warm september night while the rest of the world was looking the other way. that's all for this edition of "dateline." thanks for watching. good morning. we're at msnbc world headquarters in new york. it is 6:00 in the east, 3:00 out west. here is what is happening. oval office shake-up. the white house is on hunt for the sixth communication director. ahead, whether this was a move to save face. also, the white house source side stepped bosses with key information about jarrod and ivanka trump. new controversy surrounding a freshman congresswoman. and one step closer. joe biden telling democrats he's all but ready to launch a 2020 campaign. the impact he's already making on the race. new today, president trump is in florida. last night he was scheduled to

speak behind closed doors at a republican fund-raising veneven. the president and the first lady stopped in alabama first where they toured the damage caused by tornadoes that killed 23 people. the president also stopped at a baptist church where he signed several bibles. administration officials say people there asked him to autograph the bibles and that he happily complied. before leaving the white house, president trump again cited with his former campaign chairman paul manafort who was sentenced thursday to less than four years in prison. many believe a lenient sentence for manafort's slew of multimillion dollar financial crimes, the president sthed abosaid this. >> i feel very badly for paul manafort. the judge said there was no collusion with russia. i don't even discuss it. the only one discussing it is you. i haven't discussed it. >> to be clear, judge ellis did

not say there was no collusion with russia. but that manafort was not being sentenced for crimes related to collusion. the president continued his effort to undermine the credibility of his former lawyer and fixer michael cohen accusing him to lying to congress when he testified he did didn't ask president trump for a pardon. >> he knew all about pardons. his lawyer said that they went to my lawyers and asked for pardons. >> also new today, 2020 democratic presidential hopefuls are back on the campaign trail. yesterday senator elizabeth warren rallied in queens and unveiled her proposal to break up the largest tech companies including amazon, facebook, google and apple. warren spoke exclusively to my colleague. >> it's excellent for consumers. you're not getting something from amazon pushed out the front of you and a better competitor hidden back on page six. it also means the next good idea has a chance to mature.

>> meanwhile, senator cory booker explained why he doesn't hate donald trump. >> my mom taught sunday school. she taught me love your neighbor. no exceptions. and never let someone pull you so low that you hate them. i'm not going to let donald trump contort my soul. but i don't want donald trump to be my president. i'm going to work very hard to make sure he's out of that office. and camilla harris in south carolina also addressing how she feels about president trump. >> the last two years we've been watching that tv and throwing things at it. going through individual and group therapy. well, let's get beyond that. it will not only be about defeating this guy who is currently in the white house. it will be about fighting for the vision of who we are and can be. >> all right. let's first go to the white house and nbc's mike vacara. good morning. we heard the president talk about michael cohen and request

for a pardon through his lawyers. but his most stunning claim was issued where else? twitter. >> you took the words out of my mouth. i mean, we saw the public forum that big hearing before the house oversight committee. republicans and democrats going at it. michael cohen throwing accusations at the president calling him a liar and cheat. then behind closed doors for two days before the house intelligence committee. but where else? what other forum would the spat continue and carry and spill over into but twitter? the president with a tweet yesterday, it reads like this, bad lawyer and fraudster michael cohen said under sworn testimony that he never asked for a pardon. his lawyers totally contradicted him. he lied. additionally, he directly asked me for a pardon. i said no. he lied again. he also badly wanted to work in the white house. he lied. you sensing a theme here, philip? the president is asserting that his long time fixer for ten years and personal lawyer

michael cohen is a liar. just for the record, lanny davis, michael cohen's lawyer came out and said that prior to july of last year he did in fact approach rudy giuliani and the president's lawyers to talk about a pardon or at least his lawyers d but after july 2nd he did not do so. of course, in his testimony before the oversight committee, he said that he was not seeking a pardon. now cohen responded again where else, on twitter. really blasting the president yet again. just another set of lies by potus. mr. president, let me remind you today is international woman's day. you may want to use today to apologize for your own lies and dirty deeds to women, karen mcdougal and stephanie clifford. so michael cohen knows the president's mind giving him a test of his own medicine over twitter, the president's favorite medium. >> it is realin' credibly incre had is playing out in a public forum. and the white house is looking for a communications director for the seventh time after

