. all eyes on bob mueller as those watching for his highly-anticipated report standing by anxiously waiting to kick it into high gear. >> u.s. donald trump the turns over foreign policy in one tweet. he says the u.s. should recognize israel's authority over the golan heights. >> a warning that combat readiness has been hurt by troop deployment at the southern border. good morning, everybody. it is friday, march 22nd. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside david gura. anticipation is growing that the

mueller report could be imminent. special counsel watchers seem to be looking for clues every where from the tmz photo of bob mueller arriving to work yesterday morning. i say that if he's in actually in like hawaiian shirt or something then we know it's done. then to be the attorney general who was spotted arriving at the white house yesterday for an unrelated event. james comey whose firing by the president led to mueller's appointment is explaining what he wants from the special counsel report. an op-ed for the "new york times" comey writes this even though i believe mr. trump is morally un-foot be president of the united states i'm not rooting for mr. mueller to demonstrate he's a criminal and i'm not rooting for mr. mueller to clear the president. i'm not rooting for anything at all except to let the special counsel finish his work. >> he calls for maximum transparency of the special counsel's work. i don't know all the considerations that will go into

deciding the completion of that work but because the department of justice is guided first and always by the public interest it should provide details about finished investigations when the public needs to know them as it traditionally has. the former fbi director also writes he hopes congress does not remove the president from office arguing that a significant portion of the country would see that as a coup leading to more division. he adds this. we need a resounding election result in 2020 where americans of all stripes take a moment from their busy lives to show that they are united by something even more important, the belief that the president of the united states cannot be a chronic liar who repeatedly attacks the rule of law. >> abc news is citing sources familiar with the investigation. reports no more indictments are coming from special counsel. the report also highlights a letter from deputy attorney general rod rosenstein suggesting because the president has not been charged he's unlike try to be condemned in mueller's

report. in a june 2018 letter to the senate judiciary committee rod rosenstein writes this. we have a duty to prevent the disclosure of information that would unfairly tarnish people not charged with crimes. disclosing uncharged allegations against american citizens with a law enforcement need is a violation of a prosecutor's trust. new reporting on jared kushner's use of private accounts for official business. house oversight committee chairman elijah cummings said he was told in a meeting with kushner's attorney that kushner in addition to using private e-mail has been using what's app to communicate with foreign leaders. his use of the app had been reported but it now appears to have been more widespread. kushner's attorney disputes elijah cummings's accounts saying he told the lawmaker his client uses the app to talk to some people but did not specific who they were. elijah cummings warned the white house may be forced to pursue

alternative means to get the information that the administration has so far refused to hand over. breaking news from overseas. nato says two u.s. service members were killed while conducting an operation in afghanistan this morning. nor information was provide and officials are withholding their identities until 24 hours after their next of kin is notified. these latest deaths come amid peace talks between the u.s. and taliban. that brings the total number of deaths this year to four. 14,000 u.s. forces remain in that country. >> the marines top general is warning the pentagon if president trump's decision to deploy troops to the southern border posing an unacceptable risk combat readiness. "los angeles times" obtained two internal memos. in them the general said unplanned and unbudgeted deployment along the border and shift to other funds to support

border security have forced him to cancel planned military training in five countries and delay your genre pairs at bases. because of the problems marines will not participate in planned training exercises in indonesia, scotland and mongolia and reduce the participation in joint exercises with australia and south korea. he complained about cancelling or shrinking the marines participation at a time when we're attempting to double down on strengthening alliances and attracting new partners. let's talk about this. joining us from washington, david drucker. david, good to have you this morning. thanks so much for joining us on this friday. we know how we are bracing, because we're certainly bracing for the release of this mueller report which is any day now. but it's been any day now for months. a lot of conversation in the newsroom is when and if -- >> it could be today. >> if it will happen today. first and foremost what is your

