely rescued, but oxygen tanks have been depleted and heavy rains have returned to the area and so the team of 90 divers is getting ready to go back in. nbc news chief global correspondent bill neely is on the ground near the site of the rescue operation. bill, this has been such a tense time. we had some good news with those initial rescues, but still so much to be done. >> reporter: yes, hi, kasie. yes, so much to be done. it's dawn here in northern thailand. this was an operation that began with the dramatic words, we have to act now. and it has started well. the commander calling it a masterpiece. but it was triggered by an emergency. falling oxygen levels in the boy's cave and by thunderous rain. and right now behind me, the divers are getting ready to do it all again.

nine lives still to be saved. for one small boy, the earned of a nightmare, carried on a gurney to a waiting helicopter, then off to the hospital. it's a moment many feared would never come. another helicopter poised for a second boy. they had battled through this, swirling water, narrow passage ways, a route that's already proved a death trap. the boys clinging to ropes guided by elite divers for more than two miles. commanders chose the strongest boys first. they told divers they were ready. this is d-day, said the commander. we have to act now. the rescue began at 10:00 local time this morning. ten divers reaching the cave and attaching two boys, each one to

two divers. less than eight hours after it started, the boise merged. two hours later, a second pair. four were free. one diver told nbc news the boys were totally calm. their escape route widened hours before as rescuers drilled through cave walls. but it was a rescue made urgent by falling oxygen levels in the caves and falling rain outside. the monsoon rains have begun with a vengeance and this is why the commander says it's d-day, because these rains will flood the caves very quickly. the rescue, he said, was a masterpiece of planning. it's been paused overnight to resupply the 90 divers with air tanks and will restart in the coming hours. so, eight boys and their coach remain trapped. their lives still hanging in the balance. this isn't over, but the boys' long journey home has begun. >> so, bill, it's a great start. but the conditions are getting worse as rescue divers prepare

to go back in? >> reporter: yeah, we think the pattern will be much as it was on day one. so the boys will come out two by two. we understand that the strongest boys were chosen to come out first. two were 14-year-olds, one 13-year-old, and one 16-year-old. but we don't know who will be chosen next. but 90 divers were there on day one, so we expect the same number to be there today. the operation will start in a few hours' time, although it may take as many as ten hours for the first boys to come out. and again, the same pattern will come. they will be met with gurneys, taken to a hospital, and med evac'd to a hospital which is about a 15, 20-minute flight from here. so, eight boys have spent the night with their coach, done

half a mile underneath me here. it must be a difficult ordeal for them. many of them are weak. it said that the coach may be the weakest of all. and, of course, for the parents, terrible ordeal. one mother said she didn't know her son was being evacuated until she read about it on social media. so, everyone here has their fingers crossed. the four boys who came out apparently with stood the ordeal extremely well according to one diver who spoke to nbc news. the divers themselves a bit apprehensive. and, above all, they do not want to be complacent. day one went well. they need day two, and maybe day three to go just as well. kasie? >> bill neely, thanks so much

for your reporting and our thoughts continue to be with those eight boys and their coach still trapped in that cave. when we continue on case "kasie d.c.," we'll talk about the mounting war on lobsters and newspapers. up 30%.

so, the thing about a trade war is that one side fires a shot, then the other side fires back. in the latest round, china has responded to the white house with $25 million in tariffs and while recent polling shows international trade at the top of just a few people's minds, there's growing evidence that it is changing opinions of some voters. joining me on set is pulitzer prize oner david favorite hold and jo ling kent who covers business and technology. joe, i want to start with you. can you just help us understand? we see these headlines, x million or x billion in tariffs on these goods. at what point are people really going to start to feel this in their daily lives? >> we're going to see it soon. what we'll see is how this will actually impact jobs throughout the country. our team has been reporting on how layoffs have begun to happen even throughout the midwest ranging from textiles like nails to other kinds of factory goods and agriculture as well.