former fox news executive bill shine resigned. tell me how is this playing out there behind the scenes? >> i mean he's no anthony scaramucci, of course, who was only here a week or. so served the longest of any communications director. it became apparent on first day of this administration when poor sean spicer, i guess we can say poor sean spicer at this point, a lot of people may disagree, many to come out and talk about the inauguration and the crowd size and obviously fill the airwaves with a lot of inaccuracies. after that spectacle, the over/under of press secretaries and communications directors in particular was going to be very high. of course, that has played out. one very smart person said the president's solution to all the communications problems is more trump. in other words, he doesn't think anybody can speak for himself. he thinks he understands the media better than anyone. he has been known to disdain the vice and blame those who have

that position for the bad press that he gets. that could be disputed whether or not there is enough plablame go around. here we are again, the seventh communications director in the white house and n. just two years. the white house now searching for really unclear whether anybody is going to be able to serve in that position or whether he'll simply go without, philip? >> maybe the seventh time will be a charm. all right. mike, thank you so much. >> okay. >> joining me now, stephen nelson, white house reporter with the washington examiner. and daniel litman, author of e "politico's" newsletter. we're going to discuss comments. but first, let's talk about what she recently told poe lit"polit" about president obama.

>> sarah jones that the democratic party needs representative omar. do you agree this is a reckonning that could be beneficial for democrats somehow? >> hillary clinton in a way that would be unimaginable. just a couple years ago and, you know, here we hear the congresswoman criticizing president obama who is even more of a say credcred cow to democr. she seems to be staking out a position as one of the new progressive democrats. she, of course, also later claims that her words were distorted. but the original words were really music to the ears of

certain progressives that criticize president obama as the deporter in chief and criticized him for assassinating u.s. citizens without trial overseas. so it certainly, you know, she certainly going to have some support for this. but, you know, it's an interesting evolution for democratic officials to say these words. >> it is. and "politico" also quoted omar hoping that change brought by president obama was a mirage. what is your take on the democratic fault lines that representative omar is voicing here? >> i think congresswoman omar would be fairly alone in the democratic party for criticizing obama on hope and change. you know, obama is a revered figure in the democratic party. and, you know, of course when you actually become president, you have to make a lot of tough decisions about foreign policy, about using military force.

obama is criticized by people in his own party and lots of republicans as well for not being forceful enough in, you know, making sure that red line in syria over chemical weapons use was followed. >> and the president reacted yesterday to conform all forms of hate. started as a resolution condemning anti-semitism. other forms of hate were then added. let's listen to the president. >> i thought yesterday's vote by the house was disgraceful. because it's become the democrats have become an anti-israel party. they have become an anti-jewish party. >> stephen, what do you make of president calling the entire democratic party anti-semitic? he is seizing on that opportunity to distort their image? >> well, i was there yesterday when he was saying this on the south lawn. you know, it just -- it struck

me as one of the times when president trump is riffing on a topic. he clearly sees an opening here though with this issue as do republicans in general. which is why they push this resolution. jewish americans are disproportionately democratic. most members of congress are jewish are democrats. but republicans see an opening here to perhaps expand their vote share among that demographic. >> he sees a lane and he's taking it. all right. we want to listen to some sound from house speaker nancy pelosi. >> i don't think that that the congresswoman is perhaps appreciative of the full weight of how it was heard by other people although i don't believe it was intended in an anti-semitic way. that's how it was interpreted the we have to remove all doubt as we have done over and over again. >> daniel, how do you think the

house democratic leadership is dealing with this controversy? >> well, by letting it fester for a couple days as they decided if it was going to just condemn anti-semitism or name congresswoman omar, that basically wasted a week for them. they could have been talking about other issues. and democrats will say that president trump didn't have clean hands on this issue. remember during the campaign he tweeted out an image of a star of david and talking about lots of cash and corruption. that was seen as anti-semitic and his response to events in charlottesville. you had protesters saying jews will not replace us. and he says well, both sides are at fault. and that was seen as a low moment. even his own chief economic adviser gary he could hen to come out and say, you know, had to condemn his remarks basically and say this is unacceptable in

our society. >> i want to talk about the battle over the immigration policies. yesterday a federal judge ruled that the trump administration is responsible for the potentially thousands of more families separated at the border before the policy was implemented. and this week homeland security nielsen refused to accept that unaccompanied children were being held in cages. let's listen. >> so they're not cages. >> the what are they? >> areas of the border facility that are carved out for the safety and protection of those who remain there while they're being processed. >> is it different from the cages you put your dogs in when you let them stay outside? is it different? >> yes. >> in what sense? >> it's larger. it has facilities. it provides room to stand, sit, lay down. >> so did my dog's cage. >> striking imagery there. >> what does it say about how the administration is dealing with the calls to be held

