us. good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. ♪ a final farewell to former president george h.w. bush. his body has been flown back to texas, where he will lie in state at st. martins episcopal church in houston. this follows a day of emotional tributes in washington. plus, new reporting that president trump is shrugging off the nation's ballooning debt crisis. he's reportedly dismissed the issue, telling aides he will no longer be in office when the debt becomes even more unsustainable. a search is underway off the japanese coast after two u.s. military planes collided in midair and crashed into the pacific ocean. at least two have been rescued.

five others remain missing. ♪ good morning. it's thursday, december of6th. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf. you're looking at live pictures from st. martin's episcopal church in houston. after a funeral service, the bush family is returning to a tradition not used since president eisenhower died a half a century ago. a funeral train launching from union pacific's facility in spring, texas, will carry the former president some 70 miles to college station. the train will make no stops, but travel slower than usual. the smithsonian notes that funeral trains were used following the deaths of presidents, including abraham lincoln, grant, garfield, mckinley and franklin roosevelt

as a way for the american people to honor the office of the president and its legacy. wednesday marked a national day of mourning as the country paused to remember and celebrate the life of george bush. the 41st president's casket left the capitol to a 41-gun salute. as the casket is carried from the capitol rotunda, there's a tear for what once was, what is now missing and all the lost meaning of a politics that, while never perfect and had deep flaws, was filled with devotion to and love of the country. at the national cathedral, bush biographer and friend jon meacham delivered the first eulogy. >> he never slowed down. on the primary campaign trail in new hampshire, he grabbed the hand of a department store mannequin asking for votes. when he realized his mistake, he

said, you never know, got to ask. [ laughter ] >> you can hear the voice, can't you? as dana carvey said the key to a bush 41 impersonation is mr. rogers trying to be john wayne. his life code, as he said, was tell the truth, don't blame people, be strong, do your best, try hard, forgive, stay the course. and that was and is the most american of creeds. abraham lincoln's better angels of our nature and george h.w. bush's thousand points of light are companion verses in america's national hymn. for lincoln and bush both called

on us to choose the right over the convenient, to hope rather than to fear, and to heed not our worst impulses, but our best instincts. >> later willie geist actually tweeted with the memorial service finished, jon meacham has given me permission to report that he had the chance to read that beautiful eulogy to president bush before his death. president bush said characteristically, that's a lot about me, jon. the final eulogy was delivered by the president's son george w. bush. >> at age 90 george h.w. bush parachuted out of an aircraft and landed on the grounds of st. ann's by the sea in kennebunkport, the church where his mom was married and where he worshipped often. mother liked to say he chose the

location just in case the chute didn't open. your decency, sincerity and kind soul. a great and noble man. the best father a son or daughter could have. and in our grief, i smile knowing that dad is hugging robin and holding mom's hand again. >> emotional words by the president. yesterday was the first gathering of all the living presidents during the trump presidency. it was perhaps the first time the current occupant of the white house did not speak to some of them. president trump and first lady melania trump entered last and shook hands with those directly next to them, former president and first lady barack and michelle obama.

quote, first president trump said barack obama was i illegitima illegitimate, then the president he called the worst abuser of women, bill clinton, then the first lady and secretary of state he said should be in jail, hillary clinton, and then the president he said was the second worst behind obama, jimmy carter and his wife roslyn. >> president trump is reportedly not concerned about the potential risks of the country's ballooning debt. currently more than $21 trillion and growing, because in his eyes it will ultimately be someone else's problem. according to a new report, ever since his presidential campaign, trump's aides and his advisors have attempted to convince him that getting control of the debt is a top issue. but sources close to the president say the president has repeatedly shrugged off the warning because won't be in the

white house when the debt becomes completely untenable. the report says the issue came to a head in 2017 when senior officials offered trump charts and graphics laying out the numbers and showing a hockey stick spike in the national debt in the not-too-distant future. trump reportedly commented, yeah, but i won't be here, according to a source in the room. let's talk trade here, everybody. chinese ministry has released a new status on trade talks days after president trump and president xi's dinner meeting at the g-20. while the statement calls that meeting very successful, it does not make any mention of the specific items trump claims were agreed upon during the dinner. it is also vague on the 90-day deadline for negotiations trump and his team have touted, saying only that china will, quote,

