since then she's covered seven u.s. presidents and almost every beat in washington. in that time she's interviewed everyone from fidel castro to bono to billie jean king and hundreds of others in between. >> today we celebrate four decades of her tremendous reporting with this network as we hand you over to our friend and colleague, and idol, andrea mitchell. >> before we go, who was your favorite, billie jean king, fidel castro, or bono? >> i have to say bono. maybe billie jean. and if i hfidel is gone. love you guys, thank you so much, my great lead-in. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," court date. the first day of the manafort trial, the first test for the mueller team. >> collusion is not a crime. there's not evidence of any

collusion here involving our client and the russians. firing up. new reports that north korea is building a new long range missile that could hit new york or washington. just weeks after the president was singing the praises of kim jong-un and hours after he said he would sit down with the leader of iran. >> any time they want. it's good for the country, good for them, good for us, and good for the world. no preconditions. if they want to meet, i'll meet. and it's trump's party now. a florida republican running for governor shows just how much some candidates are embracing their president. >> build a wall. >> he reads stories. >> then mr. trump said, you're fired. i love that part. and good day, i'm andrea mitchell in new york, at a critical moment for special counsel robert mueller. in virginia, the mueller team

opens its first trial, as former trump campaign chairman paul manafort faces bank fraud charges related to his work for the russian-backed former government of ukraine, not related to the campaign. this as the president is firing up his offense, tweeting today that collusion is not a crime, even as his team is taking the field. >> collusion isn't a crime. so that -- i think that was just twisted out of context. the all the commentators are saying technically rudy giuliani is correct. that's not just technically correct. that's the law. >> reporter: why is the president stressing collusion isn't a crime? >> he told you there is no collusion. you full well know that even the judge in the manafort trial in virginia. >> joining me now, kristen welker, pete williams at the courthouse at alexandria, mimi

rocah, former u.s. assistant attorney for the southern district of new york. kristen, the president on all fronts and you of course with kellyanne conway today, are trying to go on offense, trying to muddy up mueller as much as they can. >> reporter: they really are. rudy giuliani overnight was again calling mueller's credibility into question. and you're seeing the president and is his allies really take sharper aim at robert mueller, andrea, as they've changed the talking point, moved the goalposts, if you will, over this issue of collusion. it's really striking because remember, the president has said many, many times over the past several months, "there was no collusion." well, now the talking point seems to be that collusion isn't a crime. so you heard me pressing kellyanne conway about that. and they're saying, look, acquire just merely pointing out the law, collusion isn't a crime but there was no collusion as well, they add that second part. now, broadly speaking, there is

agreement that collusion, if you look in the law books, isn't a crime, but conspiracy is a crime. if you speak to legal analysts, and pete probably knows a whole lot more about this, they would say it's a part of the broader question that investigators are looking into, andrea. >> and pete, at the courthouse, this is so important, because it's not related directly to the russia probe, but it's so important for mueller to have a really strong case going in. >> reporter: jury selection is under way now, andrea. and it could end today. we could get opening statements tomorrow, if jury selection slops over into tomorrow. it's expected to last three weeks. it has nothing to do with the time that manafort worked on the campaign or was campaign chairman. it has to do with his work for another president, viktor yanukovych, former president of

ukraine. the government says he made a lot of money from that, maybe $60 million, but he didn't pay taxes, and he stashed the money into foreign bank accounts, $30 million worth, failed to file required financial records about foreign bank accounts, and then when the money from ukraine dried up, they say, he fraudulent got loans on the properties he had bought with that ukrainian money by lying to the banks about what he was going to do with it and what his financial condition was. so the test today is to find a jury that either doesn't know about paul manafort or at least is willing to set aside any potential opinions it has. and the usual test for jurors, they seat 12 jurors and four alternates from this jury pool of about 70 people who live in northern virginia, around this courthouse. why virginia? because the government claims that the bank fraud happened against banks in virginia. and no matter what happens in this trial, manafort faces another one in d.c. in late