accountable about the whole separation of the border. >> it shows how slowly the court process works sometimes. of course, zero tolerance came out almost a year ago now. it's still being adjudicated in court. as with so many trump era controversies this is going to be taking a while. we can recall the visa ban for the predominantly muslim countries taking more than a year and the border wall fight is going to take a long time as well. i think that's one of the take aways here. >> two other major immigration headlines this week. nbc news is reporting exclusively that officials with customs and border protection compiled a list of reporters, attorneys, activists, all the stops for additional questioning at the border. a new data shows that illegal crossings reached an 11-year record high. daniel, does this undermine the notion that the administration's aggressive policies have deterred new migration to the

u.s.? >> yeah, i think that's a good point because, you know, democrats will say that there is no national emergency even though the numbers are up. they always go up. and they view the list that the administration created as chilling and almost orwellian implications. it's not good for a government to have so much power that they're stopping people just being lawful activists and journalists trying to cover that migrant caravan. reminds me the book when he talked about meeting with trum top create an enemy's list of leakers in the white house. and they have permeated through the administration. >> thank you both for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> thanks for having me. >> jared kushner's latest trip to saudi arabia and the questions being raised about his

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comcast business. beyond fast. new revelation after president trump accused michael cohen purjuring himself before congress last week. >> michael cohen lied about the pardon. it was a stone cold lie. when he lied about the pardon, that is really a lie. and he knew all about pardons.

his lawyer said that they went to my lawyers and asked for pardons. and i can go a step above that. but i won't go through it now. >> you know he did though, right? he did go a step above that comment. he admitted that he and cohen discussed the pardon tweeting that cohen directly asked me for a pardon. i said no. joining me no you to discuss all of this msnbc legalist. thank you for joining us this morning. why does this matter? how important is that question who dangled the presidential pardon first? the president, he just admitted to discussing a pardon. >> cohen's specific words is that i never asked for nor would i accept a pardon. this is an example of michael cohen getting himself into trouble by making statements to go far beyond what he needed to. imagine the lack of controversy if michael cohen said i am not now asking for a pardon nor would i accept one. and we can talk separately about whether someone can even reject a pardon. they probably cannot.

but by saying i have never asked for, he creates this expanding bubble that arguably includes anything his lawyers asked for and anything michael cohen discussed with the president. the president calling him out and saying that this is not true sets up a possible additional perjury charge for michael cohen who already learned that lying to congress is a crime because that's what he pleaded to. >> two people there that just like to talk. getting themselves in trouble there. last year "the new york times" obtained a list of mueller's written questions for the president, questions about pardons were on that list. they discussed pardons for michael flynn and paul manafort. the pardon conversations have being investigated by mule eastern the sdny and house intelligence. can the president's use of the term pardon be a warning to witnesses? >> if the president is dangling a pardon out there in order to give witnesses to testify

consistently with the way the president wants to and that is for an improper purpose, a corrupt purpose to benefit the president himself, yes. that is a real problem for the president. the pardon power itself knows few structures. he can give a pardon out for any reason. the pardon itself will be valid. however, if, for example, a pardon was given for a bag of cash or some other improper reason, the underlying pardon may be lawful but the giving, the offering, dangling of the pardon could be a form of obstruction. it could be a form of bribery. it could be a form of extortion. any of those other family of federal crimes that involve corruption of official actions. >> and speaking of that, i want to talk about paul manafort. he was given a 47-month prison sentence this week. while the special counsel's team never asked for a specific sentence, guidelines called for 19 to 24 years.

manafort has been held in prison after prosecutors accused him of witness tampering. now you predicted in the past he would get less time. did you expect that he would get just under four years? >> no. and believe me, when i predicted that manafort would get 15 years, i was anxious to send out that tweet because i thought i would be lambasted. and what a surprise to me when he got even ten years less than i predicted. i did believe he would get a below guideline sentence. manafort's guidelines were in the stratosphere, commensurate with first-degree murder and kidnapping and production of child pornography. by comparison, fraud cases get a lot less and while i expected a below guideline sentence, i didn't expect 47 months. however, i just might add that on the whole, defendants across the board in the federal system who are 69 or older generally get sentences of five years or less.