so, the issue here is not just the back and forth between the u.s. and china. this is really about the american consumer. when does the cost get passed down, because these companies are going to be taking a big hit. soybean farmers, folks who make cheese, all kinds of different manufacturing industries and almost every single type of food category that you can think of at the grocery store is slated to be impacted because of this back and forth between beijing and washington, d.c. we're expecting to see probably 170,000 jobs according to one economist eliminated within the year. and then if president trump goes forward and continues to implement more trade changes and tariffs on other countries including those in europe, mexico and canada as he has forecasted, you may see us enter a recession territory and that would be about 700,000 jobs, american jobs, on the line here. for a president who is looking to create american jobs, bring them back and highlight manufacturing, a lot of workers

are finding themselves between a rock and a hard place here, kasie. >> yeah, some reporters have been looking at anecdotal impacts in key midterm races. they interviewed a hog farmer. they said tosh, a third generation farmer who always votes republican said he's voting for black burn's democratic republican in part because trump's trade wars are hurting his family business. a sizeable one with some 400 employees and 30,000 pigs. the cost of steel needed for new barnes is up, he said, and the expanding pork market stands to suffer under new tariffs. so, kimberly atkins, at what points and mark lauder, i'm going to give you a chance to answer this question, too, in a

second. at what point do trump voters start blaming the president? for things going on in their lives? >> i think there is going to be a tipping point. his fans were in favor of his strong message the u.s. is in unfair trade deals, we need to fix them, we need to get tough with countries like china. but in the actual starting of a trade war, maybe not this initial salvo may not be felt across the country. but if it escalates and they do more and more and he said he's willing to go up to $500 billion in tariffs on china, that's really going to have an impact on farmers, on consumers, on businesses. if people start feeling it in their pocketbook, they're going to realize this perhaps was not the best way to sort of rectify any unfairness he sought in the trade war. i'm not sure it will happen in the mid terms, but he has to worry about 2020. >> mark lauder, are voters -- these are the states that gave president trump the presidency. and by this much, very slim number of voters who handed him the electoral college victory. is he completely teflon with them or is there aeries?! >> i think they're giving him a certain benefit of the doubt. there was a stud that i just came out early this week, i believe from investors business daily, which showed consumer and economic confidence the highest in rural areas of america since

the turn of the century. the highest in the midwest since 2002. and this was just recently done. so it includes the most recent back and forth on trade. i think they are giving him a fair shake because they know that we have been involved in these trade -- unfair trade practices for decades. presidents of both parties have talked about needing to do something about it and they see that this is the president that they elected who said, i would do it, and he's actually doing it. there are bumps in the road, sure. and i think there will be a certain amount of forgiveness to allow this -- i won't put a time line on it, but i think there is a certain amount of time they are going to say you're doing what you told us you would do. now let's see it work. and we'll see how that plays out. >> david farenthold, you've done reporting on the president's own

businesses in china. is there any interplay in what is going on in this war and his bottom line? >> the connection between trump's business and china are these two overseas developments. one in dubai and one in indonesia where trump has a licensed deal, he's being paid to operate a golf course, put his name on a business that is being built. and the same developments have chinese state companies helping to build them. trump and the chinese businesses aren't doing business directly, but he benefits from the infrastructure and the developments they are building. >> okay. >> so there is not -- i don't think the trade war will have a direct impact on those relationships, but this is certainly a case where the government of china controls businesses that could help donald trump down the road. >> and interesting -- >> jo, go ahead. >> very good point he just made. you have to think about these multinational companies that are really driving the american economy like apple and these big technology companies that manufacture so many of their goods in china. they also sell to the chinese market. in some cases it's their second biggest or maybe their biggest market out there. how is it going to impact those ceos, those shareholders, so many of those stocks, of course, are in your 401 k, and you have ceos like apple, tim cook going to the white house trying to make the case here to ask the president to tread very carefully because this is a complicated issue that could

really have a major economic impact not just on what you're buying and spending, but your investments. >> that's a really great point. at a time the u.s. economy is humming, the latest round of chinese tariffs is expected to cool demand from everything from american cars to crustaceans. vaughn hillyard reports from maine. >> see the nice beautiful shiny shell? >> reporter: off the coast of maine, lobster season is at its summer peak. >> i've been lobstering since i was 13 and i'm 63. >> reporter: he's one of 12,000 mainers in an industry that accounts for the state's economy. in a global trade war, china fired back with a 25% tariff on the lobster so many people rely on. >> we'd like to see prices go up, not down. we'll see how it affects us. >> reporter: it had been a booming open market for the fishermen. the rising tide had exploded in recent years. lifting all boats with it. >> how many lobsters are you sending out a day?

>> we probably send out 15 to 20,000 lobsters, almost every day. >> reporter: and how much of that is going overseas? >> overseas, over 60% of our lobsters. >> reporter: how much to china? >> china alone is 20%. >> reporter: tom adams is a major lobster distributor. he exports them from hundreds of local fisherman and co-ops to overseas markets. he invested $1.5 million in the expansion not foreseeing what was to come. how long can you afford to be patient in this? >> we can't afford to be patient at all. >> reporter: it's the same story in our down the road in portland where mark's company had just entered the chinese market place.