over and under it happens today. we need to know. secondly remember how is d.c. bracing for this? >> look, i've got a pretty good story out today of my own. my over/under is today's high likelihood. my good stories always get buried by mueller news. i think washington has been looking for this for quite a long time. i notice when i travel the rest of the country to cover campaigns which i do quite a bit nobody else seems to care. not because they don't care but because they are living their life and it's not a focus. if you're wondering what it's like in d.c., all we do is run around figuring out what mueller is doing, when he's doing it and when we'll find out. we believe we're near the end of the road. there's more speculation to it. and attention to it. i've been one of those people think it will hit us in a way when we stop expecting it at the moment and all of a sudden it

appears to go away and then it happens tomorrow. so we know they are towards the end. we know it's coming. we could be in a state like this for a couple of weeks and then when we finally given up it will happen. >> that's how life works. it hits you when you don't expect it. there's an axo report the fact that a lot of people especially middle america when they are asked about the russian gage and mueller report it's not the top. five priorities especially when you look ahead to 2020 which is fascinating. >> david drucker with a shameless plug for his piece. let me change gears. i mentioned that story about jared kushner that letter that elijah cummings. talk to me about the security risks that it poses? >> well, look. what's important to understand here is that when you go to work for the united states government particularly when you work for the president of the united

states everything you say and do is intelligence and everything you say and do becomes a bit of a security risk. if foreign intelligence services and every single one of them, ally and adversary are watching you for what it is you're doing to try to figure out where the government is and where the president is, so any time you're not using secure communications it's a risk. that's one of the things that was such a problem with hillary clinton's private server. she was communicating on nonsecured government communications. it was a risk because she was a target. jared kushner is a risk because he's a target, because he's so close to the president. i think the administration has to understand that. >> david drucker, thank you. we'll talk to you again in just a little bit. some major news with regards to the president and israel. in an abrupt shift in american foreign policy president trump has announced the u.s. will recognize israel's sovereignty over the disputed golan heights territory.

the president announced the decision in a tweet yesterday writing after 52 years it is time for the u.s. to fully recognize israel's sovereignty over the golan heights which is a critical strategic and security importance to the state of israel. the u.n. has rejected israel's occupation of the golan heights since 1967 when it seized the land from arabs. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu tweeted his praise to president trump which comes ahead of netanyahu's visit to the white house next week and amid his very tight re-election campaign. trump was asked yesterday if that election had any impact on his decision and here's what he said. >> mr. president, let me end on golan heights because you tweeted about this today. you said it's time for the u.s. to recognize israel's sovereignty and the golan heights. why now? >> i had been thinking about doing it for a long time.

it's been a very hard position for every president. >> it's not about netanyahu's re-election. >> i wouldn't even know about that. i wouldn't even know about that. i have no idea. he was doing okay. i don't know he's doing great right now. but i hear he's doing okay. but whoever is against him is also in favor of what i just did. every president said do that. i'm the one that gets it done. >> the president's announcement came as secretary of state mike pompeo was in israel meeting with netanyahu. a visit that also saw a major shift in u.s. foreign policy. pompeo joined the prime minister for a visit to the western wall in jerusalem's old city. it marks the first time that the u.s.' top diplomat visited this very disputed area accompanied by a senior israeli official. a potential tactic by the administration to recognize israel's sovereignty over the contested holy site. still ahead we'll go live to tel aviv for much more on that

story. andrea mitchell will join the conversation. investigators have determined that the boeing 737 max jet linked to two deadly crashes failed to include two safety functions. they were features that cost the airline extra. those stories and a check of the weather when we come back. ack.

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at comcast, it's my job to constantly monitor our network. prevent problems, and to help provide the most reliable service possible. my name is tanya, i work in the network operations center for comcast. we are working to make things simple, easy and awesome. welcome back. we mentioned at the top of the show how president trump tweeted his support for u.s. recognition of israel control of the golan heights. one of the big stories playing out across the middle east this morning. >> we'll get to that in just a moment. first we want to start with nbc news bureau chief who is live for us in beirut. we know pompeo, secretary of state mike pompeo will be there today for meetings with lebanon's president, the parliament speaker and foreign minister as well. all of these individuals are

close allies as we well know of hezbollah. what can we expect first and foremost from these talks today? >> reporter: good morning. great to be with you. i think the secretary's primary focus is to bolster an anti-iranian drive. certainly in those meetings you mentioned behind closed doors he'll make efforts to share lebanese policy from hezbollah. lebanon is loyal to iran. it entrenches iran into lebanese policy. united states may be the world's strongest and influential country and certainly people here in lebanon favor good relations with the united states. but much of the time teheran calls the shots here.