september, andrea. >> and just a fashion question, this is a man known for his very, very expensive custom-tailored suits. they took suits away from his closets when they raided his house. is he in a green prison jumpsuit there in court as the potential jurors are being selected? >> reporter: he is not. he is wearing a normal business suit. i didn't get a chance to look at his tie. my colleague ken dilanian is here, did you see what color tie paul manafort was wearing? he did not either, because he sat with his back to us. he was dressed in civilian lobbying clothes. >> i mean, it's interesting because when he was in court for a pretrial motion, he was in prison gauche. >> reporter: yes. >> mimi rocah, you've been through so many of these. mueller under fire, rudy giuliani all over the place in the last 24 hours. obviously they are really going on offense. and he kind of dangled this possibility that there was a pre-meeting before that infamous trump tower russia meeting, then said maybe not so much, that he

was trying to at least inoculate against a potential "new york times" story, leading maggie haberman of "the new york times" to say, "i can't really follow this thread." it was hard to understand in his interview last night with the daily beast, what he was saying. >> even fox news, when he was interviewing him to try to do some cleanup, looked shocked. they are going on offense although you can look at it as defense. what they're worried about are the facts. because facts are really starting to come out. mueller, as we all know, has been so disciplined, so nothing has leaked out. now that you have cohen in the picture and lanny davis, and you have a trial starting which has gates as a cooperator, some of his information now has gone to manafort's attorneys and maybe manafort's attorneys are giving it over to trump's attorneys. there's a lot more that's starting to come out. what started out as, there were

no meetings with the russians, there were no phone calls with the russians, there were no contacts with the russians, is just not viable anymore. so now they've gone to the next step which is, okay, maybe we did it but it's not a crime. and let me just be very clear, andrea, collusion is a crime. people should stop saying that. it's just not called collusion, it's called conspiracy. we just call it by a different name in the federal statutes. >> how important is it for mueller, given all the pr coming against him and all the attempts by house republicans, for instance, to undermine his correlate, how important is it for him to get a conviction in this first trial? >> it is important, because there's no question, there's sort of the, if he didn't get the conviction, the witch-hunt-crying conspiracy theorists would be out there saying, see, these are trumped-up, no pun intended, charges, and there was no basis for them. getting a conviction, they will

still say, well, this had nothing to do with the russian conspiracy, which is technically true. but if he doesn't get a conviction, it will allow people to try to further undermine him. but the professional that mueller is, and the prosecutors on his team, they're not thinking about that. i really believe they are putting their heads down. when you're in that trial zone, you're barely thinking about anything else. you don't eat, you know, you work 18-hour days. my guess is they are tuning all of this out at this point. >> and pete, if -- you know, and this is way down the road, but if he is convicted in this first case and the next case is much closer to home in terms of the trump campaign, might he then be willing to deal? there's been no sign that he's been willing to cut the kind of deal that rick gates, his deputy, did. >> reporter: no, i think there are two questions about that, andrea. given that rick gates has agreed to testify against mueller and cooperate with the government, and given that he was so closely

associated with manafort, what more does manafort have to tell them that gates already hasn't? that's one question they'll have to think about. the second question is, if he is convicted in both cases, mueller would have more leverage to force him to testify if indeed mueller still wants to do that. >> our thanks to chrystele welker, pete williams, and mimi rocah for kicking us off today. coming up, promises, promises. new signs north korea is backing down on its vow to denuclearize. i'll talk to former cia chief john brennan next. i just want to congratulate you, along with mika, on an extraordinary 40 years, bringing the world to all of us, first as big fans of yours, watching on tv, and now as two people who are very, very honored to be able to call you our friend and co-worker. >> you're one of a very small handful of icons in our business, about whom a young

journalist thinks i can't believe i even work in the same news division where she works. it's always been a privilege. congratulations on 40 years, my friend. i'm ray and i quit smoking with chantix. i tried cold turkey, i tried the patch. they didn't work for me. i didn't think anything was going to work for me until i tried chantix. chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. chantix reduced my urge to smoke. i needed that to quit. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be life-threatening. stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. tell your healthcare provider if you've had depression or other mental health problems. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix.