actively push forward with the negotiations within 90 days. while the trump administration has stated several times that china agreed to take certain actions, quote, immediately, beijing's statement describes its time frame as, quote, the sooner, the better. one top china analyst at the kissinger institute says it's all part of china's primary goal of drawing things out as long as possible, staying beijing must keep the fish on the hook by giving the trump administration reason to believe progress is within reach. hours after he called himself a tariff man, president trump tweeted this. very strong signals being sent by china not to sound naive or anything, but i believe president xi meant every word of what he said at our long and hopefully historic meeting. the senate judiciary and it tee has once again postponed a series of judicial nominations because of a standoff over legislation to protect the

special counsel. the committee was expected to consider those nominations today, which would have included six appeals court nominees. but republican senator jeff flake has refused to vote for president trump's judicial picks until the senate considers a bill to protect robert mueller. the judicial nominations were originally expected to get a vote last week, but committee chairman chuck grassley also postponed that meeting because of flake's stand. last night senator flake tweeted, the senate needs to protect the special counsel. let's bring in capitol hill reporter for the hill molly hooper. good morning to you. thank you so much for joining us today. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> let's talk about the funeral yesterday, george h.w. bush's final day in washington as so many of us were watching there, presidents past and present gathering to mourn him there. we heard louis run through the depiction of president trump's presence at the funeral there. how is it being seen and viewed on capitol hill?

>> well, from the people that i've talked to, no major gaffes on president trump's part. you know, there were moments during the funeral perhaps brian mu mulroney's speech you could see him pointing out how nafta is a big deal and how we're partners with nato. aside from that, the president really didn't react. that's good, because yesterday was about -- what a wealth of history that we were exposed to and people who didn't grow up with president george bush, who at the time took a lot of flak from the media. i thought it was pretty sunny. alan simpson sort of did bring the cathedral down when he was relaying all these stories and talking about how the media was

not friends with him and he's had frosty relationships. that helped to kind of bring president trump in, but by and large the people that i talked to on capitol hill were glad that president trump did appear, melania was there, no major gaffes, shook obama's hand and everything else pretty much went off without a hitch. >> let's switch gears for a moment because i want to ask you about this report about the growing national debt. it's traditionally been a huge issue of congressional republicans, something they've always used to champion their fiscal policies. has that focus disappeared under president trump, who seems to now, at least according to this daily beast article, express no concern about it happening during his time in office? >> well, it may not have necessarily gone away, but it's going to be back in full force when republicans are in the minority. i remember the last time republicans were in the minority with a republican in the white house, president george w. bush.

you had these cost cutting conservatives led by one mike pence, who actually brought down a spending bill that had to do with funds for afghanistan, the military in afghanistan and iraq because it would raise the deficit too high. so this was under a republican president with democrats in the majority in the house and the republicans were able to kill a measure because it spent too much money. so i have a feeling that come next year when republicans are in the minority, we can expect to see that again. these conservatives who are cost cutting conservatives and are focused on fiscal spending and cutting fiscal spending and reduces the deficit, president trump may have quite a bit of a time with those guys getting them on board, especially if he wants to push this $1 trillion infrastructure package. it's not going to go too far, i don't think. >> it is interesting this story considering that we have a republican president right now and that has always been their major speaking point, which is

the growing debt. still ahead, lawmakers are demanding answers after a millionaire sex offender got a sweetheart deal with the justice department. the details of that shocking story coming up. plus the latest on the search for five missing u.s. marines after two military planes collided in midair off the coast of japan. those stories and a check of your weather when we come back. ♪ oh, look...

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i am a techie dad.n. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. welcome back, everybody. lawmakers are demanding an investigation into the justice department's extremely lenient deal with accused serial child molester jeffrey epstein. the miami herald reported that federal prosecutors led by then u.s. attorney, now labor secretary, alex acada entered into a deal with epstein that allowed him to spend just 13

months in county jail when they had enough evidence to put him away for life. ben sass fired off a series of letters calling epstein a monster and writing that the, quote, pathetically soft sentence is a travesty that should outrage us all. federal prosecutors identified 36 under age victims. the miami herald has identified 80 women who say they were molested as girls as well, yet the deal allowed the wealthy friend of bill clinton and trump to plead guilty to soliciting a prostitute who was just 14 years old. the department of justice did not respond to that request for comment. >> both federal and state investigators have launched probes into possible election fraud in north carolina. investigators are canvassing irregularities in at least two