they wield enormous influence in power not just in lebanon but throughout this region. that makes folks in washington very nervous. over the decades iran has immersed itself in this country, whether it's been a push to get israel out or to tip the balance -- to tip the scale of balances in elections. so they are very well footed here. one trip by the secretary of state is not going to change that. as somebody said to me yesterday, secretary pompeo will come here, he's going to read some prepared remarks, he's going to leave, and it will be years again until another high level u.s. delegation visits. but iran is here to stay. >> andrea mitchell joins us now. the host of "andrea mitchell reports". she's in tel aviv. i want to ask you about this significant tweet we've been trained to look at the president's twitter feed. this is something, indeed, to

see one tweet up ending so much historical precedence, isn't it? >> reporter: absolutely. this is not the first time that the president has made significant announcements on foreign policy on twitter. often it seems impossible, this is not that case. when he withdrew from syria on twitter after a conversation with president erdogan in turkey against the advice of all his national security advisors that was something that they tried to talk him out of and had very wide ranging implications. obviously, the resignation of his defense secretary james mattis. this was planned. this was planned. it's something he's wanted to do that netanyahu influenced him on very strongly and pressed very hard in a couple of days here with secretary of state pompeo for. so they were considering it, obviously, but i think the closing of the deal certainly in conversations with pompeo and netanyahu here and then rolling

out that announcement. there was some idea it would to be done, in fact, in the u.s. next week when netanyahu goes to the white house and invited for a visit basically which is a celebration and almost a campaign event for the israeli prime minister who has been fighting a very tough contest for re-election. the election is now only three weeks away. >> we heard the president speak about netanyahu's tough re-election ahead. he said no. talk quickly about the significance of the secretary of state visiting the western wall when he did. >> reporter: that was significant, because the president has been there, vice president pence has been there, i was with him on that trip and when the president was here in may of 2017. never before has a u.s. lerd of this level has gone with the

prime minister. that was significant. because it's disputed, contested territory as you well know and for decades there's been a sensitivity about not going, you know, to the point of completely foreclosing or alienating palestinian interests. that's not the case. they have frozen the palestinians out from the peace process. there's no peace process. there's a middle east plan. very briefly for the president to say he has no idea how netanyahu is doing, i suspect given how often they talk and how frequently they talk about politics that he may know the tactics and andy poling in that campaign as well as his own. >> we're talking about this decision to recognize the golan heights. how is thatresevevreverberating beirut.

>> reporter: it's been fairly muted. if they see the secretary's car they will pelt it with eggs. we had reaction from turkey. turkey's president erdogan said this will inflame the region and of course iran was very quick to weigh in saying this is a deliberate policy by the united states to stir trouble here, to support israel and to put a heavy boot on the heads of all the arabs that live in this region and to weigh away iranian influence. >> iran's foreign minister tweeted out shocked by donald trump continuing to try to give what is not his. thank you got very much. appreciate it guys. i want to turn now to bill karins and get a check on your weather. >> good friday. not the spring weekend you're hoping for at least in the northeast. in some areas it's snowing now in areas of the catskills and up through the poconos, southern

tier of new york back into the adirondack's. snowing in vermont and new hampshire. where it's not snowing it's a cold rain. getting windy out there. for all these reasons your morning drive will have some delays on the roads. there's also been a lot of heavy rain. ponding on the roads. as we go throughout the day gay airport delays, maybe cancelations to deal with. windy conditions and worst conditions boston, albany. new york city not as bad because the storm is over the top of you. not windy until later on you. best flights out of new york is early. d.c. is windy all day long. this purple is six, pink is nine. this is significant snow. six to nine inches of heavy wet snow mostly higher elevations of northern new england. here's the within forecast. d.c. gusting up to 40 miles per hour. you know one of those days if you're flying you hold on a little tighter than normal. >> brutal. spring has sprung. >> or don't fly.