that's because with a two year reduction of life expectancy for every year inside, anything over five years for manafort is a life sentence. >> and he does, of course, have another sentencing hearing coming up next week. before i let you go, danny, we learned that eric prince, the brother of education seshgt betsy devos and the organizer of the trump tower meeting was also in that meeting. let's take a listen to this. >> i might have been -- i think i was at trump headquarters or the campaign headquarters. >> trump tower, august 3rd, 2016. >> an israeli dude, a back channel to the emirates and saudis don jr. >> we were there to talk about iran policy. >> is it not that something to important to disclose to the house intelligence committee while under oath. >> i did. >> we went through the testimony, there was no mention of the testimony. >> i don't know if they got the transcript wrong. >> a public transcript does show that prince did not discuss information about that meeting in his testimony before the house intelligence committee in

2017. so could eric prince now being a target? this meeting after all is considered to be at the heart of this entire investigation. >> any time, even if there is no underlying crime, any time you mislead or give a false statement under oath or even not under oath to congress, you open yourself up to a potential perjury or if not under oath false statements charge. and that's why we have transcript that's can be poured over. they are not often mistaken or messed up. there might be a couple typos or on the whole, if you have not read a transcript before, it captures everything, the coughs, um ums, everything in familiar language. the transcript is the key. if he says he gave that information, good for him. if he did not, there is going to be a problem. >> all right. danny, as always, thank you for joining us. after shocks of the failed summit, north korea resumes its nuclear program. is this the return of fire and

fury? and the sentence of paul manafort made headlines and also made for good material on the late night talk show circuit. enjoy. >> you know you're in trouble when the only time you get out of jail is to go get sentenced to more jail. >> so many of trump's people are headed to jail. it's going to feel like a high school reunion. >> i don't know if manafort learned his lesson. the first question was, does the jump suit come in ostrich? i -- i -- >> good news for manafort, now that the sentencing is behind him, he can get right back to work on completely creeping out had his cell mate. s cell mate.

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mounting concerns over a newly rebuilt missile launch site in north korea. u.s. officials tell nbc news the site is monitored in real time since no one is clear on north core ea korea's plans. >> when i came in under the obama administration, north korea was a disaster. you were going to war, folks, whether you know it or not. you were going to war.

there was no talking. there was testing. right now you have no testing. you have no nothing. let's see what happens. but i would be very disappointed if i saw testing. >> joining me now, christopher dicky, world news editor at the daily beast and msnbc contributor. thank you for joining us. what do you think? do you think we're about to see a new round of testing here? >> yeah, i think we're going see a new round of testing of launch missiles and also a testing of donald trump. very clearly a testing of donald tru trump. that particular site was not used for ballistic missile test. it's been used for satellite launches. the satellite rockets that they use in north korea are not the ones that normally could carry the kind of payload that would deliver nuclear weapons. but that doesn't matter. kim jong-un is obviously doing this to tweak trump, to say, look, we can do this and maybe we can go back to testing icbms

as well. >> we heard the president say he'd be disappointed. but what action do you think he would take? >> i don't know. he's kind of boxed himself into a corner, hasn't he? he says he's in love with kim jong-un and he would be really dispinlte disappointed and he's brought peace. and if you remember last summer, he was telling us that really there was no threat anymore. so he's kind of boxed himself in there. is he going to go back to fire and fury? that's a question i think you asked earlier. i think it's a good one. but then what? this is a president who never has a credible plan b. he likes to say he thinks with his gut. i believe it. >> all right. let's talk now about jarrod kush nae jared kushner and his trip to saudi arabia. they were shutout of the one-on-one meetings with the crown prince. senior administration officials say that report is not true. how do you think that trip was

handled? >> i think our roeeport is righ and the administration is lying as usual. he went there to see the crown prince why? because the trump administration and kushner is deep into the deep pockets of saudi arabia and particularly the crown prince. we don't have a middle east policy. we have a benjamin netanyahu policy. we have an nbs policy because he's willing to pay for lots of guns, lots of ammunition, lots of airplanes, lots of stuff that i don't know, seems to me you don't want to sell somebody who also pays for bone saws and hackses up journalists and burns them up in ovens. but that doesn't seem to bother kushner. he's there talking about iran and money. he's talking about palestine. he's talking about money. he's talking about money. and he doesn't want people from the u.s. embassy to know that.