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u.s. spy satellites see signs that north korea is constructing a new long range missile, at least one, in a secret base outside pyongyang that has the range to reach the east coast of the united states. joining me now is john brennan, former director of the cia, now nbc senior intelligence and security analyst. welcome, good to see you, john. we're seeing satellite photos. i've talked to sources, courtney kube has as well, confirming the information, "the wall street journal" as well, signs that north korea is continuing to build. they discontinued testing months and months ago, as the president has said with great pride. but the fact is, if they're now building, could this mean they've finished testing because they were moving to a new production stage? >> congratulations on 40 years of outstanding professionalism. >> thank you, john. >> you've done a great job in educating the american public on some difficult and complicated issues, you're to be commented for that. >> thank you. >> it shouldn't surprise anybody

what we may be seeing in north korea right now. the agreement, the so-called agreement that was forged in singapore between mr. trump and kim jong-un basically said nothing more than they'll work toward denuclearization, with great uncertainty about what they mean by denuclearization. there are reports they continue to work on fissile materials and intercontinental ballistic missile capability. these are icbms that can reach the homeland. kim jong-un is taking advantage of this time to continue to develop his capabilities both in terms of his nuclear program and the ballistic missile capabilities to deliver those nuclear warheads. i think this is something to be greatly concerned about. i know mike pompeo is trying to negotiate some type of arrangement. again, it's not surprising at all, given the continued assessment, i believe, of the intelligence community that kim jong-un has no intention to give up his nuclear weapons. >> here is what the president said at the vfw event only a

week ago about the singapore summit. >> we had a fantastic meeting with chairman kim. and it seems to be going very well. >> how difficult is it for his intelligence advisers and his secretary of state now to try to inject some reality into these negotiations when the president is bragging about it publicly? >> it must be very difficult for them to try to convey to him the seriousness of the issue and to make sure that he understands what is and is not happening. clearly mr. trump continues to grandstand and to say things publicly that are far removed from the truth. i'm reminded of hamlet's soliloquy in terms of sound and fury signifying nothing. a lot of times we hear mr. trump spout out on these issues, including meetings with mr. putin and kim jong-un and others, and there's not much there there. these are serious issues that affect u.s. national security. i'm hoping all of his advisers

and the intelligence community are taking the issue seriously, as i'm confident they are. mr. trump has to do the same thing. he has to understand it's not just a question of how to express what he believes or what he wants people to believe is happening. he really needs to make progress on these very thorny national security issues. >> a couple of weeks ago, as se secretary pompeo was having difficulty getting pyongyang to live up to commitments, we heard john bolton saying on sunday talk shows, maybe pompeo can do this in a year or so. i asked dan coats about that, and he was explicit, you can't denuclearize north korea in a year. what's your projection? >> i think if we're serious about having north korea denuclearize or move along that path, it's going to require some patience, as well as to understand that to dismantle their nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which means to destroy the warheads, to tear

down or dismantle those facilities that produce the fissile material, the machining and the engineering facilities, all of this is part of that program. and if we're really going to have them denuclearize, there has to be a very comprehensive plan and program to be able to get them to move along that past. but so far, i've seen nothing at all. north korea says it's dismantled or destroyed its testing facility. it's already tested its device half a dozen times, for north korea standards and reliability, that's sufficient. they've continued to grow their stockpile as well as better develop the capabilities to deliver the warheads to potential targets. >> i want to also ask you about the president, after the fiery threats against iran and its regime only a week or so ago, was saying yesterday he would talk to the leader of iran with no preconditions. the secretary of state quickly fixed that or tried to fix it on

cnbc by listing three specific preconditions. but what about the president's attitude towards these meetings with leaders of rogue states or other adversaries? >> well, i think it reflects two things. one is that he makes up foreign policy on the fly. so whatever comes into his mind, he decides to say it. secondly, i think he has a greatly, greatly inflated view of his ability to move the needle on these key national security issues, weather russia, north korea, or iran. when he says i'm willing to meet with anyone, any time, i believe that he means it. but i don't think he understands just how complex these issues are, and also he probably realizes that the iranians are not going to take him addt his word because his word has been proved to be worthless. he is not somebody who is able to be pinned down on some of these issues. >> this is the first chance i've had to talk to you since the threats from the white house to strip you of your security