still ahead march madness finally upon us. here's hoping your brackets survived day one. >> i'm dead. one >> i'm dead. what is that? uh mine, why? it's just that it's... lavender. yes it is, it's for men but i like the smell of it laughs ♪

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they are the best players. they crushed marquette. morantz secured a triple-double. eight player to record a triple-double in the ncaa tourney. in jacksonville florida, number seven defeat ee eed seton hall. there was a career three-pointers. he hit seven in the game. he now has 509 for his career. he catches, fires, shoots and hits. pretty incredible. salt lake city, utah. 12th seeded new mexico state. they won a game. this was early yesterday. nearly upset number five auburn falling 78-77. now they had three free-throws and one second left for the win. they only hit one out of two.

had a last second shot but it was an air ball on the three-pointer at the buzzer. in another close one in jacksonville number 11 seeded belmonte had a chance to beat maryland after their victory on tuesday. a lot of people thought this would be a good upset. nearly did it in the final second but turned the ball over on the crucial play. desperation at half-court. terms escape with a 79-77 win. >> the terms escaped? >> they did. this is the breaking news in this whole thing. in our "morning joe" pool, cat who works on our staff this bracket has no x's, no marks. she's still perfect. i was looking at the espn, 17 million submitted these and only 45,000 are still perfect. she's one of them. >> jason another one of our producers say he's number two. >> we don't care about number two. >> see we don't care about

number two. what kind of attitude is that? number two is good. >> i don't give participation trophies. >> wow. >> who you rooting for? >> unc, of course. >> still ahead, president trump standing by his recent attacks on john mccain as the late senator's family hits back. >> fundraising concerns for joe biden. top democratic donors may not be there for him if he decides to make a white house bid. those stories and more coming up next. coming up next i don't keep track of regrets. i never count the wrinkles. and i don't add up the years. but what i do count on, is staying happy and healthy. so, i add protein, vitamins and minerals to my diet with boost®. boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals your body needs. all with guaranteed great taste. the upside- i'm just getting started. boost® high protein be up for life.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside david gura. let's get started with president trump defending his recent wave of scathing attacks against john mccain. >> you spend a good portion of your time in ohio trashing john mccain. senator mccain is dead. why are you doing this? >> it's not a good portion of my time, it's a very small portion. if you realize about three days ago it came out his main person gave to the fbi the fake news dossier. it was a fake. it was a fraud. it was paid for by hillary clinton and the democrats. they gave it to john mccain who gave it to the fbi for very evil purposes. that's not good. the other thing he voted against repeal and replace. >> he can't punch back. you punch back but he's dead. >> i don't talk about it.

people ask the question. i didn't bring it up. you brought it up. >> you talked about it this week. >> when i went out yesterday they asked me the question. when they asked me the question i asked the question. >> so, meanwhile the national cathedral is disputing the claim made by the president about approving mccain's funeral services. >> i endorsed him at his request and i gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted which as president i had to approve. i don't care about this, i didn't get thank you. that's okay. we sent him on the way. but i wasn't a fan of john mccain. >> by the way, i want to note that was unprompted. there was not a question of him asked there. in a statement to nbc news a cathedral spokesman said all funerals and materials services at the cathedral are organized by the family of the deceased. only a state funeral of a

president is needed for consultation. to funeral needs approval by the president or any government official. mccain's campaign manager made a statement back in august in which he thanked the white house for the federal resources that were devoted to the senator's funeral. >> john mccain's family continues to fire back at president trump over his attacks against their husband and father. in a rare public statement the senator's youngest daughter tweeted, everyone doesn't have to agree with my dad or like him but i do ask you to be decent and respectful. if you can do those two things be mindful we only said good-bye to him seven months ago. hours later her sister praised bridgett during a taping of t the view doesn't expect decency from trump.