counties. the board has twice declined to certify republican mark harris's 905 vote victory over democrat dan mccready. they have also since issued subpoenas to harris's campaign according to local news station wsoc tv. 1,873 unreturned absentee ballots were sent to democrats and 519 unreturned absentee ballots were sent to republicans in the ninth district. that is a low percentage when compared to the werest of the state. a large majority of those unreturned ballots belong to african-americans and native-american voters. nbc spoke to one woman who learned through the investigation that her absentee ballot was not counted. >> a young lady came to the door. she knocked on the door, asked if she could get the absentee

ballot. i told her sure. i broke the seal in front of her, i filled out two boxes. she said she would fill the rest out, that it wasn't important. i signed it, gave it to her. it was not sealed. she said she would seal it and come back to me and show me that it was sealed. i never got a show back from her. >> you found out, though, that your absentee ballot was never turned in? >> yes. the investigator came and showed me that my name was on a list where my absentee ballot did not come up in the system. >> vice chairman of the house oversight committee and democratic virginia congressman jerry connolly has demanded an emergency hearing to investigator those claims. the charlotte news observer is also calling for a redo of the tainted race. u.s. and japanese authorities are currently searching for five missing marines near japan after a pair of planes with seven marines on board collided during a fuelling training accident about 200 miles off of the coast.

two service members have been rescued by japan's maritime self-defense force, one of which is receiving medical treatment while the condition of the other is currently unknown. officials say the incident is under investigation. let's switch gears, get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> we're still waiting for that big storm to move on shore in california and then head east. it's going to be a coast to coast event. a lot of rain and some areas are going to get maybe major to historic snow. remember the woolsey fire? they picked up two inches of rain last night. have not heard any reports of mud or debris flows. as far as windchills, if we're going to get a winter event, it has to be cold. windchills down to 23 in atlanta, oklahoma city 29. it is like winter cold invading much of the country. let me take you into friday, because not a lot happens today. the storm is in california.

by friday, especially friday night, the rain breaks out in texas here. that's the four inch mark here. i-10 san antonio to houston we could have some flash flooding concerns. further north it's cold enough for ice over to snow in areas of north texas through oklahoma. that could be enough for some plows and shoveling there. if you want historic to major and high impacts, we're talking charlotte to green greensboro t asheville, some could get over a foot of snow. that could be enough to shut things down for a while, sunday into monday. still ahead, a major trade in the major leagues and the scandal prone u.s. gymnastics organization has filed for bankruptcy.

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aimovig, a preventive treatment for migraine in adults, reduces the number of monthly migraine days. for some, that number can be cut in half or more. the most common side effects are pain, redness or swelling at the injection site and constipation. talk to your doctor about aimovig. and be there more. welcome back. time now for sports. we begin in the nba and a historic night for oklahoma city's russell westbrook. to brooklyn, where the 108th triple-double of his career moves westbrook ahead of jason kidd for the number three on the all-time list. meanwhile, paul george shepherds the thunder back from a 23-point deficit, scoring 25 of his 47 points in the game during the fourth quarter. okc wins 114-112. turning to major league baseball. an off season move that has the

diamondbacks sending first baseman paul goldschmidt to arizona. the 31-year-old posted a .290 batting average with 33 home runs last season. with only one year remaining on his contract and $14 million before becoming a free agent next winter, he'll likely be a season rental for the cardinals. the usa gymnastics organization has resorted to bankruptcy in order to survive, filing a petition yesterday in an effort to reach settlements in 100 sex abuse lawsuits represented by more than 350 athletes across the country who blame the group for failing to supervise former team doctor larry nassar. >> that is a tragic story that just gets worse and worse. still ahead, new reports

that lobbyists representing the saudi government paid for hundreds of rooms at president trump's washington, d.c. hotel in the months after the 2016 election. plus the ceo of general motors meets with ohio lawmakers after announcing plans to shutter a plant in the buckeye state. what marry barra has to stay about that. oh milk. am i willing to pay the price for loving you? you'll make my morning, but ruin my day. complicated relationship with milk? pour on the lactaid, 100% real milk, just without that annoying lactose. mmm, that's good. ♪ ♪ the united states postal service makes more holiday deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country.