clearance. have they followed up on that? and what are the implications of it for you? >> well, i have heard nothing other than what has come out from the white house spokesperson. i'm not surprised that this is something that rand paul has thought up. rand paul is not on the intelligence committee. i don't know anybody in the intelligence national security realms who takes what rand paul says seriously. but he continues to spout off on these issues. and so he got mr. trump's ear. i don't know what's going to happen, but, you know, they have a real flawed understanding about what security clearances mean. i've gone back to the agency a number of times to review my files so i can be prepared for congressional committee hearings as well as interviews by staff. but i don't go back to the agency and get briefings. i've never requested a briefing on any issue over the past year and a half since i left government. this is senator paul and mr. trump trying to make some

public, you know, hay by saying these things. but again, i have heard nothing more about it since last week. >> john brennan, thank you as always, and thank you for your good thoughts, it really means a lot to me. >> thank you, andrea, best wishes. breaking news from the white house. national correspondent peter alexander, take it away. it involves the chief of staff. >> reporter: exactly right, chief of staff to the president john kelly, nbc news now confirming from a senior administration official who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity that kelly told staff here at the white house on monday that the president had asked him to stay on board as chief of staff through the 2020 election and kelly told those in the room that he has agreed to that. this is significant for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is there has been a lot of speculation that john kelly may be among the next out here at the white house. his influence has certainly waned in recent months. but the tensions, according to

officials, between the president and kelly himself have waned. perhaps that's a function of the fact that the president is really increasingly, it appears, been relying on others, including former fox news executive beill shine who has been by his side on recent trips including the trip to meet with vladimir putin. john kelly is not one to hide his expressions, perhaps his frustration with some of the public comments by the president, most note i wiably a president sat across from nato allies a few weeks ago during the events that took place there, his fierce criticism, president trump's criticism of nato. kelly seemed to be rolling his eyes, had his head in his hands briefly. the white house said he wasn't satisfied with the breakfast offerings. the takeaway is that john kelly, at least according to these officials, told staff he will stick around, as the president desired, through 2020, andrea. >> peter alexander. a lot of breaking news today.

thank you. and more breaking news to report. let's go to nbc news national political reporter mike memoli on capitol hill. >> reporter: facebook is briefing congressional leadership about new suspicious activity it's identified on its platform, we're talking about pages and accounts, designed to promote political instability, political divisive issues in our elections. a public announcement will be coming officially from facebook within the next hour. let me give you an example of the kinds of things they're talking about. for instance, the abolish i.c.e. movement we have seen has become a very divisive and hot button political topic in our campaigns here. what facebook has identified, using its technology on its platform, is that there were specific pages and accounts that they believe to be foreign-originated that were amplifying and promoting these kinds of messages. facebook is not prepared at this

point to specifically point the finger at russia as being involved in it. but sources on the congressional side that i've talked to do say that russia has been mentioned as the likely source of this interference attempts. we know the justice department has been briefed. at this point the white house itself has not been briefed. but lawmakers here are among those beginning to just now learn of some of this information. we'll be hearing more from facebook in the next hour. >> this of course gets to the heart and soul of divisions within the democratic party, because democrats are now struggling, nancy pelosi and others on one side, struggling against others on the more progressive side of the party who are talking about abolishing i.c.e. over this immigration dispute. and many in the party believe that this is counterproductive in terms of the midterm elections because it puts the party too far to the left. >> reporter: that's exactly right, andrea. >> it's exactly the kind of thing that russia did during the 2016 campaign. >> reporter: that's right.