>> could he be talking about nuclear technology? members of the trump administration pushed a plan to sell nuclear technology to saudi arabia and one of the companies that would benefit from such a sale? has ties to jared kushner. it is likely they talked about that? could that be the reason there is so much secrecy around that meeting? >> that's not going to be given away, right? it's going to be sold. again, it all comes down to money. these are not ethical people. these are not people who stand by the united states. they stand by their pockets, by money. and i hate to keep using that word, but that's what it's all about. sure, why not sell a little nuclear technology to the saudis? maybe it will help bolster them against iran for the war that the saudis would love to drag the united states into. no. no. this is all just about efforts to collect money from the crown prince and his efforts to buy

american loyalty which he has done very effectively. >> democrats in the senate, they have moved to prevent the saudis from developing nuclear weapons. but nbs said that his country will develop nukes in iran does. so are allies nervous about this or is this a case of if the u.s. doesn't supply the technology, saudis will get it from somewhere else, russia or china? >> well, that's what they've always done. going back years if the united states wouldn't sell the saudis missiles, they would go buy them elsewhere. and that's exactly what will happen this time. of course that, is also an argument for kushner to say wouldn't you rather we're buying this technology from the united states? the problem is it that saudi arabia is being ruled now by a very erratic, violently tempermental man who is completely cynical about the manipulation of the west. if we want him to have nuclear weapons, i think we're making a very big mistake. but wait, of course he says they

wouldn't be nuclear weapons. it would all be for peaceful purposes. >> nukes for peace. before you go, chris, president trump demanded more from allied nations where u.s. troops are deployed. yesterday south korea agreed to pay $100 million more. you wrote that he wants to turn alliances into protection rackets. what do you mean fwha? >> well, i mean, the idea of the alliance has always been that there is a fair part of the cost of defense paid by these countries. but we're projecting american power overseas for our own interests, to protect our own interests. that's why we have american troops stationed in other countries. now donald trump wants to say you have to pay 100% of the cost of those troops being stationed there plus a 50% surcharge. why? we want you to pay us to protect you, not we want to share an alliance in which we all work

together for the mutual protection of western democratic values which used to be the idea before donald trump became president. >> so essentially, you're talking about a protection tax. >> i'm talking about a racket. this is all about, again, all about money. guess what country loves to pay myrrh son airies to go fight and die in the wars? saudi arabia. that's one reason that the trump administration loves the saudis. because they'll just pay through the nose because they've got billions to spare for this kind of thing. but it's an complete insult to france, germany, britain, every member of nato, to say that the reason we are in europe is because we want them to pay us as mersonaries. >> thank you for joining us from paris this morning. thanks, chris. the secret is out. coming up, a leak of white house

documents reveal how jared kushner and ivanka got the security clearances. and msnbc is now live every saturday and sunday at 6:00 eastern. we hope you can join us. sunday eastern. we hope you cajon in us. ♪ when cravings hit, hit back. choose glucerna, with slow release carbs to help manage blood sugar, and start making everyday progress. glucerna. tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. fidelity wealth management.

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wall street's reaction to major slowdown in hiring. all three major indices falling

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when the intelligence community and the law enforcement community raised objections to jared kushner and ivanka trump getting security clearances and the president ordered that they get them anyway and then lied about them, there is a lot of concern about what is going on here. the lesson is cooperate and furnish the documents so we can do our oversight because there are whistle-blowers sharing the information because they're concerned about the national security of the united states. >> that is david sicilini revealing that a white house source provided documents on jared kushner and ivanka trump's clearances to the oversight committee in february. joining me now is rashaad richy and justin safy. earlier this week the white house shot down the oversight committee's request for related documents. how should the white house

interpret the new revelations? does this raise the pressure on the administration to start cooperating with congressional committees as the congressman suggested there? >> well, look, we know about what the house judiciary committee did with the request to different people. clearly newly democratic majority in the house is flexing its investigating muscles. i think the white house has to decide how cooperative do they want to be with the congressional democrats. i think the democrats have to worry that the american people are going to think that they're all about doing endless investigations and not addressing the real needs of the american people. that's the risk for the house democrats. >> what does this leak say about the inner workings at the white house? >> i think it says that fundamentally the president of the united states and his family, they're not republicans. they're not democrats. they're really moneycrats. the question is raised, why do they need this security clearance. it is meant to give you access

to government secrets. we know that kushner and ivanka have ties to foreign governments. they have become in some way a de facto lobbyist for the foreign governments and we may never know about it unless the oversight committee gets their hands on all of the information that has been shared. and, yes, the president of the united states, he lied. he said he did not do this for them. now the information is coming out that he was actually behind the whole thing and he went against his executive staff and white house security personnel to do so. we need to know why the american people deserve to know. >> justin, are republicans concerned at all about this security clearance controversy? i mean, it is a matter of national security. >> yeah, it is a matter of national security. ultimately, the person who is responsible for the national security of the united states is the president of the united states. whatever actions he took and in due time and if they come out, i think he'll have to explain that to the american people. but at the same time, the american people are going to

judge him based on his foreign policy efforts and foreign policy successes and what is happening in the -- around the rorld a world. and that president and the administration are happy to be judged. >> everybody agrees,justin, what he did is not illegal. he has that power as president. why does he continue to lie about something he doesn't need to? >> i don't know. you have to ask him that question. at the same time, i think it's a thing where he has the power to do that. if i were him, i would explain why he did what he did if it turns out he was the one that did intervene and get involved. at the same time, it is interesting that this whole background of the guy leaked to the congressional investigators from apparently some white house source. i think that's fascinating. that is also a national security certain as well if someone in the white house is leaking these types of documents.