cindy mccain said they were fighting for john's integrity, record and legacy. and crenshaw is the latest republican to rebuke the president taking to his twitter account he wrote mr. president seriously stop talk about senator mccain before adding there's just no reason to be talking about senator mccain after he's passed. he's not your political enemy, mr. president. as joe biden continues to weigh when he will jump into the crowded 2020 field, cnbc reports several top democratic donors told the former vice president that they will not fundraiser for him at the start of his campaign over concerns if he can actually win the primary. biden has reached out to the party's doppler donors for support after he was concerned he couldn't compete with beto o'rourke and vermont senator bernie sanders who each raised within millions of the first 24 hours of their announcements.

meanwhile the associated press reports according to several sources that have spoken to biden the 76-year-old is concerned whether his age could be be the biggest hurdle in the potential 20 run. past and current advisors to the former vp discussed a number of options to eliminate concerns of his age like teaming up with a younger running mate. >> several candidates will skip a pro israel conference. the 2020 hopefuls pulled out of the policy conference which kicks off sunday after the prominent progressive group moveon.org called on them to boycott the event. a spokesman for beto o'rourke tells nbc news he will not attend. mayor pete buttigieg will pass.

moveon.org asked the candidates to make the move citing the group's association with the right-wing party. talk about this decision this aipac move. is it a good idea for democratic candidates given the recent controversy surrounding a few key administers of the house? >> i don't necessarily think for the long term it's smart politics. most jewish voters are democrats. i think they will remain democrats. but i think when we look ahead to a general election and the kind of coalition you want to put together avoiding a conference that is about expressing support for israel not just in a political context in the context of the united states but just expressing support for israel's right to exist and israeli security, the better move would have gone to attend the conference, say what you have to say if you want to

be critical of the israeli government or some israeli policies but don't avoid it and don't fall into the trap that aipac is a jewish money machine to twist american policy towards israel. i think the candidates that attend and the candidates aren't always so reflexive in trying to please their base will be in a much better position later on. i want to talk about biden when and if he'll announce. we don't know. we're hearing this news about donors wanting to hold back to see if he could feasibly win the primary. what's your take on this? >> look, i don't blame donors from being hesitant. they want to back a winner and don't want to invest in a candidate that won't go anywhere. i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of donors think back to 2016 when so many big republicans backed candidates like jeb bush and marco rubio and others and saw it go to naught because

donald trump came out of nowhere and demolished at everybody. they are looking at a progressive field that's doing really well with small donors and has a lot of energy. joe biden even though he's a former vice president with a lot of credibility has never done well himself as a leading man in previous runs for president. i wouldn't be surprised if they are hanging back. joe biden's hesitancy, the fact will he or won't he is a democratic version of the mueller report. it's making them hesitant. if he wants to get people on board, energized, he has to just run. i think he runs, doe well, that dispels a lot of concern and all support will follow. >> i just wonder the optics of all this if in fact if he announces when and if he announces and then not able to top beto o'rourke or bernie sanders how do people view that. is that the jeb bush effect where he crashed and burn felt he was the front-runner and then he wasn't. >> it's a problem. look joe biden is going to enter

the race with a decent level of andy poling, with a high name i.d. and a lot of expectations. it's a risk. but if the support on the ground backs up the strength that he appears to have going into the race then it won't be a problem. this is the risk you take when you run for president. there are some candidates when you get into the race people like you less than when you were a potential candidate. the more he transgender this out and more doubts he has it sends a sense of weakness and the fact is if he's doubting himself it will cause others to doubt him. he needs to run or not and let it hang out there. >> thank you very much. the boeing 737 max planes involved in deadly crashes in ethiopia and indonesia did not include two important safety features in the cockpit because boeing charged extra for them.