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ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. a bipartisan group of senators has introduced a resolution holding saudi arabia crown prince mohammed bin salman responsible for a slew of transgressions including the murder of jamal kashoggi. the senate, quote, has a high level of confidence that bin salman was complicit in the murder of kashoggi and urges the white house to hold him accountable. in addition, the resolution holds the crown prince accountable for his leading role in, quote, the humanitarian crisis in yemen, the jailing of dissenidents and activists insi the kingdom. president trump issued a lengthy formal statement backing the kingdom and its ruler, stating in part, quote, the world is a very dangerous place and our relationship is with the kingdom

of saudi arabia. he later told reporters, quote, we're with saudi arabia, we're staying with saudi arabia. meanwhile, nbc news has learned exclusively that the saudi ambassador to the u.s. prince who is a brother of the crown prince has returned to the united states. a new report is renewing questions over the potential conflicts of interest between some of president trump's businesses and the government of saudi arabia. according to the "washington post," lobbyists representing the saudi kingdom reserved blocks of rooms at the president's washington, d.c. hotel shortly after president trump was elected. t the paper says the lobbyists had been reserving a large number of d.c. area hotel rooms as part of an unconventional campaign in which u.s. military veterans were given a free trip to washington to lobby on capitol hill against a law the saudis

opposed. the lobbyists had previously put the vets up at hotels in northern virginia, according to the post. but in december of 2016, they shifted most of their bookings over to the trump international hotel, which the president still owns, spending more than $270,000 to put up six groups of veterans. the hotel bookings are at the center of a pair of federal lawsuits claiming that the president violated the constitution by taking improper payments from foreign governments. a federal judge on monday said lawyers for maryland and washington, d.c. can begin issuing subpoenas in the lawsuit. the saudi embassy has not responded to the post's request for comment on the story. trump hotel executives speaking on the condition of an nonymity declined to comment on the rates they offered the guests. justice department prosecutors are reportedly ramping up investigations into two lobbying firms that did work

for former trump campaign chairman paul manafort. according to the associated press, the investigation has been quiet since special counsel robert mueller referred it to authorities in manhattan. but in recent weeks prosecutors in new york have started interviewing witnesses and contacting lawyers to schedule additional questioni ingquestio according to people familiar with the inquiry. back in september, paul manafort admitted to directing both of those firms to lobby in the u.s. on behalf of ukrainian political party and ukraine's government. over to the russia investigation, accused russian agent maria buttina has been negotiating a plea agreement with prosecutors. this morning her defense attorneys and prosecutors are expected to speak with the judge. we've also learned that her

boyfriend is being investigated as a possible foreign agent as well. buttina's only tie to the u.s. is a republican operative who according to the "washington post" matches the description of paul ericsson. prosecutors believe he helped her navigate her way into washington political circles including the nra as part of her work for moscow. feds say they were considering charges him under the law that prohibits people from acting as secret agents of foreign governments. we should note he has not been accused of any crime and may not face charges. gm's ceo mary barra refused to reverse course. instead barra said she would keep an open mind as she drew growing criticism over the

billions of federal assistance that gm received during the twa2008 and 2009 auto bailouts which she notes the company has repaid. the layoffs are expected to impact as many as 15,000 workers across america. the meeting did not calm angry lawmakers, who say they are now committed to expediting negotiations between gm united auto workers union. joining us once again, molly hooper. let's start with saudi arabia, making a lot of news over the past couple of days. you've got the bipartisan resolution urging the white house to acknowledge the crown prince's role in the murder of jamal kashoggi. does it look like the white house will comply? is there going to be any

pressure from capitol hill to get this administration to not necessarily change course, but at least try to contain some of the fallout of the kashoggi killing involving the crown prince? >> well, therein lies the question. in fact, the other day when lindsey graham was saying there's no smoking gun, there's a smoking saw. moments later bob corker who's the current chairman of the foreign relations committee came out and said, you know, this could be so easy if the president just walked out to the press room today and said, hey, he's guilty of doing this, we have enough evidence to base this on and we're going to condemn it. we condemn it, we're taking action, we're not going to stand for it. but the president doesn't do that, so it's leaving this matter in the hands of the senate. and this resolution is largely toothless, because senators can vote for it, but really what policy is it going to change? and the one thing that corker did point out is that there's sort of a disconnect between