in the february indictments we saw from special counsel mueller and his team, they referred to pages and accounts that were amplifying the messaging of the black lives matter movement. officials tell me now that the pages created were meant to impersonate a democrat or liberal-leaning page. but they know this is a divisive issue that republicans are seizing on and they're using that page to stoke that kind of debate. >> mike memoli, thank you very much. this directly relates, of course, to another democratic senator who has been targeted by hackers. the daily beast reporting senator jeanne shaheen's office was hit by at least one phishing e-mail attack, also by someone impersonating a latvian official hoping to get inside information on american sanctions against russia. this comes after russian hackers tried unsuccessfully, we believe, to infiltrate senator claire mccaskill's office computer network. she's in a tough reelection fight. joining me now is democratic senator jeanne shaheen who

serves on the foreign relations and armed services committees. welcome, senator. first of all, have you identified who might have been responsible for this phishing attempt against your computers? >> you know, we haven't. when we get a phishing attempt, we turn it over to senate security, to the i.t. folks in the senate, and they've done a great job. anything that's more serious like the request for the meeting, we turned over to the fbi and other law enforcement authorities. so we do that, but we don't really know how those investigations come out. we don't have any apparatus in our office that can do the investigations. >> you have been very outspoken against russia. you've been one of the sharpest critics, calling for sanctions, ringing alarm bells against what russia has been doing. you see what's happened to senator mccaskill, who is in a tight election fight. >> right. >> your reaction to what we're confirming about facebook,

facebook was criticized after the 2016 campaign for not being on guard against this proliferation and these propaganda efforts, the real fake news, if you will. and now they are reporting, apparently, to congressional committees about this effort right now to exacerbate tensions within the democratic party. >> well, that's right. we know there are ongoing efforts to interfere in advance of the 2018 elections. we saw that happen in 2016. it's not just about hacking attempts and cyber intrusions. it's also about trying to sow divisions within this country. and clearly what is being reported about facebook is that it's within the democratic party. so make no mistake about it, as dan coats said, the warning lights are blinking. we need to work together, democrats and republicans, to address what is happening by russia, by other foreign actors,

by criminal elements, because this is about the integrity of our democracy and our elections. it's about making sure that people have confidence in what's going on in our government and in our political process. and that is a huge challenge and one we have to work together to address. >> senator, i know that when i talked to dan coats, he followed up on that and said there could be attacks against our infrastructure. i've spoken to another intelligence source telling me that there already are russian attempts to infiltrate our electric grid. are you aware of that? >> i am. there have been reports about that and other efforts to attack other infrastructure. and so this is a serious issue. and that's why it's so hard for me to understand why we haven't seen the white house replace the cyber czar, the person who is supposed to be in charge of all activities across the federal government. we have a lot of people working

on this issue, doing good work. but we don't have anybody in charge. we need some leadership, we need somebody who is checking, who is working to address this problem wherever it exists. >> we were told on friday that the president had his his national security meeting that he led on a system-wide effort to try to counteract these threats, he didn't refer to them as russian threats, but foreign threats, and that it lasted less than an hour. is that adequate? >> it's not adequate. and unfortunately, while i think that was positive that he was actually listening to the national security council and officials talk about the challenge that we face, we didn't see any new leadership initiatives come out of that meeting. we haven't seen the kind of support at the very top to address this. and that undercuts efforts in congress. it undercuts efforts of our government agencies.

and it undermines the american people's belief that something is being done to address this. and that's the fundamental problem. this is happening to members of congress. it's happening to political figures. but it's also happening to average people in their e-mail accounts, in their efforts to use social media. people need to be aware of it and know what to expect so that when the russians are trying to undermine and exacerbate divisions in the country, people understand what's going on, and they don't believe everything that they read on facebook or that they see on social media. and that's the real challenge with the president tell being unwilling to acknowledge what happened in 2016 in a way that takes leadership for what needs to happen in the country. >> are you confident that your own office computers are safe? >> well, we're vigilant. we have training that staff has