>> the president is concerned. rashad, top democrats called for a review of the white house security policies. given that trump has the authority and grant these clearances, what is the end goal here? >> i think the end goal is political because the truth is the president of the united states has the authority. nobody can really check that authority. he can override the authority of the chief of staff and others who are involved in the security clearance. the fbi and cia had issues here and if you can prove that he acted against the best interests of the united states based on credible information presented by those who were in the business of making sure our secrets are safe, then you muddy the waters so to speak and you probably damage him going into the presidential election. i think that's the win for democrats moving forward. >> okay. meanwhile, justin, trump's children facing scrutiny by democrats and investigators in a number of areas. richard blumenthal pointed that

trump junior with his testimony before the senate judiciary committee. >> i think there are questions about his truthfulness and testimony before the committee based not only on michael cohen's testimony, but on other facts and circumstances that have come to our attention. there may be a very, very powerful case against donald trump jr. and others in the trump family. we have yet to see the end of this special counsel in terms of indictments. >> justin, how concerned are you about that? >> well, if the special counsel -- we had a report recently he was getting ready to wrap up the investigation. no one knows what will happen. senator blumenthal, if he has evidence or something he wants to put forward, he should do that. otherwise he is impugning the situation without evidence. i think the democrats are in danger of overreaching if they

crea create expectation of donald junior is in legal trouble and doesn't come to fruition. where is the fire? they have a credibility problem. >> we will know soon. rashad, "the washington post reported on democrats torn over how to scrutinize trump's children and speak of the move to bring them to capitol hill to testify." ov oversight committee member says the optics don't work. it speaks to the victim narrative on the republican side. is that a deciding factor going down that road? >> i think they should come to congress and testify and give whatever answers are requested from our united states congressional members. here's why. something is lost in the conversation. in the constitution, article i, section 9, clause 8, emoluments

clause. if you work for the federal government, you can't accept money from foreign entities. you cannot accept payment. they are still connected business wise to companies across the planet. we need to understand if there's a reason for the security clearance and if there are any levels of malfeasance coming from the children of donald trump in the white house. >> justin, a big defense around the document request that congress has a constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight. that is what some are saying as they turn to trump's children. do republicans see that responsibility differently or dispute it all together? >> no, look, obviously congress has the responsibility for over sight. again, if they are seen by the american people as focusing too much on doing things that are seen in a political context or that are seen as a pre-text to try to impeach the president or

part of the presidential campaign, that is not looked upon favorably by the american people. they are not expected to veer to become too partisan. america has big problems that need the attention and focus of the american people and representatives in congress. >> let's talk about another big story this week. rashad, white house kmo communications director bill shine is out. shifting to the re-election campaign. what do you make of that development? >> he never should have been hired in the physicifirst place. he left the network because of the mishandling of sexual harassment and assault claims under his leadership. he goes and finds safe haven with the white house and the comm director. it made no sense. he never clicked with the president. somehow that relationship went south pretty quick. this is a way for them to safe face. they have done this before. this is a pattern of the white

house. anytime there is a fallout, they try to just throw people on the campaign and say everything is good. this is what happened in this case as well. >> justin, what do you make of bill shine out at the white house and headed toward the re-election campaign? >> well, look, i'll say that as a former communications director myself, for the governor of the state of florida, i can imagine being the communications director in the white house now at this time is the toughest job in show business by far. you have a president that is tweeting. you have a president that is communicating and believes he is his own best communicator. many times he is. at the same time, you have a press ferociously after the white house and the president. the communications director is caught between those forces. >> all right. justin, thank you for joining us. rashad, thank you. a number of migrant children straighted separated from their

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that wraps up this hour of msnbc live. i'm phillip mena. now it is time for "weekends with alex witt." >> thank you. see you tomorrow morning. good morning to all of you from right here at msnbc headquarters in new york. it is 7:00 in the east.