>> i just spent three months with the potential new buyer in shanghai that wanted 40,000 pounds a week. and then when the tariff scare came, now it's radio silence. >> reporter: then there are the people who haul the traps day in and day out, like cyrus sleeper. he's fished these waters since age of 9 and now brings in 50,000 pounds of lobster every year. are you frustrated? >> yes, yes. frustrated. it seems like they had just gotten rolling and had been building good relationships in china to put a damper on that at this point is very frustrating. >> reporter: some here look to the president to be a boon for the economy. >> i was hopeful. >> reporter: you were hopeful for the trump administration when it started? >> yes, absolutely. >> reporter: where is that now? >> i'm concerned. i'm concerned. some of the decisions and the way those decisions are being made aren't considering the ripple effect. >> reporter: now there is worry that china will look elsewhere for its lobster, like canada just to the north. and the people here in maine are stuck quickly searching elsewhere to make up those millions of dollars. >> everything that i have, my car, house, everything that i own is from lobstering. >> that was our vaughn hillyard reporting a very difficult hardship assignment. summer eating lobster. i want to turn to david

farenthold's post, mar-a-lago looking to hire 61 foreign workers during the season. still about american businesses facing interesting challenges under president trump. we know that there are some other places that are struggling to get the foreign workers they need. we had covered the crab industry in maryland, for example. they can't get the visas they need. first of all, do we think the president is going to get preferential treatment for these? these are not sure bets if you apply for the visas. >> they said the president won't get preferential treatment. he's lucky if they break it up by summer and winter. the 33,000 put out for summer needed for crab picking, landscaping, golf courses, he's applying for winter when people fly down to new york. >> people go to florida in the winter. >> there is not much workers in the winter. >> he got yeah, how lucky, exact he may be better off anyway because of the season. >> this is something where he has tried to limit these visas dramatically, right?

>> there's a broader effort by the trump administration to try to restrict means of illegal immigration on the logic that temporary workers, low scale immigrants drive down wages for american workers, that they make it possible for employers to pay less to give less benefits. and so doing this, this is exactly the kind of thing people like tom cotton said we shouldn't do. why don't you pay them more and give benefits for people here in america looking for a job. they're not rocket science jobs. they're cooks and waiters. a lot of people in florida should have those qualifications. >> i think this is in your story, david, is that mar-a-lago has to prove to the department of labor that it has sought to advertise and hire americans before these visas could be proved. and it's also not usual and

other seasonal clubs in the area also do the same thing. >> that's right. palm beach has a lot of seasonal work. trump's club has always done what's legally required to show they're trying to recruit american workers, but it's less than what you think. >> i'm sure every people have fax machines in this day and age. thank you all for your time tonight. we really appreciate it. kasie d.c. coming up right after this.

the entire world is watching with baited breath as rescue divers try to pluck the remaining boys from those caves in thailand. even elon musk who is someone you cover under other circumstances is trying to help. >> we want to show you this video elon musk shared just a few hours ago. but essentially he's putting together a prototype using the liquid oxygen tank of what is full kn rocket hull. we saw someone coming out today in an l.a. high school pool. it was going to create a kidicized submarine that was light enough to be carried by two divers. and he actually got ferrell time feedback from divers in thailand to see if they could do it.

he was planning to ship it out today, saying he wants it to be useful if not now in the future. he said it's obviously not going to be needed at this juncture in time, but he says it could be used an escape pod in space. more to come on that story. >> props to the kid who was helpful in testing that. i personally would have been terrified to have gotten into that thing. in our next hour professor allen dershowitz joins us live as the president's legal strategy shifts yet again. neutrogena® ultra sheer. unbeatable protection helps prevent early skin aging and skin cancer with a clean feel. the best for your skin. ultra sheer®. neutrogena®.

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♪ this morning, rescue operations resume to save a youth soccer team from a flooded cave in thailand. eight boys and their coach remain stranded right now. plus, we are a week away from president trump's one-on-one summit with vladimir putin, but first trump will head to europe this week to meet with nato allies in brussels. president trump is expected to announce his supreme court pick today according to nbc news, there are four serious candidates he's considering. tlum trump is focused primarily on just two of them. ♪