undergone. we're asking people to be very careful, not just about their office accounts but about their personal accounts. so it's something that i think we've got to remain ever-vigilant about. >> senator, thank you very much. thanks for joining us today. >> thank you, and congratulations on your 40 years in broadcasting. >> thank you, senator. i appreciate it very much. and coming up, bedtime stories. why one republican is hoping for a fairy tale ending. the inside scoop is next. stay with us right here on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. the most remarkable thing about andrea mitchell's 40 years may be the one thing none of our viewers get to see. all of the people in this news organization and elsewhere who were brought up and trained and mentored by the great andrea mitchell. >> the executive producer of the "today" show, the senior broadcast producer of "nightly news," the executive producer of your show, our capital house

producer, they all have two things in common, high-powered, high achieving women. they got started with your mentorship, helping these current and rising stars grow. a hell of a legacy for a hell of a journalist. you're a bit of an inspiration. your work ethic, your knowledge of events. you keep us all on our toes and make us or better. >> 40 more, 40 more! andrea, you've been amazing. it's been an honor to be your colleague. we love you and we want you to keep going. >> 40 years, andrea mitchell, the queen. how did you do it? seriously, how did you do it? i can't keep you with you even now. send me some m&ms if you can. love you. can be relentless.

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president trump is putting his political clout to the test tonight, diving into florida's heated governor's race. tonight in tampa, taking the stage to rally support for his pick, three-term republican congressman ron desantis whose surging campaign took a page right out of the trump playbook.

>> he's also an amazing dad. ron loves playing with the kids. >> build the wall. >> he reads stories. >> then mr. trump said you're fired. i love that part. >> he's teaching madison to talk. >> make america great again. >> people say ron is all trump. but he is so much more. >> big league. so good. >> i am speechless. let's get the inside scoop from peter baker, "new york times" correspondent, and jonathan lemire, associated press reporter and msnbc analyst. peter, first to you, i've seen candidates take advantage of their kids. is that tongue in cheek? i hope it is. "you're fired"? "bedtime stories"? >> it's a great question. he's wrapped himself, obviously, in the president's endorsement. what we see in this president is something we haven't seen even

in your 40 years, andrea, as far back as you go, all the presidents you've seen, i don't think we've seen many incumbent presidents who weigh in on interparty raises. >> it was the dictum of ronald reagan, thou shalt not get involved in primary races. and so far it's working. >> it does work, he's tweeted out an endorsement of one candidate over another and the race turns out that way. whether it was that tweet or not, we don't know. maybe in some cases he was just getting on board to something that was already going to happen. but many in the republican party think he's a king maker in these nomination battles. >> now we hear that john kelly has a new lease on life, if you will, i don't know if it's a life he prefers, to be the chief

of staff through 2020. he, of all chiefs of staff, arguably has the least amount of political experience, coming out of the military, and doesn't seem to have a great comfort level with campaign politics. >> that's right. first of all, congratulations on your milestone. you've been an inspiration to so many of us. think of how many words have been written in recent months about john kelly's imminent demise. he was saying he just wanted to make the year mark, so this comes as a surprise. these two men certainly got along well for a while, then we had months of clashes between kelly and trump, two strong individuals, with trump rebelling against kelly's efforts to sort of contain him. so this is a surprise. kelly has told people this is the hardest job he's ever had, that he would sign up for another two plus years of that, and of course this could all change in a tweet, but that kelly wants to do this is interesting. but as you point out, he does not have the political acumen of so many of his predecessors of that role, and we're obviously

heading into crucial midterms and then the reelection bid. he's also someone who has seen his influence wane considerably in the building. he has less clout with staff than he used to. he certainly has less clout with the president than he used to. i think we're going to keep seeing trump himself sort of forge forward on his own path, perhaps not listening to whatever john kelly might be telling him. >> how much of this, peter, has to do with bill shine, former fox news executive, leading the communications team and also deputy of chief of staff, so you have that public promotion, staging and stagecraft, coming from someone else, that takes some weight off of kelly. >> that's exactly right. bill shine gives the president the comfort level that he has somebody there who shares his point of view and the way he wants to communicate his message. that's not general kelly's background or experience, as jonathan just said. and so you need somebody there who can be a real political consigliere. there hasn't been one in this white house in quite some time,