sensors that tell pilots the angle of the plane and a disagreement alert which warns those in the cockpit whether sensors are providing proper information were two safety features that came at an additional cost. the 737 max jets had only one sensor. the lion airline had one faulty sensor and put it in a nose divisive. >> had the aoa disagreement sensor and training as to how to respond to a light on that sensor, they would have been able to manipulate their way out of the situation. >> boeing's chief executive said the company is making its 737 max jets safer. the add on features will become standard on the planes along with that software update. >> so many new things are coming out and it's incredible. still ahead president trump takes new action in the battle

over free speech on college campuses. >> former president barack obama looks to pow-wow with the new class of democrats. >> bill karins back with a check of your weekend forecast and half of it is good. sometimes, the pressures of today's world can make it tough

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♪ make you're jaw drop make u say oh my god ♪ welcome back. former president barack obama will meet on monday with the democratic freshmen members of the house of representatives. politico reports house speaker nancy pelosi is hosting a reception between obama and lawmakers to celebrate the freshman class of the 116th congress at a private home. president obama will recognize some of the faces in the 60 plus freshman class because a number of them worked for his administration. including new jersey who worked as a secretary in the state department and a senior under

adviser. president trump signed an executive order linking grants and higher education funding to help colleges promote free inquiry. trump wanted to send a clear message to those challenging far-right ideology. it doesn't specific what the new standards are or how they will be enforced. public universities and colleges are required to abide by the first amendment, a draft of the order reviewed by the "wall street journal" indicates each cabinet agency would be free to draw up its own guidelines on what the administration considers noncompliant with the first amendment. let's get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. you are promising half of it is good. >> sunday is good. >> she just ruined it. back to you. >> not like i said a cold front is coming in and then warmth from the south. that what you do. >> high pressure on you, bill. >> all right. the storm is going through the

northeast this morning. we have snow reported in numerous location. heavy snow too heading for the hudson valley. some travel issues and cool delays and school cancellations. not exactly what you're picturing for your first spring friday. some airport proximablems. the driving on i-95 is wet. no snow. by 6:00 p.m. the evening ride home hit or miss showers. much windier this a in area of the northeaster and still snowing hard in northern portions of new england. ski resorts could get up to a foot of snow. other areas could get six to 12 inches. 8:00 a.m. saturday we're just about done with the storm in the northeast. windy and chilly. here's that snowfall forecast. the purple from syracuse to y utica. on saturday east coast clears

out. earlier in the week we have flooding going on in the midwest. more light rain heading over nebraska to missouri. we'll get another half inch to an inch of rain. not make it that much worse. make it that much slower for the water to go down. a new system comes on heading for the rockies. as we go through sunday afternoon some light rain there. beautiful weather for the east coast as we go through sunday. >> funny, i heard that before. >> bill, thank you very much. bill karins with that update. still ahead the trump administration hits north korea with fresh sanctions following last month's failed summit in hanoi. we'll be right back. hanoi. we'll be right back. "] ♪ ♪ make you're jaw drop drop say oh my drop drop drop ♪ ♪ make u say oh my god my drop drop ♪ ♪ make you're jaw drop make u say oh my god ♪

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welcome back, everybody. as we mentioned earlier, there is developing news across the middle east this morning. a short time ago we spoke with nbc's andrea mitchell, and matt bradley is in syria where isis is making a final stand. i want to go to matt there. president trump said the terror group is defeated. is that what you are seeing on the ground in syria right now? >> reporter: it's not true in the sense that the sdf, the syrian democratic forces behind

me, have not declared an end to the islamic state caliphate. neither are the u.s. officials who are attacking baghouz and the islamic state from the air. the president's statement was mostly true to the sense to the islamic state has been beaten back from the huge caliphate which took up an area the size of great britain that straddled iraq and syria in 2014 and 2015. it is a shadow of its former self. it exists in tiny pocket of land between the mountain cliff behind me, you might be able to see, and the euphrates river. it's unclear how many people there are left. the syrian democratic forces told us they're operating what they call clearing operations. they're basically moving through the former encampment that used to be there and trying to sus out the last remaining elements there. we were awoken after midnight and treated to half an hour of massive bombardment by the