senators on the hill, some of whom want to include the u.s. involvement in the yemen war on behalf of saudi arabia, but others who just want to deal with the kashoggi killing. so therefore lin lies the rub. you have the folks pushing the yemen war trying to tie the two together and it's unclear how it's going to pan out. >> it's one thing that the president is defending saudi arabia, it's another thing to double down saying he doesn't know if the crown prince did it. >> molly brings up the point that corker says it's so easy if the president were to walk out and denounce saudi arabia and denounce the crown prince and recognize his involvement in the murder. but then he actually has to do something about it. i also want to hear from you, molly, about why you think certain republican senators feel like they can break rank on something like this from the white house. for so long we're often times

critical of people who don't feel they can necessarily break rank with the president on certain things. but it seems like when it comes to kashoggi that they can break rank. >> if you listen to lindsey graham the other day -- >> he broke rank. >> yeah. he broke rank and then some. he just came out and was sort of shell shocked in what he was saying. i saw stuff that i can't share with you. i understand why the cia doesn't want us to share the details with other senators. i mean, it was that brutal. this just offends a lot of people's sensibilities. and the one role that the senate plays that's slightly different than the house is that they have a role in treaties. they can approve treaties and they actually do play a foreign policy role in that they do provide a check on the president. if you need two-thirds of the senate to do something like go back to world war ii and the neutrality act, the senate basically denied that for the president. the president didn't want to

sell arms to aggressive nations like germany. the president said no, you just can't sell arms to anybody. they have a major role to play when it comes to foreign relations and they speak out when something like this happens that they just can't stomach. still ahead, the selling continues as markets around the world face heavy losses this morning with markets here in the u.s. set to face a triple-digit drop. we're going to go live to london. bill karins is tracking that major winter storm that is moving across the country. it could have a huge impact on travel over the weekend.

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how important is the timing of this arrest to trade relations? >> good morning. well, judging by market reaction, the timing of this is one that deserves a lot of attention. we have seen a selloff in asia overnight. now here in europe we are seeing stocks trade lower and futures indicate that wall street is poised for a very weak open as well. this issue goes far beyond just one company. this is raising questions around tech and also of course what this means for u.s./china trade relations. and the timing of this is particularly alarming given just a few days ago after the g-20 summit we heard that beijing and washington came to a 90-day truce. now that we've seen the arrest of the cfo of the leading firm in china at the heart of the tech debate, we see that arrest in canada. it is driving a lot of concern around what this might mean in

terms of this broader trade dispute between the u.s. and china. judging by the reaction today, investors are nervous. >> a lot of volatility out there. thank you so much. with that, let's get a quick check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> yesterday we were talking about maybe d.c., maybe not. we're going to get into that. but the storm is now in california spreading some heavy rain overnight los angeles into san diego. then as we go through friday into saturday and sunday is when it really begins to become a huge storm. that's when we have the multiple impacts, multiple hazards. the first one will be the flash flooding threat from heavy rain. this is as much as four inches of rain in eastern texas all the way up toward shreveport. the snow portion of the storm is a pretty narrow band. this is enough to do a little bit of plowing. oklahoma city maybe, but it looks a little lighter for you. definitely the ozarks will be cold enough. the area that could get the

heaviest snow is from charlotte to roanoke. really richmond northward, it's nothing. d.c. is still in the nothing column. still a couple of days to change, but it looks to be suppressed to the south for the heavy snow, really limited to south carolina and north carolina. no problems for travel on the east coast today whatsoever. as we go into saturday, that's when the heavy rain moves to the southeast. you can see the snow and ice from oklahoma through the ozarks. sunday is the day where we could get our heavy snow. right now the forecast in charlotte is for about 7-8 inches of snow. that almost gets them into one of their top ten biggest snowstorms of all time. if they get ten inches, it would be one of their biggest ever in december. charlotte, north carolina, we've got our eyes on you. >> i hope officials are taking the preparation seriously. i wonder how charlotte does in those conditions. still ahead republican lawmakers in two states look to