other than jared kushner and ivanka trump, there's not somebody the president trusts around him to manage his political fortunes the way he did early on with steve bannon and other people. bill shine to some extent takes some of the heat off john kelly, gives kelly the opportunity to make the trains run and make the white house function kind of role rather than a larger strategic direction kind of figure. >> does this mean anything up or down about mick mulvaney, the omb chief who was rumored to be next in line, or potentially nick ayers, chief of staff to the vice president? >> ayers has been a bit of a flashpoint in the west wing, some people in trump world have been suspicious of what ambitions he may have for mike pence in the years ahead. i think mulvaney is still well-thought-of by the president. it more reflects the idea of how trump views this position, that he doesn't want necessarily to have a powerhouse in that post, that he likes the idea that kelly can sort of make the

trains run on time but is not going to be someone who is going to tell him no. he has surrounded himself, especially in recent months, we've seen all the additions to his staff, people who are willing to say yes to him. and he's going to -- or if they don't, he's going to overrule them anyway. the idea that trump is still trusting himself. yes, bill shine helped with some of the politics, although i think you could argue he got off to a rocky start with his relationship with the media. but trump is going to follow his own gut here. he's seeing, back to tonight's rally, he's seek success among the primary electorate, he's still very popular among republicans. he's reshaping his party to be the party of trump and he's going to forge forward. >> jonathan lemire, great to see you in person, usually we're by remote. and peter baker, i'll catch up with you back in washington. thanks to much to both of you for being with us today. stay with us. we'll be right back. andrea, you're great. you've always been great, going back to your kyw days in

philadelphia when you covered a certain young maverick running against the democratic machine. andrea, you'll always be great. >> i would not be here if it were not for you, my beloved andrea. you not only machete'd this path through the jungle that we've since walked down behind you, you've also been better at this job than anyone else working alongside you for all the 40 years you've been doing this job. you are, honest to goodness, a legend, my friend. keep going. fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast...

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where we're changing withs? contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today. book now at lq.com. and we've got more breaking news from the white house. let's go right to nbc white house correspondent kristen welker. kristen, you and peter. what are you guys doing? what's going on? >> reporter: we have major breaking news, and peter is here to help me break it. we're celebrating 40 years of you and your groundbreaking career here at nbc. >> reporter: this is a little bit of a prom picture that we're taking together. you, andrea, have paved the way for a generation of journalists, you have set the highest bar. you ask the toughest questions,

you really are the all star in the entire nbc family. >> reporter: it's true. and just on a personal note, you're one of the people who inspir inspired me. >> you guys. >> reporter: you're my mentor and dear, dear friend. >> reporter: as it turns out, we're not the only way that feels this way. they want to celebrate you today, to thank you for being a trailblazer and being a part of journalistic history. take a look. ♪ ♪ >> andrea, you are such an inspiration to the whole nbc news family and to every single journalist who shares in your tireless pursuit of the truth. >> thank you for blazing the trail for us and so many women in this business. we would not be anywhere without you. >> i was a viewer for many years before we began working together, an admirer from afar of your work ethic, your persistence, and commitment to

the truth. you have been a role model to me and more people in this business than you will ever know. >> congratulations, andrea, 40 years on nbc news. keep going for it. we need you now ever. >> this milestone is a testament to your hard work and dedication and i also enjoy speaking with you and look forward to more years of your professionalism and great reporting. >> andrea, a fan even when you tormented him. >> i can remember the days in the early '80s when you were just a cup reporter and i was chief of staff for ronald reagan in his first term and i remember what a wonderful reporter you were, a hell of a reporter, in fact. >> i have so appreciated listening to you and i have loved being on your program, but most of all, i have loved our friendship, so best wishes to you and 40 more to go. >> andrea, i remember the first

time you ever interviewed me as part of a pool interview. and i did a great job for 25 minutes. i thought i was great. and then you came back in to see me later this day and say you looked at every single word and i had said absolutely nothing. that was right, that was my intention. you never let me do that again, andrea. >> congratulations to andrea on four decades of service at nbc news, 40 years of holding public officials accountable and informing people in the service of democracy at home and abroad. >> america is in good hands when andrea's on the job, protect the people's right to know and she's done this all over the world and the fact of the matter is, all of her colleagues are in awe of her endless, endless energy and determination to get the answer that they deserve. >> andrea, we go back a long way to your days at kyu in philadelphia. you always speak truth to power.