u.s.-led coalition. there were c-130 gunships straifing the last bits of the enkpampment and trying -- encampment and trying to take out the last. whether it remains today we'll have to find out. back to you. >> if you think it's over, certainly is not. >> great reporting for sure. the united states imposing new sanctions on north korea in the wake of last month's failed summit between president trump and kim jong-un. the new sanctions target two chinese shipping companies that have reportedly helped north korea avoid sanctions over its nuclear weapons program. coming up, axios' mike allen has a look at "one big thing." coming up, anticipation for the mueller report's rep lease kicks into high gear. >> the signs that robert mueller may be close to issuing the findings of his russia investigation as former fbi director james comey speaks out on what he wants to see in the final report. he final report

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look at "axios a.m.," co-founder mike allen. good morning to you. give it to us -- >> good morning. first things first, happy friday. >> there you go. talk to us about axios' "one big thing." >> the axios "one big thing," trump leads from behind. america for 100, 200 years was used to being the boss, used to setting the rule, was used to having the rest of the world follow us. it's very much the opposite. it's very much america trying to persuade the world to come along. we saw this most acutely this week with the grounding of the boeing planes. it wasn't the u.s. which took the lead as usually the case. usually the u.s. is the lead in civil aviation around the world. english is the lingual franca of aviation, instead we were following other countries. we've seen it with tech regulation. europe once again setting the standards, probably setting the standards for china.

privacy, finance, climate, we're seeing it again and again. the world leading, the u.s. finding, a big change since we were growing up. >> i thought it was america first, though. >> mike allen, how aware are folks in washington of this happening? you mentioned tech regulation, i think with the products, they're threatening countries thinking about using the technologies. is there an awareness that america's voice is no longer what it was? >> very much so. it used to be that around the world people would say what does washington think. increasingly they're saying, what does beijing think. there's a global study to found approval of u.s. leadership was lower than germany or china. germany and china ahead of us. ian bremmer points out to axios that this didn't start with trump. that we saw signs under president obama. it for sure has accelerated. >> do you think this type of thing resonates with voters,

that america could feasibly be leading from behind? do you think it would be a smart tactic for people that are running for president on the democratic ticket that they could use this against the president? >> no. it's an interesting phenomenon, a smart idea. we have this phenomenon that democrats are a little able to say to voters things that trump tapped into with his voters, that is dissatisfaction with how things are going. worry about the future. worry about the u.s. position in the world. that all made donald trump president. now democrats in a way have stronger arguments on some of the issues. >> quickly here, i know you have your hands on susan page's forthcoming book, a book about barbara bush, george h.w. bush's wife. what have you learned about that that's coming out in a few days? >> this is "the matriarch." susan page had the last interviews with barbara bush, read every page of her diary. she discover of a piece of evidence of the feud between

nancy reagan and barbara bush, one of the biggest social events of the whole reagan presidency was when prince charles and lady di came to the u.s. for a royal visit. the formeral white house dinner. in susan's book and today we see a draft invitation leist for th event. in her own hand, nancy reagan has crossed out the vice president and his wife barbara bush. susan page asked what the title of the book should be, barbara bush said it should be called "the fat lady sings again." >> wow. quite a title. >> for sure. thank you so much. >> happy weekend. >> see you later on "morning joe." happy weekend to you, as well. you can read "axios a.m." in a while. sign up at signup@axios.com. >> when susan page's book comes out, she'll be on morni"morning i believe next week to talk about that. that's it for us. "morning joe" starts right now.

as far as the relationship with the palestinians, i don't see any prospect in the immediate future for any progress to be made. the netanyahu government has almost completely rejected any two-state solution. the two-state solution is one that the united states and the other nations in the world endorse and accept except for israel. and the united states is basically -- has basically relinquished its previous preeminence as a trusted mediator. >> former president jimmy carter discussing middle east peace policy on "morning joe." that was back in 2015. and the reason we begin this today -- at the age of 94 and 172 days, carter becomes the longest living president in u.s. history today. >> really quickly about jimmy carter, an extraordinary human being, a wonderful