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...well almost anything. leave no room behind with xfi pods. simple. easy. awesome. click or visit a retail store today. . welcome back, everybody. democratic leader nancy pelosi appears to be gaining support in her quest to regain the speaker's gavel. haley stevens of michigan who

votes against pelosi in the caucus vote says she's going to put her support in the full house vote next month. gill sisser cisneros says i ref jeopardize a democratic being speaker of the house. meanwhile, democrats now have a more than 9.7 million vote lead in the house popular vote, the largest margin ever. >> wow. so in wisconsin, republican lawmakers passed a bill to diminish the powers of the incoming democrats, both governor tom evers and attorney general josh call. the legislation limits early voting and requires a legislative committee to sign off on withdrawing from federal lawsuits. it would keep evers from withdrawing wisconsin from a federal lawsuit seeking to

overturn the affordable care act. governor scott walker says he supports the bills and will sign the legislation before leaving office. wisconsin state assembly speake defended the move while ever evers called the action an embarrassment. >> we're going to have ever opportunity to find common ground with govern-elect evers. but i also know the the situation we're sitting in is a very liberal governor who is going to elect policies directly in contrast to what we believe in. >> i am very concerned that the 2.6. people that voted and they represent the rest of the people in wisconsin did not have their voices heard because of the actions of the lawyegislature o

the last few days. >> and the republican legislature voted to strip power from the incoming secretary of state. the lame duck committee shifted oversight to a bipartisan committee. democrats in michigan will jointly hold the offices of governor, attorney general and secretary of state. however, the state legislature will continue to be controlled by republicans. democrats call the move a blatant power grab that flies in the face of voters. the gop defended it saying the six-member bipartisan panel would initially be whovechosen e democratic governor elect. it could ensure the gop could support laws without the governor and attorney general and drop appeals in cases the state loses.

>> both of those stories are just examples of, i think, what makes a lot of people frustrated with politics. you lose an election and on your way out before that, you try to rig it and change the rules of the game so that the incoming governor and leaders don't have the authority they should have. >> such a good point. coming up, axios has a look at this morning's one big thing. and coming up on "morning joe," the final farewell to the 41st president of the united states. >> we're going to have much more on the funeral for the 41st president of the united states as his family prepares to lay him to rest. "morning joe" just moments away. george herb esert walker bus was america's last great soldier statesman, a 20th century founding appear. he governed with virtues that most closely resemble those of

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welcome back, everyone. joining us now from washington, d.c. with a look at axios a.m., nicholas johnston. what is axios's one big thing? >> facebook's new war. facebook ceo mark zuckerberg told facebook earlier this week he is going to be a wartime ceo because his company is at war. this isn't a business competitor, it's foreign governments. what's driving the news today is a release yesterday by a british parliament scores of facebook documents, completely unredacted

detailing facebook's business practices. these are documents that are under seal in the united states, but of course in the united kingdom, they don't have to follow u.s. rules. that is a small taste of what facebook will continue to face in europe. increasing pressures on his privacy rules, the rules which impacted the brexit rules in the uk and european anti-trust rules are very different than those in the united states. europe, it takes a far more difficult terrain. >> could we actually see some action from capitol hill against facebook? >> there is a by partisan agreement that big tech has

gotten too big. and, of course, an administration that big things are happening. as they stories continue to pile up, that could change. >> i know president trump is set to meet with big tech ceos at the white house. what's behind the stabilizing at this point? >> i expect this one to be a little different than the one earlier in the administration. a lot of tech companies were speaking out very publicly against the president's proposed travel ban. this with one should be a lot different. tech companies have had a lot of wins. they benefited from the tax bill. they have allies in the administration. a lot of them are winning very large government contracts and also in the administration there are people helping them fight back against the most onerous privacy rules. so there's a little bitter more

comedy between trump and tech executives now, but i'll be looking for body language when they leave the meeting. >> and he's bringing up intellectual property rights in china, as well. >> nick, what are you guys watching today? >> the peaceful times from george bush's memorial service is over. congress is going to come back looking at a shut down. i'm looking to see whether the government is going to get us a deal to reap into next year. >> sign up for the next letter at signup.axo yoios.com. >> "morning joe" starts right now. >> dad taught us that public service is noble and necessary, that one could hold true to the important values like faith and

family. he strongly believed that it was important to give back to the community and country in which one lived. in victory, you shared credit. when he lost, he shouldered the blame. every day of his 73 years of marriage, dad taught us all what it means to be a great husband. he married his sweetheart. he adored her. he laughed and cried with her. he was dedicated to her totally. he showed me what it means to be a president who leads with courage and act with love in his heart for the citizens on of our country. >> integrity, character, honesty, bravery, empathy, compassion. yesterday was about george h.w. bush, not about our current president, donald trump. but as phil rutger notes in "the washington post," it was impossible to pay tribute to the 41st president without drawing implicit contrasts with the 45th. this morning, we will with