i think if young reporters are looking for an example of what a reporter should be, it's you. they should take a look at you and your career. you're knowledgeable. you never ask questions you don't know the answer to. you're always prepared. as i said, you're completely straight down the line. i've admired you for a long time, even when we disagreed. you're first rate. i think you're the model for young reporters. we need more like andrea. >> andrea, my reaction to hearing you were celebrating 40 years at nbc news is the same as dan coats' reaction to hearing about a white house meeting with putin. that's going to be special. congratulations, andrea.

>> andrea, those are just a few of the people who you have impacted over the years. so many have said this accurately, you have inspired an entire generation of journalists. >> we thank you not just for your professional mentorship but your personal friendship, celebrating personal joys in our lives as well. today really is about celebrating you. so how, having seen those faces, how does today feel, how does this feel? >> it just, it feels amazing to have my msnbc family and my nbc family and to have the two of you and all your colleagues on our white house team and hallie jackson and everyone else whom i've covered over these years and i'm just excited about the story we are now covering, all the stories we're now covering here and abroad. and here's to the next, whatever they are. >> whatever they are. well, andrea, peter and i were talking about all of the lessons we've learned from you and i think for me some of them are persistence, being prepared.

you heard some of the folks talking about the importance of that. >> i think that's exactly right. the bottom line is there's nobody who's better prepared than andrea. i remember the old days we would have these meetings and i would say, hey, a source familiar with john kerry's thinking or somebody's thinking is telling me this and andrea would say, so i just hung up with john kerry and he tells me the following. i think i would go with her source on this one. >> andrea, where did you learn everything that you know about being a great journalists? >> i had really great mentors. you saw some of them. certainly tom and brian and lester and all of my colleagues here at nbc and i learned from you. i learned from watching you guys. watching you at the white house and briefings and when the president wanders out. so peter and kristen, the whole team there, incredible team at the white house and on the hill for us, i learn every day from all of you. >> well, andrea, we just feel so fortunate and so honored to be able to work with you.

we love you so much. one of my favorite things about all of those clips we just showed was that picture of you laughing and smiling and i think that's one of the things that the general public doesn't know is we just have so much fun together. we have so much fun working with you. that's something we feel so thankful for. >> working relentlessly. >> and my thanks to all of my pals here, michelle, perry, our executive producer, and casey dolan and erica, our whole team of extraordinary people here that put this show on every day. thanks to you. >> we love you, andrea. >> thanks for letting us be a part of it. we love you. >> thank you. we'll be right back. >> i'm trying to figure out how have you been at nbc for 40 years when you're 39 years old. i just don't get it. i don't understand how you -- i've done it, but you're andrea mitchell and you always make the impossible possible. andrea, i love you. you're someone i look up to, continue to look up to. thanks for being you.

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and that does it for a surprise-filled edition of andrea mitchell reports. remember, follow the show online, on facebook and on twitter @mitchellreports. my thanks and gratitude to all of you who watch us and are with us every day.

chris janicing is next. >> the first time we ever spent time tomorrow was on pat moynihan's farm, do you remember? >> announcing her -- >> two things i want to say about andrea mitchell. she came up and introduced herself to me. i remember telling everyone, andrea freaking mitchell came up to me and she introduced herself to me, which is crazy. because i admired you for decades. at that point 20 years. it was 20 years ago. the second thing was they threw me on the air with breaking news. i was a rookie. do you know what you said to me? tell me what i can do to help. andrea mitchell. four years. >> well, here we go. >> no one would be surprised if you did another 40. thank you for everything. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. but we also have other news to do. good afternoon from msnbc headquarters in new york. i'm chris jansing. once again taking it from the great andrea mitchell. i'm in for craig melvin. political influence. breaking news. facebook says it found a new and covert disinformation campaign.